🍽️ Himal Chuli is coming back for seconds

🧑‍🍳 Goodbye (Again) Kavanaugh’s. Welcome Back (Sort Of) Himal Chuli.

• Following the passing of owner John Kavanaugh, Madison’s historic Kavanaugh’s Esquire Club is closing for good, the owners said on Facebook. After nearly 80 years in business, the supper club closed in February 2025 after Spaulding Restaurant Enterprises acquired the business from the retiring Kavanaugh. But Kavanaugh immediately came out of retirement to reopen the Esquire Club.
• Meanwhile, another popular long-running Madison restaurant that recently closed, Himal Chuli, may get new life. Ashim Malla, the grandson of original owners Krishna and Bishnu Pradhan, said he will reopen the Nepali restaurant in February under the name “Himali Chulo.”
• Malla said he is altering the name out of respect to his grandfather’s legacy, but will serve a similar menu and will employ many of the same employees. [Facebook, 🔒WSJ]

⚖️ Wisconsin Throws Support Behind Minnesota ICE Lawsuit

• Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has joined the AGs in nearly 20 other states in support of a lawsuit urging a federal judge to restrain Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Minnesota.
• In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, Kaul said Minnesota’s state sovereignty is under attack by the Trump administration. The federal lawsuit calls on ICE to dial back its presence and stop engaging in unlawful activities, including using force on bystanders and legal observers and conducting operations in schools, hospitals, and churches. [WPR]

⚡ Dane County Identifies 22 More EV Charging Sites — If the Money Comes

• Dane County has listed 22 more locations to build charging stations for electric vehicles, even though the federal funding to build those projects remains in doubt.
• The locations include seven apartment complexes, six schools, and four parks. Thirteen of the locations are in Madison and four are in Verona.
• The county hopes to build 68 charging stations in total, but the congressionally-approved funding is being frozen by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Sixteen states, including Wisconsin, are suing to get the funds released. [Cap Times]

If you go out for a nice dinner or fancy cocktails on Valentine’s Day, you might think that downtown Madison has always been a wholesome, PG-rated place to be.

But did you know the city, especially the area known as First Settlement District, has a kinky past? Read on to learn about the places and people that gave Madison its sexy reputation in the Midwest, and how that ethos is continuing today.

Madison’s Red Light District

These days, the 100 block of East Main Street is full of nice restaurants like the Tipsy Cow and Argus BarGrille. But in the 1970s it attracted entertainment of a different kind. The Dangle Club and the Mustang Inn were considered to be Ground Zero for Madison’s Red Light District, with strippers at the Dangle and topless bartenders at the Mustang. Down the street, This Is Heaven offered sauna massages for both “male and female clients.”

King Street had its own porn shop, and residents remember that the streets were full of prostitutes and their customers, “a freewheeling open-air market of streetwalkers and pimps.” In the ‘80s, neighborhood residents got sick of all the crime and worked with police to drive out the prostitutes and unsavory establishments, paving the way for the First Settlement District we know today.

Hotel Washington

The story of Madison’s LGBTQ+ history can’t be told without the Hotel Washington. The development was not only a 22-room residential hotel, but considered the epicenter of Madison’s LGBTQ+ community at the time. It included the Club de Wash music club, the Barber’s Closet speakeasy (accessible only through a secret door), and a masculine gay bar in the basement known as Rod’s.

Rod’s was named after Rodney Scheel, a prominent gay rights activist in Madison who opened Madison’s first out gay bar, The Back Door in 1972, and bought Hotel Washington in 1975. Scheel died in 1990, and the hotel burned down in 1996.

⬆️ Last Week’s Photo

This mural is located at the Madison Public Market!

🎉 Congratulations to Tricia M., Wait N., and Deb N. for being the first three people (of dozens) to guess correctly! Lots of people are excited for the Market to finally open in March!

⬇️ This Week’s Photo

Where is this sculpture? A few clues:

• It’s on State Street
• It’s in a store that’s celebrating its 50th anniversary, but it’s NOT a music store
• Guessing right will require ingenuity, street smarts, and “all that jazz”!