Wrong Side of the Tracks

On the day that The Hubs and I were out taking shots downtown, not far from where I shot the Gargoyles and my favorite little Anheuser-Busch building, is an area that has been industrial for a long time. My grandpa worked for Rold Gold Foods and I wandered back to that area to see what was there today. A lot had changed, the old plant building was all but abandoned, but I could gauge where I was, because I remembered all the old train tracks used for shipping supplies in and products out. This was the view when we left the plant and headed for home when I was kid.

Broadway and Sidney Streets Railroads Train Tracks St. Louis MO

But, while the old plant and office building that my grandpa worked at as a kid was now basically abandoned and decaying, what used to be plain, gray, concrete levee walls along the tracks when I was kid were now anything but…

Broadway and Sidney Streets Railroads Train Tracks and Graffiti in St. Louis MO

Up and down the tracks, for as far as the eye could see, graffiti artists had decorated nearly every square inch.

Broadway and Sidney Streets Railroads Train Tracks and Graffiti in St. Louis MO

Some of it was really good, some typical gang related garbage, and some was just odd. Here’s an example of a large, rather nice piece, with three weird examples just above it.

Broadway and Sidney Streets Railroads Train Tracks and Graffiti in St. Louis MO

I feel kind of aggravated at the other graffiti people who came along and drew over that giant blue, black, and white piece! Look at that!! It’s got a border and everything. I thought it was really cool! I wish I had seen it when it was freshly done.

Those three things above it, though, were odd. At first, I couldn’t tell what they were. They reminded me of burial markers on a mausoleum, at first. When I zoomed in, I saw they had something to do with the Mormons. I didn’t know Mormons were also graffiti artists, but there you have it. LOL

Detail of Graffiti Broadway and Sidney Streets Railroads Train Tracks and Graffiti in St. Louis MO

Wonder what the story is behind those three names…

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