THE OBVERSE

The same diner from the other side. I've never eaten there so I don't need to be in rehab.

The sign on building in back puzzled me. Was it in St. Louis or this very building? This town is a chess hotbed (https://saintlouischessclub.org/) . Turns out the first official world chess championship was held in 1886 but the games were spread among New York, St. Louis and New Orleans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_1886 We got a piece of the action.            

EVEN THE DINER IS CLOSED

Not out of business but not open for business. I don't know why it is so bright inside. As the saying has it, the lights are on but nobody's home.

If it looks extra perky for a restaurant of this sort, there's a backstory. Some years ago it was used as a movie set and the producers gave it a new look. The movie was based on an engaging novel by a St. Louis author. I was his lawyer at one time and I wrote a post about it 12 years ago. See https://saintlouismodailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/06/may-angels-in-this-storm-guide.html           

White Palace

A diner towards the edge of downtown in late afternoon sun. Someone goes to the trouble to keep the paint fresh and the facade very clean. 

There is an unusual back story to this eatery. If interested, you can read about it in this old post.

May have trouble getting posts up for a bit. Tomorrow is a travel day and it's a sentimental journey, as you will see.               

Addiction

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It's not crack or meth. Apparently they are talking about their hamburgers. Well, that's how I feel about White Castles. This is the tiny White Palace restaurant. The name is similar. All was explained in a post about this place last year, as well as my three or four steps removed relation to it (closer than to Kevin Bacon). See the Bonus Factoid for the details.

By the way, you can just barely see the Hard Times Lounge features yesterday in the lower right corner of the bottom picture. Can you spot the tiny Budweiser sign?

Recycling

A quickie, recycling bits of Sunday's theme day and Monday's picture of the White Palace restaurant. The full sign says Sandwich Shop. Off to Florida this morning for a professional conference. Tropical pix likely to follow.

By the way, a much higher than normal number of visitors yesterday and only one comment (thanks, iB). Wonder why.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series

May The Angels In This Storm Guide President Bush

A lunch counter at the corner of 18th and Olive on the edge of downtown. Surprisingly, the management has a fundamental grasp of contemporary British politics, not to mention a World War II sense of allegiance and a wacky talent for prose style. Click the picture to see the details. The left window pane says MAY GOD SAVE THE QUEEN AND CONTINUE TO BLESS AMERICA AND ITS ALLIES. The right says MAY THE ANGELS IN THIS STORM GUIDE PRESIDENT BUSH AND PRIME MINISTER BROWN IN HISTORY'S FINEST HOUR REMEMBERED.

Say what? I hope Tony Blair and David Cameron don't stop by for a bite and begin asking questions.

BONUS FACTOID: devoted movie fans may remember the film White Palace, in which a young Jewish advertising copywriter from St. Louis falls is love with a middle-aged, red-neck White Castle waitress played by Susan Sarandon. They couldn't use the actual name White Castle so they called it White Palace. They couldn't shoot it in an actual White Castle restaurant (Sarandon's character was supposed to work at the White Castle at Grand and Gravois, as blue collar as it got at that time) so the producers took this beat-up old diner and transformed it into the movie set. The movie was based on the wonderful novel by the late Glenn Savan. I was Savan's lawyer at one time, and a more intelligent, literate and tragically ill client I may never see again.

TOMORROW: Asian women eating frozen desserts.