New 'honky tonk' brings country to Historic Main Street

 (This article posted the evening of February 10 on the MidRivers Newsmagazine site.  From the very next day and even through today, it has been the most read article on the entire site!)

Since its first known use in 1889, ‘honky tonk’ has carried mostly negative connotations as tawdry country music nightclubs or dance halls. But there’s nothing of poor quality at Main Street Honky Tonk, especially regarding its musical acts.

Dustin English and Paul Wegeng bought Uncle Joe’s Bar and Grill last April. They shut it down around July 1; then, held a grand opening for Main Street Honky Tonk in Historic Saint Charles on Dec. 16.

“It was a bit later than we wanted," English said. "But it’s been nothing but good things and good vibes.

“Our goal is just to give people a different experience on Main Street. I wanted a bit older and established crowd to come down there. The idea was to get ones who used to come down but kind of shied away because of some of the events that have happened recently. We’re trying to bring a different energy to Main Street. Our target market is about age 35 and older, but we want all ages to be there and feel welcome.”

                               Russo & Co playing at Main Street Honky Tonk (Tristan Shannon photo)

The major selling point of Main Street Honky Tonk is its abundance of live country music, which is offered every night, except on Tuesdays when it's all about karaoke. English attributed a great deal of the venue's musical success to Anthony Russo, who serves as its music booking manager.

"Not only was he a big help on the music side, he actually helped with some of the finishing construction stuff for us so we could get this place opened up as quickly as possible. He deserves a lot of credit,” English said.

Russo, who has an extensive entertainment background, also performs at Main Street Honky Tonk on a regular basis. He describes himself as "a backbeat type."

“Look up old artists like John Hartford, who was an old St. Louis musician who would take a banjo and flat foot dance at the same time. I’m more of a rhythm tap dancer," Russo said. "My band, and even when I’m playing by myself, do stop time which is when the band punches the downbeat of a measure then hold quiet for a second, and I’ll tap dance. Then, they’ll punch the downbeat and I’ll dance more. I’m trying to bring a little of the old style with the new. It goes over really well.”

His resume includes touring the world as a tap dancer beginning at age 17.

His maternal grandparents bought the Performing Arts Centre on Kingshighway in St. Charles in 1974. It moved to Main Street for 27 years, then to Country Club Plaza. His dad, Jerry, who passed in 2014, played guitar, acted and served as a carpenter for local theaters and was the technical director for New Jewish Theatre in Creve Coeur.

“I've always enjoyed performing,” said Russo, who noted that Main Street Honky Tonk is answering an unmet need.

“We’ve been saturated with the classic rock cover bands for as long as I remember,” he said. “I grew up on Main Street before you could drive down on it when it was still all cobblestones and brick fountains. There was Baja Rock Club, Tuners and a lot more classic rock acts and entertainment. But as far as the demographics go ... two hours away in every direction from St. Louis City, you’re going to find your majority market is country music."

Russo said Main Street Honky Tonk features solo acoustic acts during the week with duos, trios and full bands on Fridays and Saturdays. English added that, while most of the entertainers are from around the St. Louis area, they’ve also had people from Nashville and neighboring states.

“We felt pretty confident that live country music would go over well in St. Charles,” English said. “We want to give out a Nashville feel where they can enjoy the live music. People are having a blast! "

The one downside is the venue's size but soon it will have a sister venue – Margo Margo Ritas Plus Tacos – right next door.

“As patrons walk up to the Honky Tonk, if there’s a line up and down the sidewalk, (and they want) a little extra room to spread out, (they) can pop next door and have some food,” Russo said. “We also have a huge parking lot out back, and we are among some of the best bars and restaurants in St. Charles.”

Ellisville council rejects Seven Brew’s bid to the delight of Field Avenue residents

 (This is my totally unedited West Newsmagazine piece following three previous articles I had published on this subject that each time filled the council chambers of Ellisville City Hall!)

As the Seven Brew Drive-Thru Coffee proceedings developed, the Jan. 18 packed-house, Ellisville council meeting was far more reminiscent of a highly contentious court case.

Following a 7-1 negative setback at the Jan. 11 Ellisville Planning & Zoning Commission meeting, Seven Brew needed a super majority verdict to win the case. Instead, the Field Avenue faithful prevailed with a 4-2 vote with council member Dan Duffy (District 3) absent.

Five residents spoke in the initial Public Comments session.  Each one mentioned horrible traffic increases, backups on Clarkson and its own street plus imminent safety concerns stemming from Seven Brew’s plan of having one drive-thru side of the operation and the other walk up and bike up.

Bernie Barton added he was against any egress from that lot onto Field, including Seven Brew’s delivery truck.  Dave Goessman complained of potential loud music disturbances from onsite speakers.

The site of a proposed Seven Brew Drive Thru Coffee at Clarkson Road and Field Avenue in Ellisville. (Source: Google Maps) 

Words started calmly as attorney Chris Graville addressed the council as to why Seven Brew would be a good fit for the 309 Clarkson Road address. He noted that it’s a mere 600 square foot grab and go coffee kiosk that only serves beverages with no food or dine-in area. He also said the business is set up with a circulation type that avoids traffic tie-ups and it’s primarily a site for customers to make a brief stop to and from work.

Graville constantly defended a traffic study performed by both St. Louis County and MODOT showed this business would add very little traffic to the area. He also stated it’s the type of business Ellisville has been seeking for this area.

“We believe this is not only consistent with the Comprehensive Plan; we believe it furthers it,” he said. “We want to work with the city and its residents to get them comfortable with this conceptplan. Unlike Chick-fil-A, the traffic study shows there’s no significant trip generation with our plan.”

Graville spoke of a variety of sub-topics that he claimed would be a great fit for the city of Ellisville, including ones from the neighboring Field Avenue. But over time, it developed into an emotional, tension-filled verbal spat between Graville and his crew and Field attendees.

“You all have a very difficult job because you have to take your code, use your city engineer’s report and apply the facts to the code,” Graville said.  “If you apply the facts to the code, this is a very good development. You all took an oath when you were elected to office no different from Planning & Zoning to uphold the law.  We believe to deny our approval of this is completely arbitrary and is capricious.”

He added that every single negative issue brought up by the residents has been shot down by the traffic study.

“This is not traffic Armageddon.  We’ve been threatened at these meetings.  We’ve been told you’re never going away.  We’ve been told people are going to die.  We’ve heard Planning & Zoning saying they’re going to get sued. The residents have every right to give their opinion, but the Armageddon presented by the residents on this petition is not supported by this document which is the city’s engineering report.”

There were just a handful of questions from the council; mostly from Rob Compton (District 1). One inquiry was about the number of cars that might be waiting to leave the site and get back onto Clarkson Road. Julie Nolfo of Lochmueller Group answered that information was not from the traffic study, but provided by Seven Brew.

Compton calmly took exception to Graville comparing Vero Lane and its commercial development to that of Field with Seven Brew’s proposed development. Compton noted that Vero has a traffic light whereas Field has none.

A few more Field Avenue residents spoke out against the proposed development at the start of the second Public Comments session. What followed was a highly upset property owner Jordan Srote.

“Frankly, I’m disappointed to where we’ve gotten to today. I’ve listened to about 90 minutes over the last two P&Z meetings from everybody telling us why traffic was not going to work and none of them were experts. We spent countless amounts of time and money in Julie, and her team spent energy in building up a traffic study which states the facts. Nothing done there is arbitrary.  It’s based on science and facts with a proven method that works….and you’re saying ignore that.

Srote added that walk ability is a major part of Ellisville’s Comprehensive Plan, and he was highly disappointed that residents “were using children as pawns.” While safety is a concern, he said it was no worse than his long-abandoned property being vandalized twice since he’s owned it. He also vehemently denied rumors that property values would decrease.

“There’s the Harvard study and a lot of other studies out there. They call it the Starbucks Effect.  What’s it’s about is if you have a walkable coffee shop within your distance, your house is actually going to appreciate 3% more than a house that doesn’t have those things. And yet, we’re arguing that an abandoned property with a giant ‘For Lease’ signs is not degrading property values in the area?

“I’m also disappointed that when a resident states moments before a vote that somebody is going to die here, and that you, council members and the P&Z are going to be responsible for that and be in for a proper lawsuit.  That’s a blatant intimidation tactic. I’m disappointed in that and the disregard for facts. At the end of the day, this is not my lot or their street.  This is a community with 10,000 residents in it.  They will be directly and indirectly impacted by this through property taxes, accumulation of money that goes to the schools, the fire department.”

Srote’s own comments were followed by nine more sets of negative citizen comments.

Sara Fox said Comprehensive Plan states that it wants to ensure future developments and not duplicating existing developments and strengthen diversification within the business sector. “I did an online search and found there are already three coffee shops and two smoothie places within 1.2 miles or less of this particular development.”

Ed Fasnacht added that not just Field Avenue signed the petition against this specific development but more than 200 people from the general area did, and nobody wants to live close to dumpster smells.

“What’s actually disappointing is to hear the applicant disregarding and minimizing safety concerns that were communicated by the citizens,” Mahmoud Kaaki said.  “That’s disappointing and insulting.”

For the legislation segment, Mayor Mike Roemerman said it’s always very difficult when you have so many citizens vehemently opposed to a potential economic development.

“As elected officials, these are the tough ones for us. We have to consider the neighbors and Ellisville as a whole. Through it all, I’ve personally been on your side.  We had a development on my street, and I was opposed to it for a lot of reasons. But it was approved and looking back, it’s easy for me to see that it wasn’t as bad as what my neighbors made it out to be.”

Roemerman used an example of a neighbor across the street and one house over as an example that property values can actually jump sky high when commercial developments are build close by. He also said that Clarkson Road is dangerous all the time and everybody has to be extra diligent driving up Clarkson Road to Manchester.

Compton had an amendment added that no music can be played at the site. ‘No speakers’ was added by Roemerman.  All voted in favor of that. Still, only Roemerman and Greg Sanborn (District 2) voted for the project while council members Vince McGrath (District 1), Compton, Mick Cahill (District 2) and Curt Boggs (District 3) voted no.