only 1999 Colgate toothpaste with an MFP only 89 cents each.
Hurry to Goldblatt's one day only sale tomorrow and bring a friend.
You know, for all we know that commercial was probably on WRJN because Goldblatt's
down the block here.
Sure.
Carol G and Forty Jim Bessira here and we're talking about Mwood Plaza today and this
is Goldblatt's was I guess the anchor store, wasn't it?
It was.
It was the anchor store.
And years, years later, I'll just tell right now when Goldblatt was long gone and it was
empty, we used it to we had a as a charity repaired bicycles and Game Boy to kids who
didn't have bicycles and we had the whole store loaded with bicycles.
Yeah, it's a huge upstairs downstairs, Goldblatt.
Was that a one and only Goldblatt's location?
They weren't like.
Sears or JC Penny?
Illinois.
Well, they were Goldblatt.
Yeah.
That's where they came from.
Well, let's talk about this now.
Jim and Carol are here.
We're going to talk about the opening up Mwood Plaza and what year are we talking about?
Let's start at the beginning.
Well, that was actually October of 1956, but thank you, Don.
We're always glad to be here to share our memories of growing up and received during the
50s and 60s.
But yes, the opening date was October of 1956, right, Carol?
And Jim, isn't that hard to believe it was 70 years?
It will be 70 years next year.
We were alive.
You weren't even born.
Unfortunately, I was already on my way.
Oh, 77 now.
Yeah.
But Jim, I have to say about opening day, certainly the like the journal times must have given
tremendous coverage to this all along as it was being built.
But I was a North cider.
And there's this magic north, north cider.
We're north cider.
And there's this invisible line somewhere that divides the north from the south in Racine.
So I was not at opening day, and I'm sure there were a lot of North ciders there.
And you were because you were a South cider.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
We lived fairly close to the Plaza.
So later on, we're going to talk about that the opening day because actually I was there with my parents.
That is so exciting because it was, I'm sure, very exciting.
But being a South cider, kind of set the stage for us, Jim.
What was in the vicinity, in the neighborhood, in the area that was stores and shops, businesses, before Elmer Plaza?
What did the area look like?
Well, there were businesses actually just north of the Plaza before it was even built.
We had a 1962 city directory, and we determined that there was a restaurant right north of the Plaza called the Huttle Restaurant, like in football.
And now that's turned into that Mexican restaurant on the corner.
Give you a point of reference.
Next to that, heading west was the coinomatic, where you could wash your own clothes, of course.
My just muffler was there.
Heading west, Plaza Auto was there.
And where Walgreens is about, about where Walgreens is, that was a high-boy drive-in.
Not many people remember that, I'm sure.
Kitty Corner was a deep rock gas station.
Remember that chain, Don, deep rock.
No part of them.
Must have been a local thing here.
That's where the BP station is now.
And right next to that is the dairy queen, which has been there for probably going on 70 years.
And directly west of the Plaza was Terry's department store, or Terry's discount store.
And we're going to get into that a little bit later.
But that was about where the pig is located now, and that was built in 62.
I get a question for you.
Yeah.
When I first moved here to receive, there was something called Cindy's hamburger stand.
Oh, sure.
Yeah, that's not the same hamburger stand you tied, boy.
Is it now?
No, no, no.
That building is still there.
It's a church now.
Cindy's hamburger stand.
Yeah, that was a religious.
A religious lobbyist.
It's right behind the Plaza, yeah.
Yeah, they saw the lights.
Oh, no, it's a religious thing.
You know, when you mentioned the dairy queen, no, Jim.
When we were planning this, I mean, out of all those businesses,
that little spot the dairy queen, I mean, 70 years.
Maybe they weren't there at the very beginning.
But all the decades, a lot of dilly bars.
Oh, my gosh, yeah.
A lot of blizzards have come out of that little spot.
Yeah, yeah.
But there were also, of course, since we're thinking about pre-elmond plaza,
or even at the same time, what other shopping areas were there setting the stage?
We knew, of course, our standards.
You know, I mean, the town, West Rocee, uptown.
State Street was in my neighborhood from Carlyle Avenue.
That stretched all the way from Carlyle down to Main Street with favorite businesses,
like Old Lincoln Bakery and Cortondick hardware.
But then also, you know, Terries did come in.
You mentioned that.
Turn style came in.
On the north side, we had Rapids Plaza.
And Zayers was the big anchor there.
And I have to laugh when I think of Zayers, because I would walk down Carlyle
all the half mile to go to Zayers as a teenager.
And my friends, Marcia Fost, and Pat and Gracie Nielsen,
were one of dozens of horrific people that worked there.
And they liked to say today that they ran a star.
My wife worked at Zayers.
Did she?
Okay, well, there were some adults.
Or was she a teenager then?
She was young.
Well, believe it at that.
Younger.
They told me about some antics there,
like even scaring new hires about the smashing up a box
as an operating that machine.
But anyway, Zayers was operated by Harley students and your wife.
So, and then Shore Crest came in that was 1960 on the north side.
But in thinking about all this and setting the stage for the shopping we had,
there was a huge event that preceded this.
This was 1950.
Southgate opened on 27th Street in Milwaukee near Morgan and Oklahoma.
Looking at online about Southgate, it was impressive.
It was, it was large.
It was very large.
And I can't believe this though.
It must have been over a month.
But my research said for their opening day,
they drew such a large crowd from Milwaukee and everywhere.
60,000 people came in the opening days of Southgate.
Carol G. in 14, Jim DeCera here.
We're talking about the opening of Elmwood Plaza.
And you mentioned the Southgate a few minutes ago.
They had the only Synorama theater in the entire South East Wisconsin there.
With that big curved screen where they ran all the big Synorama movies and the big musicals.
And I went there to go see Willow once because I wanted to see the theater.
I didn't care about the movie.
I just wanted to see the theater.
And they had the big wrap around curved screen.
The old Synorama screen they showed Willow on.
I love that theater.
It's long gone.
But like most malls.
Yeah.
Long gone.
Long gone.
You know, I was telling you off the year earlier,
the mall by my house where I grew up, just closed it down.
And they took the Macy's name off the building before they tear it down.
The Macy YS.
Right.
Just took it down.
No, I'd have to say Jim and his collections.
If we had had a Macy's here, he would be trying to buy that sign.
You bet.
He's got a lot of signs, you know.
I see a picture of it later.
But it's about the size of this room.
I don't know where you put it.
He's got the museum.
Yeah.
He's got that locked area.
He's got notes that he's hardware.
You know, that's right up there.
Yeah.
I'll continue about Elmwood Plaza.
Well, Southgate was called a suburban.
So now, what were we waiting for?
Because lo and behold, in the early 50s,
after we've been talking about our neighborhood,
the neighborhood of Jim and the Southside,
there were the open fields of 23 acres, I guess,
just waiting for a suburban kind of development.
What got it going, Jim?
Well, actually, we've seen realtor and developer Leon Freeman,
I remember all the El Freeman realtor signs
that were dotting our neighborhoods, you know,
back in the 60s and that.
He was working on getting a shopping center
in Elmwood Plaza.
And for years, actually, it took eight years
to plan, design, and build that shopping center.
Eight years.
You can imagine that.
Eventually, a huge building was put up there.
It was 281,000 cities.
It was 281,000 square feet.
And actually encompassed 23 acres.
Goldblats was in a center with two wings of stores,
one on each side.
Entrances were outside.
There were no interior connections, as it is now.
Now, there were some stores in the lower level.
And they had connections to other stores.
For example, you could walk from Goldblats to the bowling alley,
which was on the far west side.
Now, the lower level was like a basement.
Right.
That's correct.
Almost a little mysterious in some areas.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
And I think there were 17 stores we found
that opening day.
That 17 on opening day.
Yes.
Well, the excitement was Goldblats.
Now, Don had not heard of Goldblats,
but I think we all, maybe, maybe, we were acquainted
because we were watching WGN TV
and listening to the Chicago radio stations.
Goldblats was a chain from originating in Chicago.
But I had never, of course, been to go to Chicago.
My parents and I hardly went there.
So I had never been in one.
Now, I think much later, Jim, you were in a goldblat.
Much later.
Yeah.
But what was that like?
Well, I used to work in a little club.
Yeah, I used to work downtown Chicago in the loop.
And on occasion, during my lunch hour,
I'd walked to some of the stores, including Goldblats.
That was on a southern part of State Street.
Multi-level, it would like rival Marshall Field.
It was that big.
What the hell?
And pretty impressive.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
Nicely decorated and everything.
Very nice, very nice.
Well, we were absolutely excited that Goldblats
was coming here.
So that opening day, then, and you were there.
You were an eyewitness to this.
I was an eyewitness, as they say.
As a kid, I remember people everywhere.
Many holding balloons and packages.
Carol and I have seen photos with hundreds of people
all dressed up in suits and dresses on opening day.
And like Carol said, there were 17 stores that were open that day.
More opened up a few weeks later.
We at stores, such as Crambo, which was a food store, of course,
on the East End.
What was the name of this store?
Crambo.
Their mascot was an elephant.
I don't know what they eventually...
I thought they would sound appetizing.
Yeah.
Crambo.
Crambo.
Right.
Yeah.
We had another anchor store, which was pennies.
Cresky's dime store was there where that family dollar store is located now.
Figuses, a women's store.
A lot of shoe stores, such as Kinney.
Remember Kinney shoes?
Yeah, I remember Kinney.
Sure.
Red Cross drugstore on the far west side.
And many dignitaries were there.
All dressed in their suits.
Actually, Mayor Jack Humble on October 10th proclaimed Elmwood Plaza days.
And even the Elk's youth band was there.
It wasn't in the morning.
WRJN.
Cuckooca Katie.
Beautiful Katie.
Where's the glad you come to work in Cresky's store?
Cuckooca Katie.
For to live the planet.
You're the girl who's going to help us all so more.
Yes, you'll love Katie.
Because Katie has been there.
You're the girl who's going to help us all so more.
Yes, you'll love Katie.
Because Katie has joined the Cresky family for just one reason.
To help you and your store move ahead.
Now, for people who don't know how Cresky's became Kmart.
Mm-hmm.
Which is no longer.
Everything seems to come to an end.
Everything is in season.
Carol G and Forty Jim Bessier here were talking about Elmwood Plaza.
Some of the big stores that were there, including Gold Blats.
Which is no longer there either.
And we'll talk about that big fire, I guess.
Oh, we're going to do that.
I saw the picture of that.
That was spectacular.
Yeah.
All right.
So let's more about Elmwood Plaza now.
Okay.
We're getting back to the opening celebration.
Actually, it was a four day celebration Wednesday through Saturday.
And it was complete with Don, you probably remember something like this.
A pair of giant scissors cutting a ribbon.
Yeah.
They also had Hollywood search lights and clowns.
The clowns roaming around.
So people were ready to come.
Oh, yeah.
And like you said, the pictures of the crowds.
Yep.
I think one of the big attractions besides the stores and especially Gold Blats.
This phrase.
Plenty of free parking.
Well, that was amazing.
Well, you know what?
They did that because downtown.
Exactly.
It was covered in parks.
So Elmwood Plaza said, yeah.
Plenty of free parking.
Right.
Yeah.
And it was room for 2,000 cars.
Yep.
What I think, too, is we didn't have, maybe all of us, but Gels, me.
We didn't have to pair a little park ever again.
We could just pull into our spot.
And there we were.
Yeah.
Didn't you pass your driver's test at a parallel park?
Yes.
Yes.
The last time I did it well.
I'm sure a lot of body shops didn't appreciate that.
Oh.
Yeah.
Now, you South Ciders, Jim, you said you've been at a young age.
You would just ride your bikes over there as kids.
Oh, yeah.
You could leave them there.
Just leave them there safe, walk over.
Yeah.
But now, again, that dividing line, the North Ciders, that huge distance away we were, other
than driving.
Now, we all took the bus.
It was second nature.
Yep.
A ride for maybe 10 cents in those days.
Mm-hmm.
And we had that marvelous color coating of our bus lines.
Six different ones.
Right.
Yep.
Blue.
Yeah.
Yellow was very yellow.
Uh-huh.
And you have studied bus lines.
Well.
So I know that you told me that the blue and green lines ended up right in front of Goldblast.
They sure did.
But I started out with the red line at home.
So tell us the logistics of this big bus arrangement we had.
If you took the red line, you would have to walk probably about two blocks.
The green line and the blue line went right into the plaza and stopped right in front
of Goldblast.
And it's funny because when the green line came in to the plaza, they changed to the
blue line and then headed north.
And just the opposite.
When the blue line came in, they changed to the green line and then headed east.
What do you do if you're a colorblind?
I guess you're out of luck.
Whoa.
Well, and I just loved in one of our in-person presentations that happened to be at the
Golden Rondell with all your collections.
Don't get this.
Maybe you were there.
Jim has the mechanism of the buses that changed the color.
So I felt like a van like I was up there turning from blue to green to yellow.
He has that.
Just what a what a collect it.
Oh.
That was a big hit.
I remember too.
Oh.
Well, and I remember my mother and I just talked this in here.
Great memory.
This was across the street, but there was a big boy restaurant.
And all we would each get a hot fudge Sunday.
I can still remember the tulip dishes, the doilies underneath, the long silver spoon, that
great fudge and the cream on top, cherry nuts, nice for mother daughter.
So this was all during the heyday then that we entered for the plaza.
Right.
And heyday actually was during the 60s and the 70s until what happened.
The Regency Mall came into play in 1981.
Literally across the street.
Well, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And at its peak, there were probably 30 some stores there, you know, that were in business.
They would come and go, of course, but you could shop for all kinds of things there.
A strong mix of popular local and national stores.
Now, Elmwood Plaza was actually owned by the Durand Corporation and the headman was LL Freeman.
So he was back.
This was really a great enterprise.
Racine's economy was very good in the 50s as it opened for sure.
So that heyday that we're using that word appeal to shoppers because we had jobs and
probably steady money.
But this was the free parking besides the stores, but it was convenient.
You could just drive up possibly to your anchor store, walk a little bit here and there,
but it did feel even though it was a long distance from east to west, it did feel convenient.
And we'll talk about the stores and what was available a little bit later, but there
was a huge variety, even including services like hearing aids and buying insurance.
So I guess in the heyday, there really never was a vacancy.
Not really.
No.
The day it depended so much on goldblads and goldblads stayed strong for 25 years.
Yep, they were the anchor store there until they closed in 1981.
Like Carol said, they were around for 25 years.
They would always celebrate their birthdays with free cake and gifts.
It was really a big deal.
They offered a lot.
The lower level had their lunch counter and their clearance center.
They had a nice garden center in the back.
You could buy furniture.
There was a beauty salon.
They had a candy department that would rival fanny farmers.
You could buy appliances, housewares, even lava lamps, sporting goods, cameras, shoes.
They had a nice pet department there too, where kids could buy baby turtles, parakeets,
goldfish, probably without telling their parents.
I don't know.
But their claim to fame was a minor bird, where some young boys taught that minor bird some
bad words, shall we say, some naughty words.
They always did.
We had one of our mall too, a minor bird, and these kids taught the minor bird.
They had to bring the minor bird in because he was swimming curse words to everybody when
they went by.
Right.
Yeah.
And it can imagine how embarrassing the clerks were when all of a sudden this bird started
uttering these colorful words.
And what we love to buy in the 50s, 60s gym, that lava lamp, that makes me smile.
Oh, yeah.
They were very, very popular.
Yep.
Well, eventually, too, or soon, there was entertainment to enjoy.
First of all, of course, you could have the lunch counters, the delicatessons, Tomkins,
velvet, freeze, and caramel corn.
You could spend a whole day there between shopping and eating, but how about Spencer's
bowling?
Did you hang around there?
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
We spent almost the entire Saturday at Spencer's starting at probably what maybe about
age 12 for me, but on a Saturday late morning, we would walk there with our neighborhood
friends, probably have maybe six or seven, maybe even more.
And we'd bowl a few games, and then go to velvet freeze on the opposite end for our ice
cream.
I'll tell you those were the days.
And we taught each other how to bowl.
You know, I don't think anybody really taught us.
We just sort of trial and error.
And they probably had maybe what, 24 lanes I'm thinking.
It's gone now, of course.
Well, what plausible is there now?
No, no.
That's gone too.
They gutted.
Plaza bowl has gutted.
I think the owners of angry brothers bought that and then gutted the old bowling alley
there.
I didn't know that.
Yeah.
We're talking to Jim Bessier, Carol G. and Fortay, we're talking about Elwood Plaza and
bringing back some memories this morning at WRJN.
Jim and Carol are here that who's got to keep tuberculosis cough there?
Was that you Jim?
Who was coughing?
Well, I don't know.
No one's going to admit it.
Who's got that TV in there?
All right.
Jim Bessier, Carol G. and Fortay are here.
We're talking about the history of Elwood Plaza, which was a predecessor to Regency Mall.
And I guess this is the first time people had a different, they used to all shop downtown
for scene.
This was the first time they were able to move out to the burbs a little bit, you know,
get out some of them in malls.
Yep.
And it wasn't a mall.
It's like, they called a strip mall today.
Yeah.
Because you'd never win inside the show.
Yeah.
Plaza, a plaza.
Because then Regency Mall was called a mall.
This was called a plaza, whatever the distinctions are about these labels.
I remember the first time I was in a shopping mall when I was a kid.
I couldn't believe it.
He walked in, take your coats off, and you can walk all the stores.
Yes, yes.
Really?
I'd never seen anything like that before.
That was the next wave.
Jim, I'm going to surprise you.
But did you get to be a good bowler?
No, never did.
I did not.
No, not, not, not, not bowling with a dancer, a lot of gutter balls.
Yeah.
Well, the hours of the mall also, you know, were, they were fairly typical, but we heard
in their goldblets ad when they had special events, they extended their hours.
But then something revolutionary happened.
Yep.
Terries came in, 1960.
Terries discount store.
And they started something and the mall, the plaza followed.
A lot of stores followed.
Yeah.
Sundays.
They were the first store in Racine.
They had a Sunday blue laws out here.
We had the blue laws where I live where no stores accept a hardware store and the food
stores can stay open in restaurants, but everybody else had a close on Sunday.
Maybe they broke the law and we didn't know it.
The Sunday blue laws.
I don't know if they had them out here.
Well, they ended.
Yeah.
So it was quite revolutionary.
That's right.
That's right.
You're, you're prized.
Well, actually, yeah, when this was announced, when
Terries was going to open that their opening ad said they're going to be open on Sunday.
Well, that was unheard of.
Nobody goes shopping on Sunday, never downtown, never any place.
And all of a sudden, we can go shopping on Sunday.
Well, our parish priest was so upset about that.
His sermon was about never going shopping on Sundays because that Sunday was reserved
for going to church, for visiting, relaxing, but never, never shopping.
So what happened?
Our parents took us for a ride that day for opening day and the cars were backed up for
two blocks of trying to turn into Terries.
That, by the way, my wife texted me and she says, that was my store.
Terries, I love that.
Oh, yeah.
It's her.
Um, you know, the, I guess the church is in like you cut into their business on Sunday.
Probably.
Yeah.
Right.
Uh, well, you know, we're going to do a second program.
I'm going to play the next month about all the stores, I don't know what we shop for.
But let's switch to what we knew was, now that we say, I guess it was inevitable, but
the decline that began, but discount pauses and stores gained, um, shoppers, uh, like
the Rapids Plaza with zairs, uh, Kmart was over on Ohio Street, Turnstile came in, uh,
but yes, the main change for Elma Plaza was the Regency Mall.
The main cause of the decline, which opened in 1981.
Now the Regency Mall, that had three anchors.
What were they?
Now that was Boston.
Oh, the Sears was one.
Sears and pennies.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Yeah.
And Goldblets had wanted to have Elma Plaza be enclosed.
And we know it wasn't.
The Regency Mall was enclosed, and Don was just saying, when you went into an enclosed
mall out east, you couldn't believe it.
Just here, take off your coat, and you can walk around the map, it's snowing or raining
outside.
They have little parts heading to trees on the inside, it didn't matter what the weather
was.
And Regency Mall, like, like others, it came to, I think they had marble floors, artwork,
plants, lounges, yeah, couches all over the place.
It was possibly almost elegant.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And people like to try new things.
That was certainly new.
And it was enclosed.
Yeah.
It was enclosed.
Right.
And so then, stores began to turn over at Elma Plaza.
What was some of that, Jim?
Oh, boy.
Crambo became a croulder, and eventually, when they went out, it became a good will, I
think.
And then a Whitlock auto supply store, Cresquis became Jupiter.
Red Cross drug became a jam discount that sold beauty supplies.
Their stores came and went, but the vacancies, you know, were quite evident at that time.
And then another major thing, we returned to goldblats.
Mm-hmm.
A couple of things happened for goldblats, our anchor, the fire.
Oh, the big fire.
And that was, we have the date for that, April 18th, 1979, and it started in the beauty
salon, but was enormous.
They had to close for several months.
Yeah.
Now, you were still in that area.
Yes.
We were on, we're still live on, on Leithrup Avenue.
And this was, I think, maybe about 630.
We started to hear fighter engines and sirens all over the place.
And it's normal to hear one or two, but all of a sudden, there were more and more and
more.
And there were coming from different directions.
And we thought, where are they going?
What's going on?
So we jumped in the car, and we got as far as Taylor and Leithrup and a police were there
blocked off the street.
So we thought it was the plaza.
Eventually, we went around, we made an in-run down Taylor, and we saw the fire in that.
So we realized that the plaza was on fire, but actually it was just, just goldblats.
Was it mainly smoker?
Would you just see flames?
Oh, I saw the flames, too.
Really?
There's a picture online.
You could see it.
Yeah.
The photograph is there.
Yeah, he could smell the smoke all over the place.
So that was a big part of the decline.
Oh, yeah.
And then the same thing being a chain from Chicago Goldblats, the chain, they actually,
the whole chain went into bankruptcy.
Yeah, I took them about six months, or five months to rebuild the, did it?
Yeah, the store at the plaza.
But then in 81, the whole chain, like Carol said, went bankrupt.
So that was the end of Goldblats in Racine.
Yeah.
And then with Regency Mall, many of the stores that were still at the plaza left for Regency
Mall.
Yes.
Yes, that's right.
A couple examples that we found was pennies.
They closed their downtown store and the plaza store and they combined them and they
moved to the mall.
Richmans was another one that pulled the plug over at the plaza and went to the mall.
It seemed like that everybody was just trying to get into the mall now because that's where
all the action was going to be.
And where's the mall today?
Yes.
Isn't that ironic?
Yes.
And then with plaza doing very well.
They have a lot of stores, they got the buffets, they got, they have a lot of stores in
there.
Well, they got the so-and-safe, which has been there for many years.
Asian buffet is always crowded.
Right.
Yeah.
Family dollars.
There's always cars in the lot.
Yeah, that's always, always there.
Where is the mall today?
Now we don't want it in closed, beautiful mall.
It's a good place.
That's right.
Yeah.
And downtown, downtown has been basically reinvigorated.
Oh, yeah.
Downtown's been great.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So next time we are going to in April, we're going to go through some of these stores and
eventually we're 30, stores like Fiegas, Kinney's, Richmond brothers, three sisters, pennies,
lunch from Bakery, new mode, Hozary, and we're not just going to name them.
We're going to go into some and do shopping and what were we shopping for in those days,
like Madras shirts.
I had Madras shirts.
We all did, right?
Yeah.
I like them.
Many skirts.
Yeah.
Many skirts.
Oh, that's for you guys.
They all bought them jeans.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So we're going to shop for what we liked in those days.
It should be fun.
It's a good day.
It's a good day.
It's a good day.
And then we're going to go back to the studio and do some shopping for the show.
Okay.
I'm going to do some shopping.
I'm going to do some shopping.
I'm going to do some shopping.
I'm going to do some shopping.
Okay.
I think you guys are coming in.
You're coming in for our April show.
I'm going to do part two of this.
Jim Bessier, Karen G. and Forte here at WRJN.
Now let's leave you one more time in case you missed it at the top of the hour, the
goldblatt's jingle.
Everybody's hurrying to goldblatt for good old fashion savings.
It's goldblatt's fabulous one day only sale tomorrow Thursday.
Goldblatt's great low prices on brand new items.
Values in every department with extra late shopping hours to help you save even more.
Look at these great values.
Save $7.00 and Oster 10 speed blender only $19.99.
Colgate toothpaste with an MFP only $0.89 each.
Hurry to goldblatt's one day only sale tomorrow and bring a friend.
