A Kansas City, Mo., restaurant owner has recovered ownership of a wall-sized painting that had been hanging in a community center.
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Now, Don Pepe needs a wall big enough for the painting.
"If I ever buy a big home, I want a dining room with a 17-foot wall," he told the Kansas City Star. "I don't know if my wife will go for it."
The painting was done in the 1970s by Frank Szasz, a Hungarian refugee who lived in Kansas City while working for Hallmark Cards. Pepe says that Szasz did the painting for $3,000 and $1,500 in meals at the restaurant where it hung. The work shows Spanish dancers in costumes from various parts of the country.
In 1982, Pepe split with his partner in the restaurant and but said the painting could remain as long as the business stayed open. Unknown to him, the partner donated the work to the city in 1984.
Last year, Pepe's son, Joe, who appears in the painting as a 2-year-old boy, spotted it in the community center. City officials agreed that the work should go back to the family.