I’m not so sure if this belongs in Cafe Society instead, so feel free. There is a thread about time-wasting sites, and Lileks.com came up. He devotes a lot of info to a defunct restaurant/bar/motel called the Gobbler, that was open in the 70s or so. This place looks incredible. Did any of ya’ll actually go there or have memories of the place? Do tell! Thanks!
I never went there, but there were other places like it just as tacky. Wisconsin supper clubs. We did stop outside the Pyramid Supper Club and see all it’s tackiness up close.
I’ve never been to the Gobbler (which closed long before I was in Wisconsin and was gated off when I tried to go there) but it was hardly atypical of 'Sixties and 'Seventies-era architecture and design, which aspired to Syd Mead and Ken Adam but typically descended into imitation Formica cheapness. The commercial is awesome, though, as are the promotional materials.
For similar hotels, check out the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo,
Stranger
Imitation Formica?
Hee hee hee.
I’m a bit too young to have gone there in it’s heyday. But it looks awesome. A round bed with a TV in the hood! A waterbed enclosed in it’s own little enclave! Awesome!
Wow–thanks for all the responses. The closest I came to anything “Gobbler-esque” was a roadside motel in St. Charles, Mo. called “Noah’s Ark”. It was full of mangy, dusty, sad taxidermied animals. My husband thought it would be “fun” to stay there about 20 years ago. I do remember they had a restaurant attached, also filled with taxidermied tableaus behind glass. I think the place was razed a while back. I’m wondering if this was primarily a midwest phenomenon, as I don’t recall seeing anything like that in the south.
Making turkey calls as we drive past the Gobbler used to be a bit of a family tradition. And just about every time, my dad would forget where we were and what was about to happen and darn near wet his pants when the car erupted in gobbles.
The place’s days look to be numbered, though. They tried to auction off the building and the furnishings a couple months ago, but nobody was too interested.
“…in 2003, the Johnson Creek Village Board rejected a plan for a strip club called ‘A Gobbler-A-Go-Go.’” I suspect this was less for moralistic reasons than aesthetic ones. What kind of lame ass Midwestern Tony Soprano wannabe is going to operate a joint called “A Gobbler-A-Go-Go”? At least Art’s Performing Center has a clever name.
Stranger
You probably know but a lot of people new to the area don’t get the full awesomeness of the name Art’s Performing Center. Since the Performing Arts Center 2 blocks away has been renamed the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.
I never went to The Gobbler but when I was a kid in the late 70’s/early 80’s my parents would go. I thought they tore it down a few years ago but I guess they only tore down the Gobbler Moter that sat on top of the hill.
Oh, me! I’ve been to the Gobbler! We actually made a special trip from Madison to drink at their rotating bar. Hey, it was college.
It took a few tries. This was around 2000 and for some reason the first time we went (probably a weekend afternoon) it was closed with no sign with hours. A few months later we heard it was reopened and went up there.
So, it was a rotating bar. It was kind of a dive. You rotated around and there wasn’t really any good scenery or anything. Not much else to say, but this article has a picture of the bar.
For something like it try the Don Q Inn Dodgeville Wisconsin. It’s seen better days and is a fantasy room accommodation.