Milwaukee’s Prospect Mall: 1976-2006

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Constructed in 1912, Prospect Mall was located on the corner of Prospect Avenue and Ivanhoe Place. The location was initially the Milwaukee Electrical Railway and Light Company’s Farwell Avenue Barns. The site proceeded to be home to a few auto dealerships: Lake Park Motors, East Side Chevrolet, Bob Black Oldsmobile, “Bud” Donahue Chevrolet and Schlesinger Chevrolet. In 1976 the building was converted into an indoor mall by develop guru George Bockl, with a three-screen movie theater operated by Marcus Corporation.

Bockl’s projects also included the Bockl Building at 2040 W. Wisconsin Ave and converting the Chalet at The River building into apartments and stores including an indoor mall on the first two floors. He reinvented Milwaukee’s Third Ward from vacant warehouses into a viable commercial and residential district that paved the way for the next generation of tenants. Bockl also developed of the city’s first elderly housing projects. He sold the mall in 1977 to First City Resources Corporation (Prospect Mall Partners).

Here is a brief list of former tenants who called Prospect Mall home:

Joe Ryan lived in Thailand for seven years and wanted to share that culture with fellow Milwaukeeans. In the late ‘80s Ryan opened a restaurant in the basement of the mall. The Bangkok Orchid Thai Restaurant was a four star, 130 seat restaurant specializing in Thai and Chinese cuisine. The restaurant also participated in outdoor festivals, catered private parties and offered carry out and delivery service. The full bar offered over 130 drinks, 50 varieties of wine and 40 brands of beer. The Ryan’s then expanded, opening the Orchid Lounge in the mid ‘90s, which eventually turned into Thai Joe’s Lava Lounge.

The venue hosted many well-known musical acts with different genre of entertainment every day of the year. The Lounge supported live bands and DJs, reggae and talent shows, hip hop slams, poetry slams, comedy and fashion shows, bikini contests, weddings, private parties and drum Ccrcles. The bar hosted many underground events as well. “Wheeled” Art Performance shows took over the beloved Thursday Night Grateful Dead Tape Nite. Thai Joe’s closed in 2004 after being in business for 16 years.

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Video Visions, owned by Jim Howard, is where many customers spent hours flipping through card catalogs looking for a movie and asking the clerk what movie was just returned. Howard built the best, most diverse video rental and sales store in Milwaukee. He had wit and genuine intellect that definitely made a mark on many grateful customers. Video Visions closed due to succumbing to market competition in the video rental business.

Dirty Jack’s was the place for cheap vinyl in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Originally located at 1947 N. Farwell Avenue, the building now is home to the Comet Café. The owner, Jack Covert, later relocated to the Prospect Mall and changed the business name to Jack’s Record Rack. The store consisted of musicians working behind the counter and was the place for people in the music scene to gather and talk about music. The store was in business until the early ‘80s.

Other innovative Milwaukee businesses occupied Prospect Mall, including Recycled Books & Records, Kosta’s White Manor, Long John Silvers Restaurant, The Chocolate Factory, Book & Music Exchange, Old Master’s Print Gallery, Disco-Tech (guitar/amp/musical instrument repair shop), Star Spin Records, Lox, Stock & Bagels, Baumann’s Olde Time General Store, The Hoffman House, Yogurt Tree, Old Masters Frame Shop, Starspin Record Store, Sun of Kenilworth, La Petite France, Body Ritual, The Country Store, Cherry Bomb, Bloomer’s, Drama Crow, Saved By The Light, Gothic Gecko and Collectors Unlimited.

In June 2006, Prospect Mall permanently closed. Six years later the mall was sold for $1 million by Boulder Venture, Inc. to developer Robert Joseph, grandson of George Bockl. In 2013 Joseph started converting the former mall into The Overlook on Prospect. The development, with first floor retail and 52 apartments, opened two years later.

There are no vestiges of Prospect Mall today other than a “Used Cars” concrete slab ghost sign on the building. The sign is very faint following decades of exposure to the elements. I’m glad there’s been no effort to remove the sign, it is the only remaining reminder of days gone by.

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Prospect Mall 1977

Photo courtesy Rich Diemer

Prospect Mall 1977

Prospect Mall 1977 looking west from E. Ivanhoe Place

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Prospect Mall Cinema 1977

Photo courtesy Rich Diemer

Prospect Mall Cinema 1977

Prospect Mall Cinema in 1977

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Prospect Mall Cinema 1976

Photo courtesy Marcus Corporation Archives

Prospect Mall Cinema 1976

Prospect Mall Cinema in 1976 - photo used in advertisements