Macabi party at Silver Lake Hotel

Date

• March 23, 1945

Summary

• In a side view taken from one end of the bar, uniformed sailors from the USS Macabi, several with drinks in hand, crowd around the bar at Martin Ouker's Silver Lake Hotel during the Macabi's commissioning party on Friday, March 23, 1945. One crewman wearing a bartender's apron and holding a bottle of beer stands behind the bar. At the far end of the room an officer is seen above the crowd, possibly balancing on a chair or railing. Several women guests are intermingled in the group, and two women wearing aprons stand at the back in front of a door. Crepe paper streamers decorate open archways separating the bar area from the dance floor beyond. The Silver Lake Hotel (also referred to as Silver Lake Lodge or Silver Lake Resort) was a popular dance hall located about four miles west of Manitowoc. It was the location for several commissioning parties for submarines built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, of which the "Macabi" was one of the last. After being commissioned on March 29, 1945, the "Macabi" cleared Manitowoc on April 18 and did lifeguard duty in the Pacific in support of air operations in July and August, 1945 at the end of World War II.