Ke$ha - Take if Off (Boys of BOSTON video parody)

From the Vault: Strip-Off Jan 2005

From the Vault: New Year's Day 2006 Strip-Off

From the Vault: NYE 2004 Petrina Marie & Video Star Owen Hawk

Thea Austin - Mardi Gras 2005 at Faces

From the Vault: Valentine's Day 2005 18+ Dance Party

A Personal Note & An Apology

Our closure in 2007 left many of our friends in shock. Up until the day we closed, we were struggling to try to keep the doors open. It all happened so fast that we never had the opportunity to thank all of our friends or to say goodbye. After we closed, we continued our efforts to raise cash and develop a plan to reopen while feeling the shame and embarassment that goes with coming to terms with our failures. Being the man who closed Faces was not a burden I would wish on anyone. While we continued to recieve emails of encouragement, the hate mail made more of a lasting impression. I don't think anyone can really understand how hard it is to lose a business until you have actually experienced it yourself. We weren't the first gay bar to close and many more famous clubs have followed us but we never thought it would happen to Faces.
Many of our friends and loyal customers attempted to contact us to offer their support. Whether because of humiliation or despair, we didn't keep in touch with those friends and loyal customers and for that, we would like to apologize. We let you down and it was hard to face you again.
Again, to those of you that I let down, I apologize. To those who have been supportive, I want to say thank you.

Remembering...Chris Thompson, Petrina Marie, Travis, Harry, & Jim

Four years ago in January 2006, the Faces on Fourth Street family lost bartender Chris Thompson, then in February 2006, we lost Petrina Marie. In May 2006 we lost Travis. Chris started as a regular customer, then joined us first as a cabaret waiter, then as a bartender with a big following of great customers. Chris was always there to pitch in...the night before he passed away, he helped decorate the bar for a theme party. Travis was an adorable go-go boy, dear friend and behind the scenes assistant to our cabaret showcast.

Petrina Marie was one of the funniest, most talented female impersonators that I have ever seen. Behind the scenes, he was a talented seamstress, responsible for creating dozens of show stopping dresses for St. Louis's drag community. He collected music, accumulating an extensive collection of "drag music" long before the Internet made collecting easy. Petrina was one of the few people I know who could always make me laugh.

Shortly after we were forced to close in 2007, former Faces owner and afternoon basement bartender Harry Davis passed away. Harry's partner Jim followed him and passed away in 2008. Harry and Jim put their hearts and souls (and their life savings) into Faces...they helped original owner Jerry Edwards create Faces, then took over day to day operations. Jerry assumed control of the business 17 years ago and we purchased the business from Jerry a few months later. Jerry Edwards passed away several years ago. After we purchased the business, Harry came back to help.

We miss Chris, Petrina, Travis, Harry, Jim, and Jerry. They will always be in our heart.

Former Faces Tenant Sentenced Following Guilty Plea

We finally closed an unfortunate and sad chapter in Faces history last week. Following our closure, we worked on a plan to get the bar reopened. We were approached by a nightclub operator in St. Louis with an offer that turned out to be too good to be true. This club operator, Robert Williams, offered to put in the sweat equity and money necessary to get the bar reopened, then he would lease the space from us. We hoped to host private seasonal Faces parties in the space while Williams hosted his Club TV One party concept. We knew nothing about his past nor could we afford to hire anyone to do background checks. We were broke, we went with our gut, and we were wrong. After months of promises and some but not a lot of improvements to the building, Williams was arrested, the bar was raided, and adding insult to injury, our equipment was taken by the US Attorney. Our tenant's former landlord claimed that his equipment was in our building. The judge and US Attorney (a Republican appointment) actually allowed this person, named Bradley, to enter our building under the supervision of federal law enforcement, and basically go shopping. Bradley was allowed to take the equipment from our building that we owned. We attempted to communicate with the US Attorney and he did not seem to either understand or care that he had stolen our equipment. He advised our attorney that we needed to work that out with Bradley's attorney, that he (the US Attorney) was "washing his hands of the whole thing". Bradley's attorney claimed that all the equipment that he took was actually his, even though we had inventories, serial numbers, and in some cases video and photo proof that the equipment was ours. This was how it stayed for nearly 9 months, until October when Williams plead guilty to the charges filed against him. This made no sense to us...Williams was charged with stealing the equipment that actually belonged to us, we had proof that the equipment was not stolen and actually belonged to us, yet the US Attorney went ahead with charges and obtained a guilty plea. From what we can figure out, the US Attorney had enough evidence concerning drugs and Williams parole violations that he used this to force a guilty plea to save his own reputation...it would have looked pretty stupid and unprofessional if the media learned that this big case was based on false testimony (claims that the property was stolen were false, thus the search warrant that was issued to raid the bar was illegal, thus the evidence obtained in the raid was tainted).
The story made for great television...apparently the US Attorney or the FBI alerted the media as we all saw the news video of men with guns and bullet proof vests going in and out of the bar and men carrying our equipment out...it went along with the stories about alleged corruption in East St. Louis..but it wasn't true.
We are left without our equipment and more legal bills. It appears that in general, attorneys are afraid to call attention to themselves by challenging the actions of the US Attorney and Federal law enforcement even when those actions can be proven wrong and unjust. The media got the story wrong and never bothered to contact us or even William's attorney, and furthered the whole "East St. Louis is full of criminals" storyline that they like to push.
Williams is in jail, as many of you may know from the short little stories in the RFT, the Post, and the Belleville News-Democrat last week. We don't have our equipment nor is the building ready to reopen. More damage was done while our tenant occupied the building, including damage to our main floor AC unit from copper thieves....the main floor unit, the largest (and most expensive) was the only one not damaged from our first copper thieves...now that one is inoperable too.
We may have someone new to do the work and invest the money necessary to save the building. We're sorry we don't have something more positive to report about a possible future for Faces and we thank you for continuing to follow our story.

From the Vault - Hanky Code Party

From the Vault- Video Star Trevor Knight at Old Enough to Know Better B-Day Party 2005

From the Vault - Southern Comfort Male Revue 2005

From the Vault- Video Stud Chad Hunt, DJ Kimberly S., & Hot Customers

From the Vault - Foam Party at Faces September 2006

From the vault - Wet Lube Wrestling Labor Day Weekend 2006 at Faces

More from the vault: Inaya Day Live Memorial Day Weekend 2006

From the Archive: Thea Austin, DJ Scotty T., & Southern Comfort Revue Pride 2006

Great new video from DJ Bill Bennett & Suzanne Palmer

Great new video and music remix by DJ Bill Bennett and recording artist Suzanne Palmer. For regular customers, Bill and Suzanne both performed at Faces.

A Message From the Owner - Major Announcement About the Future of Faces on Fourth Street

Thank you to everyone who ever visited Faces on Fourth Street over the last 30 years. Thank you to everyone who filled our dance floor until dawn, who drank with us, laughed with us, celebrated with us, fell in love with us, and sometimes cried with us. Faces has been both famous and infamous for 30 years. The last 14 years, I had the privilege of owning a part of our history. While it was often hard work and long hours, I am grateful to everyone who included me and Faces in their lives. I loved throwing the parties. I loved the music. I loved the video stars, recording artists, and DJs that I was able to get to know. I loved the incredibly talented DJs and drag queens from our local community who made Faces their home. I loved the late night decadence. I loved the thousands of wonderful customers who took the time to get to know me and my staff. I loved the conversations over cocktails about everything from politics to sex. You and your friends made the last 14 years one hell of a ride. After we closed at the end of April 2007, I took some time off. I worked to try to pay our old bills, kept the building secure, tried to keep up on St. Louis nightlife, and asked you for your feedback. I read your comments from our on line survey, sharing them with friends, advisors, and family. Considering the fact that we were forced to close because of cash flow issues, your positive comments were a nice surprise. We continue to get emails and IMs asking when we are reopening, frequently begging us to reopen. Some have admitted that they did not realize what they had at Faces until it was gone.
My answer has been pretty consistent. I appreciate all of your positive comments and I really did not know what our plans were. Personally, 2007 was a bad year. I had borrowed heavily to keep the bar going, and I was forced to sell property at a deep discount just to try to repay debts. What little money was left from sales went to start to repay people who had helped us, but at the end of the day, there wasn't enough to pay everyone. In a different economy, there would have been enough to cover all our debts and reopen. Despite this setback, we continued to discuss plans to remodel and reopen. The idea of reopening under my management became even more distant in the last few weeks.
In the last few weeks, someone cut the power lines to the building to steal the copper from our electric meter. How they did it without being electocuted is a mystery. Before we could replace it, they managed to break into the building and began systematically to gut the building. While not damaged beyond repair, they cut out copper pipes to and from our boiler, they cut out copper water pipes, they even smashed toilets to get the copper pipe and valves. We have been maintaining the building, keeping it secure, and alarmed since we closed. We could have easily cleaned, painted, and reopened in a matter of days. Now, the damage done in the last few weeks make that dream unrealistic.
The building is secure again. We have removed the equipment to keep it safe. We don't feel that we have the capital necessary to make repairs, remodel, redecorate, and reopen. It breaks my heart to say the only way to pay off all our debts and make necessary repairs is to offer the club for lease. We hope to offer someone with new ideas the opportunity to repair and reopen Faces. I want Faces to reopen as much as you do. I want it to reopen as a gay bar. Your on line survey responses have confirmed that there is a demand for Faces to return. I will help anyone willing to make that happen.
An observation - disturbing recent events in St. Louis gay nightlife seem to point to a continued downturn in the clubs. Manchester Street favorite, Freddie's was forced to close recently with plans to remodel and re-open in the spring. EXP Magazine, long the source of St. Louis' gay bar news recently suspended publication, leaving St. Louis without a gay bar magazine. Both events are sad. My heart goes out to the owner and staff of Freddie's as well as EXP owner/editor Jeff Balk. We had a long friendship with EXP and Jeff deserves credit for much of our early success as well as for his contributions to our community. We always enjoyed Freddie's and have a special place in our heart for their nationally known and incredibly talented DJ Danny Morris. We wish them the best and hope this is the end of the bad news for St. Louis gay bars.
Thank you for your support and kind words.
Craig