St. Louis City SC's focus on local extends beyond food vendors. It has commissioned a number of works of art, all by local artists. The latest is the All For City mural by Gonz Jove (pronounced ho-vay).
City's chief brand architect, Lee Broughton, says the owner of the building on Olive across from CITYPARK offered his blank wall to the team. Bolivian-born St. Louisan Gonz Jove got the call to paint the latest mural.
"'This is St. Louis City calling,' and I said, 'Oh, no,'" recalls Jove, laughing. "Do I owe taxes or something? I thought it was from City Hall."
Hear Debbie Monterrey's full feature on the mural and City's commitment to public art here:
Originally, Jove was asked to complete the mural in about three weeks, in time for the playoffs, but he needed an extension, finishing it up just before Christmas. The weather was an issue, but so was his growing vision.
Initially, Jove planned to paint a 20-foot wide soccer ball with the city of St. Louis inside it. But when he saw all the bricked up windows, he decided soccer fans needed to be hanging out of those.
Lee Broughton says the new SOMA House, City SC's new headquarters and offices, has several commissioned art pieces. There's a mural inside City's parking garage, which Broughton jokes may be the most beautiful parking garage in the world. There's also the Hellcat paintings inside.
The piece getting the most attention is Pillars of the Valley, the sculpture installation by Damon Davis, commemorating Mill Creek Valley. The once-thriving Black neighborhood of tens of thousands was demolished 70-years ago, almost without a trace. That work was done in collaboration with Great Rivers Greenway.
Broughton says they've also been talking with the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, which has a series of murals along Washington. He hopes to someday connect Downtown West and Grand Center through murals, sculpture and other public art.