As part of its ongoing "36 Hours in..." series of travel stories, The New York Times sent Robert Simonson to Brew City for three days to share some of the cities gems with readers.
The article, posted on the Times’ site today, offers a mix of the expected and less so.
"Milwaukee has gone by many nicknames over the years: Cream City, Brew Town, the German Athens. But a lesser-known, more local handle – Smallwaukee – may best capture the personality of this Wisconsin city of 600,000, which can feel like a small town in big-city clothing, embodying the advantages of both," writes Simonson.
On day one, Simonson hit both the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Three Brothers before heading over to At Random, which, as a cocktail writer, Simonson surely enjoyed.
On the second day, among other things, he sampled Frank Lloyd Wright’s American System-Built Homes on the South Side and the site of the attempted assassination of Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, before heading up to the East Side for dinner at The Original.
Wrapping up his trip, Simonson checked out the St. Joan of Arc Chapel and Sobelman’s in the Menomonee Valley, as well as a few other gems, capturing the diverse attractions here and the complementary small town and big-city vibes that make this city special.
This New York Magazine article about Chicago, posted yesterday, also suggests Milwaukee as a convenient day trip.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
