Oh the memories. I was looking for my old sketch pad, for I have been commissioned to make another drawing this year for Art Attack so I dug through some old things in a box underneath my bed. And look what I found. How timely.

You see I saved papers. I know it is corny, but I collect all sorts of paper, especially newspapers. I used to be a paperboy for many years. That was my first good money jobs that I started in the sixth grade. I sold the Post-Dispatch year round for about four years on various Saint Louis street corners selling the Sunday three star edition on Saturday night and also the five star final in front of the Catholic Church my family belonged to on Sunday morning. It was great work, and eventually worked up in the game and worked overnights in the distribution at convenience stores, supermarkets and newspaper stands.

So this particular find brings up all sorts of fond memories. It has been interesting looking at them. I remember this vividly at the time. I was just into my freshman year of high school. There are all sorts of things that could be observed about this market crash. I am not sure where to start, or if I even should comment.

After keeping these on my meeting table for a day just to sort of absorb news of this old paper. I glanced at the headlines and looked at the other headlines of the day. The other thing that popped up is that the US shelled an oil platform in the Persian Gulf. That seems odd. I didn’t remember that at all. I guess that stock market crash distracted me at that tender age. That story did remind me of when our country shot down a normal passenger Iranian airliner over the gulf. And then that reminded me of the Korean airliner that was shot down in Soviet airspace.

That was really effed up. But that is all history now. Sad history.

The woman agreed as she stepped back to her delivery minivan.

I picked up the paper and it indeed was light. It made me a little sad. I used to haul these papers and it felt good tossing around bundles. I would read every inch of the papers. I would read the full team baseball stats in the Sunday paper, the editorial page, Ann Landers and Mark Trail. I would read the whole thing.

So I looked at the Post. I am embarrassed to say, but I haven’t been reading the paper. I guess it stopped about three or so years ago but I still get a subscription and also a few other dailies. I have had a subscription to the paper ever since I moved out of my folks house at 18. My apartments used to be littered with the daily paper. I still read magazines, but I don’t read the paper. It makes me rather sad.

But the daily paper is not the same. It feels different. And it looks different. These are superficial, sure, but for certain things I am a sucker for regardless. I like Chevys and shined shoes. I like newspapers that look and feel like newspapers.

I think over the course of the week I will peruse the old Post and the new Post to see what actually makes them different. Hmmm.

I’ve been kind of fascinated with the St. Louis Flyer Project on Flickr. Of course, looking at these old flyers doesn’t really bring back many memories for me since I wasn’t living in St. Louis at the time. But they are curious since they are clues as to what the Rock’n'Roll Scene was like here back in the ’80s. Most of the clubs and halls listed on these flyers don’t exist anymore, and one in particular caught my eye; Turner’s Nite Club. It was this flyer of their February 1986 calendar that piqued my interest, mainly because of the map that showed its location, namely on Salisbury near Hyde Park on city’s north side:

Turners Nite Club Calendar from February 1986

Here is another flyer for the place, probably from the same period:

Imagine seeing this show for only $6!!

Now to know why this is interesting to me one might need to understand that St. Louis has a long history of being pretty segregated–not unlike a lot of cities. Where different parts of town are known as the domain of different races. The north side in St. Louis is known as the “black” part of town. So knowing the racist attitudes of some white people in St. Louis, I found it curious that back in the ’80s there was a Rock’n'Roll venue frequented by mostly white kids on the north side. So recently I thought I’d go see if this place was still standing, and discovered (not surprisingly) ruble. Apparently Turner’s Hall suffered a fire in recent years and burned down–but not all the way. From what I hear it was a fairly large venue, and when I saw it I could tell that it was. It seems to have been a repurposed gymnasium building of some sort. Anyway I took these photos on my visit.

About a block away I met this guy who was selling his home made cookies on a nearby corner. He was very personable but too young to remember Turners. His name is Sim and I included a couple of photos of him here, his cookies are awesome, BTW.

If you have any memories of this place please post them in the comments. I really know little more than what I’ve related here.

[Show as slideshow]

Hey, thanks to Mike Seely for the great article in this week’s RFT, and to Jennifer Silverberg for the great photos (click on the photo above to read the story online.) It’s a little weird to get this kind of attention. I’ve always thought of myself as more of a behind-the-scenes kinda guy.

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Bill Streeter