My First Wikipedia Edit

Wikipedia is a crowd-sourced encyclopedia. Better than peer reviewed, it’s peer-edited! This post is a story about how I made my first edit and uploaded my first image.

The other day I wanted to find the address of the Page Warehouse in Tulsa designed by architect Bruce Goff (1904-1982), but the Wikipedia page List of Art Deco buildings in Tulsa, Oklahoma listed an address on East 13th, rather than East 11th. It also said it had been demolished.

The listed address was 408 East 13th, which is surrounded by highway off ramps. Someone must’ve assumed it was demolished because there are no buildings remaining at that address anymore. But I knew it was on East 11th, which was Route 66 in Tulsa. I drove past the building last on September 4, 2009.

Knowing the address in Wikipedia was wrong I looked up Page Moving & Storage instead of Page Warehouse. Ah yes, 2036 East 11th, the building still stands and the company is still in existence at that address.

But Wikipedia was still wrong…I couldn’t just leave it that way. I had to create a profile and correct the information, I might as well add one of the 6 images I took 4 years ago too. The registration process & editing were fairly simple. Wikipedia tracks who edits each page.

According to Wikipedia, it has over 19 million accounts (Wikipedians) with only a fraction as regular contributors. I’ve not looked at the results of their 2011 editor survey, except that 90% are male. Not sure what conclusions, if any, to draw from that.

Are you a Wikipedian?

— Steve Patterson

Readers Top Pick For Closed Restaurant They Wish Was Still Open: The Parkmoor

Hopefully the poll last week was a nice stroll down memory lane, it was for me at least. The question was the three closed restaurants readers wished were still open. The Parkmoor received 35 votes to top the poll with 7.94%.

Here’s some history about The Parkmoor you may not have known:

There were once six Parkmoors in St. Louis. I had thought that the Parkmoor at Big Bend and Clayton was the one and only. In fact it was the sole survivor as well as the original, in 1930 the site of a Tudor-style drive-in. Three more Parkmoors opened in the 1930s and two in the 1950s, but all five of them were gone by 1971.

From 1940 to 1953 there was also a McGinley Parkmoor in Indianapolis. Parkmoor was a popular name for mid-century drive-ins. The Parkmoors in Amarillo TX, Knoxville TN (one O), Dayton OH, and Sarasota FL were not related. (source)

Many drive-in restaurants continued even though the drive-in service didn’t.

Here are the remaining votes:

1. Tin Can 32 [7.26%]
2. Other: 29 [6.58%]
3. Rossino’s 23 [5.22%]
4. Miss Hullings 22 [4.99%]
5. Busch’s Grove 22 [4.99%]
6. Bleeding Deacon 22 [4.99%]
7. Papa Fabarre’s 21 [4.76%]
8. Duff’s 21 [4.76%] 4.76%
9. Del Taco 20 [4.54%]
10. Flaco’s Tacos 20 [4.54%]
11. King Louie’s 20 [4.54%]
12. 94th Aerosquadron 16 [3.63%]
13. Chuy Arzola’s (Dogtown) 15 [3.4%]
14. Stable 12 [2.72%]
15. Monarch 10 [2.27%]
16. Tangerine 9 [2.04%]
17. The Salad Bowl 8 [1.81%]
18. Shangri La Diner 7 [1.59%]
19. Delmar Lounge 7 [1.59%]
20. Chez Leon 6 [1.36%]
21. Sunshine Inn 6 [1.36%]
22. Red Moon 5 [1.13%]
23. Brandt’s 5 [1.13%]
24. El Burrito Loco 5 [1.13%]
25. Zoe’s Panasian 4 [0.91%]
26. O’Malley’s 3 [0.68%]
27. Marty’s Baking 3 [0.68%]
28. Pestalozzi Place 3 [0.68%]
29. Shuggas 1 [0.23%]
30. Empire Sandwich Shop 0 [0%]
31. Minions Cafe 0 [0%]

As you can see at the top “other” got a lot of votes:

1. Casa Gallardo
2. Tanner B’s (x3)
3. Seki’s
4. Beffa’s
5. Salt (x2)
6. Sunflower Cafe
7. Kitchen K
8. Garavelli’s
9. Il Vicino’s
10. Revival
11. Natural Fact Deli
12. Terrene
13. Moxy
14. Robert E Lee
15. redels
16. Sine Qua Non (Delmar) – Ethiopian
17. silk road
18. Newstead Tower Public House
19. Riddles
20. Dooley’s (downtown)
21. Dohak’s
22. Kopperman’s
23. Lake Forest bakery
24. wildflower pizza on pershing
25. mojo tapas
26. Diamond Head Inn

I have no great insight other than restaurants come and go.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: What Three (3) St. Louis Area Restaurants Have Closed That You Wish Were Still Open?

Many restaurants I remember from my childhood in Oklahoma City have since closed: Split-T, Al’s Hideaway BBQ, Nicolosi’s, etc. In my 23 years in St. Louis I’ve seen many restaurants come and go too. All I have left are fond memories.

The poll this week asks: What three (3) St. Louis area restaurants have closed that you wish were still open? So put on your nostalgia hat and review the list of 30 I’ve included as options in the poll:

1. 94th Aerosquadron
2. Bleeding Deacon
3. Brandt’s
4. Busch’s Grove
5. Chez Leon
6. Chuy Arzola’s (Dogtown)
7. Del Taco
8. Delmar Lounge
9. Duff’s
10. El Burrito Loco
11. Empire Sandwich Shop
12. Flaco’s Tacos
13. King Louie’s
14. Marty’s Baking
15. Minions Cafe
16. Miss Hullings
17. Monarch
18. O’Malley’s
19. Papa Fabare’s
20. Parkmoor
21. Pestalozzi Place
22. Red Moon
23. Rossino’s
24. Sunshine Inn
25. The Salad Bowl
26. Shangri La Diner
27. The Stable
28. Tangerine
29. Tin Can
30. Zoe’s Panasian

They’re alphabetical here but will be presented in random order in the poll (right sidebar). Here are more closed restaurants you might want to include in the other field:

1. Colorado
2. Gulf Coast Cafe
3. Kitchen K
4. Kopperman’s
5. La Fourchette
6. Mattingly’s
7. Mojo Tapas
8. Moxy
9. Pelican
10. Sage
11. Simply Fondue
12. Shuggas
13. Southern Belle Supper Club
14. Tanner B’s
15. Terrene

You can also review a list of closed restaurants on UrbanSpoon.com.

Thanks to my Facebook friends with help generating all these names, I’d forgotten about many. Please share your memories in the comments below.

— Steve Patterson

Enjoyed PrideFest Downtown

Last month the annual LGBT PrideFest was held downtown, previously it has been held in Tower Grove Park & Forest Park.

On Saturday June 29th I heard a guy across the street with a bullhorn quoting what I presume were bible passages. He was alone and largely ignored. Sunday, following the parade, there were more protestors.  This time they weren’t ignored.

I guess protestors are to be expected, it’s a free country.

I’m thankful PrideFest is now downtown, good move. In a future post I’ll look at the problems of using the area around Soldier’s Memorial for large events.

 — Steve Patterson

St. Louis Came Out For Trayvon Martin, Another Rally at Noon Today

Last Sunday a couple  hundred people showed up at the St. Louis Justice Center to rally against the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the February 26, 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Across the country today more demonstrations will be held at federal courthouses. “The St. Louis gathering will take place at 12 noon at the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse (111 South 10th Street St. Louis, MO 63102).” (source)

I’m not going to say anything else, I just ask that commenters be respectful to others.

— Steve Patterson