Comments on: norbert blei |happy valentine’s day from the ghost of gust klenke

By: Brian Yost

Brian Yost — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:50:12 +0000

Phil and Rose Voight put the columns on Clayton’s Door Stop after they spruced up the Viking. Anything else on Gus is welcomed since he was our fix anything mechanical hero. John Olsen the same for construction. I bought Clint Roger’s Suzuki X6 Hustler and made too much noise on Mink river road so I must appologize

By: The Mayor

The Mayor — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:17:48 +0000

What a Terrific Idea….I remberer getting gas and having car worked on back in the 50`s . Gus would be proud !

By: Barbara Fitz Vroman

Barbara Fitz Vroman — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:55:34 +0000

I’m not very good at putting dates together—was Gus
still alive the first time you celebrated him and his life
style and authenicity in print? I hope he got to read some
of your words of appreciation before he left this plane.

Liked the way you decorated the old truck.

Happy Valentine’s day to you and Jude, too.

By: Don

Don — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:57:40 +0000

What a truly lovely Valentine … thanks, Norb.

By: Kathleen Dixon

Kathleen Dixon — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:31:00 +0000

Hey Norb – what a great post – makes me think of the Door, even though I am many miles away -
Thanks for sharing – beautiful

Kahtleen

By: MaryAnn Grzych

MaryAnn Grzych — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:08:36 +0000

Thanks Norb. Brought me back to a time in the 70’s when I stayed at Wills. I forgot my jeans but did just fine in a pair of my husband’s held up with a rope around the waist. Stayed up most of the night reading by the fire (I didn’t have a fireplace of my own in Chicago). Searched the county for plums for a friend to make plum-kuklen. There were three couples on that trip. Most of the time though it was just a friend and me. We stayed in little cottages then finally the original DuNord. Hated what they rebuilt after the fire and never stayed there again. Have to admit the last visit (other than to go to The Clearing) I stayed in a nice B&B called High Point, got snowed in and wound up the only two people in the place after the staff went home. (They said we could run naked in the halls and no one would know–we never told whether we did or not!) They had to dig out car out with a plow in the morning. Good memories. Thanks for tweaking them.
Mary Ann

By: Jude hey

Jude hey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:02:33 +0000

First trek to Door > 1972. Being from Michgan & having watched the degradation of Traverse City for a couple decades, I feared Door faced a similar future. Annual treks to the Door confirmed what was coming: every summer, something dear had gone missing. Moved to Door > 1997. By then the decline had jumped to light speed, losing even “new” landmarks in the wake of yet NEWER, BIGGER, PRICIER cookie cutter construction (the second DuNord, gone … the entire heart of Founder’s Square backlots traded for a drainage canal … Liberty Park Lodge currently on the chopping block). Painful. Want to see what’s coming? Check out Traverse City. Then watch closely ~ “this” is nearly a memory. A dear and painful, memory. Jude, hey.

By: George Bisbee

George Bisbee — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:10:00 +0000

Wish I had met Gust. I miss Freddy and Eldred Koepsel. They all are a part of the Door County fabric that has been worn away. Not ripped from us, just worn out.

By: David Dix

David Dix — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:52:11 +0000

Yes indeed, Norblei. As a visitor to the Door since the 50’s I always cherished that Klenke garage, a touchstone of authenticity and excruciating, almost, charm. The old vehicle parked diagonally next to the rude hut, I always wanted to own it but then it would not have been there for others. The blue neon clock……..yes! Be it returned.

The cute and kitsch you lament as a resident of less spoiled Ellison Bay, sighting the new ruins up and down the peninsula, mightily warrants your touching reportage and plaints.