Photograph by Thomas Crone
On Friday night, I arrived at Soulard’s venerable The Shanti at around 8 p.m. The streets were crowded, but not necessarily with people; instead, every block seemed to have some large combination of dumpster, stage, latrine or other public service item, all there to support the next day’s crowds. With Mardi Gras’ Grand Parade just a half-day away, the vibe was oddly quiet. That said, the little packs of drinkers that were milling through the roads did have a party-hardy attitude, and a few solo stumblers were ambling this way and that.
Inside, The Shanti was already cooking. The afternoon’s crowd was just exhausting itself from a long happy hour, while the bawdy Diggler’s Lounge was setting up for its trademark blend music and sexy antics. Catching owner Teresa Parker on The Shanti’s patio, I told her that I’d run back out, grabbing my laptop right quick. Hustling to my vehicle, I noticed… yes, public urination. By a pretty young lady. Right next to my passenger door. Ah, Mardi Gras!
While Parker shared a laugh with me about that sight, it’s not as if she hasn’t seen a few things in her years of running Soulard bars. For 13 years, she’s operated The Shanti; the nine years prior, she toiled at nearby Molly’s. Over all those years, Soulard Mardi Gras’ been a big dot on her calendar, but one that she’s come to really understand over the years.
“For me, because I’ve been doing it for 20 years, it’s second nature,” Parker said. “I can do this with my eyes closed. It’s simple. I keep it simple. This year, I’ve had some family tragedy and two weeks before Mardi Gras, I was dealing with funerals and things surrounding those. But it’s mostly like clockwork for me. I do enjoy it, it’s fun. I can remember my first Mardi Gras. It was a Fat Tuesday and I walked in the Fat Tuesday parade. I dressed like I was in New Orleans and hardly anyone else did, so I felt a little out of it.”
She continued that riff by saying that “it’s definitely St. Louis’ Mardi Gras down here, not New Orleans’. I wish we had more masquerade balls and events like that. We could really learn a lot if we sent some people to New Orleans to see how it’s really done.”
Now, The Shanti’s always had a bit of a New Orleans vibe, a funky venue that’s booked music most every night of the week, a smoking bar with a devil-may-care sense of design, along with a patio that draws as many dogs as human patrons on spring-through-fall afternoons. And, at some near point, the very particular spirit of The Shanti might depart its little corner of the world at Ninth and Allen. New building owners are on-deck, with Parker’s lease ending on December 2, just after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Though there hasn’t been anything officially floated out to the world, there’s been talk among The Shanti’s regulars about this for a few months.
“We’ve been here 13 years, and the building’s been for sale for many of those years,” Parker said. “I did have the first right to buy it, but I didn’t think the price was affordable; the building needs a lot of work. I’m 50 years old, and I don’t want to put my kids in debt.”
The new owners are coming in with interests in two neighborhood spots: DB’s and Sonny’s. The stated intent is to keep the place a bar. To that end, it’s a lot easier for them to open a new space if the liquor license is continuously held, with no breaks in licensure. With that in mind, Parker figured that The Shanti will remain in place, as is, until December. But even that gets a little complicated.
“To get a permit in the City of St. Louis is pretty hard,” she said of the excise licensure. “But this place is more than a business and bar. The Shanti name… well, so many people have come through here, so many musicians. To sell the name, I just can’t do it. It’s personal. Right now, I don’t know what the future holds. The thing that worries me the most is wondering where the bands will go. We only hold 50 people, but we do get awesome bands, national bands, even on nights for the open mic; our Tuesdays are awesome here.
“I don’t know what I’ll do just yet,” she added. “I’m going to get through Mardi Gras first. Then I’ll take some time to figure it out. Any new place would have to have a cool courtyard. I’m not saying we’ll move locations. I’m not saying that I’ll take a year off to get my head together and come back with other ideas. Or that I might get a job offer that I can’t refuse. I’m just keeping all the options open right now. If the [new owners] offered me a lease, I might even stay a few more years. I’m not going to fret about it. It’s been been a wonderful, 13-year run. I’m already blessed.”
Parker noted that her venue’s been a bar for many decades. She said that “a guy came in one time. He had a picture of himself as a kid in the 1940s in here, when it was a bar. I’ve been told that one of the first baseball teams in St. Louis used to come here. It’s been a bar forever.”
Like its predecessor, Allen Avenue, music’s been a huge part of things ever since the start. And that’s a week-, month- and year-’round thing.
“On Sundays, Margaret Bianchetta’s playing jazz in here at 12:30 and it’s a full bar,” she said. “And it’s totally different music than on the day before. A guy said to me once that he didn’t need to check the listings, because it didn’t really matter. He’d come in and he’d like the music. Or not, but he usually felt that there was something good to hear. I’ve already been trying to find a home for Kimmy V’s open night. I’m sure Liquid Gold will find a place for themselves; you don’t want to stop that great vibe. And Pik’n Lik’n has been here for 11 years of my 13.”
Parker said there’s been talk of maybe doing a show a month across the street, at the rehabbed Soulard Preservation Hall. Other ideas have been kicked around, in various degrees of seriousness.
As of last Friday night, though, Parker was saving the big picture conversations for later. She had Mardi Gras weekend to work through, along with Fat Tuesday; while that night’s impact has diminished since the old days, it’s still a key Soulard holiday. Potentially, both Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday are each having a last run at the much-loved Shanti.
“You do come to love it,” she said of Soulard Mardi Gras, on whose organizing board she sits. “It’s the most money you’ll make all year, and it helps put a little bit of financial gain into your books. Now, I can’t imagine being McGurk’s. I can’t even imagine how they do it all, or even how Molly’s does it. I’ve always been afraid that it’s getting… not too big, exactly. But just having too many people selling stuff. I’ve liked keeping it simple, making it just about the neighborhood. But, yeah, I have enjoyed it.”
For another glance at how The Shanti’s always been its own, little, smoky oasis within the bustling Soulard bar culture, see our recent blog posting, Tuesdays with Laurie.
