A chicken BLT flatbread is one of the original entrees on the Poke The Bear pub's menu

The triumphant return of Green Bay’s grandest and most nostalgia- soaked hotel brought with it a bucket list of possibilities for devoted Packers football fans.

Care to sleep within the same art-deco walls as the (fi gurative) ghosts of Vince Lombardi and Johnny “Blood” McNally or still-living legends like Glory Years guard Jerry Kramer? Check.

Or drink and dine in the very room where Lombardi fi rst greeted the NFL’s smallest city and the eager followers who would soon deify him? Double-check.

“Few places in Green Bay outside of Lambeau Field itself are as closely tied to the Green Bay Packers as the Hotel Northland,” said Cliff Christl, a longtime Packers beat writer and now the second person to hold the team’s staff historian job.

The Northland’s luxurious appointments, combined with easy access to the downtown’s two former train stations, made it a prime lodging choice for visiting NFL teams from the 1920s to the ‘70s, Christl said. The night before a game, rival players trying to sleep were said to endure mischievously pulled fire alarms and hastily assembled “marching bands” noisily roaming the halls.

"In fact, I credit (the Northland) for my being a Bears fan when I was a young boy,” Christl said, recalling that his father would bring him downtown to gawk at the enemy from Chicago, only for some opposing players to welcome him onto the team bus for a ride to the stadium.

“Not every team stayed there; not all of them could afford it,” Christl added. “This was before the TV money (sent NFL income soaring).”

The opulent, nine-story Northland, at the northeast corner of Pine and Adams streets, opened in 1924 as the Titanic of regional hospitality and, of course, sailed quite a bit longer. It was Wisconsin’s largest and most ornate inn upon completion, the fi rst in the state to cost $1 million to build. Half a century later, though, the shine corroded along with the rest of Green Bay’s then-slumping downtown and the Northland closed in 1978.

“I think it had just gone downhill as the downtown did,” Christl said. “Not many teams stayed there by that point. There were other, newer options like the Howard Johnson’s and the Ramada Inn (in the suburbs).”

THE RESURRECTION

But after next lives as a high-rise apartment and senior housing, and following a failed restoration venture that put the property into receivership, a $44 million renovation succeeded in restoring the Northland’s former glory.

It welcomed guests again starting on Valentine’s Day 2019, unveiling old-fashioned brushstrokes like high ceilings, chandeliers, dark-chocolate pillars, gilded woodwork and, in some spots, the original red-tile flooring. (A certain amount of vintage features, like a small vault in the main offi ce, had to be retained to qualify for historic tax credits and maintain the site’s state and national historic listings.)

The refurbished Northland features two choices for raising a glass or indulging a growling stomach: the Poke The Bear sports bar good-naturedly needling the Packers’ ancient rivals; and the Walnut Room, an upscale take on the traditional Wisconsin supper club with a wine list numbering 200 and 30 varieties served by the glass.

Poke The Bear is a casual hotel bar emphasizing a pub menu, housesmoked meats, “backyard cocktails” using local sources such as Death’s Door Distillery and Wisconsin beers including specially created amber from Titletown Brewing. It has introduced a Friday fish fry with a twist in that the fillets are rye-crusted and served with onion slaw.

“The portions are large, and it’s a scratch kitchen where we make all of our own breads, pastries, brioche buns, soups and salads and everything,” food and beverage director Peter Donkokics said.

The Walnut Room handcrafts its cocktails and recently introduced a Sunday brunch.

For reserved private parties, receptions or corporate functions, there’s also the Crystal Ballroom, the main meeting space for more than 150 guests; and The Alley, a fun cave with a two-lane bowling alley, shuffl eboard table, billiards and full bar. The Walnut Room and Crystal Ballroom were also part of the Northland of yesteryear and are restored in the same locations.

Christl is founding president of the Packers Heritage Trail Foundation, which identifi ed and marked 25 signifi cant sites in team history that can be viewed via trolley tour or on your own — from the Northland to the former Indian/Acme packing plant that sponsored the earliest squads a century ago and gave the enduring franchise its nickname.

He also authored an accompanying 240-page guidebook with a full dozen pages devoted to the Hotel Northland’s place in the Packers story:

• Vince Lombardi held his introductory press conference in the still-surviving Crystal Ballroom in February 1959.
• League owners gathered there in 1927 to develop their upcoming season’s schedule, the only NFL meeting ever held in Green Bay.
• At an emergency breakfast get-together in 1949, Packer backers formulated plans for a fundraising Thanksgiving Day intrasquad game that helped save the struggling franchise.
• The NFL set up temporary headquarters for three league championship games during the ‘60s including the fabled Ice Bowl on New Year’s Eve 1967 — “the equivalent of being the ‘Super Bowl hotel’ today,” Christl said.
• The Northland served as a training camp dormitory in 1950 after fi re destroyed the Rockwood Lodge near Dyckesville, a resort that had hosted preseason preparations the previous four summers.
• Various players and coaches lived at the Northland, either on extended stays or just briefly after first arriving in town. The list includes Lombardi, Blood, Kramer, Emlen Tunnell and even team cofounder Curly Lambeau himself.

According to Christl, a majority of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees from the league’s first half-century slept there at some point.

Among other luminaries, the hotel also hosted President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie, presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, silentera film star Lon Chaney and actor James Arness (Sheriff Matt Dillon on the long-running TV Western “Gunsmoke”).

Arness joined then-Vice President Richard Nixon for the 1957 dedication of new City Stadium, which would later be renamed Lambeau Field. Nixon didn’t arrive in Green Bay until Sunday morning but had a pregame lunch at the Northland with NFL commissioner Bert Bell, according to Christl’s book.

Christl and his wife stayed at the Northland shortly after the reopening, her 72nd birthday gift to him. He said that, from a historian’s viewpoint, he hopes the hotel – which now has a business partnership with Marriott – would further embrace its colorful past through memorabilia, photos or other means.

Hotel general manager Kenny Didier, who took over in June 2019, replied that an appreciation of the building’s rich backstory is central to the management’s thinking. But he said their means of paying tribute are more low-key in nature given the need to preserve the hotel’s authenticity and the possible complications of NFL licensing restrictions.

But that doesn’t mean the facility ignores its ties to the Packers. Reminders are sprinkled throughout the facility. One wall of Poke the Bear is filled with Packer photos while just outside its entrance is a vintage display including vintage helmets and pants. Some of Lombardi’s famous inspirational quotes can be found on the walls in the work corridors of the hotel.

Interior view of Poke the Bear in the Hotel Northland. Contributed photo

THE ‘AUTOGRAPH COLLECTION'

The Northland belongs to Marriott’s “Autograph Collection” of independently owned, boutique hotels. For a fee, the Northland can take advantage of the chain’s existing customer base, booking system and rewards program.

But Didier said the affiliation does not tie his hands in any way in developing a singular look and feel. In fact, Marriott hesitates to call the Autograph locations a “brand,” because that would suggest conformity. Donkonics, the food and beverage manager, described Poke The Bear as “a more atypical sports bar; you won’t see all the jerseys and pennants hanging on the walls.”

Rather, he said, the bar “celebrates the fans” by encouraging them to share stories and photos of their Packer allegiance on social media, some of which are made into a mini-fan hall of fame adorning the walls. Even a yellow Labrador got into the act showing off his (or her) Packer colors.

Docents also lead “First and Ten” historical tours at – appropriately – 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the fi rst and 10th of each month. The in-house management team serves as the tour guides – Didier and Donkonics included -- which the GM says keeps his staff continually attuned to the property’s remarkable past.

The lobby features a blarney stone of sorts in the form of a fedora cast in bronze – Lombardi's trademark headgear. Guests heading to a tailgate -- or wedding or anniversary party for that matter – can lay their hands upon it to summon the great coach’s spirit and wish for good fortune. Didier and his staff refer to it as “The Mark.” “Eventually that will become worn and really cool, like the bull on Wall Street,” Didier said.

Clocks in the lobby are set 15 minutes fast to “Lombardi time” – the coach’s legendary rule that being “on time” for a meeting or practice means arriving 15 minutes early. The little quirk caught the writer by surprise, as I was momentarily horrified – and baffled – at how I wound up 10 minutes late for our interview appointment.

Didier waxes enthusiastic about the tidbits of hotel history he’s picked up in his short time here.

Kramer, the Lombardi-era offensive lineman and Pro Football Hall of Famer, stopped in before a Packers-Bears game in mid-December and told of how, during his time at the Northland, he sometimes had to sleep in the bathtub because his roommate was “a big snorer,” Didier said. On the day of the interview, three former Miss Green Bay contestants booked a stay for their annual reunion. A former bellhop has given him a mint-condition, 1926 coffee/tea saucer and plate, part of a full china set the old employee received upon retirement.

“I would love to set up an area for (displaying) things people bring in like that, like an old busboy’s jacket,” Didier said. “We know the affinity people in Green Bay have for this property, and for how long, and we want the community to embrace that historical component.”

The food’s pretty tasty, too.

OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS WITH PACKERS TIES

Besides the Hotel Northland, here are some other eating and drinking establishments that are part of the lore of the Green Bay Packers.

All can still be patronized today, with one exception. Unless indicated, information comes from sportswriter/historian Cliff Christl’s “Packers Heritage Trail: The Town, The Team, The Fans From Lambeau to Lombardi” -- or from personal experience.

CHILI JOHN’S, 519 S. Military Ave., which has the longest uninterrupted run of any eatery in Green Bay proper. Dating to 1913, it's famous for meaty, high-temp chili with an oily but flavorful broth.

A favorite of the great Don Hutson, Chili John’s also got credit from Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton for his 7-3-1 record in Green Bay with the Vikings and Giants during the ‘60s and ‘70s. Tarkenton filled up the night before games while staying at the nearby Northland Hotel.

Lombardi-era kicker Don Chandler and guard Jerry Kramer, his emergency backup, held field-goal contests every Thursday to determine who would buy at Chili John’s.

AL’S HAMBURGERS, 131 S. Washington St., established in 1934.

Notable customers included Bart Starr and Ray Nitschke. Former owner George Rank told Christl how he would set up soda crates in front of the pinball machines so Starr’s young boys could shoot.

Actor/comedian Jerry Stiller (George’s blustery dad on “Seinfeld”) appeared as Vince Lombardi in a 1996 Nike commercial filmed at Al’s. But Rank told Christl that Lombardi never stopped there (“a little lower-grade for him,” the ex-owner said).

THE RIVERSIDE BALLROOM, 1560 Main St., dates to 1929 and has been at its current Main Street location for 84 years.

Better known locally as the second-to-last tour stop for rocker Buddy Holly, the Riverside was home to season kickoff banquets (including Lombardi’s fi rst); six of the first seven Packers Hall of Fame inductions; and a 1958 rally to bring Curly Lambeau back to run the downtrodden team (if the fans’ wish had come true, there would have been no Lombardi). Many years before the Hutson Center, it served as an indoor practice area in the early 1940s during times of severe cold, snow or ice.

WALLY’S SPOT SUPPER CLUB, 1979 Main St., founded in 1948 and at its present site on the far northeast side since 1969.

Swinging bachelors Paul Hornung and Max McGee were among its frequent Glory Years patrons. Founder Wally Adamany was a golf buddy of Lombardi’s, but the coach wouldn’t eat there because he knew the players needed a private hideaway of their own, according to a 2019 article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette. THE UNION HOTEL, 200 N. Broadway, De Pere, owned by the same family – the Boyds – since the beginning in 1918.

Featuring hearty Midwestern, meat-andpotatoes fare, the dining room served a slew of Packers greats plus a number of noted football broadcasters including John Madden and Al Michaels. Hall of Famer Mike Michalske, a 1930s-era lineman, visited nearly every morning and helped roll the dough, according to newspaper accounts, and coach Mike Holmgren celebrated there after clinching a Super Bowl berth in January 1997.

Longtime equipment manager Dad Braisher lived at the Union most of his life, including when he and an aide, art student John Gordon, came up with the team’s famous G-logo for the helmets in 1961.

However, Lombardi stopped going because the restaurant would not bend the rules for him. He showed up late one night with some friends and was refused service because the kitchen was closed.

KROLL’S WEST, 1990 S. Ridge Road, in the shadows of Lambeau Field. Renowned for burgers with a pat of melting butter, tucked inside semmel buns that are crispy outside, chewy inside.

According to its website, the business traces its roots to a seasonal 1936 burger stand, and while the Lambeau location is the younger of two Green Bay Kroll’s, its forced relocation for downtown redevelopment in 1974 proved a godsend. The Packers crowds made Kroll’s so insanely successful that third-generation coowner Mike Weir scored a seat on the Packers board of directors, a “Who’s Who” of Wisconsin business brains.

The “autograph wall” at Kroll’s West displays framed well-wishes from countless Packers – including Brett Favre and Reggie White – along with former Vice President Al Gore and other visiting entertainers and celebrities.