Boxing, Wrestling, & Beer Since 1890 - The South Broadway Athletic Club

Arnold00:00:00

Where is there a place in St. Louis where you can get boxing, wrestling and cheap beer? We're going to talk about that on St. Louis in Tune. Welcome to St.Louis in Tune and thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston. Greetings to you, Mark.

Mark00:00:37

Hello, Arnold. I like it. Beer boxing, beer wrestling.

Arnold00:00:42

Yeah, beer boxing and wrestling.

Mark00:00:44

This is all good stuff.

Arnold00:00:46

Oh yeah.

Mark00:00:46

This is like what America's made of.

Arnold00:00:48

I'm making people think about what in the world are we going to talk about?

Mark00:00:52

Heaven only knows. With you.

Arnold00:00:54

They will enjoy this one today, folks. We're glad that you joined us today. We want to thank our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage for their support of the show.You can listen to previous shows@stlintune.com please help us continue to grow by leaving a review on our website, Apple Podcasts or your preferred podcast platform. Our return to civility Today. I did this for Mark. Bring treats for your office mates.

Mark00:01:17

Oh yeah, please.

Arnold00:01:20

And I'm gonna have to scoot over to the refrigerator and get those bottles of water out for our guest ceremony. It doesn't have to be a special occasion. Just bring in some treats to share with everyone.

Mark00:01:30

I like those bite sized Snickers bars by the way, if you want to ever bring those. I've always liked the Halloween. When it's Halloween, it's always my favorite time of the year because they've got these big bags of all these treats.

Arnold00:01:43

And do you eat all those little Snicker bars?

Mark00:01:46

So bad for me? Yeah, I do. I know.

Arnold00:01:48

Eat one of those large ones with a Mountain Dew.

Mark00:01:50

Ay yai yai.

Arnold00:01:51

I used to do that when I was picking up hay in the field.

Mark00:01:53

He's out of his mind. Didn't he gives you a big sugar.

Arnold00:01:56

High for 30 minutes and then you're ready to take a nap.

Mark00:01:58

Are you kidding? God only knows what it.

Arnold00:02:01

All right, so bring treats for your office mates or your radio mates.

Mark00:02:05

There you go.

Arnold00:02:06

As it works that way, do it. In studio we have Miriam Monahan, she's an author, award winning writer and designer.And Ryan Buckley, he's an author, union bricklayer and stonemason. I'm wondering how those things go together. You put pieces together that are physical and then you have to do them in a written form.It's very interesting, Miriam. It comes naturally for her because she's a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. They put out great journalists all the time.And she worked at the Capitol Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. There is in Annapolis, Missouri, and the Houston Post and also the Houston Chronicle.

Mark00:02:43

Wow.

Arnold00:02:44

And they're here to talk about the book that they both collaborated on. The South Broadway Athletic Club. St. Louis is home for boxing, wrestling and cheap beer. Sports since 1899. 120 going on six years now.

Ryan00:03:00

Yep. Last year was our 125th year of continual operations.

Arnold00:03:04

All right, I want to say. And how did you guys get involved with the South Broadway Athletic Club? Miriam?

Miriam00:03:10

I just joined a couple of years ago.A lot of my family members were already members and my brother Bob is on the board and they just kept leaning on me to join the club and just be part of the South Broadway community. So I finally gave in and joined about two years ago.

Arnold00:03:26

And Ryan, what about you?

Ryan00:03:28

I joined 2016 with a larger group. We had some friends of mine. We had a group called the Sooner or Later Club. And we would get together and do barbecues. We were a barbecue crew.We'd hang out, throw ourselves little parties. And our goal was always to save up enough money to buy an old bar or a corner bar in south St. Louis and turn it into our clubhouse.As we were going about doing that, one of our members, Angelo, his uncle Mike Button, who ran the club through the 90s, came back as the club was on a downward slide and was trying to get new blood in there, new members in there. And so he tried to get us down there for some years and we hemmed and hawed about it.And he finally got us to come down and we looked around and realized everything we're trying to set up and do is already set up here. And joined the club with about 17 of us at one time. And we just absorbed. They'd absorbed us into the club and we've been functioning there since now.

Arnold00:04:20

When people hear about the South Broadway Athletic Club and they get the tagline about boxing, wrestling and cheap beer, it's like you think of a modern day kind of fitness center.Like some of these places out there where they got the equipment or you think, I've talked about boxing, you have to want to box, you have to want to wrestle. Maybe that's how it started. Let's get into a history a little bit about the club.

Ryan00:04:43

So we did start as that. Moving into now, we are much more of a social club.We're based in Soulard, we're at seventh in Shenandoah, so we're a little hub in the in the neighborhood there where people come together. Boxing, wrestling brings people in. We have music, food, events. People will come to us. People rent the place for weddings.There's been numbers of weddings that have taken place there over the years. But it's really beside the wrestling and the boxing are definitely part of our history and still continue this day.But it's much more of a gathering place for multiple different events.

Miriam00:05:13

And now we have Queen of Hearts every Thursday also. And our current jackpot is over a hundred thousand dollars.

Mark00:05:19

Oh, my.

Arnold00:05:20

Whoa. Okay, what's the day and the time for the drawings?

Ryan00:05:22

Thursday's drawings at 8:15. We do it every Thursday. We put a band on. So we have a band every week. We people come down, we have the bar open. Everyone hangs out.It's a big, big gathering in the neighborhood. And as the jackpot goes up, so does the number of people in there.

Miriam00:05:35

Yeah.

Ryan00:05:36

And the jackpot is pretty high right now. So it's a pretty crowded and fun event on a Thursday night.

Arnold00:05:40

Wow.Now, I was reading through the book and people would actually learn to box or they would learn to wrestle in many awards, Golden Gloves from folks that were down at the South Broadway Athletic Club. And even, I think the Olympics.

Ryan00:05:54

Oh, yes.

Arnold00:05:55

In the 1904, which was the first year of the club, I believe.

Ryan00:05:59

No, the club was in existence. It was. We sent two wrestlers. That's the 1904 Olympics. It was the modern. One of the third modern Olympics.

Arnold00:06:07

Yes.

Ryan00:06:07

At the time.

Arnold00:06:08

Yeah.

Ryan00:06:08

And it was before country sponsored teams and sent. And they put out calls for local athletes. And we sent. We used to train boxers and wrestlers back at that time. In the.In our early days, we were a full functioning gym. We trained our boxers, trained wrestlers there. We had coaches.

Arnold00:06:23

Is that the case now?

Ryan00:06:24

No, we don't anymore. We put on wrestling. The wrestling style we have now is a WWF style. It's a. It's. I call the physical theater.

Mark00:06:31

Oh, yeah.

Ryan00:06:31

Put it on a play and it's very physically acted out.

Arnold00:06:34

It's like wrestling at the chase.

Ryan00:06:36

Oh, yes.

Arnold00:06:36

We were the bruiser.

Ryan00:06:37

Yep. South Broadway has a very long history in St. Louis's wrestling community. But we used to train boxing. We don't have any training anymore.We used to have a separate building also in Soulard near 55, that we would. Was our gym where we would train them. We had that in the 90s. That kind of petered out.Boxing slowed down as a cultural thing, but we do still put on amateur boxing. We have about probably three events per year. We don't Put them on. We have someone comes in and holds them there.But we house boxing still at the club. We just don't train fighters anymore.

Arnold00:07:09

Miriam, talk about the research that went into the book, because you go way back, you have photographs from a lot of archival kinds of places from the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Tell me about that.

Miriam00:07:22

The Mercantile Library was huge, helping us get the visuals for this book, helping to with what we already had.When we started looking through the boxes of the materials that we had, we started uncovering all these amazing photos, really old photos from the beginning of the club. And then the publisher recommended that we look at other places too.And so the Mercantile Library at UMSL is where they keep a lot of old stock photos from like the Globe Democrat. A lot of. We have a lot of pictures in here from the St. Louis Globe Democrat, which was the paper that mostly covered boxing right back in the day.And so we were really lucky to have help from Charles Brown, one of the curators there. And he helped us take a deep dive up there at the Mercantile Library.

Arnold00:08:11

Now, since you have a lot of relatives who I'm going to say have been deeply ingrained in the club for a long time, did you interview them? Are these stories that you've heard all along the way?

Miriam00:08:24

No, we didn't really know these stories until we started researching it more and reading the old publications and going into newspapers.com and finding the information about what the club was back in the day. It was in the early 1900s, the boxing teams became very serious and some coaches emerged who would coach these groups of young men.And one of the coaches was named Joe Weber. And he was. He became pretty famous for his winning teams of boxers up through about World War II.And they, they took groups of boxers to national competitions in New York. We won several Golden Gloves in New York. And so it was a real point of pride for the dominant boxing teams that we had.

Arnold00:09:17

And that's a very. A prominent thing, that they were very dominant. They were very known, well known nationally.

Ryan00:09:22

Yes, there's a quote, it's in the book. I forget the author, but it is basically South Broadway Athletic Club is to Golden Gloves boxing what the Yankees are to baseball.

Mark00:09:32

There you go.

Arnold00:09:33

And there's a photograph in here, Mark. I think people would not maybe catch this. This is a photograph. It's page 60, 1949 Golden Gloves sub novice champions.And in this photograph there's eight individuals and you have two African Americans and you have an Hispanic American and the rest are white now in 1949.

Mark00:09:57

That's great.

Arnold00:09:58

That's unusual. That's very unusual.

Miriam00:09:59

And one of the young men in this picture here came to the club last summer, and Ryan took this picture of him holding his picture.

Arnold00:10:07

Oh, Tony Martinez.

Miriam00:10:08

Yeah. He's in the hall of Fame, the.

Ryan00:10:10

Boxing hall of Fame, our Wall of Fame, hall of Fame. And he came back for a boxing event we had over the summer and talked to his family.He's 94 years old now, and that's him holding his picture back when he was probably about 18, 19 years old.

Mark00:10:22

Oh, my.

Arnold00:10:23

I have been involved with the Turner Group, very similar. I grew up going to the Turner Gym, and it's now these kind of like you were talking about, Ryan. They become more of a social thing.What has the South Broadway Athletic Club done for Soulard and how has Soulard embraced. And how has the club embraced Soulard? You work with each other kind of jointly, especially like around Mardi Gras time and other things like that.

Ryan00:10:47

Mardi Gras is a big event for us. There's Mardi Gras, such a big party in St. Louis, and if you're in Soulard, you're part of it, whether you want to be or not.But we love being a part of it. And we hold a big. We hold a big party every year inside the club. We have bands playing, music, drinks, food. And then we also.The parade route, it's taken multiple different routes throughout Sular, but now it runs down 7th Street Broadway, right out in front of the club. So we set up drinks outside, food outside, and we host a lot of people, fill the place up for the day, and it's a big.It's a big event for our club, and then it's just a big event in Soulard. So we take part in that from since the beginning, and it's our biggest.

Miriam00:11:25

Fundraiser of the year.

Ryan00:11:26

Oh, yeah.

Arnold00:11:26

Is the Mardi Gras. Oh, yeah.

Ryan00:11:28

Mardi Gras.

Arnold00:11:28

Are most people members of the club. Are they like in the Soulard area or in the South City area here?

Ryan00:11:33

I would say mostly South City, but we've. We've been bringing on more and more members as people come down and find out. A lot of people, a lot of people don't know they can join the club.They'll come down and find out they can be members of it. We don't. It's pretty easy entry. Come down to a meeting.It's $25 a year and kind of helps us keep small amount, but it helps keep us keeping the place humming and so in the last, I'd say the last couple years, we've been adding a lot more members because the club, it's part of the book. But the club, late 2000 or early 2000s, in the middle 2000s, was close to circling the drain.We were almost had to close doors for good in about 2014. Things weren't looking good. And we've been on the upward slide of the comeback for some years now.

Arnold00:12:14

Why the book? What's the purpose of the book?

Miriam00:12:17

We felt that there were stories to tell from the club that people would be interested in and that we wanted to document because 125 years is a long time.

Arnold00:12:26

It is.

Miriam00:12:27

And it's the oldest athletic club in St. Louis. We're older than the Mac, and we're one of the oldest ones in the country that's been continuously operating.And so once we started realizing that there were these stories to tell that people probably did not know that, we decided that we needed to write a book.

Arnold00:12:47

You have to document these kinds of things or they get lost, right?

Miriam00:12:50

Exactly.

Arnold00:12:50

And unless you're really spending the time and doing the research, which really takes a long time. How long did it take from like start to the formulation of the idea to fruition where the printer was printed, by the way, Reede Press, folks?

Miriam00:13:03

Yes, they were great. About 15 months.

Ryan00:13:05

Yeah, I'd say it was about a year in all. Maybe a little bit more planning before that. Mike Button has had the 125 years on his mind for some time and kept it on all of our minds.And as an approach, we realized it's going to be a big project to put this book together. So we started. Yeah, it probably took a little over a year to get everything together and organized.

Arnold00:13:25

This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis in Tune. We're talking to Miriam. Mona Moynihan, she's an author and award winning writer.And Ryan Buckley, he's an author and a union bricklayer and stonemason. So there was a. Like some of the committee of the people who supervised this were like, yeah, we need to do this.Or did you guys go, hey, we need to do this, we need to. Where did the brainchild come? And why did you do this? And then did you. Did Miriam say, yeah, I can do that too, or do.You knew she was a writer and so you. Kind of.

Ryan00:13:54

A little bit, yeah. We put together a committee to do the book. There was eight of us all together that worked on it.Miriam and I were fortunate enough to be the ones with the names on the book. But there were eight other people or seven, six, seven other people that helped us out all along the way. And we set out to.We have a 50 year book, a smaller book, and a hundred year book that's also a kind of a smaller book. Rick Lanius, who is a old club member, he was a printer. He kept.

Arnold00:14:18

He.

Ryan00:14:18

He's the one that preserved a lot of these pictures and ran the printing press. So we had the original prints in negatives for a lot of these old pictures we had in house due to him saving those from back.

Mark00:14:29

That's great.

Ryan00:14:29

In 1999. So we had. We knew we had a lot of information sitting on our hands used. We just had to figure out how to organize it and put it into a book form.Luckily, Miriam came along to help us out because I don't think we would have got it done without her, to tell you the truth.

Arnold00:14:43

Did you do some of the layout.

Miriam00:14:44

Or did you let me press. Did the entire layout. We just did the. The editorial and we curated the photos.

Arnold00:14:50

And is this something that you've always had in the back of your mind as a journalist and working for the papers that you've worked for? Have you ever thought, man, I'll do a book sometime?

Miriam00:14:59

I think everyone who writes thinks that maybe someday they'll do a book. But I didn't think it was going.

Arnold00:15:04

To happen or you didn't think it would happen with this topic?

Miriam00:15:06

I didn't think it was going to happen to me. But suddenly I discovered that the archive committee was working on a book. And I realized that I could probably help with this.And so I joined the committee and we just. We dove in and there were actually five people who wrote the book. Ryan and I just wrote most of it.But there were also Kevin Wilkins, the president of the club. He wrote a chapter and a sidebar. Dan Guenther wrote two chapters.And then Mitchell Goist, who is a Soulard resident, he wrote a couple little chapters too.

Arnold00:15:39

So you look at the table of contents, folks. You have the founding, you have an athletic club, you have a social place, club as community. And then the comeback. I like this.The Bottle Rockets Show.

Ryan00:15:52

Yeah.

Arnold00:15:53

What's the Bottle Rocket show about?

Ryan00:15:54

A big event for us. And that was a big kind of kickoff to the plays coming back. It was 2015, correct?

Miriam00:16:00

I think it was 2016.

Ryan00:16:02

Okay. We had the Bottle Rockets, the band, a local alt country band, they're nationally known band.They separate from us, had a photo shoot, they were putting out an album and they Were doing a photo shoot and they. One of the spots they stopped, just a local landmark, was South Broadway Athletic Club.They liked the picture so much, that became the title of the album. And so we got a hold of them. This was when the club was struggling to keep the lights on.And we got a hold of them and said, hey, we love the name of the place, obviously, or the album. And asked them if they'd do a show. And they were nice enough to come down. They did a free show and gave.Donated all the proceeds to the club, which helped sustain us, help keep. Keep us together. Honestly, it was a big turning point in the club. It drew a lot of people down. I believe that's where Bob and Mary.

Miriam00:16:47

Gave us a lot of attention.

Ryan00:16:48

Yeah, a lot of members say that's one of the first times, outside of wrestling, that they came down to the club for an event and kind of caused them to be like, oh, this is a place we can go to and be a part of. So it was a big. It was a big event in our modern history and a big event for turning the club around as far as membership, revenue and attention.

Arnold00:17:07

If you've been down in the South City area, down by Soulard Market and gone down to Soulard area, you've probably driven by the club.

Miriam00:17:14

Oh, yeah.

Arnold00:17:15

And seen it.

Miriam00:17:16

And everyone who's ever been to the brewery has driven right by it. We're in the brewery shadow just about.

Arnold00:17:21

And it had originally been several blocks away in somebody's house. They, you know, four people founded this and they had it like in a basement or the first floor or something, and then expanded more and more.

Miriam00:17:31

Yeah, it was at 6:11 Geier previously, and it was a building that they rented. And I did form it in one of the.One of the men's houses, but then they very quickly rented a space and they were at 611 geier for about 15 years and then realized that they needed more space. And so they moved into our current location, 2301 South 7th.And it's a large building and it had been several other things before, including Stutt Brothers Steel Company. They're the ones who built it in 1893. And so our building precedes the club by a few years. Actually, it's a little bit older.And so they were in the building for a few years and then bought the building. Our. The club has owned the building for more than 100 years now.

Arnold00:18:17

I'm sure the building was like a tank, knowing that a steel company.

Miriam00:18:20

Oh, yeah, yeah, it's.

Ryan00:18:22

Yeah, Quite. The build's fairly interesting because it's one of the earlier, bigger rooms. Like there's a big dance floor and a big open room.But that was due to the Stu Brothers from their manufacturing of. I think they did iron. They did some work for the ES bridge on the ES Bridge stuff. Brothers still a company. They're still around there in Limay.They're off of Weber Road in Limay now.

Arnold00:18:42

Okay.

Ryan00:18:43

And they got quite a rich history there at their place. But yeah, we, we found some interesting things. We found were some receipts for construction work on the building from like the 1890s, some of the.

Arnold00:18:53

The brick and a brickwork. Yeah. How does that compare with today's prices?

Mark00:18:57

A little cheaper.

Ryan00:18:58

A little cheaper. But you know what? They built it to last because it's still standing now.

Miriam00:19:02

And they did build it to last.

Ryan00:19:04

The bricks are one of the few things about that building that needs too much work. So it's still in good shape. It does require a lot of upkeep. That's one of the major things.

Arnold00:19:10

Right.

Ryan00:19:11

A lot of money for is keeping a 130-year-old building functioning in shape. Part of our fundraisers, we just finished last year, we put a new roof on the place which was.It was in need of, which was a big fundraising drive we were doing for years to get that finally done.And so the place is watertight now, which is good for us because we can move to updating and bringing back to life some of the other parts of the building.

Arnold00:19:33

So I'm going to ask you, it's more personal question that you would answer to someone who you met on the street. And then they said, why should I join the South Broadway Athletic Club? What am I, what are the benefits I'm going to get from it?

Miriam00:19:46

It's a community. And the club is not just the things that. It's not just the music and the wrestling.It's also being part of the community and part of the fabric of Soulard and South City. And we every month we donate to certain organizations in the area and try to be good civic neighbors. We allow groups to have meetings in there.The St. Louis Fire Department recently had a several day long training in our main room.And so we feel like being part of it is contributing to the strength of South City and Soulard and also just being part of the fabric of the community in St. Louis.

Arnold00:20:33

That's excellent, Miriam Ryan.

Ryan00:20:35

For me, I'd say it reminds me a bit of being of my childhood growing up in south St. Louis. I went to Catholic grade Schools. I went to St. Cecilia's grade school and when you go to a small Catholic grade school, we're sitting in St.Elizabeth's old location. Now when you go to a Catholic grade school everybody gets put to work. You have a job to do. You're moving tables, chairs, sweeping floors.And it feels like that type of community without the church or the religious affiliation. But everybody pitches in. It's a member run organization.So you find your place of what you can do to help out the club and it's something to work for. That's a bigger thing than just your personality. You can. Brings you into con. Yeah.Brings you into contact with other people that I wouldn't have normally met or had any interaction with.So the social part of it is very much a part of the club that the amount of people that get together there for like you said, whatever event, wrestling, boxing, music, food. It brings people together.And once you get together start having a drink and hanging out you friends with new people that you never would have met before.

Arnold00:21:34

And besides the Thursday drawing which is up to $100,000 folks, you do regular events besides the wrestling.

Ryan00:21:43

The wrestling are. We have a monthly meeting, a membership meeting. We have that if you'd like to join, you can come on down.That's every second Friday and then every second Saturday is mmwa wrestling which has been going on since the early 80s.As far as other events that every Thursday when the Queen is going, when we're on a deck is open from I'd say about 06:30 ish till 10 o' clock at night when we're open for the. The Queen.

Arnold00:22:05

And that's open to the public.

Ryan00:22:06

That's open to the public. Yeah.

Miriam00:22:07

We invite the community to come to this event.

Ryan00:22:09

It's open to the public. Other events it does get rented out. We just had a CR like other members put on events there that people can come down to. We have a coming up.We have a yearly. The punk rock pig roast is June 21st. We, we have barbecue pits out in the backyard.We cook a pig and we put on a bunch of punk rock bands inside and outside. And that's an all day event. Kid friendly. It's a. That's a good fun day.This is the fifth year we've been doing that and that's been growing music events. We have every year the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we have the Last Waltz.If you've ever seen Martin Scorsese's documentary about the band the Last Waltz they play all the band's catalog and a bunch of who's who? Musicians in the Last Waltz, the documentary, come on to play the band's last show. So a lot of local musicians come down and redo that every year.They play all the music and it's a revolving door of twos. Musicians in St. Louis that come down to play the band's music.

Arnold00:23:01

That's cool. That's cool, folks. It's the South Broadway Athletic Club, St. Louis's home for boxing, wrestling and cheap beer since 1899.Miriam Moynihan and Ryan Buckley. This is a book by Reedy Press. Nini Harris. Nene's been on the show multiple times. Great author. She did the foreword on this. Great book, folks.It's a good one to get an understanding, especially if you're in the Soulard area. You really need this book because there's a lot about some soul art history in here that you may not know.And it's a great book to understand what are some of the things that have held our community together. And South Broadway Athletic Club is one. Thank you both for coming in today.

Miriam00:23:38

Did I mention where to get the book?

Arnold00:23:39

Yes.

Miriam00:23:39

You can come get the book from us on June 13th at our book release party, Friday, June 13th at 8:00. The book is also for sale at local schnooks. It's for sale at Barnes and Noble. We'll be there signing on Sunday from 12 to 2. Ryan and I will be there.

Mark00:23:54

Wow.

Miriam00:23:54

It's for sale at reedy, print press.com and several other places in the area.

Arnold00:23:59

So June 13, what time? 8:00, what the Athletic Club? The club, yes. Okay. And where are you signing books at?

Miriam00:24:07

Barnes and Noble in West County.

Arnold00:24:09

And what date is that?

Miriam00:24:10

Sunday, June 8th, from 12 to 2.

Arnold00:24:12

Okay.

Mark00:24:13

So anybody can just go into the Athletic Club and get a drink.

Ryan00:24:17

We don't have like open hours. It used to be the way it used to be.We had a fellow named Brian Dog who's a longtime member and the our hours used to be when Dogs cars out there were open. He's. He's retired as of these days. So Thursday nights is our open to the public. Anyone can come down. That's a good night to come down there.If you ever want to come down for wrestling. Those are every second Saturday. And then there's general events that will just pop up that you don't have to be a member to come to meetings.If you're joining, you got to be a member to come down to. But if you're joining Come on down and we'll get you. We'll get you signed up.

Mark00:24:50

Sounds like fun.

Arnold00:24:51

Yeah. The website is sbacstl.org sbacstl.org thank you both.

Ryan00:24:59

Thank you.

Miriam00:24:59

Thank you so much.

Arnold00:25:01

We're going to take a brief break and folks, we'll be right back. This is Arnold Stricker with mark Langston of St. Louis and Tune. Don't go away. As strange as it may sound, at Better Rate Mortgage.We love talking to people about mortgages. Everyone in St. Louis promises a better mortgage rate. But what you really need to turn that perfect house into your dream home is a better mortgage.At Better Rate Mortgage, we open the door to so much more. So where are you in the home buying process? Researching, maybe wondering how much you can afford? House hunting?Get a pre approval from Better Rate Mortgage Ready to buy.Our team is ready to make your mortgage process fast and easy whether you're purchasing your first home or taking cash out to make your dream home even dreamier. Our door is open. Come on in and get started. Today we'll show you how.Call Sean directly at 314-375-3293 or online@betterratemortgage.com Remember, at Better Rate Mortgage, a better rate is just the beginning. Betterratemortgage.com NMLS ID 2401335 and equal housing Lender the United States has a strong tradition of welcoming newcomers and refugees.The welcome Corps is a new service opportunity for Americans inspired to welcome those seeking freedom and safety and in turn help strengthen their own communities. Welcome Corps is a public private partnership that is inspired by what Americans represent to so many around the world. A beacon of hope and refuge.All it takes is a helping hand. Are you ready? To learn more, contact the International Institute of St. Louis@infoistl.org or call 314-773-9090.That's infoistl.org or call 314.773-9090. This is Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in Tune on behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation.In 1857, the Dred Scott decision was a major legal event and catalyst that contributed to the Civil War. The decision declared that Dred Scott could not be free because he was not a citizen.The 14th Amendment, also called the Dred Scott Amendment, granted citizenship to all born or naturalized here in our country and was intended to overturn the US Supreme Court decision on July 9, 1868.The Dred Scott Heritage foundation is requesting a commemorative stamp to be issued from the US Postal Service to recognize and remember the heritage of this amendment by issuing a stamp with the likeness of the man Dred Scott. But we need your support and the support of thousands of people who would like to see this happen.To achieve this goal, we ask you to download, sign, and share the one page petition with others. To find the petition, please go to dredscottlives.org and click on the Dred Scott petition drive on the right side of the page.On behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation, this has been Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tune.

Mark00:27:57

We're back.

Arnold00:28:01

Here's Johnny.

Mark00:28:02

Oh, no. What was that? One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Is that.

Arnold00:28:09

I think that's correct.

Mark00:28:10

Yeah.

Arnold00:28:11

That was a line that apparently was not in the script.

Mark00:28:15

Oh, is that right?

Arnold00:28:16

He improvised that. And they liked it so well that it's. That's the Jack Nicholson thing.

Mark00:28:22

He was very scary when he delivered that line.

Arnold00:28:24

Oh, my gosh. Yes.

Mark00:28:25

It was pretty skiz. I remember.

Arnold00:28:27

Folks, we hope we haven't scared you. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis in Tune.We just had a great conversation with Miriam Moynihan and Ryan Buckley about the South Broadway Athletic Club. As we were talking going out, it really should be a national historic landmark.

Mark00:28:42

Yeah. Yeah.

Arnold00:28:44

25 years, 26 years now.

Mark00:28:46

We could have spent more time with them, too, talking about all sorts of stuff. Is it. Has it been continuously open?

Arnold00:28:52

Yes.

Mark00:28:52

I thought there was a moment there where it was slipping it almost.

Arnold00:28:56

They were really struggling. I think part of it related to how life goes in life. Yeah. Interests and things like that.These clubs were very popular back in the 20s and 30s and 40s. And because they were athletic clubs, people would go there to exercise and learn to box or those kinds of things.And then that kind of waned when suburbs opened up a little bit more and people doing their own thing. I'm gonna open up this gymnastic or dance club and people would.People moved out of the city, moved out of Soulard area, and now it's become more of a hotspot.

Mark00:29:31

I'm glad they kept it alive. Since 1899. That is. Wow.

Arnold00:29:37

Have to have a lot of dedication.

Mark00:29:38

Yeah, I'm glad. Yeah. The South Broadway Athletic Club. I've heard about it. As I was growing up, I always heard about what was going on.And like you said, wrestling at the chase. They would talk about South Broadway Athletic Club on that and.

Arnold00:29:52

And to be national for the Golden Golden Gloves and to be older than the Mac The Missouri Athletic Club also. Yeah, big deal.

Mark00:30:00

Yeah, I think it's pretty neat.

Arnold00:30:02

So again, they're doing a.

Mark00:30:03

It's only $25 to be a member. Yeah, what the heck.

Arnold00:30:07

Go to see the movies. Boom.

Mark00:30:09

Yeah. Yeah. Heck yeah. I'll give them 25 bucks to be a member.

Arnold00:30:13

So June 8th they're signing at Barnes & Noble and June 13th they'll be down at the club at 8 o' clock. So if you can check that out.Otherwise go to Reedy Press or I'm sure you can go to Amazon and check that out or all these other places around to sell books.

Mark00:30:29

Okay. I have a. What do you call it? Something that annoys me.

Arnold00:30:33

What's that?

Mark00:30:34

I just always want to talk about things that annoy me.

Arnold00:30:37

I've got another mental floss. But talk about what annoys you.

Mark00:30:40

Oh, yeah. Okay. Should we do the mental floss first?

Arnold00:30:42

Okay, we'll do the mental.

Mark00:30:43

Yeah, let's do that.

Arnold00:30:43

This is our new portion of the show rather than the word of the America's favorite gas station snacks mapped by state.

Mark00:30:51

Ooh, this sounds good.

Arnold00:30:54

Yes. And so many times if you're like on a trip or you're going to.You're taking maybe the kids to college or maybe you're just on a vacation, there's a lot of different kinds of treats out there. You see a lot of jerky. They always put the jerky things right up there. But what has come out on top? I'm just going to read.Although beef jerky has one of the highest prices, it came out on top in the overall popularity contest. People in Michigan, Texas, North Dakota and five other states believe the average cost of $5.63 is worth it for the cured meat product.And on the sweeter side, the second most popular snack, Rice Krispies treats. It's a devoted fans in six states, including Utah, New Jersey and California. And in third place is Skittles. Five states preferring this.They're so popular that Mars, the company that produces the billions of fruity candies each year, is really struggling to keep up with consumer demand. So Skittles then you have Taquitos, Chex Mix, Snickers, Bugles, Starburst, Minis, Nacho cheese, Doritos, Flamin Hot, Cheetos and Peanut M M's.Now my snacks are not on those.

Mark00:32:10

Really?

Arnold00:32:11

No. I like to get pistachios. And I know you love pistachios too.

Mark00:32:14

Pistachios.

Arnold00:32:15

I like to get the shelled ones. Other I also like like peanut butter crackers.

Mark00:32:21

We used to eat the red pistachios when I was a kid.

Arnold00:32:24

Red pistachios?

Mark00:32:25

We didn't even know that. Yeah, it's probably red dye. I know. And we'd have, like, red fingers and red lips and. But yeah, we used to eat pistachios that were red. And then they.They stopped doing that, thank goodness. Probably because of the red dye.

Arnold00:32:40

Now, do you remember Crystal Pepsi?

Mark00:32:42

Oh, yeah, yeah. That was like a clear.

Arnold00:32:44

A clear Pepsi. Then there's. You remember Dunkaroos?

Mark00:32:49

No.

Arnold00:32:49

Okay. I don't either. Some of these may have been regional. They were discontinued there. Another one is Oreo Cakesters. Bagel Bites. How about Tab Soda?

Mark00:33:03

Oh, my mom loved Tab.

Arnold00:33:06

I love Tab, too. I thought it was very. Yeah, I thought it was good.

Mark00:33:08

They don't make that anymore.

Arnold00:33:10

Fruitopia, Heard of that? Kudos. Barsudo's Bars. I do Orbit's Waffle Crisps.

Mark00:33:22

Waspel Crisps. That's a plural of crisps.

Arnold00:33:26

It's a plural. So very interesting. What snacks do you get when you go out to on a travel thing? Or do you bring your own from home?

Mark00:33:35

Oh, no, I always. I like those. Yeah. I like Teriyaki Beef Jerky, one of my favorites. And then Lunchables. I will grab a lunchable. Really high in sodium.

Arnold00:33:47

I was gonna say you got your sodium content for the week.

Mark00:33:50

High in sodium. Yeah. And then my. My sweet tea. I do sweet tea. That never helps. More. More Potty stops that way. Yeah, but yeah, that's.

Arnold00:33:59

Then you can buy more Lunchables.

Mark00:34:01

I know. I don't know what it is with me and Lunchables.

Arnold00:34:04

I think they.

Mark00:34:04

It's those little cheese things, too.

Arnold00:34:06

Maybe it's the msg and you go for more and then you gotta eat more.

Mark00:34:10

I know. And I'm trying to say I'm not gonna get those chips. That's unhealthy for me. Then I eat the other stuff that's got.

Arnold00:34:15

You don't get a banana or an orange or an apple.

Mark00:34:18

Boy, I was never raised like that.

Arnold00:34:20

Yogurt.

Mark00:34:21

Wish I had, but I love yogurt. Yogurt with blueberries in it. It's one of my very favorites. Every day I probably have one of those.

Arnold00:34:28

It's good stuff.

Mark00:34:28

Yeah, I gotta stay up on those. Yep, yep. And pistachios, too. I do have pistachios.

Arnold00:34:33

We have the Pistachio Gallery with us all the time.

Mark00:34:36

Yes, we do. I know. Yes, we do.

Arnold00:34:39

So that's mental floss, Mark.

Mark00:34:41

That's pretty interesting.

Arnold00:34:42

Yeah.

Mark00:34:42

That's some good stuff. Now that's good. Good things to know. So one of my pet peeves, I'm just going to have to tell you because it happened again today on the way to work.There's the white line where people are supposed to stop in front of the white line. It's just. Maybe it's because I'm getting old and I want to get off my lawn guy. But people, they don't. Instead, they stop in the crosswalk.Oh, no, we met the other line. That's in the crosswalk. That's the white line. They can't seem to stop where they're supposed to stop. And cars are dangerous.They're big, they're heavy, they can hurt a lot of people. But I find more and more people are creeping into the intersections. They're not stopping like they should.And I'll be driving down the road and somebody will be coming up one of the side streets and I'll be darn if the front end of their car isn't sticking out into the. In the right of way.

Arnold00:35:33

I think I have a theory on that. Okay, here's my theory. In Missouri, they stopped having high school kids take driver education.

Mark00:35:44

That, you know what? That's. That was part of the test, as I remember. Can you put the bumper in front of that white line?

Arnold00:35:52

Yeah, you stop it with. Even with the stop sign where the white line is. And generally those were in congruence with each other. Sometimes they were. They were a little off.So it was like, okay, do I start on the line? Do I stop with the stop sign backing up?You have to look over your shoulder with your right arm slung over the seat and wait three seconds after you stop before you turn back over.

Mark00:36:12

Yes. And some of the intersections are tight and maybe they'll bring that. That left turn lane, white line back a little bit.It's to give those cars that are turning in there a little bit more. But then people are like a whole car length over it. Yeah, I know. We miss it sometimes. Or we'll get caught in the. When the yellow light comes up.And more times than not, people are just. I don't know. Where did you learn how to drive?

Arnold00:36:35

Where it becomes a problem is if there's a large truck with a trailer. Oh, then you're either going to back up or the truck's going to be like, hey, what are you doing? I can't make this turn.

Mark00:36:43

I have to wait for you to.

Arnold00:36:45

Yeah, you knock it. Out of the way.

Mark00:36:46

Get out of the way. I know on the way into the station today, there was someone.

Arnold00:36:52

I couldn't even tell you the license number.

Mark00:36:54

I know. The car was. Hair color. No.And they were at the stop sign light, and they were all the way into the intersection and up to the farthest line in the crosswalk. So if you were walking in the crosswalk, you'd have to walk around the car and into the oncoming traffic. So it's just. It's like, what do you.

Arnold00:37:18

Maybe they thought the back tire should be on the big white line.

Mark00:37:21

Happy to be in their world.

Arnold00:37:23

Yeah. It gets very dangerous, especially if you're walking.

Mark00:37:26

So I don't know.

Arnold00:37:27

I get that.

Mark00:37:28

I'm trying not to. Like, I'm trying not to make it upset me. I look at it, just. I want to honk the horn.

Arnold00:37:34

No, you don't want to honk them.

Mark00:37:35

Tell them they're number one.

Arnold00:37:39

What do you think?

Mark00:37:40

People carrying guns? My wife always says, maria says, mark, they have guns now.

Arnold00:37:44

That's correct. My wife says that too.

Mark00:37:46

Does she?

Arnold00:37:46

Yes. And I probably could honk the horn a lot. Every day, legitimately.

Mark00:37:53

Today is insect repellent awareness day. Are you aware of that? I have been getting more bites this spring.

Arnold00:38:01

Oh, all the water.

Mark00:38:02

I guess that's it.

Arnold00:38:03

Yeah. The rain.

Mark00:38:04

Who knew they'd have an insect repellent awareness day?

Arnold00:38:09

They have a day for everything.

Mark00:38:10

I know they do. And that was just one of the many days of the week that we haven't.

Arnold00:38:14

I had the rudest, slowest, nastiest cashier earlier this morning.

Mark00:38:18

Okay.

Arnold00:38:19

I guess it's my own fault for using the self checkout lane.

Mark00:38:22

Wow. Wow. That's.

Arnold00:38:28

I don't understand people who say, I don't know how to thank you. Like they never heard of money.

Mark00:38:34

Little tip wouldn't hurt.

Arnold00:38:39

Oh, my. And earlier I saw a bumper sticker. Bumper stickers a lot. Sometimes I see bumper stickers on an entire back side of a car.It said, I'm a veterinarian, therefore I can drive like an animal. Suddenly I realized how many proctologists are on the road.And as a kid, I used to watch the wizard of Oz and wonder how someone could talk if they didn't have a brain. But then I got social media and let's see here.

Mark00:39:14

That's pretty good stuff.

Arnold00:39:15

Yeah, that was a good one. Here, the last one.

Mark00:39:17

Oh, you got one more.

Arnold00:39:18

Salesman says to somebody who's buying a car, this car seats six people without any problems. Person said, I don't think I know six people without any problems.

Ryan00:39:29

Wow.

Mark00:39:30

Wow. I'll second that.

Arnold00:39:34

Okay.

Mark00:39:37

You're looking for an encore?

Arnold00:39:38

Oh, here we go.

Mark00:39:39

You have an encore.

Arnold00:39:39

This is an employee praised for providing an office with dad jokes every day from a whiteboard. And here was the joke. I saw someone dragging a clam on a leash this morning. It must be hard to walk with a pulled muscle.Oh, my God, you love dad jokes. That's right up your alley, Mark.

Mark00:39:58

I do, I do. I know. I'd subscribe to Facebook dad jokes.

Arnold00:40:04

Now. I'm keeping all these good. I have a lot of really good ones.

Mark00:40:07

Daily jokes.

Arnold00:40:07

I have. No, just good jokes.

Mark00:40:10

Oh, okay. And you have good jokes.

Arnold00:40:11

Yeah. These are bad jokes for the end of the year show. Remember we did our review last year?

Mark00:40:16

That's always a lot of fun.

Arnold00:40:17

Yeah. So I'm saving those for that show.

Mark00:40:20

Okay, good.

Arnold00:40:21

Yeah.

Mark00:40:22

Cash register. So I got to make it to the end of the year. Is that what you're saying?

Arnold00:40:26

Skips the Art Fleming. I'll give you a. I know, but.

Mark00:40:29

I don't know where he is. I know he's in there somewhere.

Arnold00:40:31

Upper right hand corner.

Mark00:40:32

Sorry. So sorry. So sorry. That's it. I know. I'm not sure where Art is all the time.

Arnold00:40:38

So had a good time.

Mark00:40:39

Some parting gifts from us. Thank you so very much.

Arnold00:40:41

Thank you, Art, for that. From the old Jeopardy Show.

Mark00:40:44

Yeah.

Arnold00:40:45

That's all for this hour, folks. Thanks for listening. And don't forget the South Broadway Athletic Club.You can go Thursday night and catch the hundred thousand dollars maybe, or join the club and enjoy their activities that they have there at the provide. If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows@stlintune.com.consider leaving a review on our website, Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow.Want to thank Bob Berthasiel for our theme music, our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, our guests Miriam Moynihan and Ryan Buckley, and our co host, Mark Langston. And we thank you, our listeners, for being a part of our community of Curious Minds. St.Louis and Tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network. Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy, and let your light shine. For St. Louis in Tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.

Miriam00:41:49

SAM.

Mark00:42:17

IT.

Arnold00:42:28

Transgender advocates are speaking out.

Ryan00:42:30

Seeking equal recognition in society.