Lime Green News

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Comment by Carolyn Hasenfratz on November 27, 2019 at 3:33pm

I used to sell my 'zine at Whiz Bam and Vintage Vinyl. Some of the Bohemian places I remember - Cummel's Cafe, Delmar Loop, Venice cafe, nowdays Cherokee Street or South Grand area. I was briefly in an art-coop in Maplewood but it didn't make it. 

Comment by Bradford on October 14, 2019 at 9:03pm

Near Village Square, but that's off of Lindbergh Blvd.  The general directions would be, from I-270, you take the Brown Rd exit / McDonnell-Douglas Blvd and head northwest, then at the 2nd light make another left onto Dunn Rd, then an immediate right onto Cortena after the apartments.  It's a strange place for a subdivision as a creek runs down a gulch such that large, dangerous turtles would sometimes crawl up into the back yard, black rat snakes are your friends as they devour moles, voles and other yard destroying vermin, and you occasionally find a Prairie King Snake in your kitchen or drowned in your washing machine when transferring wet clothes to the dryer.

I was in St. Louis until 2001, selling my house right as 9/11 happened.  I moved to Austin in October 2001 (wish I'd never left it in 1978).  In the 90s, (and now) my favorite St. Louis spot was the Delmar Loop with the Central West End a close 2nd.  Both are very Bohemian locales as you might know and nothing delighted me more than hearing all kinds of languages from the passersby whilst sitting out at a sidewalk table in front of Brandt's Deli (closed June 2011).  You were across the street from world-famous Blueberry Hill and a local star, Vintage Vinyl where you could buy a variety of local zines in addition to 78s, LPs, 45s, EPs as well as "modern" digital media.  You could also meet musicians like Robert Cray at their autograph sessions that featured a variety of music acts.  I often bought Factsheet 5 at Vintage Vinyl.  Chuck Berry played at Blueberry Hill once a month.  I saw him there on his 74th birthday with his daughter's band as the opening act.  I also saw many others, like Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac, the British Blues God, John Mayall, and many others in the downstairs bar venue; very close and intimate given the level of entertainment that appeared there.

A Collector's Bookshop (now Subterranean Book) was run by Sheldon Margulis and offered many bargains and eclectic finds such as overruns of university press titles. The current operation retains the eclectic selection in a smaller footprint.  On my last visit to St. Louis, I even found a Haptic title in their stock and purchased the last one.

In the CWE, Left Bank Books has long been a favorite.  On my last visit, the store cat was not there having recently passed away.  The staff was still in mourning.  It was great to see him in the bargain basement for his many years in attendance.  They bring in noted authors for readings.

So, you can see how I spent much of my free time in St. Louis.  South Grand (Grand & Arsenal) was just 3 miles up the road for me.  South City Diner was a great breakfast spot that would even bring my suburbanite family members for a Sunday outing.  A brief, quirky movie rental place was Whiz-Bang occupied a space on the East side of S. Grand a coupla blocks from Arsenal.

Then there's the burgeoning Cherokee Arts District where printmaking is a strong suit.  Back in the day, I used to frequent The Way Out Club where a friend played drums in a band, Popcorn.  If you never had a Spudburger, you missed out on something.  All the while I enjoyed the arts scene whilst being employed in IT Management at one of the largest data centers in the Midwest.  It's a wonder I did that for 20 years without going insane.

As my high school art teacher then friend for 30 years used to say, "In a city of 2 million people, you're bound to run into a kook now and then, but in St. Louis, they know to keep their heads low."

Left Bank Books is a favorite spot

Comment by Carolyn Hasenfratz on October 14, 2019 at 4:36pm

Robin, I live near Grant's Farm now! In the unincorporated part of St. Louis County sometimes lumped in with Affton and Marlborough. A bit north of Grantwood Village.

Bradford I'm trying to picture the area you're talking about. Was it near Village Square?

Comment by Bradford on October 13, 2019 at 10:01pm

I lived in the first subdivision off Dunn Rd from Howdershell (not the apartments, but a house on English Oak Drive) from 1980-1990, so naturally I started going to Fritz's Frozen Custard right after they opened in 1983.  I moved to a house on Dover Place in the city (2nd block from Bates & Grand) in 1990, but moved back to my home state of Texas in 2001.  The 90s was when I was first got heavily into Factsheet 5/Global Mail and Mail Art though I first dipped my toe into augmented envelopes and artistamps in the early 70s.

Comment by Carolyn Hasenfratz on October 13, 2019 at 2:43pm

Bradford, I grew up in Florissant! I lived there from 1970-1991 then again from 1995-2004. In between Illinois and Colorado. Then Brentwood and now Affton! My circulation at the most was only around 100 so it wasn't easy to know about it! Our house in Florissant was really close to the Hazelwood line, near Hazelcrest condominniums. Just a street, a park and a cemetery in between!

De Villo, a lot of people asked me over the years if I was associated with Lime Green Bulldozer in any way. I hadn't heard of it until people started asking me about it. The way I got into doing a zine was through friends at school. In college I ran with a crowd with members that self-published comics and a sci-fi zine. So they inspired me to start an art zine and showed me how to do a few of the basic things. I picked Lime Green News since it's been my favorite color since around 1987.

Comment by De Villo Sloan on October 12, 2019 at 7:09pm

I remember about a decade earlier (circa 1987) there was a Midwest zine called "Lime Green Bulldozers" assembled by this angst-ridden girl named Lannie. (A lot of disaffected teens were doing these m-a zines.) I have a few copies stashed away - she was a hoot! And people wrote letters then. Wonder if there is a connection? Anyone remember "Lime Green Bulldozers"?

Comment by Bradford on October 12, 2019 at 5:01pm

OMG.  I still can't believe you were there in Florissant and I didn't know about this zine down in Hazelwood years ago.