Sunday, August 14, 2005

And your reason for visiting this city is....?


In an effort to get a full cultural experience of St Louis, I ventured downtown yesterday to see what it could offer me. As advised, I went to see the arch, or as it is more precisely called, "Jefferson National Expansion Memorial". Web pages devoted to its construction, and numerous brochures, could not answer my one question pertaining to its existence, and that is, simply, why? The best explanation afforded me came from a cab driver today, and that was, "Well, every city has to have some reason for people to come and visit." Apparently so, but according to billboards sited above one of the many highways, the reason to come to St Louis' casinos is for "The Loosest Slots in the Country".

No matter which way I read that, it still sounds rude.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Envisioned and designed by architect Eero Saarinen in 1947, it ended up being the final construction project of his brilliant career. When asked why he thought an arch would be a good symbol for the JNEM, he said,

"The major concern here was to create a monument which would have lasting significance and would be a landmark of our time. An absolutely simple shape -- such as the Egyptian pyramids or obelisks -- seemed to be the basis of the great memorials that have kept their significance and dignity across time. Neither an obelisk nor a rectangular box nor a dome seemed right on this site or for this purpose. But here, at the edge of the Mississippi River, a great arch did seem right. The arch could be a triumphal arch for our age as the triumphal arches of classical antiquity were for theirs."

or else it could just be a Masonic thing, according to the page where I lifted that quote...
http://www.startiming.net/cave/arch-1.html

anyway, according to Casino Player magazine:

For the fifth year in a row, the casinos with the Loosest Slots in America reside in the suburbs of North Las Vegas...
http://www.casinoplayer.com/archive/0204cp/awards.html

so don't get hustled!!

glad you're having a good time over there : )

Anonymous said...

Well
maybe they built it because they could?
its part of an obstacle course for alien spacecraft?
the top of a really big needle that was buried by an ancient civilisation that the Americans now 'claim' they built in the 40's/50's?
part of an antenna array for mind control?


as for the loosest slots, I am leaving that alone... at least until I get there to check out wither interpretation ;)
Pingu