Update: Venice Cafe posts another message online about plans to reopen on Monday, July 14.
According to a post on the bar and venue's Facebook page, Venice Cafe (1903 Pestalozzi Street; 314-772-5994) is closed indefinitely following a burglary.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department confirms that the owner reported a computer missing and the safe emptied.
See also: Monte Bello Pizza Closed Due to Plumbing Issues
Here's the message:
In the comments, an admin for the FB page writes that all the employees are safe, and seems to blame the incident on an adjacent property: "we need to get 2865 lemp condemned. this is the second time people have crossed over from that derelict property into our garden."
Calls to the cafe were met with a constant busy signal, but we'll update as soon as we get through.
Update: Here's the latest from the cafe's Facebook page, announcing that it will reopen on Monday, July 14 (emphasis ours).
update: first of all we are all completely overwhelmed by the love and support that has been offered to us during this trying time. it has been quite humbling to know that what to us tends to be a day to day job means so much to so many people. thank you. we are working with several local musicians to put together a show to help us make up the loss in revenue and damages to the building. if anyone has anything bad to say about the st. louis music scene they can suck an egg. we have the best community of musicians right up there with anywhere in the world and i am lucky to work with them all. we have a plan of action in place to get back open by tomorrow evening. we decided that the show must literally go on and that the actions of some real shitheels will not keep us down. i will keep updating this page with more info as decisions are made. st. louis is our home, we are proud to be here and we will continue to be here for all of you for many years to come. -everyone at venice cafe
Here's the statement we received from a police spokeswoman:
Incident: Burglary, Property DamageLocation: 1903 Pestalozzi (Venice Cafe)
Date/Time: 7/12/14 @ 02:15- 7/12/14 @ 09:30
Suspect(s): Unknown
The owner of the restaurant reported that he left the restaurant at the above time and secured all doors and windows. When he returned to the restaurant, he noticed that a middle second floor window was open and an office door has been forced open. The restaurant's safe sustained heavy damage and was emptied and the computer was reported missing. The investigation is ongoing.
Here's what people are saying on social media:
A very big #NOTCOOL to those that robbed the Venice Cafe last night. What's up with the upsurge in robberies #STL?
— JVargas MusicProject (@JVMusicProject) July 12, 2014Seriously?! The Venice Cafe was broken into, wtf is wrong with people? #stl
— Sara Czerniejewski (@SaraCski) July 12, 2014Email the author at [email protected].
