|
Being a kid in Lisle, this place was always one of the biggest
mysteries to me. Late
Saturday nights were the best for spying. On weekends,
the parking lot was always filled with big beautiful cars.
In fact,
I'd never
even
seen a Mercedes
Benz
until
this place opened
up. The woman going into the restaurant were beautiful! They
wore furs, jewelry, long dresses and smelled like the perfume department
at Topps. Most of the men wore suits and had slicked back
hair.
I remember how many of them would be smoking cigars. (To
this day, the smell of cigars reminds me of those lightning
bug
filled summer nights.) They all looked as if they had just
stepped out of one of those
cool
mafia movies. I thought it was
neat
'cause
they'd
always
have
someone else
park and retrieve their cars. And they would always hand
some guy money just before they got into their vehicle! Dollar
bills! Five dollar bills! Twenties!! This, my dear, was (drum roll) Sam Sutter's King's Palace!
To me as
a kid, King's Palace just
seemed so out of place in Lisle. Ok, so back to the spying adventures. So we carefully snuck closer. Our mission at this point was pretty clear.. We had to try and get a look inside this place! What was in there? After about an hour of ditching in between parked cars and bushes, we finally made it up to the side of the door. I was in the perfect position to get a quick glimpse. I waited for what seemed like an eternity. I was stuck under a bush, it was a hot muggy night and those stupid ants were getting in my ripped up sneakers. I looked back for my friend and, like most of my loyal two friends, he went back for his bike and split! That's right.. Who knew what these people would have done to us if we got busted. So he left me there hiding at ground level watching the legs and feet of these fancy people shuffle past me and into the great mystery palace. I thought my heart was going to beat right out of my chest! And then the unthinkable happened. Like the voice of God behind me, a man's voice asked.. "Can I help you?" And this wasn't just a standard "Can I help you." This had the emphasis on the "I"!!! You know.. The suspicious "Can EYE help you?" Well all kids growing up in Lisle know one or two lines that could get you out of just about any spying situation. It almost never fails! All kids have "pre-spying" meetings about what line there going to use that night if they get "caught." And I knew it was the perfect time to spring "the line." Scrunched
there on the ground, my face in the dirt, I looked up and
I said the line. "Uh yeah, I'm... I'm looking
for
my dog?"
And then, to my surprise the man asked, "what kind of dog is it?"
At this
point I could have just flew out of the bushes, ran and hoped
for the best. Or maybe I could have used one
of our other great lines like "my friend's dad's brother's
dad's
sister
knows the owner's good friend...? But nope... I just sat there
waiting to pee my pants. This was the one and only time in my life I'd ever seen the inside of King's Palace. When they opened the door, I remember the cool air conditioned air hitting my dirty, sweat drenched face. My first impression was RED! Yeah, red... Everything in there was red. There were red carpeted stairs that led up to a lobby area. There seemed to have been red wallpaper and even more red carpet. There was a small coat check area and a large open doorway that led to a room that had red white and blue chrome streamers hanging from the ceiling.This place looked like a huge New Year's / Fourth of July party. I could hear a live lounge band playing just past the streamer filled doorway. It was loud. There were fancy people everywhere! Laughing, drinking and stumbling in delight. I wondered how all these old fancy people could be having such a good time. Maybe the color red and the sound of a bad lounge band is what old fancy people really wanted out of life. I could never imagine anyone we knew in this place. And after only a few seconds, I realized that I was completely out of my element. No line would ever work for me in this place. I remember how one of the fancy ladies looked at me when I peaked in. She gave me a sympathetic little smile. I felt like she thought I was a little alien or something. I quickly turned my little alien butt around, thanked the couple and headed out the door. Outside it was quiet. Except for the hum of traffic on 53, it was peaceful again. I felt like I had just experienced another planet! And being outside, picking up my bike and riding home through the dark field, I felt like I was the normal one. And those people... That loud "fancy people" laughter.. Those streamers... That terrible lounge band... They were the aliens! Not me. I was just glad to have escaped. I couldn't wait to tell my "loyal" friend all about it! Ok. Now
the secret. Remember when we had to sell those stupid chocolate
bars for school? You know, sell 50 boxes and you get a Bozo
notebook and a pen with glitter floating in it? Boy did they
know how to work us kids! I think if you sold 800 boxes it
would
help defray the cost of a 3-day trip to Springfield with
the History club. Your parents then would only have to pay
$200 instead of $225. Then it hit me!!! The fancy people!! The wigs, the red carpet people!! The scores of happy aliens that I saw flooding out of "The Palace" The money!! Oh boy did we have an idea! So we waited for nightfall. Dressed in our shabby t-shirts, cut-offs and summertime bare feet, we gathered up the chocolate bars and started out across the field to Kings Palace. It was about this time we noticed our 3-legged little dog following us through the field. He lost one of his legs on 53 a few years before. He got along just fine. And I think he felt that tonight was "his" night to go check out the fancy people at the Palace. So we found a piece of string for a leash and off we went. Walking through that dark field, we could hear the sound of the fancy people getting closer and closer. Their cars, their laughter, their perfume and cigars lofting in the night air. We walked right up to the door and "hung out" and waited for the celebration inside to let out.. And then, before we knew it, the real action started to happen. The elegant, beautiful, fancy people, that we had watched going in, where now coming out after dinner and "whatever." The woman, heels in hand, were giggling and stumbling and their wigs were crooked. The couples looked as if they had just been through a wind tunnel. They would be laughing and talking... And then their eyes would land on us. To them we must have looked like vagabonds! Our clothes were shabby, (C'mon, it was Summer!) we were barefooted. Oh, and what's this? Oh my! A cute little dog with only 3-legs! The fancy woman couldn't get to us faster! The 3-legged dog was the ultimate attention getter. The fancy woman would always ask questions about the dog. We would tell them the story but I'm really not sure they'd hear us. They were too busy saying "ooh, poor thiiing, he's so cuuute." After they would fall completely in love with the dog, it was time to get to work. "Maam? We're selling these delicious chocolate candy bars for our school project. Their very good and you would really be helping us accomplish our goal?" (Whatever that goal was) Would you care for one please?" Now the big secret! Not only did these "aliens" buy the chocolate bar... But they were giving us fives, tens and, now and then, twenties!!! For one chocolate bar! Sometimes they wouldn't even take the chocolate. That was ok! We weren't offended in the least! Walking home through the field that night, we all made a secret pact. The pact was none of us would ever reveal our "secret" to selling those chocolate bars. My sister went on to be a major player in the Lisle Jr. High candy bar sales force. Yes, She was "on top of her game!" No one knew why. King's Palace remained a mystery to me for the years that followed. Their giant "white tent" parties with belly dancers, sitar players, sports stars, mimes and even big chunks of ice carved to look like birds! This place seemed so over the top for Lisle. Even Sam Sutter's daughter was probably one of the town's most "over the top" beautiful girls. I mean..What-was-this-guy's magic? Even when we were awoken one winter pre-dawn morning by my mother's yells. "Get up! Kids get up!" We all jumped out of bed and looked across the field to see flames shooting out of the roof of King's Palace. It was unreal to say the least! The Fire Department was probably just getting the call because we heard no sirens. Just these 40 foot massive flames licking the night sky and the fire sounding like a huge crackling bonfire. As
I watched the firemen shooting the water on what was left
of the building,
I noticed a side door was partially open and I positioned
myself to be able to get a quick look inside. I could see
what was
left of some of the red carpet.. Some red wall paper and
some red white and blue metallic streamers. I'm
not sure whatever happened to Sam Sutter or his beautiful
daughter. The field (our field) behind King's Palace is now "Honda of Lisle." In fact, the owner of Honda owns most of the sourounding area. He has bought up most of the lots and homes sorounding Honda in preperations for expanding his little empire. Most of the homes he bought, he has burned to the ground and are now empty lots. He has made rediculously low offers to purchase the last two homes. The homes are both sorounded by his now aquired land and they are the only obsticles to completing his huge parcell. So far the home owners haven't accepted his offers. I think he knows the owners are old and it's just a matter of time.
As always... A mystery.
What a
wonderful site! You can spend hours! Thanks for the gift! I teach
at Barrington High School and had the pleasure of his grandson,
Nick in
To help solve the mystery....I worked at the "Palace" as a cocktail waitress, I dated Randy Sutter for most of my high school days, having lots of memories at that house on the hill.... They now own Café La Cave in Rosemont, IL. and most of the kids work there...even Kim...Rose, unfortunately passed away this last year..she was a sweet and hard working lady...as far as Sam goes I heard he had a bar somewhere..not sure where though....This is a great web site..Hope this helps.. I'll share more another time...
Last I
knew of, Sam was in Ottawa operating a bar/pub called, I
think "Cheetah" (not sure of spelling.
Randy Sutter
is now running the Cafe La Cave located at wow.
some story to find. i was a busboy there in the 70's. gussie
was a year older than me, everyone loved him, and i sold
randys band guitars n stuff years later when i worked at
the short-lived lisle music center. the boys were each legends
in their own right, i watched georgie beat up the gym teacher
in high school. they were always good to me, as was their
hard-working mom. may she rest in peace.i learned so much
from her. sam was larger than life, and the whole kings palace
era left an indelible impression on me. brilliant. thanks.
Although it was strictly a rumor, I heard the King's Palace restaurant (which my family visited once in 1974) was torched when the owner got involved with the mob. But I'm not sure what the real story is. I suspect the fire was caused by something electrical or some other type of accident. Obviously, however, the restaurant was never rebuilt.
Hi
Mike,
Gary Klima 8-6-06 Hey Mike, I'm sending these pics of Sam Sutter/King's Palace treasures, which commemorated the celebration of 76. They are curtousy of Glen Canale, who came across them strored away in his archives. They are an original King's palace ashtray and coaster. Thanks
We welcome
your comments, stories or pictures! |
