Talkesha - The Talk Of Waukesha

Resorting? Or A Last Resort

talkesha — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:59:55 +0000

Ever stay at a resort?

Imagine a place nearby; in fact, it could be as close as your own back yard, where you could go for a relaxing day at the spa, in a restful, peaceful country-like setting. A place where they whisk your cares away, get relief from your aches and pains, and just relax, with wonderfully warm, mineral filled special mud, a therapeutic mud brought in from one of the finest moors in the country, as close to a fine European Moor Mud that you’d ever be able to find, to treat whatever ails you, mentally or physically. Or maybe just a facial, or even just some rest and relaxation? A place to stay, to get away from all the day to day stresses, family frictions, or just to visit to have a “Just For Me’ day. A place pleasant and comfortable enough that you want to invite all your distant relatives to come to town, and put them up in this resort for a night or a week, or longer. Imagine they serve the most naturally pure, fresh from the spring, ice cold spring water. Delivered directly to your room, or served in the spa. A place where the finest of meals are served, where you are treated as a very important person, as if, yes, YOU ARE A VIP!

Could this be the New Clark Hotel???? I didn’t see any plans for mud baths, but I did hear something about spa treatments. No, It’s not the Clark Hotel. It’s a place once known as the Grand View Health Resort. The resort was actually pretty successful. It opened in 1911 and lasted until well into the 1960’s. It’s initial success as a spa and mud bath ran until the depression of the 30’s set in, and changes were made adding activities like poker, slot machines and golf. In the 50’s and 60’s it was THE place to stay in Waukesha. Does any of this sound familiar? It should. Most people know it as Moor Downs, or Moor Mud Baths. Some remember it as Mt. S Paul ( in the 60’s to 1972, the Resort building and grounds were owned by the Salvation Brothers who turned it into a collage). In 1972, it was sold to Waukesha County, the entity that is responsible for this landmark building, spring house, golf course and park grounds.

But did you know the County plans to tear this building down? One of the last remnants of the great Springs Era of Waukesha, about the only thing that happened in this city to put it’s name on a map. A veritable playground for socialites from all over the country, from all over the world to come here to visit.

The county has a 5 year master plan, which I believe went into effect almost 2 years ago. This plan included the demolition of the Resort Building. About 10 years ago, the County invested in this building, doing an almost complete remodel that cost close to a million dollars. Now, within the next few years, they plan to spend 1.2 million JUST to tear down this beautiful LANDMARK and build something else in its place. They have already moved trailers into place to start storing records so they can combine departments, I think so that in a year or two, they can say the departments have out grown the building and they need to build a bigger, better NEW building.

I’m sure with the demolition of the resort; they will say they then need to take down the spring house. The spring house has been neglected for years. You can see a poor attempt at making repairs have been made, but they don’t look permanent. If you get a chance to look at it (it’s right on the golf course, you can see it from Moreland, or drive behind the Resort Building and take a look) you can almost see the roof is ready to cave in.

But there’s hope. The Landmarks Commission will be discussing this item on their agenda this week. They meet Wednesday night at city hall. Their agenda says they will have a report. I hope what they have to report is good news, that they intend to do whatever they can to save this building, spring and golf course. I thought they fought this battle a few years ago when they wanted to plant a jail on the golf course. Obviously this is a battle between the city and the county, a war of wills if you will. This is one more battle the city needs to fight for if they want to keep putting up signs that say HISTORIC on them, or we won’t have anything historic left.

And speaking of nothing historic left, it seems the Clark hotel has some problems of its own, the Landmark’s committee agenda lists the Clark Hotel having some issues with the masonry and awnings.

The Landmarks agenda list 21 properties that are coming before them Wednesday night for something called COA’s and LCP&R’s. I did some research, these are Certificates of Appropriateness, and Landmarks Commission Paint and Repair Grants. Seems if you live in a historic district or have an historic home you need a ‘COA’ to do the work you want to do, it’s not so much as permission, it’s to let the committee know you are doing the work the correct way. Maybe the committee is dedicated to saving some history. The paint and repair grants are for property owners as an incentive to keep up their historic homes.

I urge anyone who has any interest in trying to keep the ‘historic’ feel to Waukesha, to attend this meeting and perhaps get a chance to voice your opinion.

And if you can’t come to the meeting, please contact your alderman and county supervisor to let them know you don’t want the Moor Mud Baths, Grand View Resort Building demolished. The will know it as the Waukesha County Health and Human Services Building

Grand View Health Resort

Oh, and by the way, if they tear this building down, Resthaven, aka The New Tribes Bible Institute, will be the last resort….

Revitalization Renaissance Waukesha

talkesha — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:47:49 +0000

Revitalize -

What I found on Wikopedia:

As the ensuing days pass, Lighting McQueen starts to befriend the town’s residents, from whom he learns that Radiator Springs (Waukesha) was once a thriving town until the completion of the nearby interstate highway, which bypassed the town, one way streets were implemented depriving it of its business traffic and visitors and ironically, depriving those passing visitors of the natural beauty found in the scenery along the old highway.(river)

Two days after the race, McQueen returns to Radiator Springs (Waukesha), announcing that he will establish his racing headquarters there, helping to revitalize the town, with the once-abandoned Route being reclassified as “Historic Route 66.” (Historic Downtown and Riverfront)

Hmmm.. I find similarities to the Pixar’s Car’s Movie and Kevin Costner’s Field Of Dreams right here in my own backyard.

Build it, and they will come. But what I’m seeing is They Will Come Home. Welcome home to Drew Vallozzi and Andrew Ruggeri and more. Welcome back and thank you for your vision and starting what we hope will be the Renaissance of Waukesha. I hope more hometown boys and girls come back and wake up Waukesha!

A neighbor stopped by yesterday to ask me what I thought of the new hotel and restaurant. He said they are taking up all the parking spaces for Cuddles and Dave’s Restaurant. He thought the new hotel would push out what’s left of the businesses downtown. He’s afraid rents will skyrocket and the business there won’t be able to afford it.. I talked with him a while and he admitted he’s been known to park almost 2 blocks away to eat at Dave’s – and sometimes walks there from home. He said it’s worth the walk, great food at even better prices. I said that Dave’s will thrive during construction, the guys don’t always pack their lunches, and when the hotel is open, guests will surely want to try out local establishments. They won’t all eat at the hotel where they stay.. when was the last time you ate at the hotel you stayed at? He asked me about the empty store fronts. I said some businesss people just don’t plan ahead, don’t realize they need to put in 80 hour weeks when they own their own businesses and some just learned their business sold product or services that could just as easily be sold online from home and did not need to pay the overhead.

We talked about about new businesses going in, Bodways Live Music Grille and Studio, one owner TWO new businesses, the new owner of the Dicken of a Place Antique shop, soon to add some artistic flair and a little café, the rumored return of Katydid’s and Jeff Oberholtzer plans for an ‘eatery’ along the river walk and many other new ideas for downtown. Look at the expansions some businesses have made, Remember when G’man music was at the old Music Center on South and Barstow? Check out the new digs on South St and Clinton with updated studio space and what seems to be more product. La Estation used to be the lil Jaliso’s on Whiterock that’s now been torn that down now and look how they’ve taken care of their Landmark. How long did Zillmer’s sit empty before someone thought to make it into an Antique Mall? How about the E and R Church, burned down to the ground, and did they take their church out of downtown? No! They could have rebuilt out of town with more room to grow and more parking but Thank Goodness they are staying!

And all of this with my 80plus year old neighbor who is now looking forward to maybe taking home a recording of the live music he hears at Bodways, and can’t wait for the Weekend in Waukesha, even if he doesn’t own a Harley!

The Paul Vrakas’s and Carol Opel’s of their time were right, I think Steve Crandell (Community Development) is on the right track. If we build it (the riverwalk) they will come. And they are coming. And coming back.

We almost have it all. Our own civic theater, a plethora of art gallery’s, music studios, a sweet library, parks and parkways, boutique shops and a few drug stores.and an awesome riverfront to enjoy, whether you walk it or just sit a watch.

What my neighbor said he could use though is a nice old fashioned grocery store. Like the Budzien’s or Kaske’s, or Schmuki’s Markets or Dutchland Dairy of days gone by. A meat market, bakery, dairy and canned and dry goods all in one stop. Something downtown where you can stop and pick up something for lunch or dinner on your way home. Not that Pano’s Fruit Market isn’t handy, there’s just sometimes when you need just a little bit more than they carry. Let’s see who will pick up on this one, they are bound to make some money on it. With gas prices the way they are, we’re tired of having to walk or drive more than a couple of miles from downtown to pick up something for dinner….

and to make my summer perfect- maybe a few more places where our teens could go and have fun, without getting into trouble .. I’m sure I’ll bring that up sometime…

Today was an awesome day to spend sometime outside. Hope you were able to enjoy some of the warmth and sunshine.

Hello world!

talkesha — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:13:20 +0000

New to blogging but not new to Waukesha. Hold on to your seats we could be in for a ride