And So It Goes...
…said Kurt Vonnegut. A simplistic way to convey closure, to throw your hands up in the air and surrender, to explain the inexplicable. And so I go, back to my life pre-Pfister, after six months of exploring, discovering, conversing, photographing, writing, and blogging. There is no simple way to explain what it’s like being a fly on the wall of the historic Pfister Hotel for six months. I can’t deny the paradox of learning so many new things in such an old space. It’s filled with millions of stories, the fondest of memories, casual comforts and…
Dancing With the Stars
It’s the one sport that caters to people ages 3-93. And, it has the elegance, grace and pizzazz of a Hollywood movie premier. The Wisconsin State Dancesport Championships was back at the Pfister Hotel for its 26th year of professional/amateur ballroom dance competition last weekend.
Dan and Rebecca Messenger, from Nashotah, Wisconsin, organized the event and attracted thousands of dancers from all over the U.S for four days of fierce competition. There was up to $3,000 in prize money at stake in addition to scholarships available for continuing instruction. Looking through the program and schedule…
Creativity is Everybody's Business
Maggie Kuhn Jacobus is not your typical executive. Nor is she your typical mom. After a successful carrer as an entreprenuer, writer, producer, marketer, and public relations exec, she took a six-year sabbatical to raise her kids in the lush and far-flung tropics of Costa Rica because she wanted to give them a creative and enriching childhood. “Select soccer and routines were the things I feared most,” she admits.
Kuhn Jacobus is back in her hometown of Milwaukee with teenage boys. She took the position of President and Executive Director of the Creative Alliance in January and is…
Artists Among Us
The Pfister is well known for its Victorian Art collection and for supporting the arts in Milwaukee, but did you know how many amazing artists they have on staff? One of the best parts about working here has been meeting and hearing the stories about the incredibly and diversely talented staff. You never know who you are going to meet at the Pfister. The waitress in the cafe takes vintage photographs, the server in banquets creates mixed-media masterpieces, and the manager booking your event is an opera powerhouse.
Once you hear Catering Sales Manager Kristine Baker laugh, you will…
Pfister Files: A Tradition of Fine Dining
Over the next few months, I will be dusting off pages from the Pfister’s history books and sharing bits of the Pfister’s prolific history. This is the third post in this series.
The Pfister Hotel was and still is a mecca of fine dining. The holy grail? A Lobby Lounge Bloody Mary overflowing with accutrements, gourmet Sunday brunch buffet in the Cafe Rouge or a 14 oz. dry aged strip at the Mason Street Grill.
The English Room (1926-2001) was the special occasion place offering classic French cuisine. Lauded by the Journal’s long-time restaurant critic…
A Master and His Admirer
Dr. Jeffery Hollander has had a prolific career in addition to his 30-year tenure as the Pfister Hotel’s Musician-in-Residence. “He is so talented, I love the way he interprets the music. No one else plays like he can.” Natalia will be the first to tell you that he is not your typical lounge pianist. “No other place in Milwaukee has this kind of ambiance.” She has admired his work for the past seven years as a fixture in the Lobby Lounge. So much so, that she made it into Katie Musolff’s painting of Dr. Hollander…
Serving and Protecting By Day and By Night
Everyone has a very different version of a hero. They come in all shapes and sizes, and their acts even go unnoticed at times. Mike Nichols, a Pfister associate, working in loss and prevention (a.k.a security) fulfills his need to serve and protect not only at the Pfister during the evening, but also during the day, accomplishing heroic acts for American veterans.
A retired military officer and 23-year veteran, Nichols works for the Center for Veteran’s Issues in Milwaukee where he helps secure housing for veterans and their families. After a long career in manufacturing, he…
Sunday at the Spa
What’s a better gift than comfort and relaxation? I’d argue that there’s none. While some people see it as a luxury, others enjoy massage therapy as a part of their regular health and wellness routine – lucky people indeed. The waiting room at the Well Spa one Sunday afternoon was filled with new guests and regulars: an athletic looking man, an anxious couple, a mother-daughter duo, and an older woman pouring over a magazine. Everyone was whispering and slowly slipping away from the chaos of their own worlds in the solace of the waiting room, where the…
Blu-tending on Behalf of the Arts
Tina Chang is a young philanthropic leader, CEO, board president, arts patron, and more. One thing she is not – a bartender. But, tonight she is playing the role at Blu to raise money for United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF) and the Skylight Music Theatre.
“We have a friendly competition going, but really at the end of the day it goes to the same place – to the health of the UPAF member groups,” she says. By the looks of it, she is actually a fantastic bartender and a fund-raiser. She has a few $20 bills and even a $100 tucked…
5 O'clock Coffee Talk
It’s happy hour! What are we doing drinking coffee? It’s the kind of Friday night that calls for a martini – straight up.
I take my usual seat at the Lobby Lounge bar, looking around at the flurry of activity as hotel guests arrive for the weekend and the suits and gowns sashay in for their festivities. Tom takes the seat next to me, sipping a clear mug of caffeinated bliss, just like me. He’s another regular, but one that I haven’t yet met. Based on the way the staff flock to him to exchange pleasantries and…
Carla and Tommy
“I made a song!” she declared with a Christmas-morning smile. Dan invited her over to the piano in the lobby to play a few notes. “He knows that Jeff always plays ‘Summertime’ for me, because that’s the song my mother used to sing to me when I was a baby girl,” Carla explained as a juicy tear welled up in her coffee-colored eye. Now, her adoring husband Tommy calls her baby girl.
Carla and Tommy Shircel have one tradition – they celebrate their anniversary every year at the Pfister Hotel.
“Dan asked me to pick the first three…
Pfister Files: Rosemary Steinfest
Over the next few months, I will be dusting off pages from the Pfister’s history books and sharing bits of the Pfister’s prolific history. This is the second post in this series.
Rosemary Steinfest is a bona fide rock star. She was the first and still, the only woman general manager of the Pfister Hotel. Now, after raising a family and a successful career, she golfs most every day, if she’s not at Zumba class or planning a party.
After meeting the legend herself at the Pfister in December, I knew I wanted to know more. We…
Working to Give
Proudly showing off her black fleece sweater with the embroidered Pfister logo, I may have just met the Pfister’s biggest fan tonight. She and her husband were certainly fans of Jeff. Like any good bartender, he took to the attention like a moth to a flame and kept them entertained in the bustling Lobby Lounge where they were perfectly content taking in all the action.
Patty had neatly bobbed blonde hair, her rosy cheeks held up a pair of oval specs, and her meek smile was warm and inviting. Burt was in a collared shirt that peeked out loosely…
The Pool is Open!
In case anyone was wondering, the pool is open and ready for swimmers, despite the construction on the 23rd floor. I spotted two-year-old Cy, from Milwaukee, after a refreshing swim with his grandparents. They are visiting from Illinois and like grandparents do, they spoiled him with a cookie as big as his head. I just couldn’t resist sharing this picture.
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Brothers Reunite
All nine of them were huddling around the wide velvet couches like a football team reviewing the game-winning play. Then, they broke up to line up like soldiers in front of the fireplace and posed for a picture. One slight problem, the gentleman who volunteered to take the picture didn’t realize the camera wasn’t on, so I quickly intervened.
After they saw that I knew how to work one, they all began handing me their own cameras. It was clear that this was a momentous occasion and they all wanted their own copy of the picture to…
Lindsay the Magnificent Bride
“We were staying at the Pfister when it happened.” That phrase could apply to a million different situations. Lindsay was at the Pfister for the Magnificent Bride show earlier this month, where I captured her story.
Shaun and Lindsay met at UW-Milwaukee. He – a studious PhD candidate in psychology and she – a curious lab assistant. The courtship started with a roller derby and the engagement started with a derby of a whole different kind – a bet on a Kentucky Derby race horse. Shaun was watching the derby at Maxie’s Southern Comfort when he entered his name in a…
Inspirational Women, Inspiring Change
No matter who you are or where you came from, you probably had some help along the way. At the Women Inspired to Lead event last week at the Pfister, I spoke to several role models of all ages who’ve enjoyed the support of strong women to help them get to where they are now.
The event was a benefit for PEARLS for Teen Girls, a leadership development organization for African-American and Latina girls ages 10-19. Among the 400 guests, there was a panel of diverse women leaders who shared their personal stories of inspiration.
Tawanna Jackson…
The Art of Storytelling with Ex Fabula
No professionals needed – just enthusiastic amateurs. That’s my kind of club. ExFabula has been organizing live storytelling events in Milwaukee since 2009. Founding member Megan McGee takes pride in helping people discover that they have a story to tell and showing them how to do it. There is only one rule – all five-minute stories must be true. And, each event has a theme that storytellers must stick to. “The themes aren’t a way to restrict people, they should just be starting off point,” explains Megan. ”Eventually everyone connects with something.”
Andrew Larsen got involved last fall and…
Long-Lost Sisters
Though we weren’t able to meet face-to-face during her stay, Simone Ingram shared her story with me via email. Here is her incredible story, in her own words…
One day, I logged onto Facebook and had a message in my inbox asking if I had a dad named Dennis Michael Cudmore and a brother named Jean-Paul. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I read it and re-read it a million times and didn’t know what to do.
It was my sister Ciera who found me on Facebook. I never even knew I had a…
A Lesson in Networking
“I feel like I am stepping on to the Titanic,” said Carlos. “It’s so nice!” But rather than feeling like a fish out of water, as most first-generation college students might feel at a networking event at the Pfister Hotel, he embraced it.
Myladys Montanez, Clara Madrigal and Carlos Rodriguez are all part of the Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) program for Latino students in college. I met them during a Conexiones networking event for Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee (HPGM). This new program is a collaboration between HPGM and the United Community Center that helps students complete their…
Baring it All
As an artist, putting your work out there can be as scary as standing on stage naked in front of a crowded auditorium. After all, as a writer, most of my work is done in private and a great deal of it formulates quietly in my own head. Luckily, there are groups in Milwaukee like the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) who recognize that creativity can sometimes be an isolating activity.
I met MARN’s Operations Director Maggie Sasso at Gallery Night and convinced her that the Pfister could be a creative wellspring for writers involved with MARN. And just…
#MKE Foodies Take Over Mason St. Grill
In case you need any more proof that digital media is changing the way we do everything, here is a story of a food group that started on Twitter. Digital followers turned real-life friends, #MKE Foodies now meets offline once a month at a restaurant in Milwaukee to dine, enjoy and discuss food. And that pound sign, that’s called a hashtag in Twitter speak, allowing people to search and follow the same topics.
They call themselves “Food lovers making a difference in Milwaukee.” Food bloggers Lori and Paul Fredrich lead the group that also raises money for local…
Pfister Files: 120 Years
Over the next few months, I will be dusting off pages from the Pfister’s history books and sharing bits of the Pfister’s prolific history. This is the second post in this series.
A lot can happen in 20 years. Nipping at the heels of the 120th anniversary of the Pfister Hotel, I thought now might be an interesting time to find out what things were like around here at the 100th anniversary.
I found a six-page newspaper supplement from 1993 commemorating the centennial celebration of the Pfister Hotel, which gave me a good sense of sentiment for…
Getting at the Heart of It
It can strike at any time, take a victim of any age, and is the number one killer of women. Heart disease is a cause that clearly deserves everyone’s attention.
Last week was the 35th annual Heart Ball and a majority of the time it’s been at the Pfister Hotel. With over 350 guests in attendance, the American Heart Association raised $145,885 in support of the event. This will go towards the more than $14 Million invested in 137 different projects in Wisconsin over the past 5 years.
Jay Matz, Communications Director, introduced me to 13-year…
Love is in the Air
Although it’s still one week from Valentine’s Day, there is love in air at the Pfister Hotel tonight. Romantic love, Milwaukee love, Latin music love.
“Guajira,” scrape, boom, swoosh, “Guajira,” scrape, boom, swoosh…It’s the type of sound that crawls under your skin and tickles until you dance. Two people are wildly gyrating in front of the window at Blu about four counts faster than the music. It looks like an African tribal dance of sorts. They are the only people dancing in the room, but they couldn’t care less. It’s hard not to notice…
