Fein Brothers restaurant supply store, which is moving to a new location near its longtime current home at 2007 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Dr., is removing its vertical and marquee signs and placing them in storage with the hope that they can be displayed in the new store.
Fein Brothers announced the move in September.
The sign is something of a neighborhood landmark and was installed by Merit Furniture, which occupied the building since the 1920s, until Fein Brothers arrived in 1967. The building’s facade was rebuilt after a 1929 fire and it’s possible the sign dates to that time.
Fein Brothers modified the existing sign when it occupied the building.
You can also see the Merit Furniture name in the terrazzo floor of the exterior vestibule of the building.
(Read more about the history of the building in this Urban Spelunking article.)
On Tuesday, Dec. 1, the same day Fein Brothers opens in its new location at 2023 N. King Dr., Pure Mechanical, Ideal Crane and Raylyn Contractors will remove the sign in the hopes of preserving it.
A new sign, based on the vintage one, will be created for the new location, which currently has a temporary sign, and installed by January.
“Sadly, the engineering work needed to relocate the sign to our new showroom would be
too cost prohibitive for us to undertake,” says Fein Brothers co-owner Todd Minkin. “I’m hoping we can recondition the sign and find a way to display it in our new showroom.”
A grand opening event at the new location is expected to take place in December.
UPDATE: Here is a photo of the sign as it was being removed...
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
