MILWAUKEE, WI - Bookstore owner 'Polish George' was devoted to preserving history
Let's start with his name, Clarence George Rzezotarski.
If you are wondering how to pronounce it, join the club. Throughout his 75 years, it became such a stumbling block that eventually — probably sometime in the early 1960s — he became best known as "Polish George."
Behind the name was a man devoted to preserving all things Milwaukee and Wisconsin that otherwise might be forgotten: a vast collection of 1970s-era counterculture publications; thousands of postmarks from Wisconsin post offices, many of which no longer exist; a quirky, subterranean east side bookstore that he co-founded, specializing in collectible works of local and European history.
Rzezotarski died on Christmas Day from complications of multiple sclerosis. He was 75.
"George was always interested in lost things," his wife of 49 years, Darlene "Lolly" Rzezotarski, said.
Lest he be lost to history, here is part of his story.
Rzezotarski (for the record, pronounced "Jesh-oh-tar-ski") came of age in the early 1960s, working as a manager of coffee houses that were part of Milwaukee's beatnik scene, including one known as the Unique Coffee House on the east side and another, the Brat House, in the downtown area.
He also was an avid collector of and sometimes contributor to Milwaukee counterculture publications, including the Bugle, or Bugle American, an underground 1970s newspaper, and the Street Sheet, a radical, mimeographed paper put out three times a week by the so-called Yippies in the early 1970s.
Eventually, he would donate those collections to Marquette University, from which he earned a master's degree in history.
"He had a tremendous knowledge of the city's history," said longtime friend Pat Small. "He seemed to reach out to people who were a little eccentric."
In 1973, George and Lolly opened the Dancing Bear Bookstore in a basement storefront at 2406 N. Murray St. A few years later it moved to N. Oakland Ave. near Locust St. until it closed in 1989.
Known more for its odd, antiquarian collection than its financial success, it was a people's bookstore.
Rzezotarski also worked as a history lecturer at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
The Rzezotarskis also are remembered for the New Year's Eve gatherings that took place at their longtime home on N. Newhall St. and later in their Shorewood house, where he received hospice care for multiple sclerosis.
The parties, which the couple hosted for 39 years, drew neighbors and friends.
He is survived by his wife and two daughters, Anastasia Brokmeier and Maria Maahs, as well as six grandchildren.
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