That area where this bar is, is in the old industrial area of West Allis, which if you have read any of my posts was where we started this biz on 76th and Becher. At one time there were watering holes like this all over every neighborhood. Much like the 'English pubs, it was a gathering place for everybody. Today there are fewer and fewer of them still around, and I guess we just added to the number of places which are gone.
West Allis is turning into a ghost town with all the old industrial buildings now flattened. on the way home I went out Becher street and there are now a lot of empty storefronts where there once was a thriving mom and pop type businesses back in the day. We got tossed out by a property flipper in 1983, and relocated into our Pewaukee store. Yes we were a big player at one time with three shops - West Allis, Pewaukee and Oconomowoc. Hard times, big boxes, people's changing buying habits and the lure of "SAVE BIG MONEY" finished off a lot of the smaller outfits. I guess that is why they call them "category killers". Well we did not just dry up and blow away, I moved the biz back here to Waukesha and just kept on going. 45 years later i am still here. But ones wonders what if?
Even out here in the Lakes District things are growing dark. Many smaller towns had their own special places to eat and drink and those are blowing away as time goes on. What really bothers me is the supper clubs which were so popular in the days before say 1975 are now starting to go away. A few which still are around - Golden Mast in Okauchee, on the lake, Seven Seas on Nagawica Lake, The Red Circle Inn in Nashotah, which has been there since 1880 when it was a stage coach stop on the old Watertown Plank Road. I guess Nailor's Bear Trap Inn in North Lake is still there, although I haven't been thru North Lake for awhile. I could list a lot more, but you get the idea.
Partially I guess you can blame the "Zero in Wisconsin" and the drunk driving laws which are making people stay home and not go out to socialize like they did in the past, and you could add the electronic zoo which most people live in today which makes socializing a thing of the past. Even in our neighborhood down here in Waukesha you never see young people today except to take the trash out or shovel the snow. They don't want to stop and yak, much less have anything to do with the elderly neighbors, me included.
So where is society going anyway? Into the internet deep in some electronic cage where people exist only as sound bites and pixels? That is not an existence, well I guess if you are into it. I guess that is why they are so deep into that little box they seem to be addicted to.
Just an old smith musing as time goes on. i guess I should get on the horse and get my day started and go over and get the mail and start on that pile of E-mail key requests I got this morning. Yes I am tied to the
So what is happening in your world? What changes do you see for both good or bad? Any favorite places going away or thriving?
If you were wondering, there are over 75 lakes in this area, with a good two dozen smaller town which grew up around them. This is the Kettle Moraine area of the State. It is kind of a long skinny state forest which runs from about Walworth on the south to beyond Hartford on the north then breaks a bit then another part starts and goes from Horicon to Green Bay. All total about 18 counties and we serve about half of them. Still at it after all these years.
Sinifar
