Okay, this is late - precisely a week late. But social events that still hold interest a week later are rare, and the openings last Friday night (May 15) on the stretch of McPherson Avenue near the North Euclid intersection are worth noting. The best gossip is served cold. 

The really big event was the relocation after nine years of the Duane Reed Gallery from Clayton back to the city. (Could moving back to the city be the big story of the new century? Not just here, but all over America? Let’s hope so.) Reed moved into the space recently vacated by Carolyn Miles’s Atrium Gallery, which moved across the street, and formerly occupied by Elliot Smith, for years the de facto “St. Louis” gallery. So the space, which has not been altered much, holds a lot of memories. Reed was in proper celebratory mode, and he served substantial hors d’oeuvres and wine in real glasses to all comers, not just a select preview crowd. Lots of denizens of the local art world were hanging out, among them Mary Sprague, Lesley Laskey and his sidekick Frank Schwaiger and St. Louis Art museum textile conservator Zoe Perkins and her husband music critic Terry Perkins. Opening exhibitions were of new work by John McQueen and Michael Janis.

Next door, William Shearburn was opening a knock-out show of new work by local artist Craig Norton, who seemed a couple of years ago to come out of nowhere to astonish the local audience. Norton uses a cheap Bic pen with incredible nuance to create a cast of everyday people, hanging out or engaging in barbaric activities. Norton is definitely an artist to watch. The gallery was packed. RAC diva Roseann Weiss; Matt Strauss, who first showed Norton at his non-profit White Flag Projects; collectors Judy and Jerry Levy, who were showing around the St. Louis Art Museum’s new curator of contemporary art Tricia Y. Paik; midcentury architecture maven Kyrle Boldt, caterer Bryan Young and society girl Elizabeth Sayad were there, among others.

The same night Shearburn was opening a new space, Circa, a gallery that shows vintage modern furniture and art with David Deatherage, whose clients, according to the owners, include Courtney Cox, Kate Spade, Ross Bleckner, Annie Leibovitz and Jonathan Adler, none of whom, it must be said, were at the opening. Centro, the classic modern furniture and design shop, got into the spirit and stayed open late serving prosecco.

With four galleries in a row and Atrium across the street, which hired a band to play on the sidewalk, it was a great night for gallery hopping, an all too rare experience in St. Louis. Indeed, the sidewalk was where much of the action was happening. Among others, framer to the stars Sandra Marchewa, visionary artist Bill Smith and artist Kit Keith were there.

As the crowd dispersed, it ended up reconfiguring in nearby drinking and eating establishments. I can testify that Herbie’s 72, the old Balaban’s, received more than its fair share of opening nighters.