When I described the wonder of my memory of the stained glass ceiling of the old demolished in the 1980s Second National Bank building at 4356 Frankford Avenue - part of my art lover's fantasy was to see the entire ceiling again in some eloquent restaurant in DC. To reconnect. To add confirmation and closure to an old memory. And also to take some good photos of it for historic interest.
I would have to say per my research in limited Internet waters is to see that the "Blackie's House of Beef" guy mentioned indirectly in Part I of this blog is that he operated many eateries over the years, always cash cows in borderline seedy neighborhood's, no doubt due the high rents and property taxes in the nation's capital.
That when he died his kids wanted to keep the hotels, "Blackie" Auger owned 12% of the Mayflower Hotel btw, that they wanted income from hotel management and not slinging steak and beer at discount prices.
As a result, in this article below, the last of the Blackie string of eateries was sold to an old retainer for $1, and no doubt for tax reasons and to finally get out of the restaurant end of the now family business. All Blackie's enterprises had the word "Black" in them like the Black Rooster below.
That when Blackie, if it was Blackie who bought the old stained glass ceiling from New York salvagers of a Philly neighborhood bank, the hundred stained glass panels were probably spread around several cubbyhole clubs, steak joints in the DC area as decorative art pieces and not as part of a once whole piece of a Beaux Art local wonder replaced by a strip mall in Frankford.
DC Beer Weekly - Black Rooster
https://dcbeer.com/2009/10/13/bought-for-a-buck-sold-out-from-under-him-the-last-days-of-the-black-rooster/
.
No comments:
Post a Comment