Roof top gardens

Clock Shadow Creamery building-green building with a green roof
Enjoying their goat cheese curds with the view.

 We just finished a wonderful weekend of exploring our city with the fourth year of Doors Open Milwaukee.  It wasn't until I was reflecting on the buildings that we saw (not to mention several that I didn't get to) how many opportunities there were to see rooftop gardens in Milwaukee during this event alone.  We toured the three buildings which I have photos from.  Clock Shadow Creamery is the only urban cheesefactory in the state.  They have a beehive on their rooftop with vegetable beds as well as a rain water collection system for flushing the building's toilets.  Even the elevator makes its own energy during its down cycle.

88.9 Radio Milwaukee promotes many community events

MSOE Grohman Museum,
gardens and sculpture garden

The radio station formally housed in the basement of the public school administrative building is now in a neighborhood once known more for tanneries than environmentally friendly industry.  Radio Milwaukee promotes local musicians as well as promoting and hosting community events.  They are just blocks from the new Global Water Institute which is internationally known for making waves in freshwater sciences.  Milwaukee is the leader in this essential area of development in our ever shrinking globe.  The Hanging Gardens shares space in this new business and research center.
A fun and fascinating stop at the Grohman Art Museum is a treasure worth seeing.  During rooftop events the sculptures lining the roof edges are turned in.  The rest of the time these statues look out over State and Broadway as a tribute to the working people that have built our world through hard work and innovation.  There are also gardens within a few blocks of here on the Municipal Building, the Downtown Library, as well as several residential apartments. There is even a soccer field being built on top of a parking structure on the MSOE campus.  
There are hospitals in the area with healing gardens built on rooftops.  The Urban Ecology Center also includes roof top gardens in their development.   There are people who have even invested in rooftop gardens for their house or garage to help reduce the runoff into storm sewers while gaining garden space in a small space.
My favorite roof top garden ever has to be Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant with the goats feeding up in Door Co.  Not really a garden but fun never-the-less. 

Al Johnson's goats

Summer is really here when you do a walking tour

I had some fun bring in summer by doing a walking tour of Historical Walker's Point last night.  It wasn't officially summer until after midnight, but it was a beautiful night for a walk and a bite to eat with friends in this charming little neighborhood.

Walkers Point is one of the original three neighborhoods that made Milwaukee what it is today. In the area south of the main rivers and near the lake, it was home to plenty of industry and immigration.  There are many homes from the original neighborhood still in place and many have been restored.  It is interesting to note that the largely Hispanic population in the neighborhood is not as recent as one might think.  Our tour guide told of the history of the tanneries in the neighborhood recruiting labor from the South in Texas in the early part of the 19th century which brought the first Spanish speaking families to this neighborhood.

The Polish Moon of the Allen-Bradley four-faced clock is probably the most recognizable landmark from the freeway that cuts the neighborhood in two.  Several steeples also poke up through the roof tops of the neighborhood still closely linked to these spiritual centers.  The ethnic population has evolved over time, but it hasn't changed the look of Walker's Point residential areas.  I enjoyed the gardens that were established and well cared for by the faithful residents.  The food is pretty good, too.

Keep an eye on Historic Milwaukee's summer schedule for walking tours and the Doors Open for 2013.  Historic Milwaukee has lots of upcoming events.