Welcome to a weekly segment called "Social Circle." It's OnMilwaukee.com's first article that's truly a group effort between readers, social networkers and the OnMilwaukee.com editors.
Every Monday, we will ask a question via Facebook and Twitter and then post the responses from our Facebook "likers" and Twitter followers in the Thursday column. Well-known Milwaukee movers-and-shakers will contribute, too.
Milwaukeeans are a nostalgic bunch. Many of us are all about moving forward and maybe even being on the cutting edge, but when given the chance to reminisce about the way things were, we're all about it.
This week's question, "What is your favorite old-school Milwaukee memory?" evoked responses that ranged from County Stadium to the fountain on Downer Avenue. Feel feel to contribute your fave via the Talkback feature.
John Adler: "1985 Bango Buck stepped on my foot during a Bucks/Cavs game.(Earlier in the evening I got the Cavs World B. Free's autograph, Sidney Moncrief was busy.)"
Melanie Ariens: "Watching the smelt fishers pull up their nets at the harbor. Pinky's Bowl on 27th and Oklahoma. Goldmann's!"
Nicholas Binder: "Going to Brewers games at County Stadium."
Mike Brenner: "Downer Avenue in the '80s. My first kiss was in the cement tube on the St. Mark's playground in nursery school. In high school, I had the world's greatest fake ID, and we'd buy $5 liters of vodka at Downer Liquor. The first time Bob Watt tried to convince one of my high school girlfriends to model nude for him was at Brewster's. My first job as a cook was at the Coffee Trader. The first time I played music on the street was by that old fountain that used to get filled with soap bubbles all the time. Those were the Downer Avenue heydays!"
Pat Buechs: "Kooky Cooky House at Capitol Court."
William Bunyon: "Soap in the fountain outside the laundromat on Downer (now Cafe Hollander)."
Scott Carlson: "Having a creepy Ronald McDonald following me on the ice at Mayfair Mall."
Melanie Chester: "The candy wagon on Downer. And the water fountain on Downer. And The Prospect Mall. Video Visions."
Sarah Curtis: "Definitely the smell of yeast."
Jill Engel: "The Oriental Drug Store and lunch counter. Newspaper subbing stations, now where the Comet and Fuel are located. My first job when I moved to Milwaukee: inserting the 'Green Sheet' at these locations. Also, The Mosley's at Linneman's every Thursday night. The 'hot dog' guy outside of the bank on Farwell and North Avenue. Served me my first brat in 1993!"
Bob Fichtner: "Going to the arena to see Baron Von Rashke and Ivan Putsky and All Star Wrasslin'."
Anthony Garrison: "Oriental Drugs, Sweet Doomed Angel, The Unicorn, Prospect Mall Theater and the water fountain on Downer Avenue."
Bob Holl: "The Milwaukee Braves. The old zoo at Washington Park. The smell of chocolate and Red Star Yeast Downtown."
Tamika Honeysucker: "Capitol Court movie theater, Northridge and listening to Hot 102 WLUM."
Tina Hulen: "I miss the yeast, too."
Elizabeth Kay: "Going with my friends to County Stadium, sitting in the bleachers, having beer spilled on us and leaving with a bad sunburn."
Chris Krajniak: "Bubblers."
Jules Leasure: "The Wall on Brady Street."
Adam Levin: "Samson. Watching the ice skaters from the McDonald's windows at Mayfair. "
Shaku Mays: "Hip-hop at The Globe East."
Milo Miller: "Hitting Victor Victoria, Wax Stacks Records, Sweet Doomed Angel and The Angel Annex, Earwaves, Marlene's Touch of Class and Tobacco Road in a single afternoon's long walk."
Dave Mikolajek: "Dunking BoBo the Clown in the dunk tank at State Fair's Midway. Being Polish, playing pick-up basketball at the Cass Street School playground, and scoring unconsciously on all the Italians when I lived above Angelo's Piano Lounge while in college."
Andy Pagel: "Moon Fun Shop."
Susan Catalano Petropoulos: "Smell of years mixed with smell of beer Downtown."
Jen Skladenek: "Kopp's on Appleton Avenue in the 'hood. Papagaio's, Cafe Voltaire, Yano's, Peaches Record Store, Club Marilyn. The list is endless ... "
Elise Waara: "Ice skating at Mayfair Mall!"
Nikki Wallschlaeger: "Thai Joe's."
Deanne Wecker: "Tanning at the Sun of Kenilworth in the Prospect Mall, then renting a VHS video from Video Visions downstairs."
Scott Wooldridge: "Walking past the junkyard dogs on the way to Cafe Voltaire."
David Zanderson: "Beans and Barley, before it burned down and was super small. They had an all-you-can-eat spaghetti night. I think it was on Tuesdays."
