Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Schroeder Books and Music


Schroeder Books & Music, 7629 W. Greenfield Avenue, Westallica: shelves piled high with books and magazines in genres that you can't find anywhere else. (Adjacent to the "Americana" section is "Linconana.") It's always worth a look-see here. I've imagined that every book ever published is in there...somewhere.

I found a Workbasket Magazine from the 1950's, in case I ever want to tat a doily. These are collectible little mags with historical value- not just needlework (presumably kept in a tidy basket by the hearth) but also for the ads. ("Steady pay every day as a Practical Nurse! Enjoy security, no recession for Nurses. Earn to $65 per week, good times or bad. Florence Nightingale School of Nursing.") As I checked out, the lady said,
"We have hundreds of Workbaskets."
Hundreds?
The mind reels!

I mentioned that I'm a longtime customer (sporadically) and used to go to the old store on 7th and Wisconsin, when it was across the street from the old Duncan Donuts, back in the 80's and early '90's. This was before the "revitalization" of downtown Milwaukee. She told me about the fire that destroyed the store- they had two locations at that time- and thousands of books stored beneath the street, all destroyed. But they have plenty again, so make sure you do some Christmas shopping for the lover of historic needework patterns or Linconana aficionado in your life.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Duncan Donuts???

The River Otter said...

Ha ha- my internal proofreader took the morning off. Dunkin' Donuts it is! And, the current version is indeed new- they got rid of the old homeless-urine smelling one and put in a new version.

Anonymous said...

Another question. What's Westallica??

The River Otter said...

"Westallica," 'Stallis, West Allis. :)

mikemiller34 said...

Westallica--LOL. Love it! Is Booked Solid next?

Rhyno said...

Right down from my house. Though, I hate to say I havent been there in awhile.

The River Otter said...

Oh, Rhyno...you should go and show them a little love.