Art Center of Burlington

Exterior of Arion restaurant at night — For decades, the Arion was a popular place for dinner and entertainment, and it served dinner into later hours after most restaurants had closed. (Photo courtesy of Curt and Mike Diewold.)

“For the finest in foods and cocktails,” not to mention live entertainment, multiple generations of families flocked to The Arion Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge at 210 Main St.

As soon as a football or a basketball game ended at Burlington or Notre Dame high schools in the ’70s, the teens headed to the Arion to relive the action and order “the genuine Italian pizza.” Shirley Temple drinks were popular with the girls, who collected the little plastic elephants and monkeys, in pink and orange, that garnished the drinks.

Their parents loved the expansive menu that included “Pan Fried Chicken, Lobster Tails, Fried Oysters, Grilled Calves Liver, Prime Rib of Beef, Jumbo Shrimp, Bar-B-Q Ribs, Choice Iowa Steaks, Channel Catfish” as proclaimed in a familiar advertisement in The Hawk Eye in the early 1970s.

Is your mouth watering yet?

The house-made pizza sauce was so good that a rival restaurateur came in one evening, slammed a wad of bills on the bar, and asked Arion founder Art Diewold to give up the recipe. She didn’t get it, and the recipe eventually was lost. (Using trial and error, grandson Curt Diewold recreated the sauce years later and now sells it on the internet. Click here.)

The Arion wasn’t Art Diewold’s first venture into making people feel good. That was Art Diewold’s Beer Barrel, located at 803 Jefferson St. It was the early 1930s, and Prohibition was in full reign. In keeping with his establishment’s name, Art was only legally allowed to sell beer─no liquor by the glass.

“They had a woodburning stove behind the bar, and Grandpa kept a bottle of whiskey in the ash pan in the stove,” Curt Diewold told this author. “All the old boys were sitting at the bar, and Grandpa was telling a story, and the feds come busting in the front door and start raiding the place” just like in the movie The Untouchables, Curt said.

“Grandpa just kept talking and talking, and they were looking in cupboards, and one of them opened up the woodburning stove, looked in there and closed it, and he said, ‘Art, you’re good this time but we’re gonna bust you next time!’ ” The feds left and the guys at the bar all started to laugh and one said, “Art, we thought you were gonna give it away, because when they opened the door, you went” and this fellow sucks in his breath, imitating what he had heard Art do.

Art didn’t give it away, and in fact, this was not the only time he would elude the authorities. …

Did you enjoy this excerpt from “Beloved Burlington: Featuring businesses you knew and loved?”

The book, which contains chapters on 10 other businesses and many historical photos, is available for $19.99 at Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St., Burlington, Iowa and by mail order. For details, click here.

Painting of Riepe-Peterson by Jessica Kirby — Riepe-Peterson Clothing Co. by Jessica Kirby

As part of the weekend of festivities surrounding the launch of my new book, Beloved Burlington: Featuring businesses you knew and loved!, several Burlington artists got into the spirit by painting photos of some of these historic businesses.

Paule Jewelry and Jefferson Street — “A Little Bit of Gold in Burlington” shows the 400 block of Jefferson Street with the iconic Paule Jewelry clock.

My inspiration for including artists came from Burlington artist Margaret Ertz. When my first book, Sutter’s Sodas Satisfy: A memoir of 90 years of Sutter Drug Co., came out, I was delighted to find that Margaret had done a painting of Sutter Drug as it looked at some point in the 1930s. The painting was on display at the Art Center of Burlington, next door to Burlington By The Book, which was holding a book signing for me.

Painting of Sutter Drug by Margaret Ertz — This painting by Margaret Ertz shows Sutter Drug in the 1930s.

My good friend Jill Arnone saw the painting and purchased it for me. I proudly have it displayed in my home in Rochester, N.Y.

J.S. Schramm Co. painted by Rebecca Matthews — J.S. Schramm Co. by Rebecca Matthews

Forward almost four years later, and as I’m thinking about how to celebrate my book launch in Burlington, I wondered if any artists would be interested in painting some of the businesses included in Beloved Burlington.

Arion restaurant by Susan — “Arion at Midnight” by Susan Reinier

I was already in conversation with Tammy McCoy, executive director of the Art Center, about having a reception there, as a way to honor all the local entrepreneurs and their families included in the book. Tammy loved the idea of seeing if any artists wanted to participate, and Art Center Communications Director Hillaurie Fritz-Bonar put out the word. Soon I was getting email from artists asking me if I could email them some photos of various businesses.

I was bowled over by what these artists created. Their beautiful artwork was displayed at the reception and through the month of December. (Sorry I was too busy to get around to posting a blog before the exhibit came down. Some of these artworks may still be available for sale, and you can contact the Art Center at 319-754-8069 to put you in touch with the artist.)