About Galveston's Historical Galveston

It Was Just Like HGTV!

A young couple attending university called me one day to see a duplex we have for lease. So I met them there and showed them a sad and neglected apartment. Such is the state of the market where I live and work, having gone through the hurricane last year, many residences are just not what they used to be. And that is not a good situation in a community of university students looking for a place to live near the school.

So I asked them if they had thought about buying a place instead of renting and that it might actually be easier and more financially sound in the long run. I told them about the $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers. I think that is what sold them on the idea.

We sat down at the office and I explained to them how buying a home worked, from getting pre-qualified for a mortgage, the search, the offer, negotiations, the acceptance, appraisals, inspections, closing and filing for their tax credit. They had lots of questions and did lots of research on their own. And off we went to find a condo that was walking distance to school and in their price range.

The only bump in the road came when my first time buyers went off on their own and found a FSBO condo that they just fell in love with. I knew something had happened because I didn't hear from them for a week. Little did I know that the FSBO sellers were trying to convince my buyers that they didn't NEED a Realtor and that they would be able to buy this condo with the seller's guidance.

OMG. I could feel my heart start racing with the shot of adrenaline coursing through me when my buyers came to me for advice. Thankfully, they had talked it over and had come to the conclusion that yes, they probably could do this on their own, but they would feel so much more comfortable and confident having someone trained (and trusted) in real estate sales on their side!

We worked out how the commission would be paid in a FSBO situation, crafted an offer and I called the sellers to present it. I told my buyers that it would be best if they left the room while I talked to the sellers. (My buyers were very nervous!)

Well, it was not pretty! Neither buyers nor sellers were on the same page about anything even though they had talked together amicably and smiled at one another as they talked over the particulars of the sale. (That's why you need representation). Thankfully I had sent my buyers out of the room while I presented the offer to the seller. So they weren't there when the seller, exasperated, asked to speak to them (so she could harangue a commitment from them). I simply said they aren't here. After the phone call, I sent the sellers an email expressing my apologies for any misunderstandings and inviting them to make a counter offer.

Needless to say the FSBO deal didn't work. But that's okay because I quickly took my young buyers back out and showed them a Bigger, less expensive condo (it didn't have all the pretty things in it) and they were able to see the value even in the empty spaces!

We made the offer on the bigger unit and by now my newbie buyers felt like veterans of the process.

The closing was last Friday. They brought me cookies and I ate them all. They tried to read every word of the closing documents and the closer gently nudged them on. And afterward we hugged and took pictures.

And it was, Just Like On HGTV!

I can't help but think of this story every year during the Christmas-New Year Holidays, and I always have this burning desire to share it. It took place just before New Year's Eve in about 1960.

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Gigs for Italian singers had been terrible for a long time. But then out of nowhere came "That's Amore," "Mel Blu di Pinto di Blue," and "Al di La." And things got very good for them.

And that's when Macino Rapuchi, with his Sam Maceo-esque billing, "the International Continental Stylist," hit Galveston with his guitar and accordion, and found his way to headline at the Studio Lounge upstairs over the Turf Grill at 2214 Market Street. That very spot had headlined Peggy Lee, Myron Cohen, Sinatra, Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, and a host of others; that is as long as the casino above it was operating.

But about five years before Macino hit town, the famed Texas Rangers had permanently closed Galveston's illegal casino gambling

So for the first time in a long time, business at the Studio Lounge got really good, and it was because Macino knew those songs, and he sang them over and over again as he paraded around the room strumming his guitar or squeezing his accordion. Macino was tall and good looking and was full of personality. He spoke broken English. The girls loved him.

When he'd finish a tune, he'd yell, "Ecco! Ecco!" That was notice for the audience to clap their hands off.

Men had no choice but to take their dates to the Studio Lounge to hear Macino Rapuchi, the International Continental Stylist. Drinks were 75 cents a piece and you had to tip Macino a buck every time he sang a line or two at your table. Macino could make it by your table with his hand out at least a dozen times a night. Be prepared for that date to cost 30 bucks.

Now you remember me telling you about wise guy Joe Pajucie with his cheap looking girls in their Frederick's of Hollywood bullet bras and Carmen Miranda wedge shoes, all piled in his two-payment past-due used red Cadillac convertible from Child's Motors, don't you?

Well, on this Friday night around New Year's Eve-time, Joe was in the mood for some loving. So he picked up his cheap looking girls from the bar at the Derrick Club, loaded them in the red Cadillac convertible and headed downtown to the Studio Lounge.

He figured he'd finally be able to hit a home run and get in some smooching with at least one of the three if he took them to see Macino Rapuchi, the International Continental Stylist.

Macino was singing "Al di La" when they walked in.

Al di la, del bene plu prezioso, ci sei tu, ci sei tu

Al di la, del sogno plu ambizoso, ci sei tu, ci sei tu

Even though the Studio Lounge's carpet was worn thin, and the black light on the murals couldn't hide the years that had past since it had last been redecorated, and the odor of Pine ‘o Pine coming from the restrooms was far from subtle, nevertheless on the way over, Joe Pajucie had convinced the girls that the Studio Lounge in its earlier days had been the place where new talent was auditioned for the chance of a future engagement at the Balinese Room.

They sat down, ordered, and the waitress brought them their drinks along with a small bowl of Goldfish crackers. Macino was on to "Volare," and he was whaling his lungs out and the accordion was huffing and puffing trying its best to accompany him.

Macino finished, and went into his ending, "Ecco! Ecco!" The audience, especially the women, started clapping their hands off.

And that's when one of Joe Pajucie's cheap looking girls, Madeleine was her name, started slowly rising like a human Phoenix out of the banquette and she looked Macino square in the eye and said for him and everyone else in the room to hear, "I love you!"

With that and without saying a word, Macino set down his accordion in front of him on the dance floor, went to the juke box, threw in a quarter, and quickly punched up six tunes, one of them the real "Al di La" by a fellow named Domenico Modugno.

Then Macino came to the banquette, took Madeleine by the hand, and they walked out of the Studio Lounge arm and arm toward the elevator as the audience, realizing what was probably going to happen soon, started laughing and chanting "Ecco! Ecco!"

Joe Pajucie and the two remaining cheap looking girls couldn't believe their eyes. In an attempt to save the night, Joe Pajucie said to them, "Let go to the Pirate Club for an Oscar steak." When they got downstairs and got into the two payment past due red Cadillac convertible, wouldn't you know that the battery was dead. The girls caught a cab back to the Derrick Club.

Joe Pajucie started walking toward the Watch Shop to see if Isadore Jansburg, Sonny Martini and Charlie Killebrew would let him play a hand or two of gin rummy that they usually had going on in the back room. When he got there, the place was dark.

Copyright 2003 - William S. Cherry

All rights reserved

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Selling America Since 1964

214 503-8563

800 314-7110

There is a new historical pictorial titled:

Galveston: A City on Stilts (General History: Texas) by Jodi Wright-Gidley and Jennifer Marines (Paperback - Oct 13, 2008)

It is primarily a selection of photos taken by a professional photographer named Zeva B. Edworthy, who lived in the city for about eleven years after the famous 1900 Storm.

The photos were inadvertently found by his daughter, Judith Wray. She had stored them along with other of her mother's possessions after her mother's estate was settled some years ago. When she found them recently, she donated them to the Galveston County Historical Museum.

Galveston: A City on Stilts was a Christmas present from my lifelong friends, Victor and Judy Damiani.

Those of you who have read my book, Bill Cherry's Galveston Memories or read my AR blogs, will remember Victor. I analogized him as our Fonzie when we were growing up.

To my knowledge most of the photographs in Galveston: A City on Stilts have not been seen by the public before.

Along with the photos are brief narratives written by the book's authors. Most appear to be accurate.

Every person interested in Galveston should buy this book. It's well done, and the authors and those who helped them deserve our thanks.

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Selling America for 44 Years

214 503-8563

800 314-7110

For the last eight years, every Thanksgiving I have shared this extraordinary recipe. (If you're not interested in how I obtained it, scroll down now to the recipe. ) It's the perfect solution to left over Thanksgiving turkey.

And just so you'll know, from time-to-time when Patty and I are planning a dinner party, our guests who have been served Turkey Mornay before, will ask that it be the entree.

THE TURF GRILL'S FAMOUS TURKEY MORNAY

(Serves 4)

Dallas Realtor Bill Cherry

214 503-8563

THE STORY

For years and years, after I left Galveston for college, I frequently thought about the Turf Grill's Turkey Mornay. It cost about seventy-five cents back in the late '50s.

After a movie at the State or Martini, taking your date for the first time to the Turf for Turkey Mornay was the sure sign of an impeding love commitment.

For after all what more could a date want? The Turf Grill was below the famous Studio Lounge where Hollywood and Broadway stars entertained, and they, too, were frequently seen in the Turf eating the famous Turkey Mornay.

"Sinatra and Becall love the stuff," we'd tell our dates.

Some years back I asked both Slick and Gigolo Maceo, whose family had owned the Turf, if they would give me the recipe now that the Turf was closed and only a memory. Both of them told me that for some reason it had been lost and neither of them had it or knew where to get it. I knew they were telling the truth.

I thought about the irony that their restaurant's most famous recipe was lost. I told my mother the story.

She said,"I have it."

"No, I mean the Maceo recipe," I said back.

"That's the one I have," she said. She led the way down the hall toward her kitchen.

It turns out that in the mid-forties, another Maceo that everyone called Little Sam and who lived near us, had managed the Turf. One day when he and his wife, Delores, were visiting us, my mom told him how much we all liked Turkey Mornay. He told my mother that he'd give her the recipe, and he wrote it with a #2 pencil in the front of a zillion year old cookbook my grandmother had given her when she and my daddy married.

So when she and I got to the kitchen and opened the pantry where she kept her cookbooks, she pulled out the old book, opened it to the fly page, and then set it down on the kitchen table where I copied the recipe.

It might just be that until I started sharing this recipe a year or so ago, no one but my mother and I had it. And now you're getting ready to also.

THE INGREDIENTS

2 cup of flour

2 cup of unsalted butter (don=t use margarine)

1/4 cup of chopped yellow onion

1/8 cup chopped parsley

2 cup of chopped green onions including the green stems

2 cups of heavy cream (not half and half. Use whipping cream)

2 cups of good, dry white wine (Make certain it's a good quality otherwise it can make the sauce taste bitter)

1/4 teaspoon of white pepper

2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

2 ounces of grated Swiss cheese

8 drained artichoke bottoms chopped very fine in a food processor

2 pound of fresh mushrooms sliced thickly

3 tablespoons of grated Romano cheese

DO NOT ADD ANY SALT

1 loaf of good French bread

1 lb of fresh steamed asparagus (don't overcook!)

THE PROCEDURE

In a 2 quart sauce pan melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the flour and keep stirring and cook it for about 5 minutes until it becomes a white roux.

Don't stop stirring while you're making the roux...not even for a moment. Stirring is what keeps a roux smooth and creamy.

Reduce the heat a bit, then add in the onions and mushrooms and cook another couple of minutes (don't brown the vegetables). Stir in the parsley and then start gradually adding the cream and allow the whole thing to get hot. Then add the wine, the white and cayenne peppers, and the artichokes, blending well and bringing the whole thing to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer for five minutes or so, then stir in the Swiss cheese, cover the pot, turn off the fire, and allow it to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. (I usually make the Mornay sauce a day or so in advance and keep it in the refrigerator until I'm ready to use it.) Never use a microwave to reheat Mornay sauce. Do it over a low heat in a pot on the stove and don't forget to stir it frequently during the process.

When you're ready to make the Turkey Mornay dish, cut the French bread loaf into slices about 3/4 inch thick. (Sometimes I cut the crust off of the bread, other times I don't....the Turf removed the crust) Baste them on one side with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle each with Romano cheese and then bake them in the oven on a cookie sheet (425 F) until they are dry and appear to be crisp, but not brown

Line each plate with the baked French bread slices, then put a layer of fresh steamed asparagus on top of the bread on each plate, add fresh sliced turkey on top of the asparagus, then a generous amount of the hot Mornay sauce. Sprinkle the top with Romano cheese.

Use the same sauce with boiled shrimp or lump crabmeat. Extraordinary!

Copyright 2000 - William S. Cherry

All rights reserved

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Our 44th Year Selling America!

214 503-8563

I thought you might find this bit of sociology interesting and worth pondering.

At Thanksgiving in 2000 the book I had written comprised of historical stories about Galveston, Texas was published. It was a trade paperback -- that means a regular hard cover book-size paperback -- and it sold for $19.95.

Over the following years, amazingly literally thousands have sold. I had told the publisher when they first approached me that I doubted more than 500 would sell, and I advised him not to print many more than that. Instead, the first printing was 5,000 and there has been a second printing but I am unsure of how many thousand were in that printing.

Nevertheless, since Hurricane Ike hit the island, apparently there has been a re-surging interest in my book by the public. Add to that that they are in short supply.

I noted today that according to amazon.com, used copies of the book are selling for over $40 each. New copies are as high as $80.

That does not feather my nest. I still receive the same per-copy royalty.

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS