Takin' the Blog for a Walk

Memorial on Barstow Street

It was nice to have an extra day to take the blog for a walk this week. Today, Memorial Day, when many people think about deceased service members, came across a coffin on Pine Street. It wasn't part of a war protest display but just a Halloween prop someone was throwing away. I really think they could have picked a better weekend to toss it out. I did look it over but decided against picking it up. Couldn't see storing a huge black box all year just for a holiday decoration. My next door neighbor must have thought otherwise. I see they now have a nice addition to their Halloween decoration collection.

The Memorial Day Riverside Services held today near the dam at the Fox River were nice. The weather was great and there was a fair turn out. Many people representing veterans groups led us in prayer and one pretty young woman from Carroll College, Christina, a senior majoring in music and the person Christina's Family Restaurant is named after, led us in song. The service went by fairly quick and concluded with taps and a 21 gun salute.

Today, as every May 26th, is Wisconsin State Ten Chimneys Day, and what better way to celebrate than to tour the estate in Genesee Depot? I was one of the lucky 100 callers several weeks ago to score a pair of free tickets to the normally $35.00 tour. Saw an ad in the paper and called at the right time.

Ten Chimneys is the name of the Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne home just off Hwy. 83, within a short walk of downtown Genesee Depot. Today marks the 85th year since the couple married, four years since the estate opened to the public, and three years since is was dedicated as a National Historic Landmark. Lunt and Fontanne were a famous theater couple known world wide in the 30s and 40s. They always performed together and always had summers off to spend time in Genesee Depot or travel.

The two hour tour took us through three main buildings and back seventy years in time. It felt less like the Lunts had died and more like they had just gone away for the winter. Everything we saw (we couldn't touch anything) was original and pretty much just the way they left it. The main house was restored but the cottage was not, a neat comparison. The studio was disassembled in Sweden and brought to Genesee Depot for reassembly. There is much Swedish influence throughout the estate as well as many murals and trompe le oil, several of which were done by Alfred himself.

I can't list everything I found interesting today but want to mention one of the more curious things; the person who accompanied me on the tour, someone who I knew would be interested and the only other man in our group of ten, happened to have been raised in a house just a short distance from Ten Chimneys, had met the Lunts and had many interesting stories to tell.

This was a tour I knew I'd do someday, but at $35.00 a person knew it wouldn't be anytime soon. Offering this free tour on the same date every year is the best thing they've done since restoring and opening the estate to the public. The Ten Chimneys Foundation must know their guests, even those who can't afford it, advertise by word of mouth if they are shown a great tour. By writing this I'm hoping to fulfull my obligation.

The tour of the estate isn't the only thing happening at Ten Chimneys. There is a beautiful Program Center, currently showing a Noel Coward exhibition, and a nice gift shop. Also, since the Lunts donated 30 acres to the town, there is also the Lunt-Fontanne nature trail close-by always open to the public.

We might've overlooked the invitation to have lunch with the Rev. Robert Wild, S.J., president of Marquette University. Since my high schooler gets a lot of junk mail from colleges, the mail from Marquette sat on the table a couple weeks before we glanced at it. My uncle, Leland Lubbers, S.J., was to be one of four honorary degree recipients at Marquette's 126th Commencement Sunday, and was in very exclusive company.

One the way to Commencement my son told me he didn't bring his wallet and asked if I thought he'd need it. As soon as we found a parking lot close to the Bradley Center I'd wished he'd brought it because I'd forgot mine too. All we had between us was three gold coins and parking was five. As UWM was holding their graduation at the same time right next door at the Arena, street parking was at a premium. Long story short; lot attendant didn't believe story, told us to exit, reserved seats held for just a few minutes longer, they had to be too busy to watch us exit, right? We park anyway, get chased away, find parking several blocks away.

There was a lot to like about Commencement; Steve Rushin, former Sports Illustrated writer, Marquette graduate, and Honorary Doctor of Letters recipient, gave a very funny and entertaining commencement speech. The pageantry, ceremony and solemnity of the professors with their colorful robes and hoods - each color, stripe or emblem having meaning. The wild exuberance of the graduates celebrating with air horns, Silly String, balloons and confetti. The wonderful things said about my uncle. The things I learned about Marquette.

After Commencement we were going to join all the honorary degree recipients and the president of Marquette for a reception and luncheon in the "Presidential Suite". Since I forgot to ask my sister for a couple dollars before she left, we still couldn't afford parking, this time in a 16th Street structure.

The suite was full of important people I didn't know and one famous person I did. The Honorable Vel R. Phillips was the recipient of the Honorary Doctor of Laws and she deserved it like none other. I became acquainted with all her accomplishments a short while ago at the opening night of the Civil Rights play "March On, Milwaukee". The play was written by Peg Rozga, James Groppi's widow, who teaches at UWW. The play was staged at UWW, a short walk from my home, and many Civil Rights era dignitaries and participants were there for the opening and the feedback session afterward. I learned a lot about Vel from her introduction and from hearing her and admire her greatly.

The commencement was great, the speeches, the lunch, the conversation, meeting interesting people and learning new things. But you want to know the best part? Seeing the three people I love sitting together at the president's table; my mom on the end, Vel Phillips in the middle, and my Uncle Lee on the other end. Priceless.

I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to invite you to a hot air balloon ground crew training day next Sunday, May 27th, here in Waukesha. If you've been following my blogs then you'll know what an exciting time my son and I had last year crewing. This is your perfect chance to find out what's involved and, because a picnic is involved Sunday, a good time will be had by all.

Please contact Ken at WIWindDancer@cs.com or myself at howlinblog@yahoo.com for more info.

Thank goodness Alice in Dairyland was in town Saturday morning. Someone had to be there to warn everyone to stay out of Farmer Nelson's way as he tried his hand at plowing the streets.

Luckily the tractor wouldn't start, but the Waukesha Farmers' Market has. It's now open every Saturday from 7:00 till noon and Tuesday afternoons starting July 17th. It's still located at the Riverfront Plaza, downtown.

I found some beautiful bunches of flowers for only $5.00 each, so I bought three, one for each of the wonderful moms in my life. And I purchased three of Marylou's fresh, delicious muffins from the Sprizzo booth for the boys and me.

As I was leaving, my attention was diverted to the riverbank by several children watching something. A mother duck was trying to keep her 13 tiny ducklings safe right next to the swiftly flowing Fox. And where was the male, I asked. Across the other side of the river doing his own thing, of course.

"Did any moms get breakfast in bed", our priest asked this morning. No one raised their hands. Found out after mass that one mother did get breakfast in bed. With their kids grown and gone her husband brought her breakfast in bed! She's a very lucky mom.

Happy Mothers' Day moms!

There is a dingy little hole in the wall at 6th and National in the Walker's Point area of Milwaukee. It's called Coney Island Hotdogs and it's been there since July 1926. My dad used to take me there as a kid. I'd order burnt hotdogs with nothing on them and Dad would order their chili dog chili served in a bowl.

After working in the area for almost 20 years my curiosity finally got the best of me, so I struck up the courage a few years ago to find out if Coney Island was still in business. It was always dark and dirty on the outside, kind of reflecting the street it's on, and because I pack a lunch, I was in no hurry to try it again. But I found out it's still open, 10:30 to 2:00 Tuesday through Saturday, and THE SAME GUY IS RUNNING THE PLACE! Mike bought it in November of 1949 and is still selling hot dogs and hamburgers there -- 57 years now. My first dog I ordered plain and burnt and he didn't get it right, after 30 years, so now I just order with the "works" and they're delicious.

Coney Island is clean, not tidy - I swear some of the same appliances and furniture were around when my dad first brought me there. The menu is a handwritten piece of paper on the wall. You can have a hotdog, hamburger, cheeseburger, chili dog, fries and soda. They used to have floats but discontinued them. They have ketchup and mustard but no pickles.

There's been a lot of talk lately about a different gentleman still working at the age of 91. Mike turns 87 this month. He doesn't have a golden hotdog on the wall but he's as satisfied in his work as the people he feeds.

Brien and Les

"Thank you, God, for Les Paul, a child of the universe."

"Most people can't go a day without seeing or hearing something played, said or invented by Les Paul."

I was one of many hundreds enjoying the world premier of "Les Paul -- Chasing Sound," a profound documentary interesting for more than just a couple good quotes. Les has been around for 91 years and I never had the pleasure of meeting him... until now.

Just getting to the theater was a trick. Two showings but I could only make it to the second. Was told Les wasn't appearing at the second. Few hours after being told that, read in Journal Sentinel that he was appearing. I called back and was told it was sold out. Left name on waiting list. Was called back. Insert smile here.

Well, I made it to the Downer Theater from my Waukesha home in half an hour - a neat trick even if I knew where it was. Needn't have hurried, everyone was still queued on the sidewalk at the 9:30 start time. Les made a brief appearance before the film and, with the late start, it probably lasted till 11:30 p.m.

I saw a great movie and met a legend. It's 11:30 on a weeknight. Time to go home? I'd heard earlier that Les was putting in an appearance at the Milwaukee Athletic Club. Surely he'd be long gone by the time I got there? The customized Gibson coach out front told me Les was close but the front desk told me he was close to leaving. I took the first elevator to the third floor and found the nice man in the upper right surrounded by autograph seekers and photographers.

Mr. Paul tirelessly signed hundreds of guitars and straps, booklets, albums, posters, a purse, and one blog page about himself titled "I came this close to meeting Les Paul."

It was midnight when the last autograph was signed. If 91 year old Les Paul can still socialize and work till midnight then I expect we haven't seen the last of him. He'll be back. He has to.

July 11th. Please, please try to see "Les Paul -- Chasing Sound" when it comes to Channel 10 on July 11th. You'll understand my facination.

Opening day was Saturday so I trolled for answers to Waukesha's mysteries. Came close to my limit too. Among the many, better-advertised events in town over the weekend was "Historic Saturday in Waukesha," something Alderwoman Kathlene Cummings and the Landmarks Commission spent months preparing for.

Nine historic buildings were open and three tours were available. I was able to do two and two. I started the day at the 1904 Classical Revival Style Masonic Temple to nibble some fresh blueberry pancakes with a couple Waukesha aldermen. I didn't even know Waukesha had a Masonic Temple, and I've gone past it dozens if not hundreds of times. The temple is a most curious place and I learned a little bit about it. Around the time the temple was built the Masons were very anti slavery. Since the building next door housed the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan, I wonder how that worked out. One of the most interesting things I saw Saturday was an original, April 9th, 1891 page of the Waukesha Freeman in the basement of the temple.

Aug. 13th I blogged about the wonderful time I had discovering the McCall Street area so I jumped at the chance to tour it at 10:00 Saturday. About nine of us wandered around for an hour with our guide who also owns a house in the area. It's nice learning about the age and style of the homes but even more interesting is the story of the original owners. What they did for a living and why they built their particular homes makes for pretty fascinating stories. The owner of the limestone quarry at what is now Van Male Stadium built a stone house with matching stone garage that still stands. The wood flooring craftsman was such a perfectionist building his own house that, by the time he died, everything was finally done... except the floor. The Sears Catalog house that still stands over 90 years later. The German carpenter that brought his wood carving skills to America and to his house. It isn't hard to imagine what it must have been like a hundred years ago because, fortunately, so much is still there.

The McCall tour lasted an hour and the Downtown tour started at 11:00 so that was my next stop. Our excellent tour guide spent all but five years of her life in the city and had stories, pictures or answers for everything. Because I've been around here since the 60s I thought I knew a bit about Waukesha history but, compared to Marilyn, I don't know much at all. Once again, you can pass something a hundred times and see it at street level but if you never take the time to look up you miss half the story. Many of Downtown's historic buildings have business names, dates, symbols or carvings that are only visible on the second or third story, something you will never see speeding from one green light to the next.

The last place I visited I almost had a hard time seeing because we had a patio full of people over for a cookout at the time. I had to sneak out and hope no one saw me. The 1890 Charles Merten home, on top of Rosemary St. hill next to New Tribes, had never been open to the public before and was billed as an incredible opportunity and a must see. It lived up to it's billing. The owners took our small group around inside and out, upstairs and down. The fact that the house has had so few owners in it's 117 years is what presumably has preserved the original woodwork, hardware and fixtures. The house is a beauty that obviously has been painstakenly restored. If the current owners hadn't been working on the home and removing trees and brush for the last ten years this would be an unknown house I wouldn't think twice about as I whizzed past doing 30 in the car. As it is, this was the first time I'd ever been on this particular street. Besides the warm welcome by the owners of the Charles Merten home, seeing their love of history and their sharing it with us, I especially enjoyed seeing and hearing a hundred year old Edison cylinder phonograph playing hundred year old music. The Merten house was worth it and truly made it a day to remember.