Greetings and Salutations my Friends,
We’re calling an audible this week (as decided by Thursdays’ own TJ) and traveling back to Landmark Lanes. Last time we were there we had a blast with great beer, great bowling, and amazing people – so I look forward to going back!
There’s just something about Landmark that makes it so worth going back to; maybe it’s the nostalgia, or maybe it’s the grittiness of it and its drive to survive in a struggling North Ave, or maybe it’s quite simply the classic feeling you get when ordering a beer there. You can feel all the history the bar has been through and you just know that it has become a Milwaukee staple. Heck, the definition of landmark is: “an object or feature of a landscape or town that is easily seen and recognized from a distance, especially on that enables someone to establish their location”. When you can embody that and still be a thriving bar on North Ave, you must be doing something right. Since we’re going to Landmark I decided to do something different this past weekend and explore some other “landmarks” in Milwaukee…specifically the Forest Home and Calvary Cemeteries.
Growing up, I spent a lot of time in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and whilst many of you relate that name to a certain Netflix special, I relate it to family, Christmas, fishing, and cemeteries. I know it sounds weird but when I would go on bike rides with my grandfather, it was always through the cemetery up there. I was always so fascinated by the cemetery, it’s a place that is literally frozen in time. Seeing headstones from the early 1800’s was absolutely crazy. So many people, so many stories, all rounded out to a simple stone with a name and date. What did they do in life? Who were they? These questions constantly ran through my mind and I suppose that’s why cemeteries never bothered me.
So, when the opportunity arose to visit some cemeteries here in Milwaukee with my friends, Deidre, Sarah, and Nick (WTT Member # 8), I had to take it. Our two destinations were Forest Home Cemetery and Calvary Cemetery. For starters I want to point out that these places are huge, in fact, Forest Home has at least 117,000 graves and Calvary has 70,000. After some pre-research, we looked up all the big names and made a plan to see them. Names like Davidson, Kilbourn, Bradley, and Usinger all stood out as the foundation builders to what makes Milwaukee so awesome. There were a few names that I knew I had to see to pay my respects: Pabst, Miller, Schlitz, Blatz, the beer barons of this city. It was a fantastic Saturday full of history and there was a strange beauty to all of it. If you ever get a chance, take a trip yourself!
Cheers my friends!
Your Co-Founder and friend,
Jeremy Blandin
*Keeping your glass filled and spirits high one Thursday at a time, this is Welcome to Thursdays: a local social group determined to make your Thursdays more fun. Each week, The Squeaky Curd features a Milwaukee County bar that we gather at on Thursday evening. Join us Thursday, August 23, 2018 at Landmark Lanes, 2220 N Farwell Ave (North Ave), at 7:30pm.*