Warning: You Are Entering a Southside Time Warp

Sometime soon after John Lennon was assassinated and Ronald Reagan seized power, the crusaders of moral rectitude targeted local head shops by forcing the enactment of ordinances banning the sale of drug-related paraphenalia. And so the last vestiages of the 1960s counter culture faded into history or so it is said. But not so fast. On Gravois Avenue near the St. Louis city limits there are two businesses specializing in hippie wares: Eclipses and Area 51 -- both in the same block. Pipes of various sizes are displayed in the front window of the latter establishment, whereas, the former is festooned with dancing Teddy Bears, an icon of the Grateful Dead.