kirkwood | Michael and Christine Kleckner had wedding photos taken May 10, 2014, outside the ever-popular Spencer’s Grill on Kirkwood Road. They have pictures of their son Teddy, now 8, trying to eat very large pancakes as a much younger boy. So, why not go in on buying the place for their 10th anniversary? When we talked to Michael, he didn’t say anything about an anniversary or a traditional gift. Of course, there’s plenty of aluminum and probably even some tin inside the venerable diner, which has been a roadside attraction along the old Route 66 since 1947. But he went in on purchasing Spencer’s, which had shuttered in June, with Michael and Meredith Shadwick, experienced Kirkwood restaurateurs who already have two popular joints downtown, Honey Bee’s Biscuits + Good Eats on Kirkwood Road and Tropical Moose, a shaved-ice stand at the farmers market just north of the railroad tracks. A few blocks south of the tracks, Spencer’s is slated to reopen Nov. 1, and won’t be what some diners would have called a ‘greasy spoon.’ When we talked to Kleckner, the restaurant was undergoing a deep clean. As principal of the marketing firm Kleck—and writer of Mike’s Unforgettable St. Louis History and another volume for youngsters—he’s only flipped flapjacks at home, but it probably wouldn’t take him long to absorb the history of scrapple, a breakfast staple of the Pennsylvania Dutch. (Kleckner, although he’s standing in front of the Shadwicks in our photo, notes that he’s not the biggest deal in the business partnership.) When the restaurant opened 77 years ago, coffee reportedly was 5 cents and breakfast was $1. And the new owners hope that an expert may be able to resuscitate the clock on the familiar neon sign above the entry.
creve coeur
The first photo was taken on a school bus, in 2010, when the three boys were in seventh grade at Chaminade College Prep. Two of them were in a seat mostly blocking the head of the third behind them. The photo went viral because the two boys in front are now world-renowned athletes, both of whom made very big sports news this year: Matthew Tkachuk, on the left, is a forward who was instrumental in the Florida Panthers NHL team winning the Stanley Cup. Jayson Tatum, the boy with the big grin next to the window, is a 6’8” forward with this year’s NBA champs, the Boston Celtics, as well as the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Both men, 26, have been friends since they wound up in the same gym class in sixth grade. But what about the kid partially obscured behind them? Jacob Bai, also 26, now lives in San Francisco and works in the finance industry, says Soby Bai, his dad, a retired mass communications professor at SLCC Florissant Valley. That goes a long way in explaining the second photo, taken before a recent Cardinals game at Busch Stadium for which Tkachuk and Tatum threw out simultaneous ceremonial first pitches. The Cards reunited the three high-school pals to reproduce the photo of them as successful men, flying Bai and his fiancée in for the photo op and the game—and, thankfully, not hiding as much of Bai’s head this time. His big grin isn’t as evident in press photos that ran in the StL’s esteemed metro daily and elsewhere as it is in pics that hit the cutting-room floor, one of them of Bai with Tatum’s maternal grandmother. “She was at every Chaminade game,” says Soby Bai. “Now she’s at every Celtics game!” For his part, the younger Bai was deeply grateful to hang with his hometown heroes/bona fide homeboys.
u. city
The building that used to be at 8213 Delmar Blvd. in U. City looked like it had been plucked out of Tuscany and dropped in U. City. As the original Pasta House, it had a certain Old-World charm. The tan stucco exterior had welcomed diners since the Carter administration. Alas, it was demolished for one of the metro’s newest Total Access Urgent Care locations, which was erected in a minute—since then it sat vacant, sign-less and has been awaiting its grand opening for who knows how many months. Then, one day in mid-August, we saw the TAUC signage had been installed on the Delmar-facing side of the building, with the group’s complete name along the Old Bonhomme side, and the formerly blank ground-level signs in the grass awaiting their interior fluorescent tubes and exterior TAUC logo panels. It’s now all installed, and the black plastic sheets inside all the building’s windows have been removed. As I shot photos from across the street, a nearby walker remarked, “It’s not open; it’s opening. COVID had a long tail.” When I called the administrative offices, a woman told me it would open in September—however, both the website and the map therein say it won’t be until 2025. (Remember, our great Civil War president Abraham Lincoln has been quoted as saying: “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”) Meanwhile, if you really need urgent care in U. City and environs, nearby TAUC locations include Overland, Richmond Heights and Creve Coeur. They’re open 365 days a year, but only from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. So, don’t pet friendly looking dogs at any other time of day.
notable neighbors
city foundry
Joe Sonderman started collecting historical details in and around the Gateway City back when the St. Louis Globe-Democrat was still in print, running a daily ‘This Day in St. Louis History’ feature. “Next thing you know, I’ve got this big database,” Sonderman recalls, sitting for an interview in the vast food court of City Foundry before he was to start his 11 a.m.-3 p.m. shift at I Heart Radio upstairs. Now, about that ‘real’ job: Sonderman delivers traffic reports for the metro that run on the many StL stations under the I Heart Radio umbrella, such as KLOU (oldies), “The Bull” (country) and Z-107.7 (top pop hits). He also does traffic reports for Springfield, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa, from his swivel chair in the control room. “As I sit there, I can see traffic in any city,” Sonderman says. Plus, it’s safer than reporting from a helicopter. The data is valuable to radio and TV stations in those markets, as well as to drivers with in-vehicle navigation units, he says. In radio for four decades, “all up and down the dial,” he feels fortunate to have weathered the monumental changes in the industry. “I can’t believe I’ve held on in the middle of this sea of change,” he admits. Meanwhile Sonderman, a highway lover, has written several books about Route 66, ‘The Mother Road’ that snaked 2,500 miles from Chicago to L.A., focusing on its route through the city and state and the landmarks still standing, from bridges to restaurants to roadside attractions. (His beloved 1957 Chevy Bel-Air is still plenty roadworthy, but most of the time he keeps it safe in his garage in Hazelwood.) The last day of August marked the release of This Day in St. Louis History, his second volume focusing on the Lou, from the Lewis and Clark expedition and the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair to the notorious Coral Court Motel and sports ‘trivia’—although to most everyone in Cardinals Nation, there’s nothing trivial about a major-league baseball team that’s won 19 National League pennants and 11 World Series titles. And he says it’s almost as though more has happened in the last two decades—his first Day in History book was published some 20 years ago—than all the notable occurrences before that over the 250-odd years in our fine settlement on the west bank of the Big Muddy. Sonderman focuses more on pop culture this time around, although the racial strife in Ferguson 10 years ago and other serious topics are not overlooked. He had his first book signing Aug. 31 at the Eugene Field House Museum, and several more are scheduled throughout the fall for his Reedy Press volume. “Authors have nightmares about sitting at a table for hour upon hour, but nobody shows up,” he laments. Visit ‘Vintage St Louis & Route 66’ on Facebook. And he’s nothing if not a completist when it comes to The Mother Road: With other aficionados, he keeps an online archive of historic Route 66 postcards and images at 66postcards.com.
