Landmark Celebrates 90 Years

Jim Klisch. Photo by Michael Horne.

Landmark Lanes, 2220 N. Farwell Ave., will host a “90th Kickoff Party — Lakefront Brewery Tap Takeover” event Wednesday, May 17th from 7 p.m. to Midnight. The subterranean bar and bowling alley’s history was chronicled in a 2015 Bar Exam entitled “Landmark Lane’s Jazzy 88-year History.”

The grand opening of what had been Bensinger’s Recreation in what was then 444 Farwell Avenue was held back on September 24th, 1927, so it looks like we will have a summer of Landmark 90th anniversary events ahead of us.

The special cask beer. Photo by Michael Horne.

As the name of Wednesday’s party implies, Lakefront Brewery products will be featured, including a special cask beer that will only be available at the event. Brewery co-founder Jim Klisch showed me the casks as they aged in the cooler of the brewery, 1872 N. Commerce St. Lakefront is celebrating its own anniversary on December 2nd 2017, marking 30 years in business since Russ Klisch and his brother poured their first pint at what was then the Gordon Park Pub, now Nessun Dorma, 2778 N. Weil St. The Klisch brothers recently posed for photographs at the site, displaying the brewery’s 30th anniversary logo.

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Brat Festival Cancelled

On the first day of the New Year, Bob Weiss, the owner of Shaker’s, 422 S. 2nd St., set out plans for a Bratwurst Festival to be held on his street between W. Florida St. and W. National Ave. Weiss figured the local sausage could use a little bit of love, and that June 10th and 11th would be a sweet spot, tying in nicely with the Pride Parade, to be held on the street on the 11th. His initial confidence of securing a permit has been dashed, he says, due to neighborhood business opposition that Weiss says caught him by surprise.

He writes about withdrawing his application for a permit:

(It) put my Alderman into an untenable position, so I acquiesced.
I’m only out about $5,000.00, I was able to cancel my media buys and vendor contracts.
This would not have cost the neighbors one cent to put on, I assumed the entire burden for operations and budget. Small town myopic fools.
Chicago restaurants asked if I’d move it there…we shall see.

Chicago-Style Softball Fundraiser Planned

Patrick J. Murphy, PhD. is the son of a Chicago cop, and a longtime resident of Milwaukee. Since 2002 he has organized a charitable baseball event held at LaFollette Park on the second Sunday of June, raising in excess of $156,000 for Milwaukee charities via the Sixteen Inch Society. The catch — the charity must have a Chicago connection.

Murphy grew up playing “Sixteen Inch” softball, thus named for the circumference of the ball employed. It is an ideal game for crowded environments, since the large sphere does not travel particularly far or fast, and it is relatively easy to hit. The sport was invented in Chicago on Thanksgiving, 1887 as a winter pastime. It was enormously popular in the Windy City, Murphy says, adding that “everybody played it.” Its popularity did not extend to the Cream City.

Which has not stopped Murphy from promoting such games. This year’s charitable baseball event will be held on June 11th. Food will be provided by Martino’s, 1215 W. Layton Ave., and the winning trophy will be displayed there throughout the upcoming year. Quarles & Brady will provide the commemorative shirts, Beer Capitol will provide the liquid refreshments and Robert W. Baird will handle the finances.

Murphy stresses that 100 percent of the proceeds are tax-deductible and donated to charity, with absolutely no expenses borne by the organization. This year’s beneficiary is St. Catherine’s Residence in Yankee Hill. Its connection is Chicago native Mark Angelini, the President of Mercy Housing-Milwaukee. For more information contact pjmurphy@pjmurphy.com.

Scene on the Street

Yokohama. Photo by Michael Horne.

Yokohama MKE, a Ramen restaurant at 1932 E. Kenilworth Pl. is soon to open. Carpenters have put finishing touches on the natural wood veneer of the building just west of N. Prospect Ave. The restaurant offered four passes to the restaurant’s Soft Opening on Tuesday to lucky Facebook winners who vied for the precious seats. The place hasn’t yet opened its doors, and already has over 2,000 followers….

Architect Chris Socha has been giving talks about creating vital urban spaces. The Kubala Washatko architect operates the firm’s new Urban Lab at 644 S. 5th St. in an area it carved out of an old industrial building that now houses Fuel Cafe. A potion of the building was removed to create an urban plaza, which already looks to be a success. Socha uses an unusual example of a creative use of space — namely a Milwaukee sidewalk in the dead of winter.

St. Paul Fish Company. Photo by Michael Horne.

His visual presentation includes photographs of the Ice Bar, that ran last winter at the St. Paul Fish Company space at the Milwaukee Public Market. It drew folks to the neighborhood, and enlivened the corner of E. St. Paul Ave. and N. Broadway.

During summer months, by the way, the site is the location of the fish company’s popular Tiki bar. According to manager Patrick Nedobeck, the success of the Ice Bar encouraged market management to go along with his plans to renovate and expand the tiki bar, which has lost its stainless steel top to a laminated wood top. The bar is also clad in vertical strips of bamboo. Outdoor service will continue until 11 p.m., including food, which is a change, since the market closes at 8 p.m., at which time many potential customers are turned away.