Last week's Monday Mystery was the childhood home of Yogi Berra, legendary Yankees catcher. Yogi grew up in a St. Louis neighborhood known as The Hill, a predominately Italian neighborhood. Although originally a German neighborhood, The Hill became mostly Italian around the turn of the 20th century when trains and mass transportation became more accessible. The Germans moved to other areas a little farther away from the city giving room for Italian immigrants, who mostly worked in industrial and mining environments, to move closer to where they worked.
Yogi Berra's house is denoted with a plaquard in the front on Elizabeth St. And, across the street is another famous childhood house, and another famous Yankee, Joe Garagiola. Garagiola also played five seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, including their 1946 World Series Championship team. Yogi's brother, Mickey, also attained celebrity status in St. Louis as the most popular ring announcer for professional wrestling events known as "Wrestling at the Chase." Any young St. Louis boy from the 60s through the 90s can probably remember hearing of the Saturday night wrestling events at Chase Park Plaza's basement arena. This event was more of a St. Louis local, almost cult-like, event, but it hosted some very famous names in professional wrestling like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Ted DiBiasi, Harley Race, Dick the Bruiser, and Terry Funk.
The Garagiola house...
Happy Monday. There's your little knowledge bomb for today.
Sorry, but I can't play the "where in St. Louis" game. I have been there maybe a half dozen times, but my knowledge is very spotty. Like the top shot, though, and it is interesting reading about Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I understand where we are... but I like that first image. :) Looks like a cool place.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping my St. Louisans take a shot. They should know...
ReplyDeleteCity Museum? I only know a little about Stl so only throwing out what I know. I am intrigued.
ReplyDeleteOh, c'mon. This is so easy locals should be excluded. What would Henry Shaw have thought of it?
ReplyDeleteHaha. The idea behind this is to get my Facebook peeps in the habit of checking the blog, too. Without getting super cryptic, all the Monday photos should be easy for a local.
ReplyDeleteBut, I also thought if I kept it to more popular spots, non-locals would also have fun with it. I'm glad to see it getting some discussion.