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LOCATION: Olive Street between Whittier and Boyle Avenues; Midtown; Saint Louis, Missouri The remaining Gaslight Square buildings on Olive Street stand decrepit on a morning in August 2003 when I come across them again. I had never spent any time walking around the former Gaslight Square area, so I proceed to do so. Then, I notice that the doorway to the old Crystal Palace restaurant building is open. I quickly walk up to it, enter, and conceal myself by stepping to one side of the entrance. A car passes. My eyes begin to adjust to the dark interior, and I notice a heightened state of decay. The floor looks unstable, and furthermore is covered with so much debris that it seems impossible to determine a safe path across it. The walls are crumbling, and the ceiling is beginning to collpase. I walk along the wall, hoping not to fall through the floor. I proceed to a west side doorway that connects this building to another in the row. I peer through the doorway and notice that the two upper floors of that building have mainly fallen inward and are hanging dangerously the first floor, which is mainly located in the basement. I decide to make the trip quick. I see that the whole row is connected by interior doors. I cross the floor and walk into the safer buildings on the east, which have floors that are at least supportive, if not stable. These buildings are not as visually interesting, but are still extensively decayed. I cannot figure out why these buildings are in such a poor condition compared to other abandoned places in the city. These are small buildings, not more than 110 years old. Of course, they are slated for demolition in August so perhaps wreckers have started some work here. I am not sure, because none of it looks planned. I wonder if the restaurants and shops of the Gaslight Square heyday -- over some 30 years ago -- were the last tenants of these buildings. (In some cases, they were. Regardless, the neighborhood hasn't been vibrant since those tenants left.) I take interior shots in August and then have to leave; I return later to find most exterior walls already gone. By the end of September, a wrecking crew had almost finished demolishing these last buildings from Gaslight Square, once the center of fashionable Saint Louis culture. See also Lights Out; Built St. Louis; The Legend of Gaslight Square; Gaslight Square Documentary.
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