The Clover Room / Stanley Stegmeyer's Hodgepodge Restaurant:
About a half-mile east on Broad Street is a building that was home to not one, but two unique Richmond restaurants. The Clover Room was operated by Luck Dairy from 1946 to 1978, and was known for its 30 flavors of homemade ice cream and 30 types of sandwiches. Over three decades, the Clover Room welcomed patrons of all kinds – couples, families, large groups, casually dressed walk-ins and people dropping in after high-society events. The restaurant’s dining room was decorated with photographs of Richmond and Virginia landmarks, and its logo was a green three-leaf clover. Then from 1979 to 1984, the building became Stanley Stegmeyer’s Hodgepodge Restaurant, a creation of John Dankos, founder of the Aunt Sarah’s Pancake House chain. The flamboyantly decorated restaurant featured costumed servers, a salad bar inside an old milk truck, and themed rooms, including the Tropical Garden, the Oval Office, the Slammer, the Bunny Hutch, St. Nick’s Nook, the Bombay Room, the Hula Hut, and the Loose Caboose, a lounge inside two actual train cabooses. (4118 W. Broad St., 0.5 miles from Staples Mill Eastbound GRTC Pulse Station, 0.6 miles from Staples Mill Westbound GRTC Pulse Station.)
Sauer’s Gardens / Monumental Floral Gardens:
In the early 1920s, Conrad F. Sauer, founder of the C.F. Sauer Co. spice and flavoring extracts business, expanded into real estate and built two subdivisions off Broad Street. Sauer’s Gardens was focused around the 2.5-acre Japanese Gardens, located at Monument and Sauer avenues. The Japanese Gardens were populated with plants and trees purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Sauer during their world travels, and included a pagoda, a teahouse, arched bridges over an artificial lake, and a waterfall. Monumental Floral Gardens was located off Libbie Avenue between Broad Street and Monument Avenue, and featured the Italian Gardens, with a reflecting pool, statues and decorative urns. Both neighborhoods remain, showcasing an array of historic architecture, but the gardens are gone. Sauer's 1927 bequest of the Japanese Gardens to the City of Richmond for use as a public park was refused. Despite maintenance attempts by residents and civic groups, the Japanese Gardens eventually fell into disrepair, and in the early 1980s were replaced by Monument Park Condominiums. The site of the Italian Gardens is now occupied by Libbie Place shopping center. (Monument and Sauer avenues, 0.7 miles from Staples Mill Eastbound GRTC Pulse Station, 0.8 miles from Staples Mill Westbound GRTC Pulse Station. Libbie Place shopping center, 5617 W. Broad St., 0.8 miles from Staples Mill Eastbound GRTC Pulse Station, 0.7 miles from Staples Mill Westbound GRTC Pulse Station.)
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