The Waukesha location of Oscar’s Frozen Custard, 21165 E. Moreland Blvd., was destroyed by fire Tuesday morning.
According to Town of Brookfield Fire Department Assistant Chief Tony D'Amico, the fire was called in to 911 just after midnight and he described the damage to the Journal Sentinel as “a total loss.”
In a remarkable show of resilience, by early Tuesday morning, Oscar’s – which also has locations in West Allis and Franklin – posted its flavors of the day to social media as if nothing had happened.
Those flavors are praline pumpkin pie and cookies ‘n’ cream for those of you who want to head out and support this family-owned frozen custard stalwart.
Oscar’s – run by Susie and Jim Taylor – opened its first stand in West Allis in 1984, and is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary. The stands are known for making their own waffle cones in-house.
D’Amico said that the roof collapsed in the fire and a multiple Waukesha County agencies responded to the blaze, including City of Waukesha Fire Dept., City of Brookfield Fire Dept., New Berlin Fire Dept., Pewaukee Fire Dept., Village of Waukesha Fire Dept., Sussex Fire Dept. and Elm Grove Fire Dept.
"The fire was mainly a defensive fire, because of the extent of the fire coming into the roof," Town of Brookfield Fire Chief John Schilling told Fox 6 News. "It’s just really unsafe for the firefighters to go inside and extinguish the fire that way."
One firefighter was treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released, according to D'Amico.
No cause has yet been released for the blaze.
See more about the fire at WISN 12 News.
The other Oscar's locations are at 2362 S. 108th St. and 7041 S. 27th St. Those locations are open today beginning at 10:30 a.m.
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.
