La Galerie in St. Charles to close in 2016
From the time it opened in the St. Charles Mall in 1987 to today, La Galerie art gallery has stayed true to its slogan - "Art for about any taste in about any price range."
It's why art lovers continue to come to La Galerie, 219 W. Main St. in downtown St. Charles. That, and maybe to say goodbye to owners John and Judie Carlson, who plan to close the gallery and move to Florida in the fall.
Exactly when remains open to debate, it appears.
"Nov. 1 is when we plan on living in Florida, and we're looking at September to start moving our home and gallery," John Carlson said. "If there is not a tremendous amount left to move, we maybe will stay open through Scarecrow Festival (in October)."
In the background, wife Judie Carlson says, "No, we are leaving in May!"
Regardless of the launch date, it will mark the end of an art era in the city, considering the Carlsons moved the gallery from the nearly closed mall in 1994 and set up shop on Main Street.
It's likely the Carlsons will keep their fingers in the art world, but not in a retail setting, when they get their footing in Naples, Florida.
"We have enjoyed it so much, having beautiful things around us all of the time," John Carlson said. "We may go into something e-commerce, but it is difficult to sell higher quality paintings on the Internet."
Carlson isn't too concerned. He's dabbled in enough other businesses to know he'll stay busy and keep in touch with art in some fashion.
"This has been a great thing for us to do, and we've been really fortunate," he added. "The (artistic) things we liked, were what people in the area also liked. And we put a lot of time into it.
"This was something we could do together after the first couple years of arguing with each other," he said with a laugh.
Nostalgia of drive-ins
A recent story in the Daily Herald reported the Cascade Drive-In in West Chicago was staying open, as the city decided not to sell that parcel yet.
Even though we haven't been to a drive-in in a long time, it was good to hear the place would stay in business. Drive-ins represent something from yesteryear that remains with us, though barely.
Baby Boomers out there surely understand the nostalgia. One of the first movies I ever saw as a kid was "Swiss Family Robinson" at a drive-in in Chicago.
And the last time we went to the Cascade, some 20-plus years ago, we took our son to see "Dick Tracy."
But who can forget their drive-in experiences, sometimes those first dates in a car? And how about those great drive-in movies? It's where I saw "Night of the Living Dead," "Billy Jack," "Dirty Harry," and "Wild in the Streets."
Remember that last one? Teens took over "the streets" and anyone over age 35 was drugged on LSD and put in "re-education" concentration camps.
Yep, you read that correctly. That's your classic drive-in movie plot.
The recliner comfort
On the topic of movies, the Classic Cinemas in Carpentersville is equipping the theaters with "luxury power recliners." As one might assume, these are super comfortable seats for watching movies.
You know what this means if these new seats turn up at our local Classic Cinemas at Charlestowne Mall? Another place for me to fall asleep in a recliner.
They speed, too
We all know how important trucks are to the local and national economy, but it's apparent that people in residential areas wish they weren't so darn noisy.
After mentioning the noise that "engine braking" by large gravel trucks creates in downtown St. Charles, reader Julie Long of St. Charles tells me the noise isn't her only concern.
The Longs live in Wild Rose, just off Route 31, so they have "a lot of interaction with the gravel trucks," she said.
"Many of them are speed offenders," Long noted in an email message. "It would be great if the police/sheriff would ticket a few so they would slow down."
And then she expressed a wish most of us could surely relate to.
"I would not want to be hit by one when in my car," she said. "Or on foot."
Sensed a big win
At the Geneva basketball game prior to the high school state finals for dance teams, we were treated at halftime to the Geneva Dance Team's performance of "I Will Always Love You."
When it was finished, the thought crossed my mind that this was a nice tuneup for the state competition, and if the girls did the routine even better than what we just witnessed, the team had a great chance to win big.
And it did. State champs for a third straight time. Or, as competitors know it, Cloud Nine.
dheun@sbcglobal.net