Going back in time...

I recently discovered a website for the now defunct Saint Louis Institute of Music, from which I graduated in 1963. Lots of fun information and some pictures that really "took me back..." The school was housed in an interesting building in Clayton, a 'burb of St. Louis. The building was old, un-air-conditioned, freezing in winter, broiling in summer, but was home to me for a couple of the best years of my life. I experienced a host of exceptional teachers (except for one, who shall remain nameless, because many people thought he was an excellent teacher/person/musician... maybe he was all of that, but from the start he took an almost paranoid dislike of me, and gave me quite a bit of grief until I, mercifully, didn't need his classes any longer.)

Here's the school in summer:

And in winter (brrrrrrr...!):

Mr. Lyndon Croxford, my elegant, gentlemanly, no-nonsense, excellent piano professor:

Ed Petsch, the polar opposite of Mr. Croxford - flamboyant, fun to a fault, and equally excellent piano professor:

I couldn't find a picture of my beloved organ professor, Manus Sasonkin, but he will always be my favorite!

This is "The Bunker", a building I hated with a passion. It was located behind the main building, and was a hideous hole - dark, dingy, suffocating and depressing - and contained the practice rooms, which were full of the most dreadful collection of pathetic pianos on the planet. I have no idea what eventually happened to the main building at the Institute after it closed, but I have lovely fantasies of The Bunker being reduced to rubble during military exercises!