JAZZ, BOOZE AND INK-STAINED FINGERS

Raising a toast at Nighttown, surrounded by photos taken by Press Club members.
Photograph by Robert Muller

The Press Club of Cleveland Finds a New Old Home
by David Budin

Everyone who walks into Nighttown these days gets a double shot, whether they’re drinking or not. It’s a double shot of history: the venerable restaurant and bar at the top of Cedar Hill in Cleveland Heights, now 42 years old, recently became the home of the Press Club of Cleveland, which celebrates its 120th birthday this year.

Now, when you walk into the back dining room behind the bar, you find yourself surrounded by large, framed iconic photographs. The photos have replaced a lot of other works of art that, while they may have had more color, certainly weren’t as colorful as these old black-and-whites. There’s Mayor Perk with a blowtorch in his hand and his hair on fire; the Beatles in their shiny suits and mop-top haircuts, smirking through their Cleveland press conference; the anguished aftermath of the Kent State University shootings on May 4, 1970; and more than a dozen other scenes you’ll recognize, either from having seen them, or having heard so much about them.

This image and opposite: Largescale paintings commissioned by the club in the 1950s. A third painting – like the others, about eight feet tall – depicts stripper Fifi LaSalle being… er, interviewed by two dedicated reporters. Nighttown’s back hallway now serves as the Press Club’s Hall of Fame – the first physical hall of fame it has had since the awards’ inception in 1981. Every year, the Press Club creates two plaques for each of its several winners, one presented to the winner and one that the club kept in a box somewhere, because there was no other place to display them. Some of the 200-plus small plaques, which bear a picture of the winner and a paragraph about him or her, were displayed on the Press Club’s website beginning last year. Now, you can see them in person – legendary names like Peter Bellamy, Mary Strassmeyer, Winsor French, Milt Widder, Jimmy Dudley, Bill Hickey, Don Robertson, Dorothy Fuldheim, E.W. Scripps, Hal Lebovitz, Louis B. Seltzer and Jane Scott.
Paintings Courtesy of Nightown, Photographed by Tim Ryan

Also on display are three brightly colored, large-scale paintings that the club commissioned in the 1950s. One of the panels, about eight feet tall and two feet wide, features stripper Fifi LaSalle being interviewed by two reporters. A huge mural depicting reporters, politicians, entertainers and other characters of a bygone era – which was owned by the Press Club and once adorned the long-gone East 9th Street nightspot Kornman’s – was given to the Western Reserve Historical Society nearly 40 years ago. An authentic reproduction of the mural will be on display at Nighttown, behind the area where musicians perform every night.

The Press Club has also given Nighttown owner Brendan Ring another box of loose photos that he'll probably frame and display. There are many more photos that most likely will be donated to the Cleveland State University Library’s Special Collections department, along with the 120 years of papers – club rosters, programs, etc. – that have gone there already.

One of the Press Club’s more recent locations was Cleveland’s City Club. Lately, the club has held its monthly board meetings at The Plain Dealer, which it will continue to do. Bruce Hennes, a crisis communications consultant and a member of the Press Club’s board, who also handles public relations for Nighttown, knew that the iconic black-and-white photos were at the City Club, and, he says, "I thought it was a shame that they weren’t being seen by more people. I approached Brendan Ring about the idea, and he immediately agreed. He said that Nighttown has always been home to writers of every ilk. I went back to the Press Club board with the idea, and they immediately voted in favor of it.

“So, for first time there will actually be a physical hall of fame. Plus, it will be the first time it’s been in a place that’s open to public, open seven days a week, to midnight – and has a full kitchen and a bar.”

In the club’s 1947 incorporation papers, one of its stated purposes was to “bring members of the press, newspapermen, and men of other professions into closer personal relationship and to further good fellowship among members.” In a special magazine created for the Press Club’s 100th anniversary in 1987, John Sheridan wrote, “Over the years, the Press Club has exhibited an evolving personality – unsure whether its purpose was to foster better journalism or to provide a refuge for overstressed newshounds.”

The club’s current mission statement is a little more clear and focused, proclaiming that it’s “an organization for print and broadcast journalists and editors, public relations and advertising professionals, and anyone who works with them. The Club serves its members by: providing social and educational opportunities; promoting excellence in journalism; attracting and educating highquality candidates to enter journalism; and maintaining a history of journalism in Cleveland.”

Today the Press Club of Cleveland may be best known for its Excellence in Journalism Awards, established in 1979 and taken very seriously by the region’s journalists and publications. That kind of activity, however, might have been viewed as a little too serious by club members of decades past.

On weekend nights during the 1940s and ’50s, locally and nationally known entertainers, politicians, sports stars and all sorts of wild characters usually populated the club. Maybe its Nighttown residence is the beginning of a new era of old times for the Press Club of Cleveland.

A mural once owned by the Press Club, which hung in Kornman’s, an East 9th Street nightspot frequented by members of the press.
A reproduction of the mural will hang at Nighttown, providing a backdrop for the internationally known musicians who perform there.
Mural Courtesy of Western Reserve Historical Society, Photographed by Tim Ryan

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