Your weekly capsule of local news, life advice, trivia and humor from Post-Dispatch columnist Joe Holleman.
Joe Holleman is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Someone will almost certainly leave next week’s Landmarks Association of St. Louis gala with a big head — about 100 pounds or so big.
And if that certain someone subscribes to the notion that two heads are better than one, then they just might want to bring a truck to the party.
Two lion heads salvaged from the old, and now-demolished, Palladium nightclub in midtown St. Louis will be auctioned off to raise money for the local historic preservation group.
The terra cotta figures are slightly less than two feet square and weigh between 100 and 125 pounds, said event chair Jean Webb, who served as chief custodian and paint-peeler for the maned marvels.
“It was kind of wonderful seeing them come alive,” Webb said.
This composite photo shows a lion head from the old Palladium before it was cleaned, left, and after, right.
At one time, eight lion heads adorned the two-story Palladium Club at 3618 Enright Avenue, in the first block west of Grand Boulevard in midtown St. Louis.
The Palladium opened in 1914 as a roller rink. But it hit its historical high note in the 1940s and early 1950s when it was renamed the Club Plantation and jazz dance club and a must-stop for legendary Black musicians such as Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter and the Mills Brothers.
The St. Louis Palladium at 3618 Enright Avenue on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013, in St. Louis. Photo by Erik M. Lunsford of the Post-Dispatch
In later years, the building held a number of bars before being vacated by a thrift store around 2010.
The Landmarks group got involved in 2014 when an expansion plan for the John Cochran VA Hospital, which is across Enright from club site, called for the building to be torn down.
Landmarks placed the building on its endangered list, but no developer ever stepped up to save it and it was demolished earlier this year, Webb said.
Before it fell to the wrecking ball, the lion heads were salvaged and given to the Landmarks group, with two of those heads ending up in Webb’s backyard in the Tower Grove South neighborhood.
“They’d been painted over so many times, with at least some of that being spray paint,” she said. “It was an ugly reddish-brown and it was in every crease.”
So Webb set about cleaning them up, with the help of her husband, Doug Webb.
“First, we washed them with just soap and water and scrubbed them with soft nylon brushes,” she said. “Then we bought this special paint remover and we’d coat them with the stuff and then wrap them in plastic wrap for 24 hours.”
Doug Webb cleaning layers of paint from a lion head cornice piece taken from the old Palladium nightclub in midtown St. Louis.
Then after the wraps came off, the Webbs used dental tools, supplied by a helpful neighbor who is a dental hygienist, and carefully picked away at the remaining paint.
“There was a lot of paint and it was everywhere: up their noses, in their teeth,” Webb said.
So after spending a solid week on each head, the pair of figures are back to a close-to-original state, Webb said, noting that some black discoloration remains around the eyes, possibly from decades of being bombarded with acid rain and coal dust.
“But that kind of makes them look ferocious,” she said, “which is kind of cool.”
Webb said the Landmarks group has no idea how much such items will be worth on the auction market, though members now are scouring the Internet to come up with some general idea.
“And if it all goes well, we have four more heads that could be auctioned off at later dates,” she said.
Two of the eight heads have been earmarked to adorn the Landmarks’ new headquarters on Ninth Street in the Soulard neighborhood. “They’ll look great in our courtyard,” she said.
The gala on Oct. 15 will honor architect Doris A. Danna, who will receive the H. Meade Summer Jr. Award for being “a pioneer in the St. Louis architectural community.
Danna was the first woman to be elected president of the St. Louis chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the first woman to receive its Gold Honor Award. She also once served as president of the Landmarks Association.
The soirée will be from 6-9 p.m. in a private mansion at 3263 Hawthorne Avenue. Tickets are $100 and available through Eventbrite.com.
And if one, or a pair, of lion heads should strike your fancy, take heed of Webb’s advice.
“Bring a dolly ... because these things are heavy.”
Your weekly capsule of local news, life advice, trivia and humor from Post-Dispatch columnist Joe Holleman.
Joe Holleman is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Edmonds and realtor Kortnie O'Connor exchanged vows at a destination wedding in front of 32 guests at a 19th-century villa in Lake Como, Italy.
Parkway Central grad Jessica Radloff’s “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series“ will hit shelves on Oct. 11.
On Friday, current and former jocks will present “More Stories from the Window” — behind-the-scenes tales of events in the station’s 55-year history.
The Women of Distinction lunch will laud Lilian Davis, Laurna Godwin, Dr. Christine Jacobs, Tamara Keefe, Nancy Meyer, Dr. Margaret Reynolds and Carol Rogers.
Shortly after being let go from Fox 2, Faust aplogized by posting a statement on Twitter: “I am very sorry. I made a huge mistake and I’m ashamed.”
Vic Faust’s roughly 4-minute rant berated Crystal Cooper for, among other things, her weight, parenting skills and high school.
Top publics are Ladue Horton Watkins, Clayton and Lafayette. The best privates are John Burroughs, Thomas Jefferson, MICDS, Priory and SLUH.
On Oct. 29, Carney will host “Trick-or-Trivia” to raise money for children's charities. The event is co-sponsored by the Greater STL Restaurant Association.
P-D’s pop music critic since 1998 will be honored Nov. 7 by Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists. Also being lauded are Maurice Drummond and Adella Jones.
This composite photo shows a lion head from the old Palladium before it was cleaned, left, and after, right.
Doug Webb cleaning layers of paint from a lion head cornice piece taken from the old Palladium nightclub in midtown St. Louis.
The St. Louis Palladium at 3618 Enright Avenue on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013, in St. Louis. Photo by Erik M. Lunsford of the Post-Dispatch
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.