September 4, 2010:
Franco Chiappetti with Chicago's famous Chiappetti Lamb and Veal recently
contacted me to share information about this very interesting and unique piece.
Chiappetti Lamb and Veal is located at 3900 S. Emerald Avenue, across the street
from the vacant lot at 3901 which housed the main Manhattan complex. Franco
explained that before the brewery was torn down, his maintenance crew liberated
this panel from one of the buildings. The plaque mentions "Vilter" and the gauges
mention "Vilter Manufacturing Co" of Milwaukee. Vilter is still in business and
manufactures industrial refrigeration equipment. My guess is the panel was used
to monitor/control the refrigeration equipment used in the lagering process. It
just goes to show, apples don't fall far from the tree! Click on the pic to see
more shots of this awesome piece of Manhattan and Chicago brewing history saved
so we can enjoy!
Thanks Franco!
Paul
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February 6, 2010: Another Old Manhattan Beer Road Sign!
I just picked up this beauty from a contractor who found the sign in a barn being
razed in Illinois. The sign should clean up nicely. This sign measures 6' by 2'.
It is very cool to compare/contrast this sign with the one below. Can't believe I
have 2 different examples of such a cool sign! I also picked up some old beer
cans the contractor found in a crawl space in his house. Also picked up some cool
old Budweiser "Eagle Claw" beer cans the contractor found in a crawl space in his
house.
Cheers,
Paul
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April 19, 2009: Old Manhattan Beer Road Sign
I recently aquired this great Old Manhattan Beer sign and a few other neat items
from a gentleman who contacted me after doing some research. The sign measures
about 3' x 5'. It was probably designed to be hung outside as a Road Sign. It is
a wonderful addition to the collection and it now sits proudly behind my bar. I
had to do some significant re-arranging to accomadate the sign (see Basement Bar
Project post below). Now I am even more motivated to get my old Manhattan Beer
neon sign displayed!
Manhattanfully yours, Paul
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March 21, 2009: The Old Wisconsin Project
Old Wisconsin has always been one of my favorite cans. A few years back, I had an
awesome example that (alas - sniff) is no longer part of my collection. Ever
since I have had a hard time finding a decent off-grade example. I recently
scored the cool Old Wisconsin on the right. The can had touch up around the
"BEER", "LAGER", and grains. It looked like Testors paint, or something of lessor
quality. After much thought, I bought a small bottle of Testors thinner (it
contains xylol and n-propoxypropanol). I tested out the thinner on a few doner
cans to see how it reacted on various types of paint, including touch up. With my
confidence and hope running high, I carefully and incrementally applied to small
areas on the Old Wisconsin with a qtip and rinsed the can immediately with water
after each application. It worked great. Here is the after pic. The can has the
Virginia tax stamp on the lid, and was probably among those from a legendary find
in that state.
Now with out question, this is my favorite can :) Click here to see more pics of
this can and other Old Wisconsin breweriana.
Cheers,
Paul
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November 30, 2008: The Basement Bar Project
Well after many years of deliberation and debate, over the summer I completed
(well almost - these sorts of projects are never completely finished) my long
sought after basement bar. This was a tricky project as we live in an older,
circa 1923 home, and working around constraints of an old basement can be
challenging. The bar gives me a small, but nice space to display much of my
collection. My master plan includes room to display my massive Old Manhattan neon
(over 5 feet long). Here are a couple more pics of the front and side views.
Happy Holidays,
Paul
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September 1, 2007: BCCA Canvention in Denver, Best Chapter Display
The BCCA Canvention was a blast. The Rusty Bunch award winning display featured a
Manhattan brand's canned to state where those cans have been dug/found us Rusty
Bunchers. Over 20 different brands (if you count Beer vs. Ale - and frankly, in
the case of Manhattan, they probably put the same brew in both Ale and Beer
packaging) in 20 different states! Thats what I call the long arm of Manhattan!!
Cheerz,
Paul
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August 16, 2007: Visit to the site of the Manhattan brewery in Chicago
I was in Chicago visiting family and made my first visit to 39th and Emerald. The
neighborhood in the immediate vicinity appears to be on the up swing. I did not
see any Rosalie or Tiger cans laying around, so I took some pics and liberated a
brick and cobblestone from the vacant brewery lot. Not quite as fun as dumping
Lubecks or scoring an Old Manhattan Neon at a show, but really fun none the less.
Click on the pic to the right for more info and additional pictures.
As always,
Paul
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June 15, 2007: Swap-a-rama breweriana collectors show in St. Louis
Had a blast a the show last Friday. I enjoyed catching up with old friends and
meeting some new ones. Thanks to everyone who gave my oldest son Matt great deals
on cans and bottles for his budding collection. Unfortunately I could only attend
on Friday, but that was plenty of time to add some nice stuff to my collection.
Most interesting find was a cache of Manhattan files / documents I got from a
local collector. Well over 1000 documents (see pic at right - condition is not
great, but the documents contain some really interesting historical information
on brands, cans, and insights into day-to-day operations and strategies of the
brewery).
The collector acquired the paperwork from the estate of another collector who was
an ATF agent. The collector told me the agent got the paperwork from the
abandoned Manhattan brewery sometime before it was razed. It will be a fun
project to organize this info and post interesting nuggets on this website.
Cheers, Paul
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