Jimmie’s Last Call

Last call…

(And… Soon…Welcome HOME)

Last Call at Jimmie’s Cornerstone Bar and Grille… and all that history at Brown and Wyoming!

Last Call for Jimmie and sons, and the whole wonderful gang of friendly wait staff, cooks and… who knows… a coupla’ ghosts and goblins who show up ONLY at Hallowe’en… Las Call at Jimmie’s Cornerstone Bar and Grille is… well, Hallowe’en. October 31st. The “evening and “morning” before” All Saints Day.

Get your drinks and food one more time… before… silence falls at Brown and Wyoming.

That silence… that’s gonna be… Well, complicated.

For Jimmie and Sue Brandell and their sons Nick and Jason… Well. For them it’s been a sort of virtual second home: dad Jimmie shows up at 5:30 a.m. or so (that, of course, won’t change in the NEW home) and maybe leaving at… Gosh: a visitor to the “Bar and Grille” will find Jimmie still around at 5:00 or 6:00 or… whenever he can lead. And that ALSO won’t be changing. Wife Sue helps out with — well, handles, in lots of ways — things like radio/TV advertising, wine selections and… WeeElks football players, too. Oh: and the “real” home, too.

Plus saying “hello” to old friends while she walks to a meeting about… things like radio/TV advertising, wine selections. Oh: and let’s not forget making sure Jimmie, Jason and Nick are happy, too.

The “total family effort” is what it takes to keep me ‘n’ you and all the rest of his steady customers. In this “high tech” world we’re getting used to, there’s now “double click” to get a hamburger just right or get the “french” in the potato fries on the tables. For all of us folks waiting for the “just right” burger or the hot from the deep fryer…

Hmmm… If we’re on a tight schedule to get back to work, we might be just a “tad” annoyed. For Jimmie and company and for the whole rest of the “food industry” getting it out of the kitchen and on the tables in just… business as usual.

But last call. Last call: like we said: that’s complicated. All that silence that’ll never end, even as what was once the home of good food, good company, some music and that weird, weird ceiling that you had to know about to even look up at it… Well, the next noises that will come from that building after last call will be the sounds of workers taking that building apart so that all that wonderful activity… the good food, good company, loud music and all… That will gone.

Something will turn in to… Nothing. No patio. No pool tables or posters on the wall, no “band stand” doubling as an elevated eating area when the music ends.

And Jimmie’s Cornerstone Bar and Gille and all that history beginning in 1868 when liquor was first tipped and from the 1930’s when it was “Stoecklein Cafe and many other bar/restaurants) will be gone. (Oh: and if you’re reading this and remembering the “1001 Club” or any others, just add your memory to the “Comments section” of this website!)

So back to that “virtual home” concept. Jimmie lives at the “Bar and Grille” probably a bit more than he gets to relax at this “real” home. Oh: and another thing about that “virtual” home? Talk to Jimmie and Sue and you get to hear the stories of pratfalls involving hidden accesses to the basement for beer and such, stories of tiny couches that offered a night’s sleep to Jimmie… And on and on and on.

Again: it has been sort of the family’s virtual home. For the record, for the past seven years. Coming to an end on Hallowe’en…

So, finally: NEXT.

“First Call: In the Company of Heroes.”

Yep: Ladder 11. A whole new place… a place for new memories to begin… A place with old memories, by the way, and we will begin to learn about those. About those heroes, too. And if you can contribute a story or two… or THREE… about the days when it was “just” the firehouse at Brown and Wyoming: well, add those to the “Comments Section” as well.

So now we’re here at “Last Call” and soon…

First Call.

See you there.