herein i am cross-posting from this thread http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9485&forum=1&hilite=mainlander and trying to reconstruct some photos.
first i asked my uncles, who were swingin dudes in the st. louis area in the 60s. this got me some leads, pinpointing a two-block area.
last week i was bored out of my skull writing specifications for a project, so i was inspired (mostly by johntiki and his search for the elusive hawaiian room in the emerson hotel, baltimore) to look at the local newpaper archives in st louis online, the post-dispatch. unfortunately the online archive only goes back to about 1980, so i had a certain wall to work with. but this is what i came up with:
The Mainlander
address: 7700 Bonhomme Avenue
Clayton, Missouri 63105
This is currently the site of "Bonhomme Place," a seven-story, 114,000 square foot building completed in 1989.
"From 1894 to 1954, the Crispus Attucks School operated there, educating the black children of the area." i believe that this groundbreaking institution was somehow dissolved by societal and educational changes in mid-50's america.
"Later, there were popular supper clubs on the site, including the Mainlander and Lautrec's, which was destroyed by fire in 1978." so the tiki establishment was no longer when the building was destroyed.
based on the narrative above, i would suspect the mainlander was est. around 1954? unless the building lay fallow until the mainlander moved in...
Mr. Marion Miller, who is currently a piano player at Nordstrom department store in West County Shopping Center (Missouri), played for several months at the Mainlander in 1960.
The "maitre d' at the old Mainlander restaurant in Clayton for many years before he retired" was Conrad F. Castillo, who died in 1997. "Mr. Castillo was born in the Philippine Islands. He came to this country when he was a teen-ager and served in the Navy in World War II as a personal aide to Adm. William "Bull" Halsey." he is survived by a wife, several brothers, several children and grandchildren.
finally, Clayton Historical Society: 721-2236
where to go from here? well i guess postcards and menus would be helpful. but i want to
- contact the maitre 'd's wife? brothers?
- interview marion miller?
- go to the post-dispatch and look at microfiche of the paper 1954, 1960's and then 1978.
- see if the clayton historical society has any information?
ADDENDUM: seems like an independent website might have taken the info i posted from 2004 and rolled with it: http://community-2.webtv.net/@HH!EB!BC!14277DB27CB9/CatfishRivers/Themysterious/
"The Mainlander" was a Polynesian 'Tiki' style restaurant that operated for over a decade in Clayton, MO (a suberb of St. Louis) primarily in the 1960's and '70's. The exact address was 7700 Bonhomme Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105. This is at the intersection of Bonhomme Ave. and Hanley Rd. As best as I can piece together The Mainlander most likely opened in the early 1960's and closed sometime in the mid 1970's. For a restaurant that was such a mainstay in the heart of Clayton for many years there is surprisingly little information currently available. This has helped to add to the mystique of The Mainlander. As a young child I have two vague recollections of The Mainlander. One memory I have is while I was in the car with my grandfather riding past the Mainlander as we drove down Hanley Rd. from our home in University City, MO. The second memory is when I had dinner inside the Mainlander with my grandfather in the mid 1960's (I was about 7 years old at the time). I felt a sort of enchanting mystique about the place--the decorations were like nothing I had ever seen before---a big old looking fish net, a carved wooden tiki pole, and beautiful blown glass 'fish floats' of different colors wrapped in rope netting and hanging down from the ceiling.
A vintage matchbook from the Mainlander that I have seen is an interesting artifact. The address on the matchbook has no zip code. In the U.S. zip codes were implemented in July 1963 --and not mandatory until 1967. The telephone number printed on the matchbook has an Exchange instead of an area code. Area codes were intially assigned in the U.S. in 1947. The Mainlander first opened its doors sometime in the early 1960's. I'm thinking circa 1960-1963. If I come up with a definite opening date I will post it here.
NOTE ~ the inside of the matchbook lists the bar at the Mainlander as the HUKI-LAU BAR. "south sea potions" !!! Anyways, if that jives with anything anyone else has found, i would love to know. If you have any information/photos about the Mainlander that you would like to share please feel free to e-mail me at: [email protected] and I will add your information to this web page.
The 'maitre d' at the old Mainlander restaurant in Clayton for many years before he retired was Conrad F. Castillo, who died in 1997. Mr. Castillo was born in the Philippine Islands. He came to this country when he was a teen-ager and served in the Navy in World War II as a personal aide to Adm. William "Bull" Halsey. He is survived by a wife, several brothers, several children and grandchildren.
Native St. Louisan and well respected piano player Mr. Marion Miller had been playing at "The Islander" club across from the Crystal Palace in Gaslight Square as part of a combo in 1960. In 1960 Mr. Miller's combo moved to the Mainlander in Clayton for a new gig. That gig lasted only several months as the other members of Mr. Miller's combo moved on to other endeavers. However Mr. Miller stayed on for a decade at the Mainlander as a solo piano act. Mr. Miller forged many friendships in his days at the Mainlander and certainly one of the most notable was with singer Eddie Eaton who would later form a partnership with Miller. The two performed together in the 1980's at "The Godfather" nightclub near Westport Plaza in St. Louis County. Recently Mr. Miller has played his piano stylings at Nordstram Dept. Store in West County Shopping Center.
I have obtained some new updated information about the Mainlander. Special thanks to research librarian Adele Hegney from the St. Louis Area Studies dept. of the St. Louis Public Library for her help. The first listing for the Mainlander in the St. Louis County Directory was in 1963. Dale W. McGowan was the owner. The listing stays through 1976. (the library did not have a 1977 directory for St. Louis County.) A published review of Lautrec's restaurant from 1978 states that the restaurant recently took over the space occupied by the Mainlander. So it looks likely that the Mainlander closed perhaps in 1977.
The 1976 edition of "Gateway Gourmet" states: "The Mainlander's dining room features grass shacks, a tiki fountain, bamboo covered walls, and many Polynesian artifacts. Outside is another fountain and a white sand beach. Conrad, the headwaiter who was Admiral Halsey's aid, always has many interesting stories to relate. Specialties include fresh seafood, Mahi-Mahi (dolphin), excellent steaks, and authentic Polynesian dishes." Hours were M-F 11:30 AM-1:30 AM; Sat 5-1:30. The banquet facility could accomodate up to 150.
mainlander menu
