EXCITEMENT ON RIVER AS PURSUED MAN JUMPS

A Lunch Hour Incident Draws Crowds
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Brady Street Cafe Closed
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Thai Sushi Restaurant Announced

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

Emergency response teams prepare to enter the Milwaukee River from its west bank north of the St. Paul bridge at about 12:45 this afternoon, Friday, May 1st, 2009 as Steven Feih of Milwaukee Courier Company looks on.
Moments later, police sealed off the riverwalk as a person was removed from the water. It could not be immediately determined if it was a floater or a jumper. However, more recent reports indicate an individual in his 20's, pursued by police, jumped into the river, and died.
The first responder was a Milwaukee Police squad headed west on St. Paul. The vehicle threw on its lights at the intersection of N. Broadway, then stopped on the bridge two blocks away. It was followed by fire engines travelling south on Broadway within minutes. Gary Grunau was walking east along the south front of the Milwaukee Public Market at about that time. Among the gawkers gathered on the riverwalk were such notables as Jimmy Von Milwaukee and Jerome "Kitty" Schultz.
Two hours later, four police vans and four squads remain on the scene. The photo below was taken from the Milwaukeeworld offices at 1:20 p.m. It shows numerous rescue vehicles on the bridge. (Sculpture in foreground by Norbert Horne.)

[photos by Michael Horne]

BRADY STREET CAFE CLOSED

WE Energies cut the juice at the Brady Street Cafe / Astor Theater, 1696 N. Astor St. this morning, Friday, May 1st, 2009, effectively ceasing operations for the neighborhood outpost. Owner Jim Searles had been battling rising costs and declining sales for years as he pursued some quirky endeavors, including an installation of a theater with a sprung stage in a corner of what was then his pharmacy. Toward the end, it was little more than a lunch counter, which is not to detract from that noble institution, but it was not enough to keep the place rolling.
For years when it was a pharmacy, Searles bragged that he had received offers from the big boys at Walgreens and other chains to buy him out. In the end, however, he transferred the prescriptions unceremoniously to Hayek's, one of the very few remaining independent pharmacies. [See Milwaukeeworld posting, Brady Street Pharmacy Says "No" to Drugs."]
In the end, Searles owed thousands in unpaid tax warrants, property tax and money to his suppliers. A pending lawsuit will force him to honor a committment to sell the building to the Glorioso family for the expansion of their business across the street.
--Michael Horne

THAI-NAMITE TO OPEN



In other news from the intersection of Brady and Astor streets, the former Joynt Venture / Changin' Times building at the northwest cornerat 922 E. Brady St. is to open as Thai-Namite, a Thai - Sushi restaurant that is expected to bring new life to the west end of the Brady Street neighborhood. Co-owner Kim Hongsin says she is excited to be in the neighborhood. The building will require considerable investment, since it had not served in a food-related capacity since it was the Astor Market, and nobody alive remembers when that was.
Wired Properties spent considerable time and money improving the place and bringing to it a historical visage that had long been effaced by insensitive remodelings. The huge upstairs apartment will be available in September.
--Michael Horne