Posts Tagged ‘Tony Karakas’

Aren’t we fortunate to have the exquisite taste to be St. Louisans?  We are among the favored few in a world going mad  We allow the country to intrude on our paradise.  The columnist has heard compliments about our town from among the 5,500 secondary and post-secondary college admission counseling professionals, who are currently filling 10 downtown hotels.  More than a few Norman Rockwell families are being introduced to our world-renowned St. Louis Symphony Orch of which Adam Crane hailed as having racked up revenue of $8.1 million for the fiscal year – more than $1 million over the previous year.  The educators are probably aware that:  the first kindergarten was established here; St. Louis University is the oldest college/university west of the Mississippi River.  If they knock off a pork steak, gooey butter cake, Dr. Pepper or – heaven forbid – a martini, they should know they were all St. Louis firsts.  It was an exorcism here that led to a best-selling book and hit movie.  Entrepreneurs?  From Build-A-Bear Workshops to wheel-out cameras, with generators, that work for 30 days documenting car break-ins on construction and shopping center sites and transmit the crimes to the security office.  Such is the case with Mike Hackett’s “HackettWatch.”  The former restaurateur is filling orders by day and night under the eagle-eyes of his dad, retired St. Louis chief of detectives James J. Hackett.  Jim, by the way, was feted on his 79th natal day at MAC-west by his entourage of long-time pals: Tony Karakas; Stan Musial; Ed Thornton; Tom and Bill Suntrup; Cindy Crider; Dave Dolan and barrister Jim Holloran, who gifted Hackett with a police special and a pair of handcuffs, that drew guffaws. Holloran quipped, “They won’t give me the bullets.” The handcuffs might’ve reminded Hackett of his days on the beat.  It seems the cops were on the prowl for a felon, whose two fingers were missing. One day, Hackett popped into Gus Torregrossa‘s barber shop.  He noticed upon entering, that Gus quickly shielded a guy in the chair with a barber’s gown.  The customer’s hand was visible – sans two fingers.  Both the barber and the client were hauled into jail.  If they watch enough television in their hotel rooms, the conventioneers will see faces of candidates almost every hour on the hour – deft performers they’re not.  But, there’s always high-end shopping in the chic stores at Plaza Frontenac, with the type of apparel described by the late style icon Sir Cecil Beaton: “Never in the history of fashion has too little material been raised so high to reveal so much that needs to be covered.”  So here’s a toast to Kitty Ratcliffe of the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commish and a wish for many more tourists upon rest our hopes and half-aspirations to discover that it’s better to be poor in St. Louis than rich in New York.

The best restaurant in town is a good one in which you are known to the owner; the second best is the one that serves consistently good food whether the owner knows you or not. That’s Leon Birnbaum at his new Chez Leon in Clayton all over. Is it a religious experience? Hell no!  We’ve all been bored in church, temple or mosque.  There’s nothing to be boring about. The classic French cuisine bourgeois prepared by chef Colby Erhart or the lounge lizards, who swoon over the interiors, created by Birnbaum and Dan Byrne. “It’s Selkirk chic!,” exclaimed hair stylist-to-the-stars Randall Jones of Larz Salon to his best pal, the stunning Elizabeth Danforth Sankey, heiress to Bill Danforth. “Yes, more urbane than urbane,” added Sanky. She informed the columnist that she and Elizabeth “Lydie” Wallace have bowed an estate jewelry buying and selling firm, Elizabeth’s Estate. A few tongues wagged about Trudy Busch‘s 84th birthday on the day before and that she was much too ill to celebrate. Here ‘n there were Linda and Tony Karakas with Janet and Smith McGehee, who celebrated the birth of triplet grandchildren.  Genya and Jim Human, along with Steve Anstey, were there praising the sales at the Janet McAfee real estate office. . .

Downtown at Tony’s, Kelly and Blues CEO Peter McLoughlin were bullish about the team and he lamented,  “I wish Dave Checketts had bought the Rams.”  Bryan Cave mouthpiece Harold Blatt with his charming Elaine graced a table with Marilyn and Bernard “Bunny” Edison, whose family empire, Edison Bros. Shoes, collapsed under the stewardship of Andy Newman and Martin Sneider, who had been teaching essentials of retailing at WashU (go figure!).  Also at Tony’s, barrister Gerard Carmody and his wife, Susan, with their daughter Ryann, settled down after a retreat at the Four Seasons with his law firm, Carmody MacDonald. . .

Over at Beffa’s there was celebration over the upcoming nupts of Rachel Crocker (Eureka, Mo.’s Byrnes Hills Stables, LLC) and Robert Brake (Brake Landscaping and Lawncare, Inc.) with his uncle, former cop Ed Beffa. . .

And, at the Palladium party house on Fourteenth Street and Park Avenue, a sumptuous feedbag and cocktails were underway, when the columnist arrived to join in the launching of the EcoLifeSTL.com website and the honors awards presented to the City of St. Louis, AmerenUE’s PurePower and Sustainable St. Louis.  They were chosen for significant contributions they make to promote and encourage Green living in the region.  Said Mayor Francis Slay, “The greatest way to recycle in St. Louis is to save historic buildings like the one we’re in tonight.  The Greenest building is one that already exists and also preserves history.”  Cindy Bambini accepted the award on behalf of PurePower,AmerenUE’s voluntary renewable energy program, and she noted, “Currently, there are 6,000 residential and 200 businesses PurePower customers receiving 100 percent of their energy from the five wind farms in our area.” Emmis Broadcasting’s John Beck was front ‘n center getting plaudits on the broadcast chain of stations involvement in promoting the program.  John Weber of Wells Fargo and his soon-to-marry Jennie Logan of KPNT, The Point radio station, chain smoked as Weber joshed about energy, “Before we left the house, I turned on all the lights, left the fridge door open, turned up the heat and turned on the microwave.”

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WITH THE POLICE COMMISSION:  St. Louis police commissioner Vince Bommarito, owner of the award-winning Tony’s restaurant downtown and shoo-in candidate for Best Uncle of the Year, now has a public relations agent to deal with the simmering (and sauteing?) controversy swirling around his Mardi Gras Get Our of Jail Free call to a St. Louis police supervisor.  Savvy Peggy Lents, who also reps the Missouri Botanical Garden, is now speaking for him.