There Was Nothing Like the Gobbler Supper Club & Motel

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The Gobbler

The Gobbler Supper Club & Motel was a roadside attraction built for Clarence Hartwig, a turkey-industry tycoon, between 1966-1968 in Johnson Creek, Wis., at the intersection of Highway 26 and I-94. Hartwig wanted out of the turkey business and requested Helmut Ajango, a Prairie-Style architect, to build him a striking restaurant and motel in honor of his former profession.

When you drive by on I-94, you might think a spaceship landed. Across the way from the Supper Club, the Gobbler Motel had a bold, futuristic Googie architecture, which was a popular style in the late 1960s. The design featured 49 rooms with symbol-shaped waterbeds, some heart-shaped. It required two maids to make the motel’s round waterbeds, with the maids hanging by one arm and stretching out a stockinged foot to smooth away wrinkles. The rooms included 8-track players, round sunken bathtubs, king size waterbeds with built in televisions, passion pits, hot tubs and colored shag carpet that covered the walls in every themed room.

In 1978 the price range at the motel went from $55 for the simplicity of a white velour bed with black satin sheets to $85 for the sunken tub and deluxe waterbed. This design was done for one reason and one reason only ... to attract guests. The motel’s brochure summed it up perfectly, “It’s so delightfully different, and they come from miles around just to look inside.” It offered the motorist the most modern conveniences in a unique atmosphere.

The motel had numerous changes in ownership after the Gobbler Motel closed. The last tenant was King Arthur’s Inn Motel. After the motel closed in 2002 the Johnson Creek Fire Department burned the motel as a “practice fire” for their firefighters. A concrete slab on which the motel was built still remains.

Revolving Bar

Now let’s get back to the Supper Club and revolving bar, shall we? I need a drink. The exterior was made from Quartz crystal and lava rock, imported from a volcano in Mexico. As you walked inside, you were greeted by an onslaught of pinks, purples, brasses and all shades in between. From the walls the turkey-motif carpeting and the vinyl chairs to the clamshell phone booths. Gold lights hanging from chains, purple-fabric maître d’ stand, turkey-patterned carpet ... also free champagne Monday through Thursday. It was definitely a sight to see and experience.

The revolving bar originally came from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Chicago, seats 34 and makes a complete rotation every 1 hour and 20 minutes. At the bar, you wouldn’t be able to tell if your vertigo was induced by the booze or the spinning bar. People got confused when they stepped off and they couldn’t find their friends when they returned. The bartender would slow it down to accommodate. When the bar started, the bartender couldn’t get out until the bar swung around so that its opening matched the doorway again, eighty minutes later. What a trip! If one bartender was on duty, the bar usually wouldn’t run.

“The Roost,” a circular dance floor suspended from the ceiling over the rotating bar, was added in 1970. The restrooms were shaped like a wedge and wallpapered with red, purple and gold design. It was an experience in itself—and even more after consuming a few drinks. As for the menu, nearly almost item on the menu contained turkey in one form or another. A hot turkey dinner and a brandy old fashion could heal any soul. A delightful dining experience, specializing in turkey and prime rib, seven days a week.

After the Hartwig family sold the building in August 1992, several restaurants operated in the building. The first was a Mexican restaurant called Redondos in 1995. Others included a roadside diner, the Round Stone Restaurant. The New Gobbler was the last business in 2002. In September 2003 the owners at the time went to the Johnson Creek Plan Commission with the idea of turning the building into The Gobbler A-Go-Go. The plan would’ve featured go-go dancers wearing bikinis, dancing in cages, and waitresses in Playboy bunny outfits.

Alas, the Plan Commission voted it down 7-0. On June 6, 2008, the Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin Tourism Program hosted “The Gobbler Gala” at the restaurant. The gala featured Gobbler architect Helmut Ajango and Wright historian Sidney Roberts. In Dec 2009 the owners held an auction (which I attended) of the property and many Gobbler items, including petrified wood that lined the entrance inside.

Transformed into a Theater

After two decades sitting empty, the former Gobbler Supper Club would see new life. Daniel A. Manesis and his wife were shopping at Johnson Creek Outlet Mall in 2004 and noticed the for-sale sign. This is the exact moment he had a vision to buy the building and turn the former supper club into a state-of-the-art live performance music theater.

The Johnson Creek Village Board approved a conditional use permit for indoor commercial entertainment to Daniel A. Manesis & Associates LLC. The plan was carefully transforming the building into a 400-capacity seat theater. The interior remained as is, except the tables needed replacement with modern stadium seating. Thankfully, the original rotating bar would continue orbiting. No exterior changes, and the property remained in historical condition.

After a $2.7-million renovation, The Gobbler Theater opened Dec 12, 2015. The theater hosted concerts a couple times a month during the week and every weekend. The space was also used for private and community events. The primary genre of music was country, Christian, and ‘60s thru ‘80s rock bands.

The Gobbler Theater announced they would temporarily cease operations on June 16, 2021. The effects of COVID-19 were one reason for this decision. Also, the visionary of The Gobbler Theater, Daniel Manesis, passed away after a long battle of cancer the same day. What the future enfolds for the former Gobbler Supper Club is uncertain today. Hopefully the turkey themed building will fly once again. If you could dream it up, you could find it at the Gobbler.

Writer and columnist for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, James Lileks, has a special place in his midcentury-loving heart for the Gobbler. He documented the history in 2008. lileks.com/institute/motel

Late 70s: Gobbler Motel & Supper Club TV commercial: youtube.com/watch?v=EmotJvU2ri4

2014: youtube.com/watch?v=2mTzC24t4Ik

Adam Levin is administrator of the Old Milwaukee Facebook group. facebook.com/groups/oldmilwaukee/ ,and author of Fading Ads of Milwaukee.

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Photo by Adam Levin

Gobbler Theater sign

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James Lovell at The Gobbler

James Lovell at The Gobbler

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Gobbler Ad 1979

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