St. Louis Magazine January/February 2024

“I’m looking forward to the Saint Louis Art Museum’s exhibition of pieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection this summer. I haven’t had a chance to explore LACMA in person, so it’s going to be a treat.” —Christine Jackson, Managing Editor “More CITY soccer. Maybe tickets will be more affordable this year?” —Tom White, Design Director “The gardening and landscaping bug bit me late fall, so I’ll be playing in the dirt and aiming to host some butterflies and bees next year.” —Kevin A. Roberts, Staff Photographer…

HERE’S A MORBID but meaningful exercise, courtesy of Panera co-founder and former CEO/chairman Ron Shaich: Write your own obit—or, more accurately, a pre-mortem. Envision what you’d like to have accomplished by the end of your life, then work backward to map out how you’d get there. It’s a practice that Shaich does each year, according to his newly released memoir, Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations. “Like most people, I’ve lived too much of my life in reaction to what happened yesterday and in anticipation of what I hope will happen today,” he writes. “The pre-mortem process has helped me shift the fulcrum point. I look toward tomorrow, define what I truly value, and then work backward from there to ensure that those things are happening.” Whether…

GATEWAY TOPIC A IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY, spurred by the civic excitement surrounding the 1904 World’s Fair, boosters and businesspeople wanted to continue transforming St. Louis. They formed committees and task forces to promote the city as a great place to live and work. They aimed to double the population to 1 million residents. But the effort stalled: St. Louis’ population peaked at around 850,000 after World War II, and it’s been on a steady decline ever since. The latest Census estimates reveal that fewer than 300,000 people call the city home. Karlos Ramirez believes he has a plan to reverse the trend. Hired in September as the International Institute of St. Louis’ vice president of Latino outreach, Ramirez is promoting the city as a welcoming place for Latino immigrants.…

All you need to do is walk along Cherokee Street to see the influence of St. Louis’ burgeoning Hispanic and Latino population. From grocery stores to restaurants to bakeries, a community has sprouted to support the growing number of people with Hispanic and Latino backgrounds who have made the region their home in recent years. As the city’s overall population has dropped, the proportion of Hispanic and Latino residents has more than doubled over the past two decades. DATA COURTESY UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU…

THERE SEEMS TO BE NO END in sight for the pickleball boom in the United States. As interest and participation levels have soared in recent years, pickleball has been called the fastest-growing sport in the country. Yet, while pickleball has attracted Americans of all ages and skill levels, a similar racket sport has captivated athletes worldwide. Padel, billed as a mix between tennis and squash, has enjoyed a surge of popularity across the globe. With the opening of the Padel and Pickle Club (1220 N. Price) in Olivette, St. Louisans will soon be able to try the sport in a space dedicated to further boosting its stateside growth. Kevin Maher Jr., co-founder of the Padel and Pickle Club, says padel is similar to pickleball in that it’s easy to learn…

When a girl enrolls in The Sophia Project, one of the first things she learns is the chant: We are the girls who believe in ourselves, who never forget our potential. We are the girls who know our worth, value our bodies, and demand our voices be heard. We are the girls who set goals, believe in our dreams, and never forget the power of self-worth. We are the girls of The Sophia Project. In 2011, Dawn Price founded the St. Louis–based nonprofit and named it after the Greek word for “wisdom.” Price’s mission is to empower girls of color and provide support for those who are experiencing trauma, facing academic difficulties, and generally struggling with the transition from middle to high school. The Sophia Project’s four pillars— self-care, self-efficacy,…