Europa 390 emerged in 1961, when the corner of Euclid and McPherson was nothing notable, just some commercial buildings. Frank Mormino rented 390 N. Euclid for $125 a month and opened a bar. He’d had a couple other bars, one with DJ Spider Burks, but nothing had succeeded. Somehow, though, this one worked.
A former Marine, Mormino seemed to enjoy the progressive neighborhood. A group of independent filmmakers, including Shelby Storck and Pierre Vacho, had offices upstairs. Europa became their de facto lounge, a place for hours-long conversations.
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Mormino served sandwiches so thick, they were the subject of a wire service story a few years after Europa 390 opened. Mainly, though, the place was about the drinks. One night, a pair of newcomers watched as a guy toppled from a barstool—and no one else seemed to pay any attention to the unmoving body. After a while, the man crawled back onto another stool, and the evening continued.
A few ancient travel posters punctuated the dark interior, and the basement occasionally served as the scene of local theater productions. Mormino, who’d played minor league baseball in his youth, closed the establishment in 1987 and returned to his first love, becoming a coach at Saint Louis University. The space eventually became the Canyon Room for the final expansion of Duff’s.
