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Marsh Shapiro established the Nitty Gritty on October 3, 1968. Previous to that time, the wood frame building on the corner of Frances and Johnson had been a neighborhood bar known as Glen ‘n’ Ann’s. The original building, which was built in 1898, had served as a grocery store from just prior to the turn of the century to the mid 40’s.
The early days of the Nitty Gritty were turbulent ones that reflected the social and political unrest of the times. The Nitty Gritty had live bands 7 nights a week, and therefore the “Gritty” served as an informal headquarters for the protesting subculture, in many ways bound together by the social commentary in the music of the times. It was here in the original barroom that the 1970 bombing of Sterling Hall was planned by the Armstrong brothers, Karl and Dwight, along with David Fine and Leo Burt, an event that took the life of a U.W. Physics professor, and which marked the de-escalation of the Vietnam anti-war protest movement on the U.W. campus. It was also at that time that tear gas canisters were rolled in on the barroom floor while barricades burned on Johnson Street just outside as the police and National Guard did battle with the anti-war protesters. Chapter 11 of the book “Rads” is entitled the “Nitty Gritty” and details the events that took place within these walls during those troubled times.
Despite the fact that it was “power to the people”, and the music, food and drinks were all supposed to be free, the turning point came in 1969 when Marsh booked the Charles Musselwhite Blues Band, and from there the “Gritty” soon became known as the hottest Midwest blues club outside of Chicago. The Gritty boasted gigs by performers like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Otis Rush, Otis Spann, Bonnie Raitt, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Hound Dog Taylor, Little Walter, Tracy Nelson, Cheap Trick, and dozens of others. In 1970, the Jefferson Airplane came to the bar after a UW Fieldhouse concert, and did an impromptu 4-hour jam with the Luther Allison Blues Band. The doors had to be locked to keep people out as the word spread of the spontaneous “super jam” that was going on and that lasted till 3 in the morning. That night has become legendary in Nitty Gritty history.
Also making regular appearances at the “Gritty” was a group known as “Watermelon” which was made up of former members of the original Steve Miller band, which had its start here in Madison. One of those band members, Ben Sidran, talked of the Nitty Gritty in one of the original songs he wrote at that time. Ironically, it was the Watermelon band that played on the final night of live entertainment here at “the Gritty” on December 18, 1974. A change in attitudes and entertainment tastes here on the UW campus and throughout the country marked the end of the music era at the Nitty Gritty.
From that point, the Nitty Gritty has taken a number of twists and turns that have allowed it to evolve into the restaurant and bar that exists today.... Madison’s Official Birthday Place. The success of the Nitty Gritty then, as it is now, is directly attributed to the partnership of co-owners Marsh and Susan Shapiro operating as a team, with Marsh handling much of the “front of the house duties” while Susan deals with the kitchen and administrative end of the business.
Prior to purchasing the Nitty Gritty, during the 60’s, Marsh had been a TV personality at WKOW-TV here in Madison, and had served as a news and sports reporter and anchor, and then as the host of a popular kids show “Marshall the Marshal”, which aired from 1964 to 1968. It was at that point in the fall of 1968, that Marsh left the broadcast business to get into the bar and restaurant business. He returned to TV part-time in the early 70’s, and then returned fulltime in 1975, when he became the Sports Director of WKOW-TV, a position he held for the next 10 years.
The years 1975 to 1985 were somewhat uneventful at “the Gritty”, with a modest facelift in the interior, the 11 picnic tables and benches that had made up the furnishings in the music years giving way to a combination of booths and tables, covered with red and white checked tablecloths. The wait staff and bartenders wore red and white checked shirts, and the Gritty continued to establish a reputation of having excellent food and a nice relaxed ambiance.
In 1985, Marsh left the TV business, and returned to the Nitty Gritty on a fulltime basis. With his wife Susan, and a UW grad student who was working part time in the kitchen, they brainstormed the idea of creating a birthday theme. Promoting and marketing the Nitty Gritty as Madison’s Official Birthday Place, where you could get a memento glass mug, drink free beer or soda on you birthday, get a balloon, have your name up in lights, have your name announced, hear the birthday bell rung, and get a Gritty bonus birthday card, all led to the establishment of a tradition that has become so well known that even former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson has been here for two of his recent birthdays.
The Nitty Gritty averages 50 to 60 birthday celebrations daily...that comes out to about 18,000 a year. Our youngest, Megan Spude, was here when she was 1 day old, our oldest, Hortense Sperling, was 108 on November 18th, 2006. The Widder quadruplets, who were here to celebrate when they were 3 years old in 1992, have now been back 17 straight years and were here in November of 2009 for their 20th birthdays. As the year 2010 hit, over 408,000 birthdays had been celebrated here at the Nitty Gritty, and the number continues to grow each day.
There was an obvious increase in business due to the number of birthdays being celebrated, and the continued growth of the food and bar business, and Marsh and Susan saw the need to physically expand the Gritty to accommodate more and larger groups. In 1990, the 3 flat building east of the Nitty Gritty on Johnson Street was purchased and torn down, and rebuilt as a new part of the Gritty, doubling its seating capacity for restaurant service.
Seven years later, in 1997, once again a major renovation took place upgrading the facility with a new and expanded kitchen, a new and expanded bar with an atrium overhead, new and enlarged bathrooms, new furnishings, and once again increased seating in a non-smoking dining room. The hundreds of 8 by 10 pictures on the walls of random birthday celebrants along with a number of celebrities and athletes have become the trademark of the simple, upbeat decors of the Gritty.
The one thread running through the entire history of the Nitty Gritty, besides Marsh and Susan Shapiro, is the award winning Gritty Burger. One-third pound ground chuck, bathed in our own special sour cream based sauce, and served on a dark seeded bun. From its inception, the Nitty Gritty has always been known for its outstanding quality of food and service, and has received numerous awards from local reviewers and pollsters in those categories.
With the opening of the Kohl Center in January of 1998, the Nitty Gritty entered another era in its long and memorable history. Located just one block north of the 16,500 seat facility, the Gritty serves a wide variety of people who visit the Kohl Center for a varied spectrum of events ranging from men’s and women’s basketball and hockey to concerts, boys and girls state high school tournaments, and graduation ceremonies.
As a direct result of the increase in traffic and in business due to the activities at the Kohl Center, in the summer of 2000, Marsh and Susan embarked on their last mission to make the downtown Gritty what it is today. They made a major decision to remodel the upstairs of the original building to provide for additional space for about 90 persons for restaurant seating. The new upstairs also included a bar, wait station, liquor room, an office, and additional restroom facilities for both men and women. This additional space increased the Gritty’s overall capacity to over 400 persons. Through the years, the Nitty Gritty has become an institution in the community. It has become a part of the birthday tradition for thousands of celebrants. The Nitty Gritty has served a wide and diversified crowd of literally hundreds of thousands of people of all ages, and we are proud and happy to say that it appears that trend is destined to continue for many years to come as we now move further into expansion to other locations. Our research has shown that this tradition will be welcomed by other communities, which led to the formation of a new corporation to take on this venture. Birthday Bars, Inc. is a combination of several of the key members of Marsh Shapiro’s Nitty Gritty. Marsh and Susan Shapiro, along with Lee Pier and Eric Suemnicht bring a wealth of “Gritty” experience and a variety of talents to support this new corporation. This new company has the mission and goal to expand the “Official Birthday Place” theme into other communities, along with bringing an outstanding food product and quality service to areas of the country that have never experienced the birthday tradition that Madison has come to love.
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