NIGHT AND DAY AT LACLEDE'S LANDING: ST. LOUIS HOTSPOT HAS TWO PERSONALITIES

Ronald Reagan and Elvis are two of the luminaries featured in the Laclede's Landing Wax Museum.

The Royal Dumpe Dinner Theatre offers a combination of vaudeville, musical comedy and audience participation.

Along cobblestone streets and inside historic buildings vibrates a collection of restaurants, bars and shops called Laclede's Landing.

The nine square blocks just north of the St. Louis Arch offer a variety of music and entertainment ranging from the brand new Planet Hollywood to the region's only Wax Museum, a tradition on the Landing.

Gary and Tracie Rinehart of Portageville recently brought their family to St. Louis for a trip to Six Flags but the rain chased them downtown. After a trip up the Arch, they walked across the park and under the bridge into the Landing.

"I like the old stuff, the old buildings and brick sidewalks," said 12-year-old Megan Rinehart.

"This place still has the roads that carriages traveled over a long time ago," said her friend, Cassie Dunlap, 12.

Indeed, proprietors of Landing establishments agree it is historic charm combined with ever changing entertainment that keeps tourists coming.

The landing has a different personality by day than by night.

During the day, families walk over the cobblestone streets. Baby strollers are common sights and not every establishment is awake.

By late afternoon, the transformation begins. Dance clubs and jazz spots open up. Families head home and the night crowd hits the cobblestones.

Linda Darr, manager of the Laclede's Landing Wax Museum, loves both crowds. They come to the museum to see the collection of 180 wax figures, hand-made at Madame Toussard's in London.

The museum has been a mainstay of the Landing for 17 years, one of the few original occupants of the district. It occupies the Landing's oldest building. The museum is one of just 25 wax museums in the U.S.

The figures are made from bees wax and molded to precise proportions. The human hair, from Italian women, is inserted strand by strand by hand with a tiny, sharp needle, Darr explained. The eyes are hand-blown glass from Germany.

The museum boasts something for everyone. Upstairs are figures from history like Henry the VIII and all his wives and Jesus at the Last Supper. Entertainers like Mae West and W.C. Fields, Elvis Presley and Flip Wilson are portrayed. Also on display are Princess Diana and Prince Charles along with Ronald Reagan.

In the basement, the museum has taken advantage of the eerie realness of the wax figures by displaying monsters of the Silver Screen and medieval tortures. Beware. On occasion, a real person lurks among the wax figures.

In the museum's front window, the Pope watches over 2nd Street in honor of his upcoming visit to St. Louis.

People often wonder how safe the area is at night. Within the nine blocks of the Landing, Darr says, it's very safe for visitors. Police walk the beat and ride by on bicycles. The streets are lit.

Joseph Fischer, general manager of Planet Hollywood, said the restaurant added to family appeal on the Landing. Planet Hollywood is a theme restaurant filled with movie and television memorabilia.

Diners are greeted by the "Terminator" cyborg and proceed through the restaurant to the command module from the main bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Yes, that's from the original "Star Trek" television series of the 1960s.

Among the memorabilia is Brad Pitt's yearbook, a prop camera from the "M-A-S-H" television show, swords from "Bravehart" and John Goodman's baseball outfit from "Babe." The displays change periodically so you never know what might show up.

You never know who might show up either. Fischer said Jean Claude Van Damme is scheduled to make an appearance at the St. Louis restaurant sometime in August. The restaurant is still awaiting its official grand opening also.

Bruce Willis, John Goodman and an assortment of other celebrities will be on hand to open the restaurant officially.

Landing night clubs big and small have become St. Louis institutions for jazz, blues and alternative music, especially on weekends. Favorites include Hannegans, Kennedy's 2nd Street Co., and Lucius Boomer's. Clubs are open until 3 a.m.

For something a little different, The Royal Dumpe, St. Louis's longest running dinner theater, has been playing on the Landing for seven years. The show is an Old English musical comedy played out during a four-course meal.

"It's medieval madness," said Pola Vavra, manager and director

Theatergoers are seated by a serving wench and six people are selected from the crowd and given lines in the performance.

King Henry VII or Queen Elizabeth lead the cast of knights and ladies and court jesters.

"We have a little show, a little food. It's sort of like a medieval banquet," Vavra said.

Families are welcome. The show is performed Friday and Saturday nights. Advance reservations are required.

Families are also welcome at The Old Spaghetti Factory, the first restaurant to locate in Laclede's Landing 20 years ago. Manager Doreen Bryan said The Old Spaghetti Factory is credited with bringing life back to the old warehouse district.

The restaurant is located in another historic building, the Raeder Place, which was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places.

Eclectic furnishings, mostly antiques, make the wait interesting. A few guests get to sit at tables inside the trolley car.

And don't leave until the balloon guy comes by to create an outlandish hat.

Bryan said over 2,200 people are served on a weekend night. They eat some 2,000 pounds of spaghetti in addition to the other entrees.

Outside, horse-drawn carriages travel up and down the cobblestone streets. The MetroLink light rail system stops in the Landing. Visitors to the Landing on a weekday can take advantage of free MetroLink trips from the Landing to Union Station between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.