twynk

Cool (but small) downtown, a decent college town & “hippest” of the Quad Cities.

Seems a cool enough city, except nearly everything’s closed on Sundays.

The beach on 59 is kinda cool, but downtown shops (save an overcrowded Dairy Queen) close way too early.

One of things I miss most about living in the Cities was having Duluth just a little hop up 35W. I’ve honestly taken a trip up there just to be near the “natural air condidtioning” of Lake Superior during a bad heat wave. But the city is just beautiful, especially near the Harbor (of course), and the boardwalk along the shore. I could sit for hours watching the ore barges coming & going. Superior Street is really hip, with Pizza Luce, Electric Fetus, the Nor Shor theatre and lots of other shops & nightclubs.

an excerpt from my trip account:

Sev’ral years ago w/ my X, I’d lived on the East Side. As I had arrived (by Greyhound) from downtown, it had taken me a while to recognise anything from the old days. After a bit of walking, a number of landmarks from my ancient memories popped up. I found the apt building we lived in, the old neighborhood. I found Brady Street, same old signs & shops. In all the times I’d been on Brady, I’d never entered Rochambo Coffee. I had the soup there and explored the streets. I’d forgotten how small the familiar area was, and took to the lake shore parks. I walked down the mile-long breakwall on grey, choppy Lake Michigan. I wandered the East Side & got dinner at Pizza Shuttle, my employer seven years ago. Little had changed at that place in those years; I recognised half the employees there.

I watched the sun set on Brady St from the outdoor table of Anodyne Coffee (f/ Brewed Awakenings), then returned to the bus station…

Essentially, I’ve only found the East Side (i.e. Prospect, Brady) worth visiting; any other area of the city could be anywhere else. The East Side has a very distinct “Milwaukee” feel, and is definately worth a visit.

an excerpt from a trip account:

The bright orange flames twisted from the black smokestacks in the murky night. City-sized factories climbed above the horizon. Rusted trees of metal rose into the midnight sky. My hometown.

The bus rolled to the station where my sister & dad had waited. Roughly 90% of the building & houses we passed dowtown were boarded up. Entire streets & strip malls had been abandoned, yet the still vibrant & colorful signs hung above the gutted & vacant shops. A surreal quality hung about, as though the people of the world had suddenly vanished, leaving the streets as they were.

Little had changed in my childhood neighborhood. The cartoon Indian still smiled his big toothy grin above Calumet High School were I was knocked around for four wonderful years. Bernie still drove his stupid truck around the streets at 5 MPH, to leer at the 13 year old girls…