Like any urban park, the presence of Homo Sapiens is a given, and like many other urban parks said human creatures are up to a lot of different things. Some are just traveling through the park on one of the two highways that cut across it, or on the Metrolink train that also transverses these hallowed grounds. Still other motorists view it as a shortcut for avoiding city streets, speeding through in a hurry to be somewhere else.
Visitors to the park come to walk, run, skate and cycle, to visit the museums (there are three very good ones), to have fun in the Zoo, to play golf, tennis, racquetball, handball, baseball, rugby and various other sports or to attend a play at the Muny or Twilight Tuesday concert at the History Museum. The Worlds Fair Pavilion, the Zoo, Visitors Center and Cabanne House are popular places for wedding receptions and other private events. And, of course, there are those such as myself, who just like to wander and see what there is to be seen.
There is another group of Forest Park visitors, though, that don’t get any press, and that is the homeless. In my first 365 day adventure in Forest Park, 10 years ago, I found numerous “human nests” in the park. Places where the homeless camped, easily identifiable by the debris (such as clothing, bottles, cans, trash, etc.) they left behind. Today I identified three areas on the east side of the park, close to Kingshighway, where such “nests” are to be found. Today, I salute those who travel to and through Forest Park.
Forest Park Parkway at one of its not-so-busy-times.