Posted June 3, 200520 yr This isn't Laverne's town anymore. That old wench moved to Hollywood and left this sleeper of a city behind. I will say that Cincinnati has a terrible marketing department working at their Visitor’s Bureau but Milwaukee has them beat in this regard. It is time to clean house on Milwaukee's marketing department that has left many of us with thoughts of Laverne and Shirley, Beer Factories and a gloomy city that is suffering from brain drain. A city that in many regards is lesser known than any other city in their tier in terms of population. Fantastic parks, Lake Michigan, world class Art Museum, Venice, Italy of the Midwest with a great river walk and a Warehouse District that would make Cleveland blush. In all honesty I wasn't expecting much. Milwaukee was a check mark I needed on my sheet of cities still needing to be visited. The thing is I went to Milwaukee with little expectations but what I discovered was a city alive and full of life. The drive into Milwaukee did fulfill all the stereotypes, it was overcast when we arrived and the interstate grit is in your face to remind you, "Yep Blue Collar Industrial Town". Thing is for the many people that just drive by cities and gauge their opinion from what they see off the interstates, Milwaukee would fail miserable. My buddy that went with me is witness to this stereotype. Once you get off the highway and explore you can't help to open your eyes to a city that breaks all those stereotypes. Couple that with the district called "Third Ward" and the residential condos along Lake Michigan and it is too much to take in. The question in your head arises, "Is this really Milwaukee". Hell yeah, it is... Behold her beauty! The park land along Lake Michigan is just awesome. This city definitely appreciates activities around Lake Michigan. Fly a kite, sail a boat, jog, bike, view art, relax on a paddle boat... Why are people leaving again? The Milwaukee Art Museum lived up to the hype. It is an architecture jewel and any city would be grateful to have a masterpiece on their front lawn. She's a beauty alright... Is that the ocean? I am convinced! You heard me right, Venice of the Midwest... I will take one of these. Simple design, clean lines, nice paint scheme in a gorgeous historic neighborhood a skip from Lake Michigan to follow. Are you looking at me? Alas dinner! After a pricey night at the Saloon Steakhouse in Chicago, we needed something reasonable. This place hit the spot perfect. A good local place that claims to be home of the longest bar east of the Mississippi River. Tried a local beer call Leinenkugel that I had never had before, after all I was in Miller's hometown and I can't stand Miller. Leinenkugel was a good beer. Link here: http://www.leinie.com/images/amber_light.jpg Buck Bradley's This shot was taken at the halfway point of the bar. Yes home of Miller, while I don't like their beer I had to check the place out. I also checked out the billboard I paid Sasso Advertising to put up in Milwaukee. After all you need to market your city in other cities right? Who needs suburbia when you can have retail in the city like it should be And a tour of the legend... Ok now I have gone too far, PBR has always been ass beer :D We stopped off to watch a little Brewers baseball in their funky retractable dome. Both categories of the cheap seats were all taken, go figure? Oh well $12 for third up from the bottom seating isn't too bad. Tailgating at a baseball stadium? Yep in Milwaukee. Most baseball stadiums are in cities that lack big surface lots around the stadium, Milwaukee and Kansas City comes to mind that defy this logic but it seems to make for a cheeshead party time. You gotta love gimmicks... Zoom attempt All in all, hope you enjoyed the thread as much as I enjoyed Milwaukee. It was a good time and I recommend a visit to anyone that hasn't gone. It isn't New York, Chicago or San Fran but it holds it own well against its tier level of cities and against those pesky southern cities :) Link to my Chicago thread for those of you that missed it: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77617
June 3, 200520 yr 12 bucks for those seats? That's better than the 12 dollars for View level seats at GABP. I've never been a fan of that stadium though. I'd take GABP or Jacobs any day over a domed field. Nice shots! It sure is a nice city.
June 3, 200520 yr :clap: Wow! Great photos! So that's what Milwaukee looks like without leftover snow, drizzling rain and gray skies? I like.
June 3, 200520 yr I never said I sat in my 400 level $12 seats :) The seats I sat in were not $12. Ah I see :-D.
June 3, 200520 yr Leinenkugels...there used to be alot of local brewreys in Wisconsin, Leinenkugels was one which survived the "corporate beer" era. I think Augsburger was another.... Milwaulkee also has its own "street food"...frozen custard. There are frozen custard places around the city. Monte is right about this city exceeding expectations. And man these are some great pix, too!...Thanks... (I really liked that one of the bar). BTW....this pix ....Usingers Sausages...are fairly authentic German sausages and where pretty popular in Chicago delicatessens. They are available in Dayton at Charlies market in Old North Dayton...I like their "Hessiche Leberwurst".... For urban planning buffs Milwaulkee has one of the three 1930s Greenbelt communities....Greendale. The city also had a failed subway, which was going to connect an interurban line to the heart of downtown...they built a private ROW right into the city, which was used by the trains into the late 1940s (this was one of the few systems to survive the depression), but they never built the subway part. The area south of the Menominee Valley used to be a large Polish neighborhood, but is now mostly Mexican, with what looks like a small gay district forming closer towards downtown...so there is sort of an interesting ethnic mix going on down there. I was there for the German Fest, which is one of a series of ethnic festivals that are held on the lakefront, near that art museum. If the rest of these are as good as the German fest they are destination events worth traveling to see...the German Fest was pretty outstanding for an ethnic event in a smaller city..... " Heralded as the "City of Festivals," Milwaukee celebrates its melting pot heritage throughout the year with a delightful procession of ethnic and cultural festivals. Asian Moon Festival, Rainbow Summer, Polish Fest, RiverSplash!, Scottish Fest, Lakefront Festival of Arts, Bastille Days, CajunFest, Festa Italiana, German Fest, African World Festival, PrideFest, Irish Fest, Mexican Fiesta, Labor Fest, Oktoberfest, Indian Summer Festival, Arabian Fest and the Holiday Folk Fair are all colorful tributes to a cherished past..." ...the impression I get of the place is that the quality of life is pretty high. The people are freindly and helpful, too...
June 3, 200520 yr Monte, I don't know if you know but Leinie's is sold at most of the Kroger's around Cincy. And by the way, great pics of Brew City.
June 3, 200520 yr van Damn! that's some good stuff! I will note, in particular, the similarities between Milwaukee and Cleveland in terms of geography and reputation and the disparities in the use of their natural amenities. From the looks of those pictures, MW actually utilizes its waterfronts for productive and public uses... Cleveland planners take notice!
June 4, 200520 yr nice! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 4, 200520 yr Yeah Cleveland...Milwaukee was actually forward thinking and ripped out a lakefront freeway years ago. The Art Museum is amazing. One reason they still have a Downtown Dept Store 'Boston Store' is because it is owned by Sak's and that is the headquarters for the 'Boston Store/Carson Pirie Scott' division. They keep threatening to close it though.
June 4, 200520 yr ^ Well Cincinnati is HQ for Bloomingdales yet they don't have one Bloomingdales store in the metro.
June 6, 200520 yr Yeah, but Federated HQ in Cincy is probably the only reason Lazarus/Macy's is still open Downtown. Same thing in St Louis, Famous Barr was still open Downtown because of the May Co HQ. In Chicago there is a fairly new downtown Sears, and many free standing old stores all over the city (there is one within walking distance from my house :-D). I doubt that would be the case if they weren't headquartered here
June 8, 200520 yr I went there for a friend's wedding...they had the rehearsal dinner on a boat on the M'wkee river. I was pleasantly suprised with the scene. They also had the post wedding photos in a park overlooking the lake (Port Washington area?)...Had a small city feel. I think its midwestern humility that keeps Milwaukee a secret
September 20, 200717 yr I was there for the German Fest, which is one of a series of ethnic festivals that are held on the lakefront, near that art museum. If the rest of these are as good as the German fest they are destination events worth traveling to see...the German Fest was pretty outstanding for an ethnic event in a smaller city..... " Heralded as the "City of Festivals," Milwaukee celebrates its melting pot heritage throughout the year with a delightful procession of ethnic and cultural festivals. Asian Moon Festival, Rainbow Summer, Polish Fest, RiverSplash!, Scottish Fest, Lakefront Festival of Arts, Bastille Days, CajunFest, Festa Italiana, German Fest, African World Festival, PrideFest, Irish Fest, Mexican Fiesta, Labor Fest, Oktoberfest, Indian Summer Festival, Arabian Fest and the Holiday Folk Fair are all colorful tributes to a cherished past..." ...the impression I get of the place is that the quality of life is pretty high. The people are freindly and helpful, too... Yeah, I live here in MKE, and I have to say that German Fest is one of the worst festivals we have. Milwaukee knows how to party and, while German Fest is great, if you're looking for a really good time I'd come back and check out Summerfest, RiverSplash!, or my personal favorite Irish Fest. All of the fests have fireworks at their kickoffs, so you'll get a great show here every weekend of summer. Festa Italiana has the best fireworks though. I do agree with you though, that Milwaukee is BY FAR the most underrated city.
September 20, 200717 yr Very nice! I spot many new downtown buildings. How successful is the city center mall? Looks like a rendering!
September 20, 200717 yr The Grand Avenue Mall, downtown, is not that great. It's actually almost dead. But some of the best shopping in the region are in the Third Ward (immediately south of downtown) and Brady St/the East Side (Farwell and North). Both are near downtown.
September 21, 200717 yr We stopped off to watch a little Brewers baseball in their funky retractable dome. Both categories of the cheap seats were all taken, go figure? Oh well $12 for third up from the bottom seating isn't too bad. Ten years ago I saw a game at County Stadium. It's too bad the Brewers deserted it. Which brings me to this: LET'S GO CUBS!!!
September 26, 200717 yr These are great...looks like a well maintained city (at least from the pics). This looks very nice; if Lake Michigan is by chance at the bottom of this hill...then it is a dream spot, imo.
September 26, 200717 yr Lake Michigan is at the bottom of that hill. That is Villa Terrace, a decorative arts museum. Milwaukee has hundreds of beautiful mansions like this at the top of that bluff. Villa Terrace is one of the few that's open to the public though. Here's the website: http://www.cavtmuseums.org/vt/home.html
September 26, 200717 yr Looks like a great city...except for the huge surface lots around Miller Park.
September 26, 200717 yr I just like Milwaukee because they have a lot of Culvers :p These are great...looks like a well maintained city (at least from the pics). This looks very nice; if Lake Michigan is by chance at the bottom of this hill...then it is a dream spot, imo. Wow, thats some really cool landscaping. Awesome house.
September 26, 200717 yr There is Culver's of Mason and Culver's of Hamilton in Daytonati. No need to be in Milwaukee to enjoy Butterburgers.
September 26, 200717 yr Culver's took a Milwaukee tradition and bastardized it. If you want REAL custard, you have to come to Leon's (the one from Happy Days), Lixx, or to any of the hundreds of neighborhood custard stands.
October 8, 200717 yr Inkaelin, regardless of what urban planners think is best for people, the people of Wisconsin voted to put and supported the new Miller Park in the middle of a sea of parking so they can continue to tailgate for baseball...A proposal to build downtown failed... Went to opening day for the Brewers a few years ago, and it was an absolute blast. Would have thought I was at a Bengals tailgate. The people just really get into it...had a blast. But yes, there is not one bar in within walking distance, but the people got what they wanted.
October 8, 200717 yr I think tailgating is super lame but I'm probably one of very few people that think that.
October 9, 200717 yr igon is 100% right. I had never seen so many tailgaters in my life at a baseball game. In fact I would be willing to say that the amount of tailgaters I saw at Miller Park was more than all the ballparks I have ever been too combined.
October 11, 200717 yr Wow this is an old thread, but timely for me. My brother moved to MKE about a year ago. Took me that long to pay a visit. I was there about three weeks ago. He didn't set the stage very well. Told me it was like Dayton and that I wouldn't be impressed. He was wrong on both accounts. Surprised you didn't get more pics of the Third Ward. I did and will post soon.
October 11, 200717 yr Umm, yeah. He probably picked up the low self-esteem bug. Everyone who lives here seems to think it's a shit hole, despite everyone who visits telling us otherwise. I don't get it.
October 12, 200717 yr Well he did move to MKE from Chicago. He kept complaining, "There's just no good shopping here." Sad that he spent all that time in Chicago and when he moves, he misses the shopping the most.
October 12, 200717 yr Funny thing is, most of mag mile is comprised of stores available in almost every city. Probably Milwaukee, as well.
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