Freddie’s West. A place you could show up at 2:30 AM and get a pitcher of beer, at 2:50 AM you stepped out to your car with your buddies to roast one, at 3:05 AM you go back in and slam the rest of the pitcher and ask for another but Freddie had to draw the line somewhere and might sell you each one more tapper. And oh yea, stay away from the front window!
Anchor Inn. After each St Joe’s home baseball game my junior season, myself, Jeff Kehl, Paul Grochowski and Roger Wojtak would hit the all-you-can-hammer supper deal at Anchor Inn. Fried fish, baked fish (we called it fish in a ship), frog legs, fried chicken. bbq beef..it was all there. Years ahead of its time, that place was absolutely a favorite.
The Roosevelt Theater. For like 50 cents you could literally hang out all day Saturday and catch all of those fantastic monster movies or surf movies and cartoons. It was great fun for little cost and relatively safe for a younger kid. Also, the mini golf course in the basement was a highly underrated good time. Some of the best shows I ever went to were at that classic old building.
AMC/Chrysler. I’m not sure if Kenosha is better or worse off due to the plant closing here in Kenosha but you gotta admit it sure made things interesting. A place putting that many people to work is bound to have a huge impact on the community and it most certainly did. I’m sure the tavern owners miss it a lot more than I do but it was a massively important place while it was here and help define the work ethic of Kenosha, Wisconsin USA.
The Creek. This was the huge open field south of the Town and Country Plaza and south of City View Trailer Court where I grew up. It is now, and has been for years, a beautiful subdivision but back in the day, The Creek was THE place. Rode my first mini bike, saw my first nudie picture and fell out of countless trees while growing up in the early 70s.
Softball games at city league fields. Back in the Golden Age you actually had to play a softball game at Petretti Park or Red Arrow Park or even Columbus Park if you are old enough to have played some 16” games there. The diversity and uniqueness of each place was so great. Trying to catch a ball in left field at 7:15 PM at Roosevelt looking directly into the setting sun or watching Phil Wade hit 2 balls into the tennis courts at Petretti are memories that last forever.
4 Star Video. Pretty much the first of its kind, going to 4 Star Video on 60th and 39th was just cutting edge stuff. You could actually go to that place…spend hours looking at all the selections and then get your VHS or Beta rental and actually take that movie home and watch it in your house!! You didn’t even have to go to a movie theater to watch a movie…what a concept.
Town and Country Lounge. What a fantastic place. Loaded with unique people. My entire senior year of high school, myself and my friends always “went to the library” on Mondays. Now for everyone but me, that was a necessary lie to get out of the house and to go to the bar. For me, I just told my folks I was headin up to TnC.
Ponderosa. The all you can eat soup and salad buffet was another cutting edge pleasure. We had what was known as TALC (Thursday afternoon lunch club) which featured many of the same characters that I went to all the other awesome places above with.
