Historical February–March 2014 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Of all the larger-than-life characters who are part of the colorful history of what was known as the “DeBaliviere Strip,” an entrepreneur named K O Koverly stands out.
In the 50’s, his restaurant was one of the great places to go for music and dining, to see and be seen. KO Koverly was actually Godjo Kovacevitch, who had a wrestling career in the 30’s.
According to the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame website, in a chapter called THE HEELS, by Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson, Koverly was “a colorful guy who used fisticuffs liberally…For many years, Koverly ran a popular St. Louis restaurant called The Mural Room, which out-of-town sports teams frequently habited. Even there, he could pack a punch.
On one occasion, a man entered the Mural Room, brandished a gun in front of alarmed patrons…and threatened to shoot Koverly for an alleged dalliance with a woman. George, in his calm way, said, ‘let’s not create a disturbance here. Let’s step outside.’ So they stepped outside the door, and George knocked him cold with one punch and told him to be on his way.
He was a legitimate tough guy.” Throughout the 40’s and 50’s and into the 60’s, Koverly made the St. Louis newspapers repeatedly.
In 1945, there was a verdict of “unavoidable accident…by a St. Charles County Coroner’s jury in the death of Eddie Campbell, a professional wrestler who was killed when a car driven by George (Kayo) Koverly… struck a bridge abutment… Koverly had been scheduled to meet Champion Wild Bill Longson at Kiel Auditorium Friday.” In 1950, he said he was the victim of theft of a three 1/2 carat $ 4500 ring by “a girl from New Orleans” in a hotel in Louisville, saying “she must have given me a Mickey Finn.” Even at his restaurant, the Mural Room, Koverly managed to get in trouble.
In 1951, he was arrested for “selling intoxicating liquor on Sunday.” The Mural Room began its colorful life in 1950 at 401 DeBaliviere, now site of Pulaski Bank and originally home to the Dorr Zeller Catering Co.
The night spot was advertised in the 1950 program for the St. Louis Auto Show being held nearby at the Winter Garden.
The Mural Room moved from 401 to 411 DeBaliviere in 1952, when the building became home to regional postal office (who presumably didn’t want a bar beneath their accounting offices!). 411 DeBaliviere had been home to Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store through the 30’s and the Whirley Corp. toy manufacturer in the 40’s. Koverly’s restaurant and lounge was successful, with an annual St. Pat’s Open House party, where he had “a covey of horses tethered outside the door all day as an attention-getter.” He moved to 415 DeBaliviere in 1953; that building had been home to an A&P grocery in the 30’s.
It was called a “plush cocktail lounge and restaurant” by the Globe Democrat Newspaper. Our picture is from a Globe feature on DeBaliviere Strip from 1956.
In 1957 The Mural Room had a devastating explosion and fire in which St. Louis Fireman Frank Rychlink died.
The Globe quoted testimony that a “hole found in the basement…was only an old sewer, covered during recent remodeling…Koverly revealed that the club had been having difficulty with its electric lights for several months.” After the fire a bit of mystery insues: It appears that Koverly moved next door once again, this time to 419 DeBaliviere, where the restaurant became The Terrace Lounge. That name and address are listed in business and phone directories all the way to 1970, when it, too, was destroyed by fire. Perhaps some of our neighbors/ readers will remember those days! Marj and Brad Weir, who have lived in Skinker-DeBaliviere since 1961, remember the spot well: “When Brad and I were dating in 1959 and 1960, we dined and danced at the Terrace Lounge which was overseen by the host, K.O. Koverly.
It all seemed very proper. Neither of us remembers it as the Mural Room, but that must have been its earlier incarnation.
It was a dignified place where you went “dressed up.” I suppose it’s too late to worry about confessing that we were served “adult beverages” without benefit of identification.
We hadn’t made it to 21 at that point, needless to say.” Globe “society” columnist Jerry Berger remembered it on his blog as part of the DeBaliviere Strip Club Scene: “George K.O. Koverlyës Mural Room, where the rotund former wrestler beckoned customers to his almost private club.” By 1970, so much had changed on DeBaliviere; the fire at 419 destroyed not only the Terrace Lounge, owned by then by Al Singer, but the original offices of the SDCC and many others.
The gap that now is the parking lot next to Pulaski Bank once throbbed with life as part of the legendary DeBaliviere Strip. NOTE: More memories and details about the DeBaliviere Strip are coming in our next issue: The Stardust, featuring Evelyn West and her $ 50,000 Treasure Chest; the Apollo Art Theatre; Talayna’s, Sorrento’s; Little Las Vegas; the Orchid Lounge; the Holy Barbarian; and several more! Let us know if you remember any of these or other DeBaliviere nightspots as we document that memorable time in our neighborhood’s history. Contact me at jvatcha@gmail.com or 726-6974.
Original photograph caption
KO Koverly at the Mural Room, 1956. Photo from St. Louis Globe Democrat archives; thanks to Charles E. Brown, St. Louis Mercantile Library.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February–March 2014.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2014_02.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
