Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Avrum Chudnow was the son of a junkman, and although he grew up to become a successful attorney, at heart he was a compulsive collector of junk. He filled the basement and third floor of his law office building with his treasures.

When his father-in-law sold his grocery store, Avrum bought everything in it, then carefully stored it all away. He lived to be 92, and after he died in 2005 his family turned his building of everyday wonders into the Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear. Most of Avrum's collection is of items from the 1920s through the 1940s.

Inside the building visitors will find the contents of his father-in-law's grocery, as well as a pharmacy, a hardware store, an ice cream shop, a doctor's office, and a barbershop with a secret entrance to a Speakeasy. One room is dedicated to political mementoes. A large part of the second floor is filled with Avrum's collection of over 2,000 games, toys, puzzles, and books.