Vintage Kenosha
Diners, drive-in theater, street cars and a tiki bar: Wisconsin city offers charm aplenty just 50 miles from Chicago
KENOSHA, Wis. — Hard times are still in the headlights.
Roadways are crumbling, housing prices are tumbling. The dollar is tighter than Dolly Parton’s wig. But there is a comfort zone within an hour’s drive — when roads aren’t under construction — of Chicago: Kenosha.
Roadways are crumbling, housing prices are tumbling. The dollar is tighter than Dolly Parton’s wig. But there is a comfort zone within an hour’s drive — when roads aren’t under construction — of Chicago: Kenosha.
“Happy Days” are here again.
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
“Happy Days” are here again.
Where’s the Fonz?
Kenosha is 50 miles north of Chicago. Cross the Wisconsin border on I-94, take exit 165 and head eight miles east. Take a left on Sheridan Road, proceed north and fall back in time. There’s the 60-year-old Keno Family Outdoor Theatre, 9102 Sheridan Rd., Wisconsin’s oldest drive-in movie theater. In downtown Kenosha you can ride a 1951 Presidents Conference Committee street car.
Kenosha is home to Franks Diner, one of America’s premier diners. The city has at least three vintage drive-in restaurants: Big Star, the Spot and Andy’s Drive-In. A guy who works at Kenosha’s oldest bakery just opened a vintage tiki bar.
Omigosh, it’s “the Nosh,” as locals call it.
Some say the retro mobility is due to the fact that between 1902 and 1988 Kenosha was home to car makers American Motors Corporation (AMC), Rambler and Nash, to name a few. Others say Kenosha (pop. 90,352) is reflecting the eclectic attitudes of new residents. In 1994 U.S. News & World Report magazine said 90 percent of Kenosha’s new-home buyers were Illinois transplants.
Franks Diner, 508 58th St. in downtown Kenosha, is ground zero for a throwback weekend. The diner opened in 1926 after the legendary Jerry O’Mahony company built and shipped it here on a railroad flat car from Elizabeth, N.J.
From the moment you walk in, you get the sense that Franks is different. Like a curtain to the past, the front door slides open. Neon signs advertise Coca-Cola fountain service and lemon soda. Franks seats 55 people. Expect long waits on weekends.
Over the years the diner has served the likes of Duke Ellington, Wisconsin native Liberace and the Three Stooges, who sat among the 17 stools lining the counter, according to former owner Don Franks.
You never know who will tickle your ivories at Franks. I ran into Californian Tom Corwin, who is planning a documentary on driving a bookmobile across America with noted writers. His bookmobile with 3,000 books on oak shelves was parked in front of Franks.
Inside the diner, Mark Beaugrand of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was chowing down the diner’s legendary garbage breakfast. A full garbage with one meat consists of hash browns, green peppers, onions, jalapeno peppers, five eggs and toast on the side ($8.50).
Beaugrand, 52, saw the diner on the Food Network’s popular “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” He was at Franks counter eating breakfast and drinking Bloody Marys with his brother Todd, 47.
“This is the best breakfast I’ve had,” said Mark, a traveling barbecue caterer. “I can’t eat the whole garbage. It’s too big. I came here for a wedding and my brother had a sudden heart attack and passed away.” The Racine, Wis., native once had a restaurant that competed with one owned by “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” host Guy Fieri. “I told my brother when I was coming out here we were going to Franks,” he said.
The Franks family ran the diner from the day it opened until 2001 when it was purchased by Lynn Groleau, 44, and Christine Schwartz, 39. During the late 1980s they were students at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha.
“The family wanted to make sure it was in good hands and we wanted to carry the torch,” Groleau said during a mid-morning break from the flattop grill behind the counter. The women installed a new oak ceiling to replicate the original and restored the skylights. They play up classic diner sassiness, so much that when I went to the downstairs bathroom I had to wait for Groleau, who was in the men’s john.
Here is a great road trip tip: The Hot Club of Rambler City will play country, swing and gypsy jazz 6-10 p.m. Aug. 8 and 22 on a makeshift stage near the front of the diner (no cover). Homemade Tex-Mex specialties will be served along with margaritas.
The diner is near the two-mile electric street car route that rolls by Lake Michigan and the Metra station. (Street cars run 11:05 a.m.-7:05 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10:05 a.m.-5:35 p.m. Saturday and Sunday). Kenosha remains one of the smallest cities in America with a street car system.
“I love it here,” Groleau said. “I joke I don’t venture west of Sheridan Road. Myself and my friends ride retro bicycles, especially when we have adult beverages. Local is where it is at.”
They buy organic eggs from a farmer near Burlington, Wis., and shop at Harbor Market (downtown at Second Ave. and 54th St.), held every Saturday morning.
“It is more polished than the traditional farmers market,” Groleau said. “On the same morning there’s the Columbus Park Market [6 a.m.-noon Wednesday and Saturday at 22nd Ave. and 54th St.], where the farmers pull up their rusty trucks.”
Rusty trucks are cool as long as they make the 7-foot clearance under the aluminum awning at Big Star, 1500 Washington Rd., just three blocks west of Sheridan Road. Big Star has 30 drive-in stalls, deploying two car hops. Big Star is known for its made-to-order cheeseburger ($1.25) coated with fast-melting Velveeta cheese. I had four pieces of moist, moderately spicy chicken with an ample serving of fries. It cost just $4.50.
Chuck Laferney is Big Star’s third-generation owner.
“I’ve been here all my life,” said Laferney, 45. “My grandfather started it in 1954 [as the Washington Road Drive-In]. I bought it from my parents eight years ago.
“This has always been a working-class neighborhood,” he said, nodding to the south at the bowl-shaped Washington Velodrome, the country’s oldest operating velodrome. “The bicycle track used to be busier,” he added. “People watched bicycle races more than they do now.
“American Motors was here for years so all the drive-in restaurants and diners go with that automobile heritage. When American Motors went out, they kept the Jeep plant here. Chrysler came in with an engine plant. Auto workers built Kenosha. We’re not Detroit, but to the people here we are.”
Larry Knoedler is one of those people. He tooled up to Big Star in a cherry red 1960 Triumph convertible with Dorothy, his bride of 52 years. They wore red hats that matched the car. Knoedler, 75, is a lifelong Kenoshian. I asked him how often he comes to Big Star.
“Oh, when we’re out bombin’,” he answered.
Huh?
“Ridin’ around,” he said. “You don’t know what bombin’ is? This car is set up to do 130 miles an hour. I’ve had it up to 100. We come about once a week. We usually get a hamburger.” His classic convertible has no side window where the car hop can attach the tray, so the meal is placed at the back of the car.
Big Star’s season starts March 1 and runs through Labor Day weekend. Other Kenosha drive-in diners worth checking out include the Spot, 2117 75th St., known for its large, hand-pressed hamburgers, and Andy’s, 2929 Roosevelt Rd., which serves homemade pies and a Thursday hot beef platter sandwich with mashed potatoes ($4.95).
For a Kenosha Knightcap check out the Rendez’vous Tiki Lounge, 1700 52nd St. (rendezvous-tiki-lounge.com). William Koprovic opened the dimly lit tiki palace four years ago in a former shot ’n’ pool bar. The bar is packed with hand-carved tiki mugs, tiki totem poles and tribal masks.
“Kenosha didn’t have any theme bars,” he said during an interview at the 85-seat lounge. “I was definitely going non-smoking. [Smoking is still allowed in Wisconsin bars and restaurants.] We’re popular with women because they don’t like to get their clothes all smoky.”
The bar’s motto is “the only thing that smokes here are our drinks.”
The Rendez’vous has more than 30 specialty drinks and more than 40 rums. Mai tais ($7) and the Devil’s Kiss (assorted rums, strawberry and fruit juices) are the most popular choices. Drinks are made with fresh squeezed juice — not concentrated stuff. Bartenders garnish the tiki drinks with glow sticks, umbrellas and fresh flowers on Friday and Saturday nights.
During the day, Koprovic sets up the cream puffs and cream pies at Oliver’s Bakery, 3526 Roosevelt Rd., established in 1939. “I go there at 4 in the morning,” said Koprovic, 59, who also operates a dog and horse breeding business. “Sometimes I leave here and go right over there. The baking business and the bar business are both sweet.”
As sweet as the nosh in Kenosha.