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Mayor Ralph Perk’s moment in flames (left) is one of the Press Club of Cleveland’s classic newspaper photos on display at Nighttown (above).

by Jim Vickers | Apr. 23, 2007 | 4:00 AM

The mayor’s mouth is caught somewhere between a smile and a grimace — teeth mixed with the first pangs of distress. His eyes are hidden behind the black rectangle of welder’s goggles, and there, just on top of his head, rests a small white ball of flame.

You’d have a tough time finding a Clevelander over 40 who doesn’t know the tale of how then-Mayor Ralph Perk set his hair on fire in the fall of 1973 during a ribbon-cutting gone awry at a downtown metals

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