LITTLE BOHEMIA

Welcome to an alternative view of St. Louis in the Fifties. In the popular perception the fifties was a prosperous time when everyone was living out the suburban dream and few people wanted to rock the boat. Brewing underneath this apparent complacency, a subculture identified as the Beat Generation existed in opposition to the conformity, consumerism, corporate dominance, and political paranoia of 1950s culture. Midwestern St. Louis seems like an unlikely spot for a hotbed of bohemianism; these areas are associated more with the east and west coa sts. Yet, while St. Louis officials fought to halt the flow of money, population, and power to the suburbs with a series of “urban renewal” plans based on mass destruction of existing buildings, a handful of "oddballs" claimed space of their own in St. Louis. One such space was Little Bohemia, an art gallery and bar. The creative activity at Little Bohemia was an example of vibrant urban life that thrived in "low rent" areas. The bar was located in a “blighted” area that was declared "obsolete" in accordance with contemporary ideas about city planning. The area was leveled in the sixties to make way for Busch Stadium.