Topping was born NickTopitzes in 1918, the son of Greek immigrants who operated a grocery store atSouth Fourth Street and National Avenue on the city’s South Side. Toppingattended grade school in the neighborhood and went to Bay View High School.Before entering UW-Madison as an undergraduate, Nick Anglicized his last nameto avoid the rampant ethnic discrimination facing many Greeks at the time.After graduating with a degree in history and communications, Topping wasdrafted into the U.S. Army during World War II, where he served incounterintelligence in the Mediterranean.
When Topping returned toMilwaukee after the war, he invested in what he knew best, and opened ageneral/grocery store, Topping and Co. International House. Until Toppingopened that shop, Milwaukeeans were hard-pressed to find imported food andgoods from the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East (think goat cheese and redwine), books from all over the world, and music from Africa, Asia, LatinAmerica and Europe.
As an eyewitness to thestruggles immigrants faced, Topping became a strong proponent for peace andsocial justice. He was active in civil rights as well as the peace movement,marching with Father James Groppi across the 16th Street Viaduct in the name ofcitywide open-housing policies and publicly protesting the Vietnam War. Duringa time before cell phones and the Internet, connecting with others meantphysically meeting up with people of like mind, and Topping’s shop, which hadmoved to Walker’s Point, became a welcoming, comfortable gathering place forcitizens involved in Milwaukee’s progressive movements.
During the 1950s,Topping started to bring ethnic and folk musicians to Milwaukee to perform,beginning with blacklisted artists such as Pete Seeger and continuing withSouth Africa’s Miriam Makeba, folk stars Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan (atthe Oriental Theatre in November 1964) and, of course, The Beatles.
According to Shepherd Express A&E Editor DavidLuhrssen, Topping would “smile when asked about meeting The Beatles, comment onthe loud, screaming crowd at the Milwaukee Arena and move the conversation tosubjects of greater importance to himtopics that might include politicalupheavals in Latin America, the foolishness of the news media, the enduringhold of racism on American society.”
A 1995 robbery of hisstore, during which Topping was stabbed, didn’t intimidate him into closing. Hemaintained his post behind the register, where some of the services he offeredwere listed: public notary, income taxservice, travel service, money orders and translation. Topping continued tosupport social justice until he passed away at the age of 89 in May 2007.
