Monday, July 21, 2008

I had a Miles Standish!

For those of a certain age, this may be of interest. Last week I had a meeting down at Marquette. It was about a topic that may be of great interest to some of you, so watch this space for details. I finished a meeting at St. Paul's Church a bit early and decided to have lunch before heading to campus. I decided to do something that I have been wanting to do, but had not yet managed.

I went to Suburpia at Prospect & North.

In the 70s, Suburpia was the place where you got a few sandwiches to smuggle into a concert or to quell a late night hunger of whatever etiology. We told ourselves that it was reputedly financed by money obtained through the sale of illicit substances, although these were just unproven rumours. The original chain was, I can tell you from some later professional experience, run by a visionary who had some issues. Eventually they went bankrupt and away from us.

In the past few years, new owners have opened a few stores with,as I understand it, the original owner as a consultant.


A Suburpia store was a special place. You'd walk into what looked like a closet plastered with concert posters. You'd get waited on by a head who grabbed your sandwich from a chute. You'd eat it out of the plastic bag it came in and down it with one of those old cartons of Coke that resembled the old cardboard milk containers. It was oh so good.


And, you know what, it still is! There I was. Middle aged, conservative law professor sitting in my Mini Cooper with the top down and scarfing a Miles Standish.

As someone once said, it was as if I had been dipped in magic waters and the memories were so thick that I had to brush them away from my face.

I'm definitely going back.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its good to see that they finally opened the prospect and north location. I have been hitting the Hwy 100 and bluemound location for over a year. My fav is the Rueben James and it taste as it did years ago. Totally addicted and I hit it at least three times a month.

3rd Way said...

This place is before my time. I didn't realize it had a past life. It sounds like the type of place Nancy Reagan advised me to "just say no" to.

"to quell a late night hunger of whatever etiology"

"Totally addicted and I hit it at least three times a month."

Anonymous said...

Wow! A Miles Standish was my favorite when I was a Warrior in the early 70's. Been living in Green Bay for over 30 years, and did not realize the shop had been resurrected. Next time I'm in MKE, it's gonna be a Miles Standish for me! BTW, no description of the original shops is complete without mention of WZMF and Reitman playing in the background!!

Display Name said...

I bet you can still sing the theme song from the commercial, too.

Anonymous said...

does george webbs still have a dozen burgers for 1.99?

Anonymous said...

To call Mr. Foley a "visionary" is not reflected in the case law. The 1981 bankruptcy features him agreeing to not have involvement with the people who bought the assets yet his own admission is he paid Subway $1600 to 'buy back the name Suburpia'. The 1998 tax evasion case had the Judge order the divestiture of Suburpia assets AND have nothing to do with Suburpia while on probation - yet the computers taken as a writ in 2013CV2944 show he was trying to broker a deal with Pick and Save while on probation. If the 1998CF980159 order about keeping business records is legit - why is the order for records in 2014CF8089 not complied with? For the ha-ha's you should go read bankruptcy 14-31425-gmh. For the not-ha-ha's - pay attention to the issue of the home that was taken from the person who owned it. Poor 60+ year old man, he may be the victim of elder abuse if the statements about the home in 14-31425 are true.