If you read the blog I wrote yesterday, then you know that I prematurely committed myself to an indoor exercise routine. I had the yoga DVD, the yoga mat and the SIGG water bottle ready to go...and then Mother Nature intervened by producing sunny, 75-degree weather.
So instead of staying in and stretching, I went on a long walk.
I live in Walker's Point and one of my favorite routes is to head over to National Avenue and follow 2nd Street into Downtown.
It's always a fascinating walk. I never cease to be amazed at all the land, property and abandoned buildings in such close proximity to the heart of the city and the river that runs through it.
I look at those empty Downtown Mini Warehouses that have been for sale forever and dream about what I'd do with that amount of space in such an amazing location.
I look at all the empty storefronts and not only wonder what they were when this neighborhood was once flourishing, but also what they might be once the repaving of 2nd Street is complete in 2010.
I look at Just Art's Saloon and wonder if anyone ever goes there.
I look inside the freshly renovated Pritzlaff Building, 305 N. Plankinton Ave., and see the beautiful bounty of indie fashion inside Areka Ikeler's Fashion Ninja boutique and, as I move north down the sidewalk towards St. Paul, I look in another set of gigantic ground floor windows to see nothing but five huge bales of hay neatly rolled up and strategically placed within in otherwise empty space.
Anyone have any idea what this might be for? The workings of a future art installation? Or, impromptu urban stable?
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
