There’s a blue whale on streets of South St. Paul. You are most likely to see it at South City Motors on Concord Street. I was disappointed to learn it is not for sale. A chat with a gentleman at South City yielded more information: the whale used to be a promotional vehicle for WAYL, the twin cities “beautiful music station” which broadcasted from 1960 to 1988 (it’s now 93X). The South City Motors family rescued it from a junkyard in Newport, MN and restored it to its present glory. The support car underneath is an El Camino. The whale makes appearances at parades and events. You can friend the “Whale Car” on Facebook.
Two interesting new businesses have opened in my neighborhood. The first one is called “I Dream of Heels” and it sells – you guessed it – shoes with dizzyingly high heels. The interior is very sparse with one wall of shoes and a single rack of silky-looking clothes. It looks like the sort of boutique one might encounter in South Beach, except it is in a somewhat hodgepodge old building with an apartment over it. If you polled most women around here on St. Paul’s west side if they do dream of shoes they’re probably sensible shoes for walking their dogs. Recently the other storefront next door opened up with this coffin business. I wonder how the heel people feel about it. I am tempted to get a coffin for my living room, just as a reminder.
This can be seen from 494 eastbound over the Wakota Bridge. Gretchen Wilson’s face looks like a ghostly creepy skull. Perhaps a result of the cage fight?
