Wisconsinites know George Webb. For the rest of you, it's a small chain of restaurants in the Dairy State renown for, among other things, its baseball prediction -- if the Brewers win 12 consecutive games, George Webb gives out free hamburgers. It's also known for its practice of hanging two clocks in each store. Today, OnMilwaukee.com answers a reader question about the quirk:
Years ago, local law prohibited business from being open 24 hours per day. George Webb (yes, there really was a George Webb), announced that his restaurants were open "23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds, seven days a week and on Sundays!"In order to avoid closing at all, the restaurants had two clocks installed with the time set one minute apart. Technically, the restaurant was closed one minute per day on one clock, but open on the other.
Digging deeper, the site also posits an explanation from Jim Webb, George's son. Jim Webb said that the original restaurant had a wall full of clocks in the late '40s, when streetcars plied the Milwaukee streets. Customers waiting for trains were anxious about the time, so George Webb hung the gaggle of clocks for their benefit. The rumble of the streetcars supposedly rattled all but two from the wall, and George left it at that, eventually hanging two in each new restaurant as the chain expanded.
Fun stuff I didn't know. It's my ritual to visit a George Webb for a burger and chicken soup (where's the chicken?!?) soon after deplaning in Milwaukee when I travel there to visit family. There's one just across the street from General Mitchell Airport. I'll have to look for the clocks next time I go.
OnMilwaukee.com Marketplace: Ask OMC: Why are there two clocks at every George Webb's?
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