LARRY WIDEN

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Phone: (414) 607-9446
E-mail: larrywiden@sbcglobal.net


PRESSROOM

FINE DINING ACROSS FROM THE TIMES CINEMA - April 3, '08 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Jan Kelly, the well-regarded chef from the late Barossa in Walker's Point, opened her own place in August in the Washington Heights neighborhood, and it's pulling in crowds. With 52 seats and another 14 at the bar that stretches along one side of the restaurant, Meritage is jumping even on weeknights. (Read entire story)

TUSSLE OVER TERMS LIMITS MOVIEGOERS' OPTIONS - January 24, '08 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In the movies, it's not always easy to tell the good guys from the bad.

And the same is true in the push-came-to-shove dispute between Milwaukee-based Marcus Theatres and Paramount Pictures, which has limited filmgoers' access to two high-profile films in the past two months. (Read entire story)

WIDEN BRINGS OLD MILWAUKEE ENTERTAINMENT TO LIFE - December 18, '07 - OnMilwaukee.com

Larry Widen, who runs The Times Cinema and the Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse, calls himself "one of Milwaukee's 'Nostalgia Merchants'," and he's the author of "Entertainment in Early Milwaukee," which is part of the Arcadia Series. The 127-page softcover volume shows how Milwaukeeans amused themselves from the middle of the 19th century until 1950, with chapters focusing on hotels, taverns and restaurants; theater, music and museums; social gathering places; amusement parks and outdoors; shopping and movies.  (Read entire story)

THE BEST OF TIMES? - February 2, '07 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
New Times Cinema owner Larry Widen, local film industry veteran and freelance writer (for, among other publications, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), said the theater will offer a mix of classics, art films like "Old Joy" and "Sweet Land," which just finished a two-week stand there, and commercial art films like "The Queen" and "The Departed." (Read entire story)

WIDEN WEDS HIS LOVE OF CINEMA TO TIMES - Jan 5, 2007, OnMilwaukee.com - by Bobby Tanzilo
It was recently announced that writer, Milwaukee cinema historian and history buff Larry Widen is buying the Times Cinema on Vliet Street, maintaining former owner Eric Levin as general manager. We caught up with Widen -- co-author of "Silver Screens," a book about Milwaukee's cinema history -- to ask him about his plans and the realization of a dream.
(Read entire story)

TIMES CINEMA CHANGING HANDS - January 3, '07 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Times Cinema, an art house theater in Milwaukee's Washington Heights area, will undergo major changes, including live music performances and an expanded concessions stand with wine and beer, the cinema's new owner said Tuesday. The Times, 5906 W. Vliet St., is being sold to Larry Widen, a freelance writer, film buff and former marketing director at Covenant Healthcare. (Read entire story)

THEATER HISTORIAN BUYS TIMES CINEMA- January 3, '07 - Small Business Times
Milwaukee theater historian and author Larry Widen is the new owner of the Times Cinema at 5906 W. Vliet St. Widen said he plans "to continue featuring the highest quality classic, independent and new release films while adding a variety of innovations intended to make the Times Cinema an exciting, new cultural and entertainment destination for the people of  southeastern Wisconsin." (Read entire story)

AUTHORS EXPAND MOVIE THEATER HISTORY - OnMilwaukee.com - by Bobby Tanzilo
The glossy new book "Silver Screens: A Pictorial History of Milwaukee's Movie Theaters" -- published by the Wisconsin Historical Society -- looks like a real gem and it is. However, devotees of Larry Widen and Judi Anderson's "Milwaukee Movie Palaces" will find this new book by the same authors familiar.
(Read entire story)

SHEPHERD-EXPRESS REVIEWS "SILVER SCREENS" - October 12, 2006
Twenty years ago Larry Widen and Judi Anderson penned "Milwaukee Movie Palaces," the first guide to local cinemas from before the 1960s, when bland boxes replaced the more substantial, often architecturally interesting structures of earlier eras. "Silver Screens" is an expansion and rewrite, correcting the odd error, drawing from additional research, inserting the requisite fun-fact boxes ("Important films of the Silent Era," etc.) and bringing the story up to date. But aside from noting the decline in cinema attendance and the introduction of stadium seating, "Silver Screens" can't help but focus of the first half of the last century, when moviegoing was a weekly pastime and most Milwaukeeans walked to neighborhood cinemas. Profusely illustrated and capably researched, "Silver Screens" is a must for local history buffs and film afficianados. -Dave Luhrssen

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESS INTERVIEWS LARRY WIDEN - September 12, 2006
Read the entire text of "Silver Screens" author Larry Widen's interview with the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. (Read entire story)

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESS ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF "SILVER SCREENS." - Posted September 11, 2006
"Silver Screens: A Pictorial History of Milwaukee Movie Palaces," by Larry Widen and Judi Anderson, is a fond reminiscence of the glorious age of movie palaces and neighborhood theaters. (Read entire story)

GRADS HELP OUT - MATC TIMES - May 10, 2006
Many aspiring writers or photographers may not know where to start to get their work published at a price they can afford. That's where two MATC graduates - Leonard Sadorf and Larry Widen - come in.    (Read entire story)

WISCONSIN EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS - April 30, 2006
Freelance writer Larry Widen won 2nd Place in the Magazine Feature category for "Million Dollar Question," the story of a female pre-med student who has become a competitive boxer.    (See list of all winners)

THE LION OF COCHISE LAUNCHES FIRM TO PUBLISH 'LOCAL WORK, LOCAL AUTHORS' -February 27, 2006 - SIERRA VISTA (AZ) HERALD
Leonard Sadorf is an artist, a philosopher, a Renaissance man and so much more. Len is the author of Elgin Road, a new collection of southeastern Arizona photographs. Buy Elgin Road online now.
Len and Milwaukee writer Larry Widen have also published their photographic memoirs of 1979 as Lar and Len: A Long Strange Trip. Buy Lar and Len online now.
(Read entire story from the Sierra Vista Herald)

LARRY WIDEN ON "I REMEMBER" WITH HOST JIM PECK - February 25, 2006 - MILWAUKEE PUBLIC TELEVISION
Vintage Milwaukee Postcards offers a snapshot of the area from another time, when Wisconsin Avenue was known as Grand Avenue. The downtown was busy with street cars joining the horse and carriage trade...
(Read transcript of I Remember interview)

TV6's MARK CONCANNON INTERVIEWS LARRY WIDEN - February 24, 2006 - FOX6 News
Inside the new M Magazine, Larry Widen, the author of "Vintage Milwaukee Postcards." Also with him, the City edition editor, Jordan Dechambre Childers.
(Read transcript of Fox6 interview)

PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORIES - February 23, 2006 - M Magazine
There was one tiny invention that put a halt to sending postcards in the early 1900's: the telephone. (Read M Magazine book review)

CITY CONTRIBUTORS - February 22, 2006 - M Magazine
Jordan Dechambre Childers writes: "History was never a good subject for me. I guess all I needed to appreciate it was someone who knows how to make it interesting."  (Read Jordan Dechambre's M Magazine editorial)

AT 10's JANE HAMPDEN INTERVIEWS LARRY WIDEN- February 6, 2006 - WUWM
If you want to learn more about a place, old postcards can be a historical gold mine. Milwaukee writer Larry Widen is the author of "Vintage Milwaukee Postcards." It's a collection of wonderful views of the city's past. (Read transcript of WUWM interview)

MULTI-TALENTED WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER FINDS NICHE - January 24, 2006 - MATC NOW
When Larry Widen left a thriving career in advertising to become a freelance writer, it was a gamble, but he hit the jackpot in terms of making a living doing what he loves. (Read entire story)

MILWAUKEE POSTCARDS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS - January 10, 2006 - ON MILWAUKEE.COM
Local historian and writer Larry Widen gathered 250 of his favorites in his new book, "Vintage Milwaukee Postcards." It's a collection he's been accumulating for 25 years. (Read entire story)


LARRY WIDEN AT A GLANCE:

INTERESTS
Blues music, cemeteries, film noir, history, movie theaters, photography

Favorite:
PLACES
Arizona, gardens, Florida, Los Angeles, Mexico, New York City, the ocean, San Francisco, Williamsburg

MOVIES
Batman, The Big Sleep, The Bourne Identity, Casablanca, Chinatown, Citizen Kane, Double Indemnity, The Empire Strikes Back, Gladiator, Gengarry Glen Ross, The Godfather, GoodFellas, The Maltese Falcon, Million Dollar Baby, Notorious, Out of the Past, Psycho, Pulp Fiction, Spider-Man, Sunset Boulevard, This Gun For Hire, Vertigo

DIRECTORS
Tim Burton, Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, David Mamet, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Quentin Tarantino, John Woo

MUSIC

Allman Bros, The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, The Doors Film scores (Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Hans Zimmer), Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, Janis Joplin, B B King, Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf

BOOKS

The Art of Noir, Arizona Highways, biographies, comic books, The Devil's Music, The Dharma Bums, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, No One Here Gets Out Alive, On The Road, Regarding Wave, The Stand

WRITERS

F Scott Fitzgerald, Jack Kerouac, Jim Morrison

Copyright 2008 Larry Widen