Last March, we reported that Glass Nickel Pizza Co., which was launched in Madison in 1997, was opening a new location at 1504 E. North Ave., in a storefront that had previously housed La Piazza, Clutch and Node coffee shop.
After less than a year in operation, the East Side Glass Nickel Pizza location is closed.
The OnMilwaukee.com offices were once housed in the space above, so I know the area pretty well and I can't help but wonder why these places fail. Sure, most of the nightlife is further east on North Avenue, but there are UW-Milwaukee dorms right across the street and tons of residential units to the south and east/northeast.
I'm not sure when Glass Nickel ceased operation, but recently some signs went up alerting passersby that the space is available. If you've got a solution for this space, call (414) 430-0611.
The Brookfield location remains open.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
