~ The Rave/Eagle Club ~ ( check out this cool history )

[awsomeears]

http://www.therave.com/historicEC/historicEC1.html

Check out the gallery :stare I'm sure most of you stepped in this place for a band once in your life, I was always told this place had a pool inside and was used for recreation stuff.

I wonder if any of the bowling lanes are present or mechanical stuff. Ive been in the basement but I'm not sure if there are other portions, most people don't realize how big this place really is.

Most of the time because its always dark and dim in there :shades

[Heat Seeker WS6]

WOW! Thats a great find.

[WickedSix]

holy schnikes that is a cool set of old pictures....that place looks awesome :thumbsup

[LIL EVO]

Id get a job there just to explore the depths

[USMARINE1108]

Been there a bunch of times, never know that stuff was there. Nice find. :thumbsup

[redpony06]

My great uncle use to work at the Eagle's back in the 50's up until the early 80's I believe. He was in charge of the entertainment and all meetings held there. He passed away last year in March and at his funeral there were old picture of him working at the Eagle's. He had pictures with Ali when they had boxing matches there, and big country music stars, comedians and much more. He also told us about the eagles how the pool is still there but it has no water in it, the bowling alleys are still there but they shut that part down many years ago. He told us allot of neat history of the place. If I talk to my dad he would probably have more pictures and stories of the place if you guys want. I always enjoyed knowing the history of old place like that its really interesting! :)

[jbiscuit]

its almost a shame that it is just used for concerts and such now! How cool would it be if it was restored and used as a club again!

[Poncho]

Picture #24 & #41 FTW.

Thats frickin' Ritchie Valens!

That would be late January 24th 1959, 10 days before, he, Buddy Holly, and The Big Bopper (JP Richardson) died in a plane crash, just after doing a show in Clear Lake , Ia
http://www.buddyhollyonline.com/WDPclippings/kenoshaad.jpg

[wikked]

He also told us about the eagles how the pool is still there but it has no water in it

It was drained due to the janitor committing suicide by drowning himself.
When I used to work there, it was the first thing all the bands wanted to go see "I wanna see the pool!" because of it's reputation for being haunted.

S'funny 'cos at first they were like :banana then they were like :(

Above the ceiling in the ballroom, is almost an entire nother level, I used to think that was the bottom of the roof :]

That place is definitely 10x bigger than you think it is.

They recently renovated alot of the interior, the bathrooms are really nice now, I was shocked. :thumbsup

[wikked]

its almost a shame that it is just used for concerts and such now! How cool would it be if it was restored and used as a club again!

Due to the area that it's in... it probably would do worse than it is now, and last I heard, they were nearly bankrupt as it is.
It's one of the most famous concert venues in the midwest, and probably every band in the last 30yrs has been there.
They'd never give that up, I hope.

[Moparjim]

I believe the bowling alleys are still there. A good friend of mine that has never worked a day in his life and somehow always has one semi shady real estate deal or another going at any given time had all but bought the place for virtually NOTHING like a few hundred grand or something like that. I dunno like 10 years ago or so, back when it was on the verge of being condemned. It had numerous minor code violations, the big one that required money to fix was that one of the parapet walls up top was crumbling and on the verge of falling off. He actually had the deal sealed I guess, I know he was in there working on all the minor stuff when something "interesting" happened that I never did get the full story on. Not sure if it still is but at that time the Rave was run by or had some sort of involvement by a Balistreri family member and they were leasing the Rave and interested in buying it as well. There was some sort of last minute Balistreri issue and some sort of issue with liens on the title that killed the deal for my buddy. All I know for sure is shortly afterwards my buddy abruptly moved to California for about 5 years lol. At that time there were some other tenants as well, I think like a beauty or tanning salon or something was one of them.

[michelle]

Wow, I had no idea about that history. Those are some awesome pictures!

[wikked]

I believe the bowling alleys are still there. A good friend of mine that has never worked a day in his life and somehow always has one semi shady real estate deal or another going at any given time had all but bought the place for virtually NOTHING like a few hundred grand or something like that. I dunno like 10 years ago or so, back when it was on the verge of being condemned. It had numerous minor code violations, the big one that required money to fix was that one of the parapet walls up top was crumbling and on the verge of falling off. He actually had the deal sealed I guess, I know he was in there working on all the minor stuff when something "interesting" happened that I never did get the full story on. Not sure if it still is but at that time the Rave was run by or had some sort of involvement by a Balistreri family member and they were leasing the Rave and interested in buying it as well. There was some sort of last minute Balistreri issue and some sort of issue with liens on the title that killed the deal for my buddy. All I know for sure is shortly afterwards my buddy abruptly moved to California for about 5 years lol. At that time there were some other tenants as well, I think like a beauty or tanning salon or something was one of them.


In addition to that, whoever kept the books seriously fücked them. They had wayyy more debt than they knew of.
More recently, they pretty much fired the entire barstaff because they were giving booze away left & right.
Although it was nice while it lasted :D:alcoholic

That is a huge money maker for them, since they charge such rediculously high prices ($7.50/liquor - $6.50 beer) It's probably gone up since I was there a couple months ago :P

[Windsors 03 Cobra]

Yea thats looks like it was a grande old place in its heyday.
I never been in the place, I drove past it and know the area around there and can only imagine how nastified and grimy it is today.
What has happened there has happened all over the inner cities of America and is not uncommon. Anything left standing today probably has a good chance of being saved depending on what type of 'hood its in.

[Heat Seeker WS6]

I believe the bowling alleys are still there. A good friend of mine that has never worked a day in his life and somehow always has one semi shady real estate deal or another going at any given time had all but bought the place for virtually NOTHING like a few hundred grand or something like that. I dunno like 10 years ago or so, back when it was on the verge of being condemned. It had numerous minor code violations, the big one that required money to fix was that one of the parapet walls up top was crumbling and on the verge of falling off. He actually had the deal sealed I guess, I know he was in there working on all the minor stuff when something "interesting" happened that I never did get the full story on. Not sure if it still is but at that time the Rave was run by or had some sort of involvement by a Balistreri family member and they were leasing the Rave and interested in buying it as well. There was some sort of last minute Balistreri issue and some sort of issue with liens on the title that killed the deal for my buddy. All I know for sure is shortly afterwards my buddy abruptly moved to California for about 5 years lol. At that time there were some other tenants as well, I think like a beauty or tanning salon or something was one of them.

interesting, i'll ask my dad about this. He was one of Milw's building inspectors & I know he was in there.

[Flicktitty]

Very coool Thanks for the link.

[Rocket Power]

http://www.buddyhollyonline.com/WDPclippings/kenoshaad.jpg
Kenosha???

[Windsors 03 Cobra]

Yea Kenosha, we have an Eagles Club/Ballroom here in Racine too. I think every city does.

[Junky Giorgio]

those old pictures are priceless. i'd love to take an entire day just wondering around the whole building

[Rocket Power]

Yea Kenosha, we have an Eagles Club/Ballroom here in Racine too. I think every city does.

Ahh ok

[ffvetteman]

My brother used to work there.

The pool is still threre, but it is drained and not axcessable to the publis(obviously). The bowling ally is not set up anymore. I have not seen it, but in some portion of the club that is used, you can see the planks on the floor from where it was. I dont know the details as to what is on the old bowling alley, but it is not reconcisible as a bowling alley anymore.

And the pool are is suposedly haunted, but my brother never saw anything, but he said it is creepy as hell.

[Feature Pony]

My great aunt met her husband there before he shipped off to D-day. I guess that was the big hot spot back then, now its sad cause its the hood. If I only had Donald Trumps money I would buy a 12 block radius and restore that whole neighbor hood with gates to keep the crap heads out.

[wikked]

I never been in the place, I drove past it and know the area around there and can only imagine how nastified and grimy it is today.


It's not bad at all in the place really.
Like I said, they've done major renovations recently, and what used to be the nastiest part (bathrooms) got a major upgrade.

All the walls have been re-painted, the ballroom floors have been refinished, carpenters have turned a few sections into really nice bar areas.
It's 10000000x better than it was 10yrs ago.


The neighborhood around the place though, is still just like you said :P

[lordairgtar]

When the Eagles (a fraternal organization like the Masons), they got in trouble because they didn't allow black people to join. I remember that news story from when I was a kid.

[Windsors 03 Cobra]

It's not bad at all in the place really.
Like I said, they've done major renovations recently, and what used to be the nastiest part (bathrooms) got a major upgrade.

All the walls have been re-painted, the ballroom floors have been refinished, carpenters have turned a few sections into really nice bar areas.
It's 10000000x better than it was 10yrs ago.


The neighborhood around the place though, is still just like you said :P
Thats good, are alot of the original elaborate interior details still intact ?


When the Eagles (a fraternal organization like the Masons), they got in trouble because they didn't allow black people to join. I remember that news story from when I was a kid.

Age ?

[Windsors 03 Cobra]

I heart WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM so much, from the WIKI.

Originally, membership in the order was restricted to whites only; this led to a controversy in Milwaukee in the late 1960s, when a radical Roman Catholic priest, Father James Groppi, discovered that many local judges were members of the order. Groppi questioned how a judge could render impartial decisions in cases involving non-whites when that judge belonged to an organization which excluded non-whites from its membership. The result was a series of demonstrations, including, in some instances, picketing of the residences of the judges in question. Eventually, the order dropped its ban on non-white members, but nonetheless its membership remains overwhelmingly white today.

Their lodges are known as "aeries".

Originally made up of those engaged in one way or another in the performing arts, the Eagles grew and claimed credit for establishing the Mother's Day holiday in the United States as well as the "impetus for Social Security"

Also from the "fraternal order of eagles" website, yes yes the eagles are still in business and boast a non-profit charitable organization with Aeries in over 1700 cities across the United States and Canada

[GRAMPS SS]

good find...now i feel really old...cause in the day guys my age hung out there for concerts and crap....the place was a show palase when i was younger...now...a crap hole they are tring to fix up...just so it can turn into another crap hole down the road....that building has soooo much history to it...the state should take it over and turn it into a museum for all that went on there....that would be something to see.....