Yesterday in La Crosse
You could go to the Rivoli and the Tivoli on the same night, 48 years ago
The Rivoli Theater in La Crosse is still in business today, but the Tivoli restaurant off Highway 35 is not. Both were busy places in 1970. The Tivoli Gardens was on the George Street extension between La Crosse and Onalaska, about where you’d find Nutbush City Limits now. At the opposite end of La Crosse was Club 14 on Mormon Coulee Road. It was replaced by the Ports O’Call shopping center, later Canterbury Court.
There was talk of re-opening old Central High School during the 1970 school board race in La Crosse. The old school at 15th and Cass was closed in the late 60’s when Central moved to Losey Boulevard. Candidate Bill Murphy called for old Central to be used as a junior high. That never happened, but Murphy won the election, along with David Nelson and Carol Gundersen.
And at the end of July in 1970, the “Huntley-Brinkley Report” on NBC aired for the last time. Chet Huntley was retiring to his home state of Montana, and David Brinkley said good night to him one more time. Huntley and Brinkley’s 14-year partnership came to a close in 1970, yesterday in La Crosse.
