Monday, June 24, 2013

Coach Lombardi at Sneezer’s

We’re taking a one-day break from our series on books about the Green Bay Packers to feature a photo we found today. On the great historical images site Shorpy, one of the photos posted today is the shot of Coach Vince Lombardi seen above. The caption reads: “1960. Green Bay, Wisconsin. Packers coach Vince Lombardi at lunch counter. Photo by Frank Bauman for the LOOK magazine assignment ‘The Packers Pay the Price.’ The site was Sneezer’s Snack Shop at 1608 S. Greenwood (now Ashland) Avenue. Vince Lombardi often ate breakfast here on his way to the practice field. The left half of the building was the restaurant, and the right half of the building was the Jahnke family home. On game day, Sneezer’s was a de facto tailgating site, 1960s style. During the 60s, tailgating at the stadium did not enjoy the popularity that it does today.” 

This is Sneezers back in the olden days. 

This caption for this old Sneezer’s advertising postcard reads: “Mrs. Geneva Jahnke with her 1966 Mustang which she won in the Icelandic Fish Company contest at The Wisconsin Restaurant Convention. Sneezer's specializes in Broasted Chicken, Hamburgers and Icelandic Sea Foods.” 

This is the location today, via Google. Too bad it’s not still there, or we’d make a stop during our 2013 Training Camp visit, July 27–August 3. More on that later.