The Gobbler

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The Gobbler was a unique motel, supper club, and roadside attraction off I-94 (Exit 267) in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin, United States. It was situated halfway between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Madison, Wisconsin.

Designed in the late 1960s by architect Helmut Ajango for local turkey farmer Clarence Hartwig and opened in 1967, The Gobbler Supper Club (later renamed the Round Stone Restaurant) was styled to resemble a turkey's head when viewed from overhead. The menu featured turkey, as well as prime rib and steak. A rotating circular bar that completed one revolution every eighty minutes was a signature centerpiece of the building. After the original owner died in 1979, the building passed through several incarnations, including a roadside diner; the last tenant went out of business in mid-2002.

Across the street from the supper club, The Gobbler Motel had an adventurous, futuristic Googie Architecture design that featured rooms with symbol-shaped waterbeds (such as a heart-shape), 8-track players, and differently colored shag carpet (which extended up the walls) in each themed room. After multiple changes in ownership (including a renaming to the King Arthur Inn Motel) and years of unrepaired wear, the motel was abandoned in 2001. Shortly thereafter, the Johnson Creek Fire Department burned the motel to the ground as a "practice fire" for their firefighters; however, the concrete slab on which the motel was built still remains.

The Gobbler was a popular roadside attraction. Dozens of websites have been erected as a memorial to The Gobbler, and to tell the tales of visits to the site.