Lost City: Milwaukee Edition: A Good Sign: Leon's Custard

Leon's has been serving superlative custard in south Milwaukee since 1942. The roadside sign, dating from the '50s, is a work of art. The stand itself, seen below, ain't so bad either. Local legend has it that Leon's was the inspiration for Arnold's, the drive-in featured in "Happy Days."

A Good Sign: D & M Pratt Liquors

Big, bold, red and brazen, D & M Pratt Liquors is in Clinton Hill, at the corner of Washington and Myrtle. Not the old metal "Discount" sign on the side, and the angled entrace.

The Windows of La Declice Pastry Shop

La Delice Pastry Shop is a small corner bakery at 27th and Third Avenue. It's been in business for nearly 80 years. I rarely get the chance to visit it since I'm not in this neighborhood very often. But it's always a delight to encounter it when I am in that area. The storefront always comes as a happy surprise to me, so perfect is it in its old-school stylings. And the windows, chock full of colorful sweets, are always worth a long, lingering gander. Take a look:

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Lost City: Wisconsin Edition: Fred's Parkview

While driving through Burlington, Wisconsin—a mid-sized town in southeastern Wisconsin with a impressive number of old buildings and old businesses—to visit a particular tavern (about which I will post another time), I chanced upon this lunch room, Fred's, in the center of town. Fred's, a single-story corner building which has evidently been added to over the years, boasts of having the "World's Best Burgers." I didn't have time to test that claim, but I can attest that it has one of the world's best storefronts. Take a look at that unique bit of neon on the front of a man chowing down on one of Fred's choice burgers.

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Long Island City's Shannon Pot to Go Under?

A reader wrote in to tell us that The Shannon Pot, the reliable old tavern and grill in Long Island City, not far from the Court Street subway stop, will be razed, along with the building it's in, in the next months. Taking its place will be, yes, another condo tower.

The Shannon Pot isn't in the top tier when it comes to city dives or Irish pubs, but it's been a dependable presence in the neighborhood for some time, and served as the backdrop of a number "Law & Order" and "Third Watch" episodes. Artists from the nearby P.S. 1 sometimes hang out here on the weekends for a cheap beer, and the lunch trade is brisk with local workers. But mainly this is a local joints.

I can find no history of the building prior to its incarnation as The Shannon Pot. But the whole look of the building tells me its probably been a tavern for many years, and probably functioned under many names. The disused side door tells of an old-fashioned "Ladie's Entrance" that once existed. And there are tin ceilings and a room in back that looks like it may have been a kitchen or part of someone's former apartment.

Restored Neon Signs Back on Long Island Restaurant

The new lease-holders on the Long Island Restaurant space on Atlantic Avenue have returned the iconic space's neon signs to their rightful place on the east and north sides of the corner building. The signs were removed back in June. Many thought they were gone for good. But the people who plan to open a new restaurant and bar in the old space—which has lain dormant for many years—reassured the concerned public that the signs were being refurbishing at the Manhattan neon outfit Let There Be Neon.

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Lost City Asks, "Who Goes to La Grenouille?"

It took me 25 years of living in New York to get to La Grenouille. Now that I've been, I will be back many times. It easily established itself within five minutes as one of my favorite New York restaurants. There's some sort of magic going on in that beautifully lit, flower-strewn place—a combination of lighting, service, decor, food, conversation and company—that makes life good for the couple hours you're in there. Unlike most of the hot new restaurants today, La Grenouille sends me away becalmed, happy and satisfied. I don't mind spending $100 there on a dinner with that payoff.

Here is my Eater column:

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Lost City: Wisconsin Edition: The Hob Nob

The Hob Nob is a classic Wisconsin supper club that sits alongside Lake Michigan in a lonely stretch of rural highway between Racine and Kenosha. Is was founded in 1937 in downtown Racine by the Higgins family. In 1954, it moved to its current location. It is currently run by Mike Aletto and Anne Glowacki. Like all supper clubs, it serves things like steaks, seafood, prime rib, and Friday fish fries, along with old school cocktails, in a comfortable, homey, and hopefully old-fashioned atmosphere. 

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Old Schrafft's Building Destroyed

A reader wrote in in dismay last week to report that workmen were tearing down a one-story structure at 155 E. 79th Street between Lexington and Third that used to be an outpost of the once prominent New York eatery chain Schrafft's. He sent the above photo, which—sadly—was taken after the structure was on its way out.

"This was a charming one story building, set between two residential buildings, that was a kind of white stone, art-deco castle," he wrote. "It was, I believe, built to be a Schrafft's, but had been an antique shop for many years. You can see it as a Schrafft's in the opening shot of the 1959 Doris Day film 'Please Don't Eat The Daisies.'... This little treasure should have been preserved."

Elliott Galeries, the antique shop of which he spoke, announced on its website that it had moved to Brooklyn. According to the site, Elliott moved into the space in 1979. Here's a picture of the lovely little building when Elliott possessed it:

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Jackie's Fifth Amendment, Classic Brooklyn Dive, to Close

Mars Bar. Holiday Cocktail Lounge. Blarney Cove. O'Connor's. Now Jackie's Fifth Amendment.

Another timeless, irreplaceable dive bar has found the new New York inhospitable to its kind. Jackie's, located on Fifth Avenue and 7th Street and armed with one of the best bar names in the history of mankind, is one of tony, stroller-ridden Park Slope's last regular, old man bars. I will pour its last bottle (it doesn't serve any beer on draft) on Sept. 14.

The bar has been in the same family since the 1950s. "The owner's health is deteriorating," a bartender told Gothamist. "It's going to be taken over by the pharmacy next door." He added, quite correctly, "It's a shame to see these kind of bars leave the area, because once they're gone they're gone forever."

The bar was called Costello's in the 1960s. Why it changed its name (but remained in the same family), I do not know. If Jackie's had a signature, it was the cheap buckets of ponies. It served no food, not even pretzels, but a spacious room in the back hinted that there might have been hot lunches in the past. Last time I was there, they still had a rotary phone and an 8-track tape. (Photo courtesy of Eater.)