I recently unearthed an unused matchbook for STL's infamous midcentury, horror-themed neon carhop, Wild's Palace of Poison (1947 - 1964.) That's right, a friendly drive-in restaurant that really only wanted to kill you with their wonderful sense of morbid humor, and not actually with their tasty food. Once located at 1500 Lemay Ferry, directly across the street from Mount Hope Cemetery where both my Aunt Becky and dear friend Tommy are laid to rest, Wild's was a gimmicky fast food joint where you could wash down a Murder Burger with an Arsenic Fizz, and then be officially declared null, void, and all shook up with your very own signed Death Certificate after closing the coffin lid on your fine dyin' 'n dining experience. I've included a variety of other related images below that I found 'round the 'ol www, but I also someday hope to do a more lengthy post about this once popular hot spot where my Mom and Uncle apparently spent a great deal of "hip" teen time cruising for kicks, Vampire Kisses, and Black Widow licks.
6 comments:
One cool matchbook for one cool dude! I’m so fascinated by this place…it’s almost hard for my brain to believe it was real. So I’m glad you found an actual relic to prove it!
I actually saw one of the death certificates mounted and framed under glass with a Wild’s Reunion tee shirt a few years back. Wish I’d bought it ;)
Absolutely delightful. The matchsticks are even cooler then the cover.
I wonder who ended up with that awesome neon? Surely that didn't just get scrapped. I would definitely have eaten at that place all the time: Tombstone on rye, please.
The matchbook is very cool but that first picture of the restaurant, with the skull and crossbones, the 50s cars and dresses, the neon, that's a time back before everything was homogeneous to a couple corporate behemoths, where you could go from town to town and see many different restaurants all with unique themes.
And then lower pic when it's lit up? Chef's ... or Vampires ... kiss!
I don't see a chicken sandwich, though, I guess I'll go with the ham and egg!
The sign is apparently part of someone’s neon collection, it pops up on a Google search
I'm sorry to hear that this place closed up over 60 years ago, it looks like it was the coolest of cool places to eat.
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