Tag: Old Milwaukee

I listened to my sister’s Milwaukee radio mixtape from 1988: “Good Songs on Lazer + QFM”

July 15, 2025

The Excitement of a Song You May Only Hear Once Dig if you will a 1988 bedroom: Ratt's Out Of The Cellar album cover is taped to the closet door, a guinea pig rambles the shag red carpet, a phone cord snakes...

Enjoy this bootleg recording of Stevie Ray Vaughan at Oriental Theatre in 1985

Matt Wild

March 10, 2025

Milwaukee's Oriental Theatre isn't just a historic movie palace, it's a historic concert venue. Dedicated musical concerts at the East Side theater may be few and far between these days, but, over the decades, ...

Let’s watch a Great TV Auction from 1987, when a Waukesha “dream home” went for $131,234

Matt Wild

August 29, 2024

One of the great local losses of recent years is the loss of the Milwaukee PBS Great TV Auction. A hypnotically watchable and delightfully homegrown staple since 1969, the Great TV Auction was put out to pastur...

Watch Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak at UWM in 1965

Matt Wild

January 15, 2024

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day to celebrate the life and work of the civil rights pioneer, to reflect on the progress that's been made in the many decades since his assassination, and to realize tha...

Enjoy some random Milwaukee Christmas videos from decades past

Matt Wild

December 20, 2023

Milwaukee! Christmas! Nostalgia! You'll get a healthy dose of all three when you watch these clips! Enjoy! HELLO MILWAUKEE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHDCGWaTHg4 MORE HELLO MILWAUKEE! https://...

Watch Green Day play “Longview,” throw cocktail wieners at 1993 Milwaukee Mega Jam

Matt Wild

July 14, 2023

Remember the time Green Day played Milwaukee's MECCA Auditorium in 1995, and frontman Billy Joe Armstrong got arrested for mooning the crowd? Of course you do. How about the time the band played Milwaukee's Meg...

Old Milwaukee: 20 Cream City-inspired country classics, ranked

Jared Blohm

July 20, 2022

With its brewing (and drinking) tradition as well as its railroad-hub history, the city of Milwaukee has served as inspiration for many country songwriters over the years. A few of those songs have become honky...

Undercover publication: Quirky 1981 Milwaukee history book is a rare gem

Tea Krulos

March 2, 2022

Many books have delved into Milwaukee's history—John Gurda's The Making Of Milwaukee (and his entire output), for example—but none is as quirky as 1981's Undercover: A Collection Of Little Known And Unrelated F...

30 years ago, a WCW PPV at the Milwaukee Theater changed pro wrestling

DJ Hostettler

February 23, 2022

Chicago's Zelo Pro Wrestling has established a solid foothold in Milwaukee. The company will make its return to Turner Hall Ballroom on Sunday, February 27 for its "Level Up" show, featuring Zelo Pro champ GPA,...

East Side bridge will be closed for 5 months, so let’s remember the time a nearby sinkhole swallowed a Cadillac Escalade

Matt Wild

February 17, 2022

Urban Milwaukee is reporting that a "key roadway on Milwaukee's East Side"—a.k.a. the North Avenue bridge between Oakland and Bartlett, a.k.a. the North Avenue bridge over the Oak Leaf Trail, not the North Aven...

Remembering Blind Blake, Milwaukee’s “King of Ragtime Guitar”

Barry Robert Weber

December 1, 2021

On December 1, 1934, Beatrice Blake called for help. Her husband, Arthur, had been ill for several weeks, and his condition was worsening. What started out as a severe cold quickly led to a fever, chills, and s...

Remembering what Milwaukee music venue websites looked like 10, 20 years ago

Matt Wild

November 16, 2021

First of all, yes, we know that the Linneman's website design seen above was alive and well until 2016 or so. It was/is simply too beautiful to not use as the main picture. Anyway, let's remember what Milwau...

Remembering Milwaukee’s infamous Halloween “Grave Rave” bust of 1992

Matt Wild

October 26, 2021

"What was supposed to be the party of the season for almost 1,000 people hoping for a clandestine Halloween costume party turned into the biggest raid in Milwaukee history Sunday morning." So intoned a lengt...

Wait, so what is now Milwaukee used to be part of Massachusetts?

Tyler Maas

March 24, 2021

Many of you are probably aware of a city in North Carolina that also goes by the name "Milwaukee." And we're no strangers to a sound-alike city in Oregon called "Milwaukie." However, if you're anything like us ...

Remembering the time, in 1997, when Milwaukee County Stadium was totally flooded

Matt Wild

March 10, 2021

There was a liiiiiiitle bit of rain today, so it got us thinking: Remember that time, in 1997, when Milwaukee got a lot of rain, and Milwaukee County Stadium was totally flooded? The date was June 21, 1997. Mo...

This “No rap!” WKTI commercial from 1991 is, um, something

Matt Wild

March 2, 2021

Radio stations have formats. A rock station plays rock music, a country station plays country music. No big deal. But when was the last time a radio station went out of its way to single out a genre of music it...

1991 Great Circus Parade co-hosted by Captain Kangaroo

Watch the 1991 Great Circus Parade and imagine a time when circuses, parades, and crowds existed

Matt Wild

July 6, 2020

According to our calculations, 1991 was approximately 29 years ago. Still, it may as well be 129 years ago when you're watching this 1991 WMVS broadcast of Milwaukee's then-popular Great Circus Parade. Circuses...

Watch this 1980 ’60 Minutes’ story about the 1958 murder of Daniel Bell by Milwaukee police

Matt Wild

June 8, 2020

On February 2, 1958, a 22-year old black man named Daniel Bell was pulled over by two white Milwaukee police officers near the corner of 8th and Wright. Bell had a broken taillight. Bell jumped out of his car a...

Author Adam Levin talks about ghost signs and ‘Fading Ads Of Milwaukee’

Tyler Maas

February 10, 2020

Since taking over the Old Milwaukee Facebook group in 2015, Adam Levin has used his position in the online community to show his appreciation for the people, lives, and architecture from the city's past. One wa...

The action-packed life of Milwaukee’s Ray “Crash” Corrigan

Josh Hoppert

November 21, 2019

The following article originally appeared in the October edition of Colectivo Coffee's "Off The Record" print-only periodical/crossword puzzle. You can pick up "Off The Record" free of charge at all 13 Milwauke...

Tagged Old Milwaukee