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BUSH'S STEAK HOUSE
My brother, Jack, and I operated Bush's Steak House at 100 West Broadway, East St. Louis from 1949 to November 1957. It was located on the "Island" and west of the old overhead bridge over the railroad tracks. It had been a tavern since the 1890's and was operated by John Beard at that time. We had the building completely reconditioned. It had three floors. The lower level contained the Porthole Room, bake shop, plus walk-in cooler and aging room for our steaks. The second floor was our main dining room, see-thru kitchen, Club room, Cloverleaf Bar and office. The third floor contained the Celebrity Room with a bar and dance floor. We had 66 employees in our peak years and attracted people from all over the country, St. Louis and Illinois
We had a night club license and operated seven days a week from 11 A.M. to 5 A.M. We originally belonged to the old "Diner's Club" but converted to our own credit cards and had 4,400 issued when we sold out on November 1, 1957. One of our main attractions was a large lighted parking lot. Our entertainment was mainly in the background with Tommy Flynn, Roy Floerke, Lou Sher, Joe Milstein, Ken Frederickson and the like. After hours many of the visiting entertainers in St. Louis would come over and entertain, such as the Ritz Bros. (Al, Harry and Jimmy), Martha Raye, Ted Lewis, Tommy Dorsey, John Carradine (thought he could sing), Rhonda Flemdng, Hildegarde and Frankie from the Claridge Hotel. Celebrities included many in all fields such as politics, entertainment business and sports. Illinois Governor Bill Stratton and his wife started their honeymoon at Bush's, Frank Choura brought in his old army friend, Bruce Cabot, Doc Albertson brought in old friends in baseball like Pie Traynor, Paul and Lloyd Waner, Virgil Davis, Johnny Mize, Jacko Conlan (Umpire), Earl Torregson and Arky Vaughan. Patti Nash (one of our singers) married Terry Moore (Cardinal great center fielder). She recently got me several of his autographs on baseball cards for my grandson Robby. Patti and Terry were married about thirty years ago and their reception was at the Broadview Hotel. I remember Terry had a twelve year old girl who wanted to go along on the Honeymoon. Other entertainers included Joe E. Lewis, Van Heflin and "Jumping" Joe Russo, Sam Muchnick (retired wrestling promoter) brought Bill Longson, Lou Thesz; and his father-manager, K. O. Koverly, Strangler Lewis, Jim Londos and Vern Gangelin. Harry Caray would come in with Biggie and Stan "The Man" Musial and also Bill Veeck when he bought the St. Louis Browns and then later moved to Baltimore. Gus Belt (founder of Steak N' Shake) was one of our regular customers whenever he was in St. Louis. Another regular customer was Earl Jimerson (East St. Louis born) who became International President of the Meat Cutters Union. MARILYN THIMSEN We had a waitress by the name of Marilyn Thimsen who was an outstanding person and a woman of considerable talents. I moved her into the kitchen and eventually in charge of all kitchen responsibilities. She eventually took charge of the office and did an outstanding job in everything she did. In November 1957, when we sold the business I asked her to come to my real estate office at 9700 West Main in Belleville. She retired in 1977 and went to the Meredith Home where she lived until 1979. She was a lovely person and did her jobs in life well for a person that had only finished the 4th grade.
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