I was born at the old Milwaukee County Hospital....
 in the then called Town of
Wauwatosa, on the 6th of November 1938.
At that time my folks lived on Walker Street right near Walker Square.
We then moved to a cottage on me Dad's parents property on 76th and Main
Streets, across from the
Wisconsin State Fair Park.  Just a couple blocks north the Interurban
crossed 76th Street on a bridge.
The sign on the bridge said: "Downtown Milwaukee, 6 minutes!"
Back then the Fair Park had a permanent amusement area with permanent
rides.  It was open all summer long.
My Dad and Mom would take me over there to go on different rides.
My favorite ride was on Uncle Bob's Train.  His train was on 12' or 14"
scale track and ran beside the roller coaster.
My other favorite ride was the old mill.  It was cool inside and the
moving water felt, smelled and sounded so good.
As you rode through in your boat every so often you would pass a moving
diorama in scale model of
the Milwaukee Interurban System cars, and the Milwaukee (#10) Streetcars.
Before the USA got into the 2nd WW there were war games in and over the
racetrack area.
My folks and I were in the grandstand watching the bombardment and
anti-aircraft guns, the tanks, etc.
I was scared to death at this.
We used to shop on Greenfield Avenue in West Allis.  I remember the dime
stores and the J.C.Penney Store
Friese Candy is still in business, and my Mom says that when she was a girl
living on
100th street and Greenfield Avenue, she and her brother and sisters would
walk into  downtown
West Allis and buy candy at Friese.  That was at least 90 years ago, as she
is now 97 years old (2012)
Occasionally Mom and I would take the Interurban to downtown Milwaukee to
go shopping at Gimbels, Chapmans,
and the Boston Store.  Then we would go to have lunch at Toy's Chinese
Restaurant above the Walgreen Drug Store
on the corner of 3rd and Wisconsin Avenue.  If we didn't go to Toy's, then
we would eat at the Green Room on
the lower level of the Plankinton Building.  Back then Liberace played in
the Red Room cocktail lounge across from
the Green Room.  (Liberace was the Godfather of one of my Mom's cousins kid
when they lived next to the Liberace
home on National Avenue, across from Soldiers Home, as it was called back
then.)
When my Dad went into the army during the war, Mom and I moved to Cudahy to
live with her parents on Morris Avenue.
We all went to Holy Family Church.  (My Mom's folks were from Poland and my
Dad's folks from Jugoslavija.)
I attended kindergarten and first grade at Kosciuszko School.  We lived
with Grandma and Grampa until the war was over.
I remember the horse drawn garbage wagons of the City of Cudahy, and the
horse wagon of the "rag man".
He would slowly plod down the alley calling out: "R-r-r-eks, r-r-r-eks,
r-r-r-eks!"
The fruit and vegetable peddler had on old open sided truck with all his
produce in boxes or bushels displayed .
I large scale hung off the back.  He called out the names of the produce in
Polish as he slowly drove down Morris Avenue.
Grandma and I would shop at the Dutchland Dairy Store on Packard Avenue, or
at Marek Groceries, or Adamczyks.
We could always feel the drop hammer at Ladish Drop Forge Company, three
blocks away on Packard.
During the war they ran three shifts, so the house was always shaking.
In 1945 Mom and I moved to 5060 North Green Bay Avenue (my Dad never came
home to us.  He found someone new
and divorced us!)  We lived in Horshoe Villa, a group of summer cottages
along the Milwaukee River in Lincoln Park.
Because of the post war housing shortage the cottages were now lived in
year round.  I then went to Silver Spring School
which was then on Green Bay Avenue.  Then I was sent to Holy Angels School
on 19th and Abert Place.
We had Dominican Nuns there.  On Sundays, though we went to Saint Nicholas
Church on Lawn Avenue.
We would take an old puddle jumper bus on Green Bay Avenue to the station
on Green Bay and Keefe
then take a streetcar to go down 3rd Street to downtown.  We also shopped
on upper 3rd Street between
Garfield and Center Streets.  There was Schuster's Department Store on 3rd
and Garfield (where Mom worked),
and Rosenberg's, and Kresge, and Woolworth's, and all the shoe stores,
bakeries, meat markets, etc., etc.
Green Bay Avenue from Burleigh to Keefe also had some wonderful stores and
we shopped there too.
Milwaukee was a treasure trove of movie theatres and palaces.  And I
haunted the most of them.
At first I would go to movies with my Mom and/or my Aunt Babe.  The as I
got older I was allowed to go
with some friends or by myself.  These places were so grand.  I especially
remember the Avalon Theatre
on Kinnickinnic Avenue (We used to say KinEE-kinick), in Bay View, with the
twinkly lighted stars in
the ceiling.  The rest of the interior was like a Spanish court yard.  And
they had on organ, a Wurlitzer Pipe Organ!
The downtown theatres were magnificent.  There was the Alhambra and the
Wisconsin, the Palace and Riverside.
The Pabst Theatre was getting shabby when I was a kid, and finally in the
1970's (?) was refurbished.
I loved the big Woolworth's Store on the corner of 3rd and Wisconsin.
 They, too had a lunch counter, in
the basement store.  Throughout my lifetime we shopped at Goldmann's on
Mitchell Street. I still have many
 things that I bought there through the years.  Their candy raisins were
like eating perfume, they were so
fresh and delicious.  At Goldmann's lunch counter was a wonderful old
waitress named Wanda.
She was Lithuanian and her sons were priests.  She was a tall, thin lady
and very, very pleasant.
I too, did business with old George in the electric department.  After he
retired no-one could take his place,
and that department was in chaos.  There was also Hill's Department store.
 My baby furniture was purchased at
Kunzelman-Esser Furniture.  My Grampa used to go to the South Side Armory
to watch wrestling.
Occasionally I would go to Saint Stanislaus or Saint Josaphat's Basilica.
As i grew older and into my teens years I could come into downtown
Milwaukee on my own and did a lot
of exploring on foot.  I found Marquette University and Gesu Church.
I traveled through the old Milwaukee Road Station on 3rd and Everett.  I
traveled through the Northwestern
Railroad Station at the foot of Wisconsin Avenue.  As a kid we would all
take the North Shore Line to
Chicago to do Christmas shopping at Marshall Field's on State Street and to
Carson Pirie Scott, too.
We would take the Interurban out to the Franciscan Monastery in Burlington.
 Or take it to Waukesha Beach,
which was another great amusement park.
I used to explore the great east side boulevards: Newberry or Kenwood, with
all the beautiful Victorian mansions.
Back then Highland Avenue had Victorian mansions also.  Some still exist.
 I couldn't have realized it then,
 but when I rode the number 10 streetcar up or down Wells Street I was
passing my future home in the 2400 block.
How I miss those wonderful streetcars.  Slowly they disappeared from our
streets.  The number 10 was the last
to go and on that last day my best friend and I rode it continually for
hours until it turned off of Wells Street,
south onto Water Street and all the way to the Kinnickinnic car barns.
 This was the end of an era. This was so sad.
Those diesel buses stink no matter how clean they claim they are.
My music teacher, friend and mentor, Sophie Charlotte Gaebler, Professor
Emerita at the Wisconsin College of Music
lived at 712 North Milwaukee Street, in a studio apartment, with her
wonderful housekeeper Mrs. Emelia Heintzel.
Sophie was born in Watertown in 1862.  She was in her 80's - 90's when I
knew her.  She was a student of
Franz Liszt.  All the music stores were on Broadway.  The different houses
sold pianos and the new-fangled
electric organs. Probably the largest pipe organ in town back then was at
Gesu Church.  This is where I first
was able to play under the tutelage of Professor John Leicht, the parish
organist.
I could go on with much, much more, but this is more than enough for now.
 I will say in closing that
I have also lived in other cities:  Denver and Salt Lake City, and in
Alberta and South Dakota.
And have been in every major city in America, and in every state except
Alaska and Hawaii.  But I have always
come back to my home town, Milwaukee.  For all her chinks and foibles,
she's beautiful!
Dominic Joseph Radanovich, Milwaukee



Can you spot the Harp style street lights, Fire call box and (divers helmet) street level safety island lighting of Retro Milwaukee?

Google supplied image of above location in 2013
 

I just wanted to say "thanks".......
for maintaining the site and for your recent additions.

 I noticed one of those recent additions was a postcard showing the Humphrey
Chevrolet "Used" lot on the northeast corner of 35th & Wisconsin. I have looked for
many years and have not been able to find any quality photos of Humphrey's new car
showroom, which was directly across the street, on what is now the MUHS Humphrey Athletic Field.

 I thought you might enjoy this story, and I assure you it is true.
I was a student at Marquette High from 1985 to 1989. In my sophomore year, the school acquired the land on the corner from the Humphrey Estate. At that time, the business had been closed for years, but the showroom building still stood, still filled with vintage auto posters and sales desks and conference tables and all the standard fixtures of a once-thriving car dealership.
 Either because Marquette was tapped out, or just because it seemed a shame
to the Jesuits to have all these strong young teenage-angst-filled bodies
wandering around the halls and not put them to better use, the Jesuit brain-trust decided
that it would be a good idea to have us, the students, do all the rough interior demolition of the building. For a period of what seemed like weeks, maybe even as much as a month, study halls and free time gave way to 45-minute blocks of hard labor.

 Dumpsters were ordered up and left on-site. We were sent over there in groups of 20-25
boys, a couple days per week, and given safety glasses and sledgehammers.
Whatever got in our way came crashing to the ground. Sales offices, fluorescent light fixtures, glass-and-block half walls, they all became our victims. We would bash and sweep, assembly lines of kids marching dustpans of god-only-knows what (asbestos? what's that?) out to the dumpsters.
 I suspect every child-labor law on the books was most likely violated, but somehow we all lived. I doubt that those Jezzies would be able to pull something like that off today. But every time I drive past that corner and see MUHS's athletic field, I take modest pride in knowing that my blood and sweat and time played a small role in clearing that lot, all those many years ago.

Bruce R

There was a locally produced tv show n the 60's......
 I believe that let the kids dance on the air. Friends that have some memory of it said it was done live at the station on Capitol Dr. across from the Pig and Whistle. That station is now Channel 4 I think. At any rate, does anyone remember the name of the show and who the emcee might have been? It was probably sponsored by Johnny Walker's or another clothing store. Thanks

Sue

Editors Note: The show was called "Dance Party" broadcast on station WITI (6)


Met my wife at Bang Bang club in 1967......
I cannot recall exact location. ANY HELP?
THANKS
DENNIS!
Editors Note: The location was 625 E St Paul Ave, Former business was known as Mamie's Grotto

I grew up on South 28th Street.........
...first on Harrison, then in 1960 we moved up around Becher.  I went to Holy Ghost School until 1963, then Walker JHS briefly...had some real good friends, and we played a lot of baseball.  A lot of us learned to swim with the Pack 40 Cub Scouts at the Highland Avenue Natatorium, and we spent a lot of time at the Jackson Park pool during the summer.
  Crabbing in the lagoon was also big with us.  Cliff's Bait shop on Forest Home gave us a penny a piece for the crawfish.  I got into Coin collecting and still have some of the Indian pennies I bought from Toby's coin shop on Lincoln Avenue.  I paid 7 cents each for most of them, and I think they're worth about 50 cents now.  We used to get rolls of pennies from an S&L near 31st and Lincoln and look through them for the rare ones...a friend once found a 1931-s and sold it to Toby for $8.00.  That was big bucks in those days. 
 A lot of us had paper routes.  If you were lucky, you carried the Journal.  I had a Sentinel route, just 45 houses, all on 28th Street from Lincoln to just past Burnham.  Delivering that paper at 5:00 am in the winter time was an experience, and so was getting stiffed by some of those SOB customers (60 cents, 67 cents if you had their insurance, and we got stiffed anytime someone moved out or decided to quit the paper). 
 We were all Braves fans.  In 1957, our teacher, Sister Teresita, had a small TV brought in so we could watch the game 7 win over the Yankees thanks to Lew Burdette.  Lew lost game 7 the following year and the headline read, "Lew Turns Blue."  During the last year, 1965, some friends and I went to several games.  We bought tickets in the upper deck and moved down to the box seats, right in back of the dugout, after the game started.  No one was going to the games that year, and the ushers didn't care.  After that season I lost all interest in baseball for several years. 
 I left Milwaukee in 1967 for the Navy and stayed in California after I got out.  In 2001, I drove through town and stopped by the old house on 28th to take some pictures for my mother.  The current owners saw me and came out to chat, then they took me through the house...seemed a lot smaller and the beautiful stained glass windows in the living room and dining room had been removed.  I'm betting someone stole them when they moved...probably stiffed the paperboy too.

Does anybody have pix of Capitol Court Theatre?
Or Sid's Drive in on East Silver Spring?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Great website! I was born October, 1956 @ St. Joseph's Hospital.......
  I grew up on 24th & Morgan Avenue. My mother worked at Gimbel's Department Store @ Southgate and my dad worked for the City of Milwaukee. My parents always talked about the big snowstorm of 1947 that crippled the city and I heard about Gertie the duck. I loved watching Ward and Albert the Alley cat on Channel 6, Dialing for Dollars with the Gurnett's on Channel 12 and listening to WOKY and participating in their contests.

  I attended Our Lady Queen of Peace on 28th & Euclid, just around the corner from Leon's Frozen Custard. I went to Mercy High School on 29th & Mitchell and I was a member of their Drum & Bugle Corps. In the early 70's McDonald's use to give a free cheeseburger for every 'A' a student would receive on their report card. That was a big deal to me because we hardly ever ate out.

  Hunger hikes were a huge deal in the early 70's as well and I remember how sore my feet would be after spending the day walking 20 miles. During my senior year of high school I worked at City Hall and than after graduating I worked at the Wisconsin Electric CO while attending weekend college at Alverno, where I received a degree in accounting & eventually elementary education. I married in 1979 and in 1986, my husband, a surgeon, joined the U.S. Army. After living around the United States for 21 years we settled outside of Fort Knox, Kentucky.

  Perhaps because of living away from Wisconsin for so many years I miss the snowstorms, the cool summers and everything that Milwaukee has to offer in terms of entertainment. I have wonderful memories of growing up in Milwaukee during the 60's and early 70's. Enjoying rides @ Kiddieland behind Southgate and sitting on Santa's lap in Gimbels. Gimbels had a bargain basement where everything was priced reasonably. I remember Pinky's Bowl on 27th & Oklahoma (next to St. Luke's Hospital) and I remember getting off the 27th Street bus after a day of classes @ Mercy and walking through the old Southgate before it was enclosed. My friend Bridget and I would look at the posters that were displayed in various points on the sidewalk of Southgate showing plans for the planned enclosure.

  Before they built Miller Park, I use to watch Brewer games for free from the parking lot at Woods Veteran's Hospital. We use to go to the air shows at Mitchell Field, in fact I had my first airplane flight during one of those shows. We paid $10 (a lot of money back then) to go up in a North Central airplane for a 30 minute ride over the city. I remember telling my mom that I would be flying all over the world some day.... and I did! We would watch the Blue Angels fly over our house and we'd also go and watch the planes take off and land at Mitchell Field.

  Hot summer days were spent at the public swimming pools @ Jackson, Wilson and Kosciuszko Parks'. In particular I remember a day spent swimming @ Kosciuszko Park. Some huge event was going on in Milwaukee that day because the Goodyear Blimp was in the air over the city. It was such an awesome sight to come up to the surface of the pool and look up and see that blimp havering overhead. My friend & I had ridden our new bikes to the park and found that someone had broken our locks and stolen them. We went to the police station on Lincoln Avenue to report this but the bicycles were never found.

  Every August we went to the State Fair and their cream puffs were the best! I enjoyed the grilled corn on the cob and the Forestry Building with Smokey the Bear! There use to be a Howard Johnson's restaurant on 27th & Morgan before it was turned into a Captain's Steakhouse. Now there is an Omega restaurant on that site. Winters were spent ice skating on the frozen lagoon @ Wilson Park and sledding in Bay View down the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan.

 I went to a lot of Buck's & Marquette basketball games. We met Oscar Robertson< Johnny Mac, Al McGuire and one time while flying back from Los Angeles I sat 4 rows behind Kareem Abdul Jabaar.

 The Comics section of the Sunday edition of the Milwaukee Journal always offered a drawing contest. My brother & I won it several times but my brother went on to win the grand prize of a complete sent of World Book Encyclopedias. Both of my brother's attended Pulaski High School, Dan graduation in 1966 and David graduating in 1969. My husband is a native of Kenosha and about twice a year we come back to the area and visit family and re-acquaint ourselves with our childhood memories. Our son, Eric, attended Marquette as an undergrad and than went to Marquette dental school on a full army scholarship. So now he has his own Milwaukee memories. I'm so proud of my Milwaukee heritage and can look back at my childhood years with fondness and longing.

I am not a US citizen but have made a life hobby of collecting catchy radio jingles from all over the world....

 ... I note on several web sites there is mention of Clark Gasoline and the lyrics for what appear to have been a notable jingle at the time in your part of the world. I came across this jingle on a little 45 of mixed radio jingles when I visited the states in the early 80's. I have no other details to offer but thought somebody better skilled than I may like to create a 'you tube' posting with some old vision or newspaper ads to make an interesting 'you tube' listing.

Perhaps you could let me know how the jingle has been used as it would good to follow up.

Regards John F
Melbourne, Australia

Does anyone have any information of Klode's Furniture.....
 ...,Waldheim's Furniture, Harry W. Schwartz or Radio Doctors? These were three stores in downtown Milwaukee that my parents frequented when I was too young to appreciate them. I am old enough to appreciate Marc's Big Boy, Treasure Island at Green Bay and Brown Deer roads, Northridge Mall, Point Loomis (My family went to see "The Sound of Music" at their movie theater),  Kohl's Food Stores, Merle Harmon's Fan Fair, Camera Corner on Villard (it was west of St. Michael's Hospital), Mama Mia's at 26th and Silver Spring, and when Mayfair Mall had a goldfish stream and an ice rink.

Robert J
EDITOR's Note: Klode Furniture 1882-1979, a reproduction of their original store is part of the "Streets of Old Milwaukee" exhibit at the Milwaukee museum.

 

Audio Noir...
You might like to post a link to http://AudioNoir.com on your Retro Milwaukee site, the program is all old-time-radio police and detective series, might be of interest to your Retro audience.  Bill M

Click image to listen to Audio Noir in Windows Media