Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Proposed Development Projects that got Minarded.

Moderators: Coyote, nebugeater, Brad, Omaha Cowboy, BRoss

Post Reply
User avatar
Stargazer
County Board
Posts: 4106
Joined: Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:06 am
Location: Bennington

Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Post by Stargazer »

Anyone else see the blurb on WOWT news this evening mentioning the placement and renovation of an old Omaha streetcar at 14th and Leavenworth, in which a coffee shop would be located?
Shoot for the Moon... if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
User avatar
Brad
City Council
Posts: 1033311
Joined: Sat Feb 28, 2004 6:03 pm
Location: Omaha, NE
Contact:

Post by Brad »

I saw it... The street car looked rough.  It was the old streetcar the ran up and down maple and still has the "Benson" in the front window.  They didn't say much about the 14th and Levenworth location.  I am assuming at this day and age it would be in a lot, not like a street like the old spaghetti works car was.  Another strange thing... 14th street Coffee is 2 blocks away.
redfield
Library Board
Posts: 255
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 2:30 pm
Location: Old Market
Contact:

Post by redfield »

I think we will eventually see a coffee shop every block or two all over downtown.  We already have quite a few, but nothing like what I saw in Seattle.  Starbucks doesn't seem to mind putting locations right across the street from each other.
User avatar
Coyote
City Council
Posts: 32934
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am
Location: Aksarben Village
Contact:

Post by Coyote »

Free Wifi anyone? 13th St has free wifi don't they?
StreetsOfOmaha
City Council
Posts: 6865
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2004 4:46 pm

Post by StreetsOfOmaha »

Brad wrote:14th street Coffee is 2 blocks away.
13th Street Coffee.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
MTO
City Council
Posts: 7806
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 11:49 am
Location: Dundee

Post by MTO »

Yes 13th street does, and so do all the other coffee shops around town accept starbux.  
This is a very cool idea.   They can cram scooters into little shacks even with sandwiches.  Heck even Mojos would be smaller then a streetcar.  I could see this working out well.
15-17, 26, 32
User avatar
Coyote
City Council
Posts: 32934
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am
Location: Aksarben Village
Contact:

Post by Coyote »

One Of City's Last Streetcars Gets New Assignment
KETV wrote:An Omaha neighborhood landmark is getting a new address. For the past 50 years, a street car has sat in the back yard of a house near 73rd and Miami streets. On Tuesday, crews began moving it downtown to 14th and Leavenworth streets for its new job as a coffee shop. The car is one of Omaha's last remaining streetcars. It used to run on the Benson Line until it was decommissioned.
User avatar
Stargazer
County Board
Posts: 4106
Joined: Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:06 am
Location: Bennington

Post by Stargazer »

I guess I figured the streetcar in the basement of DWHM was the last remaining... are other there former Omaha streetcars in existence besides these two?
Shoot for the Moon... if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
StreetsOfOmaha
City Council
Posts: 6865
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2004 4:46 pm

Post by StreetsOfOmaha »

I heard there were lots of them from the Omaha/CB system sitting in a field somewhere.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
MTO
City Council
Posts: 7806
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 11:49 am
Location: Dundee

Post by MTO »

Hopefully we will be placing an order for some new ones soon.
15-17, 26, 32
midtown charlie
Human Relations
Posts: 550
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2005 9:57 pm
Location: Omaha

Post by midtown charlie »

Streets I think you are right.  I had heard that some junkyard north of Omaha in some small town has several of them.
User avatar
Coyote
City Council
Posts: 32934
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am
Location: Aksarben Village
Contact:

Post by Coyote »

There is a junk yard along Hwy 32 just west of Tekamah that may be the place you are thinking about.
MTO
City Council
Posts: 7806
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 11:49 am
Location: Dundee

Post by MTO »

I can just see it now.  Brad down there in the dark with his honda and a chain.
15-17, 26, 32
midtown charlie
Human Relations
Posts: 550
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2005 9:57 pm
Location: Omaha

Post by midtown charlie »

yep.  I think that is the one.


Hmmmmmm photo op??
User avatar
guy4omaha
Parks & Recreation
Posts: 1200
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2004 4:06 pm
Location: The Big O

Post by guy4omaha »

Coyote wrote:There is a junk yard along Hwy 32 just west of Tekamah that may be the place you are thinking about.
This junkyard has a lot of relics including many older vintage Metro Area Transit buses. They even had some of those buses from the late 60's that were like two buses with a rubber flex middle between them. (Like that description makes any sense.) However, I don't recall ever seeing any streetcars. At least I couldn't see any from the highway. Maybe the streetcars are tucked away in back somewhere.
My son got a 27 on his ACT. No this score is not as high as what Jeff's son achieved. But one has to remember the paternal gene-pool my son has to overcome. On a PGPAB [Paternal Gene-Pool Adjusted Basis], my son's score is a 37 and Jeff's son's PGPAB ACT score is 19.
User avatar
Coyote
City Council
Posts: 32934
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am
Location: Aksarben Village
Contact:

Post by Coyote »

I guess you are right Guy, this was not the place.
This was Robert Sklenar Estate & Sklenar Truck & Equipment Company who auctioned everything off last year:
And those buses were called Flexible Buses.

http://www.stockauctionco.com/sklenar.asp
TEKAMAH, NE-  For forty years Robert Sklenar was the one purchasing old vehicles from Auctions, but on the 29th all those items will be sold at his own estate auction.  

After living in the Tekamah area his entire life, he started his business by working on vehicles, manufacturing truck boxes, and buying and selling vehicles on his own time which started in the early 1950s and was then later licensed as an auto dealer in 1964.  He was also a farmer until the early 1980s.  According to family members, when he started in the business, he named the vehicles in his inventory. The first was named Gazelle, he ended up trading back for it years later.

With 40 years of buying vehicles Sklenar came up with an inventory of approximately 2,000 vehicles spread over sixty plus acres.  One of the vehicles Sklenar used to own, and is now selling the remains too is on display in the America On the Move exhibition at the Smithsonian. This bus section that is now in the Smithsonian was part of the Omaha Transit Company bus #1210.  The bus was purchased in February 2003 by the Smithsonian.  

A year later Sklenar was in the news again when Metro Area Transit, the Omaha bus company, bought back a dozen buses it had sold him decades before.  These buses are still in use on downtown circular routes.  Sklenar also collected many military vehicles, among those  is a Military trailer that was in World War II.  Other vehicles that are being sold are classic cars, construction equipment, farm equipment, in the midst of many others.
User avatar
Brad
City Council
Posts: 1033311
Joined: Sat Feb 28, 2004 6:03 pm
Location: Omaha, NE
Contact:

Post by Brad »

Here is the car

Image

Its been stitting in a back yard at 73rd and Miami (72 and Maple) for 50 years
User avatar
Coyote
City Council
Posts: 32934
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am
Location: Aksarben Village
Contact:

Post by Coyote »

Nice catch Brad! Thanks for posting this!
User avatar
Coyote
City Council
Posts: 32934
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am
Location: Aksarben Village
Contact:

Post by Coyote »

According to Richard Orr's O&CB Streetcars of Omaha and Council Bluffs in 1955 30 cars were purchased for the Twin Brooks Bible Camp and were scattered over the hills in a rural setting where some were converted to meeting rooms and dorms while others wer vandalized. That was were Durham got #1014. I tried looking up "Twin Brooks Bible Camp" and only can find it was a 123 acre camp north of Omaha run by the Presbyterian Church. That is all that I found.

According to the Roster of Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars there are two other preserved streetcars in Nebraska one in Pioneer Village in Minden and the other at Union College in Lincoln.
User avatar
Brad
City Council
Posts: 1033311
Joined: Sat Feb 28, 2004 6:03 pm
Location: Omaha, NE
Contact:

Post by Brad »

What ever happened to this project?  They got the street car and the bus in, but never saw anything after that...
User avatar
Bosco55David
Parks & Recreation
Posts: 1396
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:25 am
Location: Tampa, FL (formerly Omaha and Council Bluffs)

Post by Bosco55David »

I know the discussion is a couple years old now, but I remember what appeared to be a passenger or subway car in a little plot of land just west of the viaduct in Council Bluffs. It was right up against some train tracks and mostly covered by vegetation, but I always wondered what the story was with that.
Ben
Human Relations
Posts: 935
Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:57 pm
Location: Westside

Post by Ben »

they appear to be building decking around the railcar.  Is this long stalled project back on?
User avatar
Coyote
City Council
Posts: 32934
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am
Location: Aksarben Village
Contact:

Post by Coyote »

I have to wonder what became of this Coffee House project.

Image
User avatar
PotatoeEatsFish
Human Relations
Posts: 747
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:59 pm

Re: Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Post by PotatoeEatsFish »

I just had a good idea, you know how they did those O! things. Well instead have streetcars with artwork on them around town. That would be a cool new art project.
#SaveTheUglyGrainSilos2024
NEDodger
Parks & Recreation
Posts: 1040
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2014 1:19 am

Re: Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Post by NEDodger »

PotatoeEatsFish wrote:I just had a good idea, you know how they did those O! things. Well instead have streetcars with artwork on them around town. That would be a cool new art project.
Paid for by....?
User avatar
PotatoeEatsFish
Human Relations
Posts: 747
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:59 pm

Re: Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Post by PotatoeEatsFish »

uhhhhh jesus
#SaveTheUglyGrainSilos2024
daveoma
Parks & Recreation
Posts: 1211
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2014 7:18 pm

Re: Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Post by daveoma »

It would certainly celebrate the history of streetcars in Omaha. I think any art project is a great idea. It gives the city a sense is of vitality.
User avatar
Coyote
City Council
Posts: 32934
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am
Location: Aksarben Village
Contact:

Re: Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Post by Coyote »

There used to be a scrap yard between Tekamah and Oakland which may have had a selection of cars to get a project going, but that is now gone. There was supposed to be a camp site that was going to use street cars in Nebraska's Loess Hills somewhere, but I haven't heard about them in a long time... The Spaghetti Works car is in someone's backyard. It would be hard to find a local stockpile to easily do a project like you imagine...
User avatar
nebugeater
City Council
Posts: 108875
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 6:07 pm
Location: Gretna NE

Re: Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Post by nebugeater »

You are referring to Sklenar Salvage near Tekamah. There are a lot of stories about that place. Some I am sure are streached a lot but some are pretty close to true I am guessing. I grew up probably 8 miles from there. Lots of cars, buses, and military equipment on a whole lot of land and right up to the highway. Got in trouble with the State too for releasing oils and such into the land.

Coyote wrote:There used to be a scrap yard between Tekamah and Oakland which may have had a selection of cars to get a project going, but that is now gone. There was supposed to be a camp site that was going to use street cars in Nebraska's Loess Hills somewhere, but I haven't heard about them in a long time... The Spaghetti Works car is in someone's backyard. It would be hard to find a local stockpile to easily do a project like you imagine...
For the record  NEBUGEATER does not equal BUGEATER    !!!!!!!
User avatar
Coyote
City Council
Posts: 32934
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:18 am
Location: Aksarben Village
Contact:

Re: Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Post by Coyote »

Yes, that was who I was referring to, the Sklenar Salvage yard. I remember driving past that place years ago, but never really stopped to see what was there (didn't want to run into their dog), but I think we have the list of auction items in one of our threads here...
GRANDPASMUCKER
Human Relations
Posts: 832
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:10 pm
Location: Omaha

Re:

Post by GRANDPASMUCKER »

Coyote wrote:According to Richard Orr's O&CB Streetcars of Omaha and Council Bluffs in 1955 30 cars were purchased for the Twin Brooks Bible Camp and were scattered over the hills in a rural setting where some were converted to meeting rooms and dorms while others wer vandalized. That was were Durham got #1014. I tried looking up "Twin Brooks Bible Camp" and only can find it was a 123 acre camp north of Omaha run by the Presbyterian Church. That is all that I found.

According to the Roster of Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars there are two other preserved streetcars in Nebraska one in Pioneer Village in Minden and the other at Union College in Lincoln.

I spent a week of my life living at Twin Brooks Bible Camp in 1973. It was located just North of 66th and Northern Hills Drive. It cost $36 for a week of heck on earth starting on Sunday afternoon and ending Friday night. The cabins were old street cars and buses with no tires and the seats taken out. They had not put 5 nickels worth of paint or repairs to the buses or street cars either. The camp was run by students from Grace Bible Institute and it was run like a boot camp. The food was pig slop. The first few days we all laughed about how bad the food was and did not eat it. By the end of the week we were starving! The buses all had a few windows out and there was no screens in them. Many of the buses had wasp nests in them. The Grace Bible College Students ran the camp with an iron fist during the day and then all packed up and went home at night. This lead to the kids raising heck all night from dusk to dawn. I did not get even an hour of sleep any night due to the loud noise. This was truely one of the roughest weeks of my life!
User avatar
Bosco55David
Parks & Recreation
Posts: 1396
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:25 am
Location: Tampa, FL (formerly Omaha and Council Bluffs)

Re: Streetcar coffee shop at 14th and Leavenworth

Post by Bosco55David »

I'm still surprised no one remembers the streetcar or subway car that was in the lot right off the CB viaduct. That thing was there for years.
Post Reply