09:00 January 12, 2003
Beer made city famous but art, architecture are giving it pizazz

By Jane Wooldridge - Miami Herald

Sunday, January 12, 2003

Milwaukee --- If they could see this place now, Laverne and Shirley would tear the buttons right off their sweater sets. It sure isn't the Milwaukee those TV beer-bottlers knew.

• A sleek modern gothic tower looms above the 19th-century banks and offices that are in cream-colored brick.

• The Brewers are cracking the bat in a smart new $394 million field with a retractable roof.

• The old warehouses down on the Milwaukee River have been transformed into art galleries, theaters, brewpubs and a hip museum of advertising design.

• The Midwest Express Center, a sharp convention complex opened in 1998, is a hit with techies and other meeting planners around the Midwest, resulting in 683,000 room-nights in area hotels in the past three years.

• And on the shore of Lake Michigan, a half-block from downtown's stately offices, is a winged white mast --- an addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum that is arguably the most striking architectural statement in America in recent years.

Sure, they still brew beer here --- though most of the major breweries are gone, and a South African firm recently agreed to buy Miller. They make powertrains, too, for Harley-Davidson, founded here nearly 100 years ago. But if you're thinking of Wisconsin's signature city as more cheesehead hamlet than urban enclave, it's time to turn off the reruns.

These days, it's art, architecture, museums, cafes, theater, sports, the lakefront, weekend festivals and a newly expanded casino that bring 6 million visitors here annually.

Those, and the friendly locals. Like the visitor-center volunteer who offers this secret: The main public library sells old books for $1 each.

Or the crew at Downtown Books, where Thor, a Norwegian elkhound named for the god of thunder, greets visitors who are promptly asked to put on Elvis sunglasses and pose for a picture that will be posted on the wall. The store staffers have real names --- Darren, Justin, Keith, Larry --- but most days they wear tags recalling beloved book characters.

"Milwaukee is a nice place because the people here are nice," says Darren Schach, posing as the namesake from Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon."

Make no mistake: This is, first, home to 600,000 people who work in manufacturing, insurance, tourism and education. (Marquette University is here.) On weekdays, senior citizens and school groups pack the halls of the expansive Milwaukee Public Museum, focused on natural and cultural history, and stroll through the Milwaukee Art Museum. The streets and downtown trolleys are mostly quiet, save for lunchtime.

It's not until after work --- 5 p.m., 6 at the latest --- and weekends that lakefront parks bubble with 'bladers and cyclists and festivalgoers. Revitalized historic districts swell with theater buffs and the post-work crowd sipping pale ale at a microbrew pub or heading off to the current hot spot.

It is, simply, a nice place to live for all kinds of people. In the past two years, Milwaukee has appeared on lists of America's best-mannered cities (No. 3), best cities for families (No. 33), best places to live if you're a lesbian (No. 1), healthiest cities (No. 16), best places to be single (No. 24), best sports cities (No. 26) and best places to earn and save money (No. 38).

Tourism is gaining ground. Since 1998, $2.2 billion has been spent on tourism development, including the convention complex, the baseball stadium, an expansion to the Potawatomi Bingo Casino, and new hotels, including Hotel Metro, Milwaukee's first boutique lodging. A Harley-Davidson Museum is planned.

The most dramatic symbol of the tourism push is the $100 million addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and named by Time magazine as the best new design of 2001. (Calatrava was selected last year to design the Atlanta Symphony Center at 14th and Peachtree streets.)

The pavilion is a sleek white ship moored permanently on the Lake Michigan shore adjacent to the museum's original hall, a 1950s cavern designed as a combination art center and war memorial by Eero Saarinen.

The sails --- or are they wings? --- of Calatrava's addition open during the day, a sunshade for the fountained gardens. The operatic sweep continues inside, with a 90-foot-high reception atrium enclosed in glass.

"The building we had didn't announce itself from the outside," explains Russell Bowman, museum director. "The museum was growing. We needed space for events and education."

The addition did its job, drawing more than 420,000 visitors in the first year --- 2 1/2 times the previous number.

Though distinctive, the museum addition mixes surprisingly well with the eclectic architectural styles reflecting Milwaukee's historic roots. Within the course of a few blocks you can walk from the cobbled Bavarian village of Old World Third Street past 19th-century offices in the city's famed cream brick, stately Classical Revival edifices, Victorian turrets, art deco facades, mansard roofs and sleek late-20th-century towers linked by a skyway of bridges, to the sleek Calatrava museum.

Still, much of Milwaukee retains a working-class ease. Restaurants in the Walker Point area promise bratwurst, spicy wings and some of the best Mexican food north of Texas. And while historic Brady Street may be the up-and-coming spot, you can still pick up old-style Italian groceries in the local market.

City boosters will tell you that this all adds up to "Milwaukee --- the Genuine American City." What it really means is that on a fine summer day, you can grab a 'wurst and a seat in Miller Park and find yourself chatting with a fellow who has been coming to games since the 1950s. He misses the Brewers' old park and reminisces about the good old days.

In Milwaukee, they might be now.