St. Louis to turn Chuck Berry’s home into museum

May 14, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

ST. LOUIS

St. Louis is planning to convert Chuck Berry’s one-time home into a museum and to create a cultural district around it honoring the rock ‘n’ roll legend and other prominent African Americans who have lived in that part of the city.

The city last week solicited bids for the project, which will be centered around the home at 3137 Whittier St. in north St. Louis where Berry lived for eight years in the 1950s.

During that time, he wrote many of his biggest hits, including “Maybelline,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Johnny B. Goode.”

The museum would anchor a “Chuck Berry Cultural District,” to honor Berry, who died in March at age 90, and the area’s African-American heritage.

Berry, a lifelong resident of St. Louis, moved from the one-story red brick home in 1958, but he continued to perform regularly at a club not far from his 1950s home until shortly before his death.

Report showcases consumer views about travel agents

The travel agent community faces an uphill battle when it comes to public awareness of agents, according to a new ASTA report on 2017 travel trends.

The report, released May 2, found that 42 percent of people surveyed had no opinion at all about agents while only a combined 14 percent felt strongly, favorably or unfavorably about them.

On the other hand, 80 percent of people who have used an agent within the past five years had a favorable view of them.

These and other findings were based on extensive field research, including customized focus groups and surveys from earlier this year. A total of 1,500 Americans responded to the questions, including 1,200 millennials and Gen X’ers (age 25 to 51) along with 300 baby boomers (age 52 to 70).

Digging deeper, the report found that favorable impressions of agents along with satisfaction rates over their performance have increased within the past 10 years.

Disney earnings

Last week, Disney reported earnings of $2.39 billion for the quarter ended April 1, up 11 percent from $2.14 billion a year earlier. Revenues rose 3 percent to $13.34 billion in the period, up from $12.97 billion. Parks and resorts revenue rose 9 percent in the period to $4.3 billion; operating profit in the segment jumped 20 percent to $750 million.

Revenue at Disney’s cable networks segment also grew, but operating income declined due to higher programming costs at ESPN.

Industry poll

In recent years, as once exotic travel trends such as eco-tourism and adventure travel have become commonplace, vacations are increasingly about unique and intense activities rather than relaxation.

But with a recent Travel-ocity poll of more than 1,500 Americans revealing that current events have nearly half (48 precent) of Americans feeling more stressed than they did one year ago, and of those, 40 percent saying that they are “much more stressed,” it may signal a shift to once again using summer vacation to unwind and destress.

Geography quiz

Q. Which state would you visit to go to Arches National Park?

A. Utah. The park, located near Moab, is most famous for Delicate Arch, which is the largest free-standing arch in the park.

Combined dispatches