A scary way to spend Halloween: at a college debate? Maybe, 44 years ago

Halloween night of 1975 was a Friday.  On that night, the student union at UW-L showed “Psycho” and “The Birds,” a student play was performed at Morris Hall, and the Annett Recital Hall hosted a debate between La Crosse students and debaters from Japan.  The topic was American military presence in the Pacific.  To be fair, Halloween may have been the only time the Japanese team could do the debate on the La Crosse campus.   

KISS played the Sawyer Auditorium that Halloween weekend, but not until Sunday night, November 2nd.  Brownsville Station opened for KISS.  The previous night, the Lettermen performed at the Sawyer.  

The Embers restaurant on Rose Street was a popular late-night spot in ’75.  Embers offered free individual pies with a dinner or sandwich, but not after 9 p.m.  A Walgreen’s store now stands where Embers was in 1975.