Big new sign for the Hotel Stoddard, 50 years ago

A big neon sign on La Crosse’s skyline was replaced in 1968.  The Hotel Stoddard replaced its rooftop sign with a group of individual signs, each displaying one large letter in the hotel’s name.
 

The La Crosse Community Theatre was getting ready to move into a permanent home on 5th Avenue, in the Cavalier building.  In the spring of ’68, LCT was still doing shows at local schools…”Barefoot in the Park” at Logan, and “Othello” at Aquinas.

  
Minnesota’s Eugene McCarthy swept the Democratic primaries for president during April…in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.  Bobby Kennedy got his first primary win early in May, taking Indiana.  Richard Nixon was coasting to the Republican nomination, eventually choosing Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew as his running mate. A newspaper story described Agnew as 6-foot-2, a father of four, and an “immaculate dresser.”
 
Daytime game shows were a big draw on the major TV networks.  NBC alone had nine games on the air each weekday…including “Jeopardy,” “Concentration,” “Let’s Make a Deal,” “Hollywood Squares,” “You Don’t Say,” with Tom Kennedy, and “Snap Judgment,” hosted by Ed McMahon.  Fifty years ago, 1968, yesterday in La Crosse.