Landmark dance hall memories prove sad

Linden Grove is once again dark, its fate uncertain, its stillness undoubtedly stinging to the former patrons of the landmark Castle Shannon dance hall.

No one is more crestfallen over the closure than Leonard Migale.

"I get too emotional talking about this," Migale, 62, of Upper St. Clair, apologized following a long pause in our conversation. "Too many memories."

Migale reminisced Thursday about a night in November 1992 when he decided to stop at the Grove during the California businessman's first visit to his native Pittsburgh in about 40 years. The decision proved to be among the best he ever made.

Sitting at the bar, he struck up a conversation with an attractive woman he decided to ask out.

"We found out we both used to go there as kids back in the '50s, although neither one of us could recall meeting the other back then," he said. "I didn't realize at first that I was talking to the person who owned the place."

Joan Hughes had purchased the Grove in 1985, two years after it appeared to have closed for good. In buying the dilapidated building, which first opened in 1872, she also acquired more than a century's worth of local tradition.

Canonsburg crooner Perry Como performed at the Grove in the 1940s. Legendary disc jockey Porky Chedwick spun his 45s in the '50s and '60s. The disco crowd boogied to the Bee Gees in the '70s.

Hughes had spent several years renovating the rundown structure, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The Grove reopened shortly thereafter with a new restaurant and dance floor, attracting customers drawn to its oldies and big band nights.

Following that initial encounter at the bar, Migale and Hughes began an extended courtship. When they decided to marry, they could think of no better locale for the ceremony than the place where they met.

After their June 1998 wedding, they settled into the habit of running the Grove as husband and wife.

"We really were a great team, " Migale said. "She did all the paperwork, I did most of the hands-on, day-to-day things."

That comfortable routine ended in March with Joan's death at 69. The Grove closed shortly thereafter, the result of a still unresolved legal dispute between Migale and Joan's children over ownership of the establishment's liquor license.

Migale's plans for the Grove, should he win in court, are up in the air.

"I get uneasy when I go down there now; you know, her passing away hit me really hard," he said. "Everyone wants me to reopen, but there are some people interested in buying it. What do I think I'd do• Flip a coin."

Even if Migale does unlock the Grove's doors, he knows it won't be the same without the woman who once rescued the place from the wrecking ball. It won't be the same without his late wife.

"Everyone says you have one true love in life," Migale said. "She was mine."