SHRINERS

The Shriners are a subset of the Masons. Their lodges have Arabic-ish names but they wear a fez, which is Turkish. A local group appears at every parade with these little yellow stunt cars. One of them always rolls over onto two wheels. a big crowd pleaser.

The men in the second picture may be members of a different lodge. Note the neckware of the one on the left. Our international readers may not recognize the top one but it's a symbol of the Republican party. If the resolution on your end is good enough you can see it kinda goes downhill from there.          

Shriners

HEY, TODAY IS STL DPB'S 12TH ANNIVERSARY 

More from the St. Patrick's Day parades. I don't completely get Shriners, and they are probably fine with that. A little mysterious, after all.             

Shriners are an offshoot of the Masons. I looked it up once but I don't remember the differences. We see them at public events zipping around in these little yellow trick cars, making noise on customized Harleys and wearing fezzes. Their themes and nomenclature are mostly Arabic but, if I recall correctly, the fez is Turkish and was in common use until banned by Atatürk in the early 20th Century. 

They look kind of silly but they they do good work. The group has a chain of hospitals providing free medical care for children with complex orthopedic problems. There is one in our city. That's wonderful.        

 

Shriners

Entertainment at the Veterans Day Parade. These guys always show up at our major parades like Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's Day. They are Shriners, an extension of the Masons. All Shriners are Masons but not all Masons are Shriners (see https://www.shrinersinternational.org/Shriners/MasonShriners/Masons). The order does good work, supporting special hospitals for children throughout the country, even if they are a little, um, off kilter.

Shriners adopt a bunch of Arabic themes - they have not shared the mysterious reasons with me - but wear a fez, which is, of course, not Arabian. (Interesting history at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fez .) They like to clown around. The crowd goes wild, if there is one.  

Boyz In Da Hood

Some guys hanging around downtown St. Louis for the St. Pat's parade: Shriners and Imperial Storm Troopers. Boys will be boys, but it might scare the kiddies. 

Personally, I would not care to wear a fez (especially one that says Arab Patrol across the bottom), but the Shriners do wonderful work for children's health care.      

They Call It Mellow Yellow

You have to be as old as I am to remember that song.

Just some color-themed pix from the otherwise green parade. A bee-costumed "O'Pollinator" from the Missouri Botanical Garden and those crazy Shriners in their trick mini cars.         

Noble Dwayne Sargent & Friends

We got a lot of Shriners around here. It's a branch of Freemasonry. This being St. Louis, we have black Shriners and white Shriners. The former are always part of the Annie Malone parade and I've gotten some good pictures of them in the past (like this and this). Here are a couple more.

I couldn't get the color correction right on these to save my life. Need to take a class or find an online tutorial. Crummy light that day.       

Moolah, Part 1

Lindell Boulevard runs east-west through the center of the city, from St. Louis University, past the Central West End, then along the whole north side of Forest Park to Washington University. The eastern part has three ornate Masonic temples. One, the Moolah, has been converted to a cool movie theater and bowling alley. It's an unusual venue. The balcony has typical theater seating but the orchestra floor is covered with plush sofas and cocktail tables. It has full bar service. Not a bad way to go to the cinema.

The graphics here are based on the Moolah group of Shriners, a branch of Freemasonry. I wrote about this in an earlier post. They go in for psuedo ancient Egyptian or Arab themes but they wear fezzes, which are Turkish. Whatever pleases them. The Shriners are still around but have moved to the suburbs. They left some snazzy architecture in the hood, more about which tomorrow.

TOMORROW: More Moolah