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Doors Open Milwaukee
Sep. 20th, 2015 10:36 pmDoors Open is always fun. I love seeing places the public isn't normally allowed to go. Saturday morning, we started at the art museum, since there was an exhibit that was closing this weekend. We didn't make it to the first Doors Open site until noon.
We started at St. Joseph Chapel, which I had never heard of, and was quite spectacular. It's the size of a church, but is kept a chapel due to some church politics. Also, they have a collection of some 1600 relics, including the entire skeleton of a Saint Leoninus (4th century). Then, since we were in the neighborhood, we went to The Factory, which was sort of a co-op space for artists and makers. Jewelry, ceramics, woodworkers, printing/t-shirts, and upholsterer. Plus a few artists had some smaller workspaces.
We headed down the road to Forest Home Cemetery. They had the doors open to their crematory in the basement. It was the first crematory in Wisconsin, and at the time it served all the surrounding states. I asked someone what there was to see, and he pointed out a couple of buildings, but aside from the crematory, he didn't mention anything else that was not normally open to the public. I see now the website says, "The Historic office building vaults will be open to enter and view large cemetery record books of 1850′s including the signatures of Milwaukee’s most famous names." I wonder where that was.
We went east, ended up on KK, stopped to take a photo of St. Mary's Challenger, docked for a load of cement. Went down a little farther, and got some Mexican food with some really strong margaritas. Had to walk to the next destination, which was a little farther than we expected. Bay View Printing. A small company that does printing the old fashioned way. Movable type on letter presses, among other processes.
There was another place in the area that we wanted to see, but we ran into some friends, and sat with them and their baby for a while. Cindy says, "hey, there's Sugar Maple, where Brook had is party that time. Oh, there's Brook!"
Today, we got to the first site just as they opened. Vanguard Sculpture Services. They specialize in bronze, but do all kinds of work on all kinds of sculptures. They took us into their workshops and showed us the whole process on how bronze sculptures are cast. We saw their foundry, and watched a video that showed a pour. I really enjoyed this place.
We stopped at a place called The Bricks, which houses Big MPG studio and Flux Design. The first does web design sort of things, and the other does visual design for places. Bars and restaurants, mostly, I guess. They have a big shop. There was some large scale printing happening there, though.
The morning was beautiful. Mostly sunny, upper sixties, calm. Just perfect. We went to the Falcon Bowl, but it was closed. Almost next door was St. Casimir Church. Very nice.
Then we went all the way down to Sisters of St. Francis Convent. 1894 chapel. Some museum-style exhibits on the nuns and the convents. It was okay. Then we drove back up to see Bay View Printing again, but saw the Avalon Theater and stopped there. It's a recently restored 1929 movie house. Not as spectacular as I had hoped, but quite nice. And then we went back to Bay View Printing. We had seen it the day before, but I wanted to take the tour and learn more. Obviously, I liked that place a lot. So did others, since it was rather crowded.
Then Basilica of St. Josaphat. I'd been wanting to see this place for years. I'd seen pictures, so I knew it was really ornate inside, but wow, was this place spectacular! It kinda ruins all the other churches in town. It's a big place, and it was full of people. Rather crowded. We also saw their relics, which included complete bones, rather than the usual splinters.
Then we went up a few blocks to see St. Stanislaw Church. Rather austere, by comparison to the previous. Lots of marble. Not that much to see, but I enjoyed hearing the priest talk about the history of the building. If you've come to Milwaukee, you've passed this church, with the two narrow, domed steeples. St. Josaphat is the one with the big dome on top.
And then we went home. Eight places in six hours. The previous day, we only saw four sites in four hours, but took an hour out for lunch.
We started at St. Joseph Chapel, which I had never heard of, and was quite spectacular. It's the size of a church, but is kept a chapel due to some church politics. Also, they have a collection of some 1600 relics, including the entire skeleton of a Saint Leoninus (4th century). Then, since we were in the neighborhood, we went to The Factory, which was sort of a co-op space for artists and makers. Jewelry, ceramics, woodworkers, printing/t-shirts, and upholsterer. Plus a few artists had some smaller workspaces.
We headed down the road to Forest Home Cemetery. They had the doors open to their crematory in the basement. It was the first crematory in Wisconsin, and at the time it served all the surrounding states. I asked someone what there was to see, and he pointed out a couple of buildings, but aside from the crematory, he didn't mention anything else that was not normally open to the public. I see now the website says, "The Historic office building vaults will be open to enter and view large cemetery record books of 1850′s including the signatures of Milwaukee’s most famous names." I wonder where that was.
We went east, ended up on KK, stopped to take a photo of St. Mary's Challenger, docked for a load of cement. Went down a little farther, and got some Mexican food with some really strong margaritas. Had to walk to the next destination, which was a little farther than we expected. Bay View Printing. A small company that does printing the old fashioned way. Movable type on letter presses, among other processes.
There was another place in the area that we wanted to see, but we ran into some friends, and sat with them and their baby for a while. Cindy says, "hey, there's Sugar Maple, where Brook had is party that time. Oh, there's Brook!"
Today, we got to the first site just as they opened. Vanguard Sculpture Services. They specialize in bronze, but do all kinds of work on all kinds of sculptures. They took us into their workshops and showed us the whole process on how bronze sculptures are cast. We saw their foundry, and watched a video that showed a pour. I really enjoyed this place.
We stopped at a place called The Bricks, which houses Big MPG studio and Flux Design. The first does web design sort of things, and the other does visual design for places. Bars and restaurants, mostly, I guess. They have a big shop. There was some large scale printing happening there, though.
The morning was beautiful. Mostly sunny, upper sixties, calm. Just perfect. We went to the Falcon Bowl, but it was closed. Almost next door was St. Casimir Church. Very nice.
Then we went all the way down to Sisters of St. Francis Convent. 1894 chapel. Some museum-style exhibits on the nuns and the convents. It was okay. Then we drove back up to see Bay View Printing again, but saw the Avalon Theater and stopped there. It's a recently restored 1929 movie house. Not as spectacular as I had hoped, but quite nice. And then we went back to Bay View Printing. We had seen it the day before, but I wanted to take the tour and learn more. Obviously, I liked that place a lot. So did others, since it was rather crowded.
Then Basilica of St. Josaphat. I'd been wanting to see this place for years. I'd seen pictures, so I knew it was really ornate inside, but wow, was this place spectacular! It kinda ruins all the other churches in town. It's a big place, and it was full of people. Rather crowded. We also saw their relics, which included complete bones, rather than the usual splinters.
Then we went up a few blocks to see St. Stanislaw Church. Rather austere, by comparison to the previous. Lots of marble. Not that much to see, but I enjoyed hearing the priest talk about the history of the building. If you've come to Milwaukee, you've passed this church, with the two narrow, domed steeples. St. Josaphat is the one with the big dome on top.
And then we went home. Eight places in six hours. The previous day, we only saw four sites in four hours, but took an hour out for lunch.
