BASEMENTS

IT'S NOT JUST FOR THE BOOGIE MAN ANYMORE:

So depending on where you live in the country, you may or may not grasp this concept. In places like New Jersey and Ohio it will seem like a given, but in Wisconsin a fundamental part of your home is your basement. This area often doubles the square footage of a home, but is often "unfinished" or just raw space. With a concrete floor and cement block walls it is often the location of the water pump, softener, heater and boxes of your dead relatives hierlooms.

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THE CONCEPT: Parents love the basement. In winter you send the kids down to ride their bikes, rollerskate or play barbies. It serves as a safe open and indestructible area for rough housing. It often serves as home to our "REC ROOM" and "BAR". This is where the flare of Wisconsin gets good, so if you are pursuing the education of a Cheesehead, read carefully. Common elements of an average basement would be bean bag chairs, old musty hideous couches, out of place furniture, and carpet scraps from at least two previous generations and some old electronics that your Dad will tinker with to avoid conflict with Mom.

THE BASEMENT BAR: In Wisconsin through the 60's & 70's a fad took over. It became very trendy and chic to create your own local tavern in your basement. Rather than go to one of the twenty bars within one mile of your home, many decided that they could get as unruly as they want and avoid passing out in a snow bank if they had the conveniences of a pub in their house. Thus the era of the basement bar was born. Most have shag carpeting, wood paneled walls, deer heads and dart boards for ambiance. The goal was to create a comfortable environment to watch football and drink. A ping pong, billiards or poker table would really insure you many guests, and a quiet competition ensued. If you had the best basement bar you knew it because on Sunday everyone was at your house. This also became a place to discover your heritage. Often you would unearth the stein collections of your grandparents, (large European style mug/tankard for beer or ale) and prominently display them on the shelving of your bar. It was in this that a basement bar owner would realize that he is furthering the great tradition of his forefathers and ensuring the heritage that is so rightfully his.

BEER CAN COLLECTIONS: Because of the popularity of beer and breweries in Wisconsin it became very chi chi (pronounced "she she") to find some obscure German or Scandanavian beer to bring as a gift to the basement bar owner much like a fine imported wine would be used as a gift today. This started a trend within a trend. Suddenly many basement bar walls became a museum of beer cans and bottles to demonstrate your vast diversity and knowledge of ale. This is key to understanding Wisconsin. Most of us throughout the 70's and 80's had extensive beer can collections. Kids ate it up! Where other kids across the nation were collecting baseball cards and Wacky Packs, we collected the cans. This further instilled the pride of the next generation.

25[1].jpg WEEZING THE JUICE: For the last thirty years, High School students called the basement "home." Most everyone had a basement bar area of some sort where you could listen to rock albums and figure out ways pilfer your parent's bar stock. It was very common for groups of boys to gather on the weekends and play cards in the basement while rocking out on the old man's HiFi system from the 60's. (that he still believed was worth the fifty dollars he spent on it).

As the drinking age in Wisconsin through the 80's was 18, it was common to milk shots from the bar bottles and refill them with water. This was done to prevent detection. This was an art form as parents would mark the bottles and kids would try their best to outsmart them. Often when done right, parents would begin to believe their tolerance to liquor was increasing to super human levels, when in reality they were drinking watered down spirits. A few times a year and usually in the winter months, a parent would discover what had happened and one of your friends would take a beating from his Father. This usually meant you had to find another place to hang out for awhile too. This also served as a great way to gauge how smart the guys in your group were. It also helped young men learn how to judge people. There were different types of Fathers. Many Fathers worked factory jobs and their bar was their most coveted possesion. It is not urban legend to hear of a group of boys getting caught in the act of ciphoning Schnapps from the old man's bar bottles and share equally in the wrath. Often an enraged and sometimes tipsy Father would smack the tar out of the whole group. Some people would think it horrible for a parent to lay hands on someone else's child, but you would never say a word for the incident to your parents, as it would almost guarantee another beating from them for stealing liquor! It too, was a right of passage for the young men of Wisconsin.

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