America’s Underdog City

I haven’t walked these neighborhoods
since the ‘ 80s dude we were super
workingclass Rust Belt type City how
close is the hood to the really rich
area here a block away sometimes they
just drive by and pop pop pop into the
windows if it bleeds it leads it’s on
every local news channel it’s on the
newspaper this is old money this is the
money that started the city in the state
right here you don’t see dates like this
in the US 1412 we have 20 years of you
didn’t want to be here everybody left
German used to be the language on the
streets here they sell these lots for
like a buck this is like bathing water
right here man honestly I feel we’re
doed in Chicago it’s just that there’s
some conditions that keep us from
[Music]
exhibiting Good Morning from Chicago but
today is not about Chicago it’s about
going up the shores of Lake Michigan to
the Lesser known City of Milwaukee when
I think of Milwaukee I’m thinking of the
old school sitcom lever and Shirley bad
watered down beer and decaying industry
but in all honesty I have absolutely no
clue what I’m talking about today we
have the great privilege to meet up with
a local who said he can dive Us in to
all different sides of the city and give
us his words not mine an eye opening
perspective let’s do it let’s go to
[Music]
Milwaukee
[Music]
Milwaukee First Impressions totally
different than I thought it was going to
be I hope so man wow right it’s like a
real City this is what’s called the uh
commission row they did all the fruit
and vegetable stuff here so for about
120 years old school Italian produce
vendors fruit guys selling everything
dude and so a lot of it will come up
from Chicago or the Mississippi and then
down the Wisconsin River to the
Milwaukee River so this was like a
warehouse district and uh like a produce
commercial District so the 414 I’m
gathering that’s your area cod that’s
the area code yeah and you’re
representing Fred that’s that’s another
way of saying Milwaukee man you’re born
and raised Fred I was born in R Mania
and immigrated here in 1976 how old were
you when you came over three okay so
your whole life’s been here pretty much
yeah Milwaukee to me is one of those I
know nothing about cities it’s an
underdog fair to say right yeah for sure
it’s changing a lot I think you know
sport has a lot to do with that I think
we have you know we have a world
championship basketball team here a
couple of years ago one of their main
guys Giannis is a also has an immigrant
story that’s that immigrant Underdog
Story that we love he kind of comes here
as an 18 17year old doesn’t know
anything about the city much like you
he’s like man I’m going to make a name
for myself plays the game and all of a
sudden is a champion and so we all
rooted for that because we know what
it’s like to come from nothing and win
something let’s take a ride through the
city very clean very super clean right
so Milwaukee back in the day booming
industry steel right uh well a lot of
that we Milwaukee was like huge Small
Engine City Briggs The Stratton
harleydavidson AO Smith used to do a lot
of that stuff so we were super
workingclass Rust Belt type City and for
a while we were a top 10 City you know
and then a60s it started coming down 70s
middle late ’70s is when it started
going down man yeah we produced
everything from the war I went to a high
school that was part of the war effort
for like World War II dude like
Milwaukee was a top 10 industrial city
think of like Manchester in England
that’s what Milwaukee
okay when did it hit rock bottom and
when did it start coming back out I’d
say like the 80s were pretty bleak man
um Bland gray like nothing going on uh
and then it started to rebound honestly
like 20 years ago so we had 20 years of
you didn’t want to be here everybody
left my generation went to New York La
world cities to do what they wanted to
do cuz there was no opportunities around
2000 man it started to change there was
like a foodie scene starting you know
there was like small manufacturing
happening in these Industrial parks and
now it’s kind of sustaining itself and
it’s because of people wanting to stay
and live here mostly cuz everyone’s nice
man we want to get to know you we want
to you know live Hard Play Hard and
enjoy a drink or too but that’s kind of
like the midwestern lifestyle man so
Fred you’re not not a lot of pretense
you’re not going to give us the North
Korean tour are you man no I mean it is
I mean we’ll we’ll get to some shady
areas where it’s rough I mean we’ve got
some uh a youth problem here that’s
running wild we like to call them the
Kia boys I like to call them the Kia ch
children cuz they’re kind of Reckless
and they’re stupid and they don’t really
know the consequences to their actions
like they know what they’re doing they
just don’t know what’s going to happen
to them because of they’re dealing it
they’re stealing Kia yeah that started
here man per capita dude if you had a
Kia man every day like 30 cars would get
stolen
disil I don’t have to go to the country
if I want nature I can just go to the
lake it looks like Florida water think
so bit you know it’s turquoisey deep
blue well today’s a good day yesterday
man you didn’t want to be here you have
a river down here that’s a lagoon
actually these stairs will take you
right to the lake my friends are
actually sitting right down there it’s
like not even planned what’s up Melissa
hey friend what’s going on man what’s up
young man how you doing good to see you
hey girl how you doing sir know I love
it nice to meet you hi Peter we’re
making a video of Fred in Milwaukee oh
sweet we always seem like we’re a little
bit younger than other cities that are
growing
developing doing things that we all vibe
off of it’s like oh you know we’re still
the little brother or sister slightly
you feel like you’re under Chicago’s
Shadow maybe well honestly I feel we’re
Doper than Chicago yeah it’s just that
um there’s some conditions that keep us
from
exhibiting oh interesting like what if
you know I’m sharing uh media media the
story okay so bad image stereotypes
stereotypes improper
storytelling well I don’t want to say
improper no I think sometimes they just
leave out the meat they just they just
there you go they just leave out the the
stuff that matters and they just handle
the outside I think it is too with
information uh you go off the last bit
of information you’ve you’ve received
for example in Mexico City people
everyone thinks it’s super dangerous you
can go there and have a great time they
great parts of the city before it was
way worse Milwaukee I’m thinking lever
and Shirley bad beer in industry and I I
know nothing cuz I haven’t heard
anything since to be honest right so
that’s what we’re doing here we’re
breaking we’re smashing all of that
stuff that’s exactly it that’s why we
appreciate here man yeah so reg is one
of the uh one of our well-known
established badass kicking artists in
town oh cool and so he’s in the art
museum he’s got a permanent exhibit
there kind of leading changing and
shaping the way young kids approach to
like what art can do and how you can
express yourself so Reg has been doing
it by example man for how long now 20
years 20 years 20 years years or so yeah
and then I met Melissa and then we
really got into the conversation of what
we’re talking right now you know what’s
the difference than being an artist and
being a brand what’s the difference of
um what might be considered fine versus
what is accessible um so accessibility
is links in directly to what we’re
talking about right now how Are we more
accessible uh to the rest of this
country this has changed a lot here man
this used to be in the ‘ 80s and the
’90s like all artist Studios and
warehouses they’d have like booze cans
and like Raves and on the tops of these
places and then developers came in and
like Turned these you know into like
condos and this right here on the corner
this red thing used to be a shoe polish
Factory this is my first job in America
the offices were here and then I used to
have to clean all of these windows man
and across the street was a gay bar
called the Eminem Club so I’m cleaning
the windows and I’m getting cat called
and I’m like what the is that I’m like
oh dude the old gay guys are cat calling
how old how old are you 12 13 14 oh
right so I didn’t know right I’m like oh
this is a little bit weird so I would do
that first before happy hour so I
wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore
then I’d go inside and clean like the
ashtrays my mom and my OM they used to
go upstairs and like do like you know
like the factory floor and then they
would do like the commons area and stuff
while they still worked here 9 to5
was crazy not even that long ago no not
even that long ago man this was like in
the ‘ 80s dude so this is what 40 35
years ago this hosts one of the only
waterp powerered elevators one of two
left in the neighborhood so they Ed the
water here from the Milwaukee River uhuh
to put in these like 55 gallon tanks of
like tubs or like and like they they
lift the elevators going from every
floor to every floor it’s all Hydra
still works man wow and so that’s one of
the unique things about the Milwaukee
River is you know he was smart enough
not to go fully industrial you know and
and get like a meagn elevator he kept
the old stuff back when I was working
here and my folks were working here none
of this was developed man you didn’t
have a river walk uh none of it it was
all fact right yeah how’s this River I
mean it’s not looking too CLE Prett
clean man it’s just muddy now because it
rained okay so it it’ll clear up it’s
pretty man they drudge the CRA out of
this dude so you got a nice Boardwalk
here yeah it goes all the way up to the
Bucks Arena man and so it’s about a good
2 3 and 1 half mile walk so you could
you can have a boat here and cruise out
to the lake yeah you can if you wanted
to yeah they have tours they have a lot
of people doing it uh I take the walk to
get around the get around the city cuz
it’s pretty easy that way First
Impressions feels like a city in
transition between its old industrial
Blue Collar Days the original railroad
connector man right but then it’s got
all this new newness I mean what what do
the apartment cost up there do you think
those go from like 950 to, 15500 a month
one bedroom one bedroom yeah okay so
these days that’s quite
cheap so this is normal old neighborhood
yeah man um these are all called walk
UPS kind of Polish Flats where you kind
of walk up to them and there’s like a
lower entrance and the lower entrance is
kind of you can see the windows there so
that’s who immigrate immigrated here at
the turn of the cood yeah in this
neighborhood but you had a lot of
Eastern Europeans come here right Lots
Germans in the 1820s and the 1840s they
were called the 49ers so they were kind
of like this Progressive group of
Germans that left Germany and started
like the the Turner Farine which is like
the sound mod
B sound mind sound body people uh of
like doing Athletics and stuff so that’s
more on the north side of the city uh
this is National Avenue so this is kind
of like now turned into like Latino
neighborhood it’s kind of cool this used
to be my high school it’s called Bradley
Tech now and it had its moment where it
wasn’t that great but now it’s on this
rebound man because City’s producing
more of those jobs so they come to the
tech high school then they go to the
tech college they graduate in four years
man they’ve got a great exellent job
why not what a neighborhood it is this
is a great neighborhood stuff this is so
cool so you yeah this a bunch of artists
working here so what’s filling the
vacuum with the economy here what’s
coming in I think people’s own startups
man you’ve got some marketing guys here
some tech Bros then you’ve got the
nightclub over here with drag shows
called hamburger Marys touch my bike one
more time and I’m going to kill you
how’s how’s crime here it’s getting a
little worse man there’s Club up the
road right here at a couple of shootings
this year shot the windows out it’s
pretty gnarly you can still see it
boarded up oh yeah that’s not cool yeah
so kind of like this neighborhood kind
of goes back and forth maybe after
midnight you don’t want to be around
here okay and then you got brand new
construction over there condos and
you’ve got some restaurants over there
you got a brewery down the block but
yeah man it can get a little sketch
around here so they’ll just drive by and
pop pop pop into the windows yeah once
that one was like that and one happened
from um the inside or right out in front
of the doorway I guess
I missed that I should have gotten that
what do you got there it’s called a hot
mess is that a Milwaukee Delight it’s
definitely not I don’t know if it’s a
Milwaukee Delight these guys came up
with it okay there like a brought worst
of sausage in there oh nice scramble
eggs avocado cheese it’s a hot mess of
really healthy and heart attack food and
I went I went pretty healthy here you
did you’re on the road man you deserve
it for the bowl okay so with the the
neighborhoods we’re going to you said uh
this is a very segregated City
segregated by the highways uh by the
highways and like most US cities right
that yeah mostly and the valley and so
we’re kind of on like the south side of
the valley right now and so the valley
has these like vict and like bridges
that connected the north side to the
South side and so
historically that’s where the
segregation line was the south side of
the viu National Avenue this is
predominantly white polish Working Class
A lot of Mexican immigration here that’s
kind of Blended the North side was
relatively um mostly
black um and you know with old European
kind of like German population that kind
of mixed with you know theic uh Jewish
population and now it’s just mostly all
black in the city and then like around
the city edges is kind of like this
blend of workingclass families that kind
of have jobs that are all kinds of races
yeah but then the further like in the
central this more middle of the city
it’s pretty Hood it’s pretty bad not so
much homicides those are down but it’s
GSW man gunshot wounds and so a lot of
it is beef with people who are quick
tempered don’t have to handle themselves
a lot of Youth Man 14 15 16 year olds
shooting people just because they’re
angry they didn’t get their way or
something so like a conflict
resolution in it is resolved now uh with
gunfire so what’s going to happen to
these kids when they’re 14 15 doing
something like that juvie Court’s going
to turn them around real quick they a
place there’s no vjl anymore State got
rid of that okay was too far out of the
city um it’s poorly maintained poorly
run and so these kids basically get
slapped with misdemeanors and they’re
right back on the streets and so a lot
of these dudes by the time they’re 18 or
19 man they’ve got a rap sheet my
long you know they become hardened by
that sometimes they make you know
sometimes they get tried depending on
how bad the crime is as adults and as
children you know they uh depending on
the severity of the crime they’re doing
time before they’re 19 like hard time 20
30 years
from that’s pretty crazy right and
there’s a backlog of all that stuff
because there’s so much of it so by the
time these kids actually get a court
date it’s like a zoom meeting with like
a lawyer because there’s a lot of
lawyers that I know that handle this and
like they just want to process and turn
it over quickly and they just give them
a second chance now that the state’s
gotten involved they’ve gotten a lot
tougher with like baale um you know
there’s some cats in the city that have
because of these epidemics this crime
the crazy driving the reckless driving
always high and there’s a lot of weed
you probably smelled already around here
it’s probably no different than any
other
City some dude ran down like a Christmas
parade in one of the suburbs and like
the suburbs got n like nasty on the LOE
and the
da said you got to be way tougher on
these dudes and like let him out on like
$1,000 Bond and he killed like seven
people ran him over with his car
straight down a parade, bucks out yeah
and then the next day I mean he was in
there for like other crimes too because
you know the dude’s just you know it’s
not a good human being right and the
dude had no remorse you know the trial
was like a mock trial he was like trying
to defend himself right he didn’t know
the law he didn’t know he was getting
into so he’s got like multiple life
sentences and so everyone is kind of
associating this reckless driving and
this these gunshot wounds and this crime
with the city of Milwaukee which is true
now it’s kind of spreading everywhere
it’s hard to maintain that that’s the
bad of the of the city yeah I mean First
Impressions I come in here and it it
looks really good very clean very clean
lot of smiles people look at you the
they do and there’s a lot of eye contact
and people are like generally happy to
meet you man it’s just there’s like a
small part of it and the problem with
the small part of it is that everyone
just makes a mountain out of it and it’s
you know it’s really not all of us man
yeah yeah it’s very in isolated 10% of
what goes on here but we like to like
you know if it bleeds it leads it’s on
every local news channel the news
newspaper and so like what re was
talking about The Narrative of the story
The Milwaukee like you know like news
that’s all they focus on man and reg no
one talks about regj really I mean they
do but it’s kind of like oh he’s the
starving struggling artist right and so
like the narrative is is it’s it’s
skewed and it like him pisses him
off so this used to be a really nasty
old timey bridge this is like the big
separation from the south side and to
the north side in the 60s man these
Bridges were just overrun with
protesters and and basically looking for
fair housing and and in equity and and
all those things that most you know
human rights red lining going on here
yeah a lot of that so like in my
neighborhood where I grew up there was
some of that and they teach courses of
it at the universities in town with you
know all the realy companies and banks
that participated in it so like there’s
an it’s an effort in in school or in
colleges to kind of explain how that
happened so a lot of people don’t know
what it is that the simple answer I
believe is there are like in Chicago
there are four different tiers of
different you know good economic zone
pretty good right you know not so good
and then terrible and the terrible
they’re not going to give loans to
because the banks knew the defaults were
much heavier there that’s right and
those happen to be the neighborhoods
where there are more ethnic minorities a
lot of blacks right right so you could
be white and live in one of those
neighborhoods and not get a loan also it
didn’t necessarily
like tie India race exactly but just by
default the neighborhood you lived in
that’s right determined determined that
right do I got that right but but pre 48
I think it was like illegal for blacks
to live in certain places yeah that
changed in 48 yeah that’s about right
and then red lining I think was what 68
or something 68 67 yeah right around
there you got some art deco going there
that’s cool yeah that used to be our
tallest building for the longest time
man
all right guys it’ll break from the
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yes yes and yes so that will all be here
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make your own opinion you can agree you
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video hey say hi to Peter hey Peter
what’s up man hello Peter I’m Peter
Peter Peter how’ you know how’d you know
I was Peter everyone here his named
Peter everyone cool is named Peter do we
need to uh roll the windows up or no let
say
Milwaukee so this is where you guys are
starting your new hotel or what’s going
on here well that’s part of it but it’s
more the soccer isn’t it the soccer it’s
the big thing this is soccer
professional outdoor soccer Milwaukee
hasn’t had a Pro Outdoor team for
decades and this being an ethnic
Heritage city is prime for pro soccer
it’s actually one of the largest cities
in America without a Pro Outdoor soccer
team it’s going to be 8,000 capacity
stadium you know we believe it’s
actually going to be a little bit
smaller than the needs but better to be
too small than too big yeah it’s true
Let’s Walk This Way you can actually see
the beginning you didn’t get my that’s
not what she said dude that’s a 2008
riff dude I’m just letting you know no
that’s that’s that’s ’90s Wayne world
that started oh dude you’re right it was
the office the the office brought it
stole it that’s right but that’s way
you’re dude well let’s talk about let’s
talk about Peter and his soccer
connection uh Peter is like kind of the
patron saint of like football he’s one
of the guys that started many many
soccer clubs in the MLS more than more
than anyone else more I’ve started more
pro soccer teams than anyone else in
world Peter’s the guy when it comes to
football he’s given so
many starting soccer teams anymore so
MLS startl started Chicago first
division teams and men and women’s the
Chicago Fire MLS Milwaukee and helping
Chicago out Milwaukee helping Chicago
amazing we love them like we did like we
did at the Great Chicago Fire we sent
our beer down there uh Schlitz beer on
uh trains to help uh the Chicagoans get
through it that’s right if you’re to it
up and condense it into the most
simplistic language what is the vibe of
Milwaukee a great place on a great lake
dude you went own school come on now
what is that come on we’re on a great
lake and it’s an old uh tagline from
Milwaukee Milwaukee a great place on a
great lake but um it’s a smaller version
of Chicago it’s got less of the good and
less of the bad yeah it’s kind of it
we’re a lot nicer though man we’re a lot
nicer well Chicago is a slower paced
East Coast slower paced new
Milwaukee is even sler Pac Chicago it’s
true I’m going to blow you away with
this incredible fact about Milwaukee it
is the home of the oldest European built
building in the Western
Hemisphere come on built before St
Augustine Florida older built
before Columbus landed in the New World
where on the market campus about three
blocks over St Jon of AR chapel chapel
yeah built between 1412 and
1431 and then
dismantled and moved over here and
reconstructed oh okay I got bit I didn’t
cheat Marquette cheated what’s this
right here this is the Wisconsin Club
formerly the home of Bank uh magnet
Alexander Mitchell Alexander Mitchell
son was Billy Mitchell who went on to
become one of the top Air Force Generals
in World War I and really started the
United States Air Force and was court
marshalled for his beliefs saying that
the Air Force should be independent was
later reinstated in in good
status this is now Carpenter Hall it’s a
dormatory for marquet University back in
the 1930s it was a hotel that had a
nightclub on the first floor and uh one
of the performers was none other than
Nat King Cole oh
yeah this is St Jon of Ark chapel and it
was built in France that’s the thing it
was disassembled in the
1960s and rebuilt uh right here on the
campus of Marquette University yeah you
don’t see dates like this in the US
1412 Milwaukee gives it with the
architecture I got to to say it doesn’t
play around this is old money this is
the money that started the city and the
state right here okay so this is like
the power of the state right here when
Detroit was the pretty much the wealth
center of the world in the
50s the known as the richest city
Milwaukee was milwauke equal or bigger
because of manufacturing it was known
for being a beer City and certainly
brewering was a big industry but really
it was the other manufacturing right I
mean didn’t we build like the uh the
machines and the gear years that uh made
the like the great Panama Canal all that
stuff was manufactured so it was sort of
like in the wake of Detroit it was
riding that wave alongs side of these
industrial Midwestern cities back and
forth yeah maybe was it better off than
Chicago back in the
day they were both growing like crazy
and there were both benefits of the
Great Northern migration of all the
black people from the South that came
out up to fill jobs they good paying
jobs up here so the real downturn that
happened in these cities was late 60 60s
early ‘ 70s fair to say yeah yeah when
all the industry left yeah it didn’t
really hit here hard until like the ‘
80s though right so that was the
globalization that took place when
manufacturing ship you know packed up
and went somewhere else how do people
feel about that iing on who you ask
obviously I think most milwaukeeans are
trying to shed themselves of the typ
cast of bowling brator and beer which
goes along with that
manufacturing uh history and they’re
trying to Embrace a new Milwaukee I
believe you Peter but you’re you’re you
got this jersey here and I’m thinking
you I don’t think it’s that easy to get
away from I may have said most
milwaukeeans I love Old
Milwaukee yeah we could take that old
stuff right and because that’s like in
our bones right but we got to put some
flesh on there we got to grow we can’t
be kids forever right absolutely I mean
we’re all part of our own history yeah
and can’t forget that history right and
that’s what we’re doing so it’s like you
know although we make fun of it that’s
not always NE necessarily what we want
to be defined as cuz like there’s like
generations of two generations of kids
that don’t know anything about that they
don’t know what it is to be laid off
they don’t know what it is to have their
dads and moms protest and pick it lines
they don’t know any of that so they just
grew up in like you know since the ’90s
pretty good life man you know uh people
had service industry jobs they kind of
made their own jobs they created their
own Industries all that stuff is kind of
that new vibe that these kids right now
are building on and so although they
recognize that their grandfather or
grandmother may have been a part of that
and that’s not what they want to be
going
[Music]
for so how much are one of these homes
do you think uh 450 500 wow to live in
something nice like that yeah wow when
Milwaukee was expanding this was the
city limit going west okay and so a lot
of like beer Barons and stuff lived out
here are executives such cool
architecture yeah this is freaking cool
on this corner here I used to kick kids
okay um and then on in this alley I
would get my ass kicked because I had a
pro you know was an English speaking ESL
student I was getting trou I miss that
alley right there I got my ass kicked a
lot so what was this neighborhood back
in the 80s pretty working class man it
was working class whites working class
blacks a lot of cats worked at Briggs
and Strat and Harley or AO Smith they
all lived here in raised families so
it’s mixed it’s pretty mixed it’s always
been mixed man how about now it’s a
little less mixed but still everyone is
cool with each other what’s the
breakdown uh maybe 70 black 25 white 5%
Jewish still here right here is the
hospital that kind of anchors the
neighborhood this is St Joe’s now it
handles a lot of gunshot wounds all that
sort of stuff so this is somewhat
sketchy neighborhood at night yeah it
can be you know there a lot of drug
deals going down here man cars will roll
up use WhatsApp to make a deal dudes
Will Roll drop keep on going sometimes
they get a little Rowdy sometimes deals
go wrong you get a lot of this man
you’ll get a lot of tags missing tags on
the cars yeah for sure so this is my
route man and so I would do this every
day for like got tag he’s got his tag in
the window yeah it’s
expired 2021 yeah okay yeah it’s a lot
of that man this one’s expired so how’s
it feel walking back on these streets
that you grew up on I got to say man it
feels the same honestly this house is
gone this used to be the one I hated
delivering to man cuz it was like an old
like Monsters type house okay and every
time I ran in there like cats would jump
out at me it was nuts how you doing sir
what’s up young man I had my route here
like in the 80s in the late 80s actually
I got to say it looks better now than it
did in the 80s no one cut their lawn
here in the 80s man is it was just not
as nice so this is pretty cool sir how’s
the neighborhood these days oh good
neighborhood is good it’s tight everyone
knows everyone type type Place Prett
much pretty much it’s my first time I’m
digging it yeah this cat’s giving us a
travel in the world and Milwaukee’s on
his checklist
man all right keep my eyes
open why they they’re speeding down the
road while some of them do Dodge
Chargers come through here he have to be
going probably like 45 50 m
hour comes and goes in waves man yeah
gotcha yep take care thanks young man so
yeah it’s just like salt of the earth
working
class grounded Community yep with uh
some young kids ripping through at 50 m
hour perhaps and shooting their friends
in the legs or their ex-friends in the
legs it’s about right sort of the vibe
going on here it happens in rashes it’s
sporadic it’s spontaneous right just out
of nowhere but they they wouldn’t drive
by and shoot two guys like you and me
man we have no beef with them really
it’s generally like if you have some
beef with somebody that’s when that
happens and it’s interesting that it’s
no one’s just going to like dress you
down and go man we don’t like you cuz of
the color of your skin type thing that’s
like they got to know you for something
here you I don’t get that anywhere in
America anywhere in inner city America
when I’m the only white guy yeah I’ve
never had an issue like that at all
right I mean like there’s the white guy
let’s let’s go at him because he’s the
enemy never ever ever had that it’s not
like that here either man yeah this is
uh Burly where the Hiatt Pharmacy is is
it was the old bowling alley it was like
a double decker it was like three times
this tall had an underground parking lot
there’s a diner in there that corner
joint right there used to be the shop
right like butcher would win all these
like State Fair Awards so every one of
these places you drop the newspaper yeah
absolutely man when did paper routes
stop being a thing I don’t know man I
think they should come back to being a
thing cuz kids can earn some money good
luck with that right who bu a newspaper
no one does that’s just it like this kid
would have been doing a paper route back
in the day right yeah there no child
labor issues with that right like any
age you could be and dude you were
walking around at any time right what’s
up man buddy at any time man you were
walking around with like 50 60 bucks in
your pocket in the 80s dude so for those
younger Generations that don’t know you
were on a BMX bike like that absolutely
you had bags with all the newspapers uh
yeah I had that and then I also had my
wagon in the winter it was a sled okay
oh nice a sled there used to be a bad
stinky old malberry Bush there where
that one is that would just drop the
nastiest rottenest fruit on you every
time you walk through now they’ve got
like Arbor Vitas and looks like an an
Italian Garden in here whoever’s rocking
this good for them they were the worst
customer not anymore that woman over
there had the best butter cookies she
would leave me a tin every
time dude riding down the street and in
the 40s it’s still pretty good when you
get into the 30s and the 20s and the 10
as in streets Street numbers we’re on 48
yeah we’re on like 4 47th in Burly right
now 46 so this is this is starting to
get a little dilapitated from working
class to more of a hood yeah sitco used
to be a BP like uh in 2018 2017 was a
crazy shooting that went down in the
neighborhood kind of rioted for it uh
burned this place down there’s a bunch
of like unrest in this area and uh
they’ve since rebuilt it but a lot of it
was you know a lot of gas station owners
are like mostly like Indians like you
know Continental Indian there was some
friction between the customers and the
ownership where it kind of got out of
hand and dude
overreacted dudes came back later and
burned the place down and the whole
neighborhood rioted like the weekend
someone was like robbing his place kind
of started like a chain reaction made
the no national news a lot of this stuff
was on fire for a while but it’s it’s
come back a lot so that’s Sherman
Phoenix it used to be a bank there
that’s now this kind of cultural center
people are running like their bus
business is out of there it’s like an
incubator that does really well the bank
I think has moved out they’re not even
here they said they were going to come
back but they never did and so you’ll
get a lot of this too a lot of like
tagless cars driving around so the cops
don’t pull them over for that none of
that they slide they don’t want to deal
with it windows are tinted generally you
know it’s it’s like you know they’re
weighing weighing it they don’t pull a
car over when it has no plates no so why
do you need plates I don’t know you
don’t need to I guess I haven’t seen any
police to be honest really yeah good
that’s a good sign then well is it do
the locals want him here or not it
depends on where you live man when
something goes down yeah um and by then
it’s already too late so in some cases
they’re they help for the people that
kind of you know live in the
neighborhood and work in the
neighborhood the cats that kind of do
business in the neighborhood don’t want
them and what I mean by doing business
in the neighborhood is just like drug
deals right uh George Floyd mu right
there and so those cats are like screwed
we don’t want those dudes and they drive
off right but for the most part like you
you’ll see some homes that are still in
pretty decent shape those are like
workingclass homeowners man there the
miltown miniart ATM only cost you 75
that’s a deal yeah wow right you got a
Chicago Sub Shop right here this joint’s
been here for a very long time actually
that’s been here since I was here in the
80s he’s loving it people love the 414
dude this Milwaukee pride man 414 bro
yes sir
414
it’s a popular truck around these parts
yeah so
far these Alleyways dude exist
everywhere in the city so like they’re
connectors to blocks and storefronts so
like that one’s really messed up but
like that’s where like a lot of shortcut
H shortcuts happen man okay so what’s
the story of this neighborhood this was
this was all German workingclass
immigrants working growing up here man
in the 20s and the 30s and the 40s and
the turn of the century a lot of these
like Sears type Bungalows these aren’t
the Sears type Bungalows that’s where I
kind of grew up but these were just
these are typical of kind of this
neighborhood here man Germans yeah man
what’s up guys hey what’s up man I
haven’t walked these neighborhoods since
the’80s dude so how was it in the’80s
just like this but nothing was broken
okay none of this was like this man
although this is kind of encouraging on
the corner here man I see some God
building offence so all these vacant
Lots these used to be where homes were
that over the years have burned down
they just left them city owns it now so
they sell these lots for like a buck or
the the neighbor next to it has an
opportunity to buy it this looks like
it’s new construction here right new
fence coming in instead of moving out of
the hood let’s make the hood what we
desired it to be yeah that’s
cool my son gave me this card for my
birthday today and I cried because he
never gives me a card and I told him I
don’t want no more money unless it’s in
a car oh and so for Mother’s Day and
my birthday he gave me two beautiful
cards and if you read the words it make
it cry I I cried he said Mama don’t cry
I’m like you text me can you read it to
us no I don’t have my glass all right
I’ll read it want me to read it okay fil
while he’s reading my car watch her okay
uh there there are some special people
who make a difference in the lives of
others make the best of whatever life
hands them and make everyone else smile
in the process you ain’t recording I
feel so recording I’m recording yeah the
red light’s on I feel so blessed by you
and your friendship you have an openness
that invites others in a warm heart that
makes others feel comfortable I Love the
Way Love shines in you happy birthday
see love love Pete yeah and I’m going to
post this on my page when I learn how to
do it tonight wow you’re looking you’re
looking beautiful look at your shoes the
dress no I got to go get my nails and
stuff okay how old if I know you’re not
supposed to ask but how old for your
birthday I tell at my age I’m 70 today
wow that’s what I said because my son my
oldest son got killed at 35 so I’m
blessed I’m sorry I’m sorry what’s your
name Peggy Peggy Peggy happy happy
70th it’s like the old school German
architecture stuff so German used to be
the language on the streets here dude we
used to have five German newspapers now
there’s a Germania building where that’s
all that was like printed and so yeah so
the Milwaukee accent is a combination of
this Irish sing song oh G and the D dats
and the dares well you know you ain’t
going to go and live in in the city in
this kind of neighborhood might be a
little rough on you and that’s because
of like the Germans but butted up
neighborhood wise next to the Irish
speaking community so it’s so crazy in
the country how neighborhoods just
switch the Germans lived here and then
like almost overnight they left yeah or
that was because of the red lining that
was going on like cats would going into
these neighborhoods and purposely sell
homes to people who couldn’t afford it
to bring down the value of their home
home cuz those development country uh
companies were building the suburbs and
they needed new buyers so they would you
know run down the neighborhood bringing
you know basically by dropping the value
on a home that you know wasn’t quite up
there and then the the realy company
would would say hey man uh you know we
didn’t really sell them that house that
was an Umbrella Corporation but our
realy company is developing this sub
subdivision over here why don’t you come
you know cuz your neighborhood’s getting
weird man um come out here where it’s
safer so that’s what they did and they
did that systematically in this
neighborhood okay and this so this is
this is what that looked like this is
what it looks like now because of
that what’s up brother Peter how you
doing man Chris G Chris G what’s going
on here hey man this is little Society
here in bronzville on MLK Milwaukee
Wisconsin uh this is the space with me
and my business partner Tony Carter It’s
a Vibe anytime that you come to the city
you want to feel good dance good this
where you come to right here okay what
what kind of dance do you guys do so we
offer everything I teach hip hop every
week Monday and Tuesday but we offer
heels reg tone uh contemporary You Name
It We got it open the jacket for you
real quick there we go there we go do
that one of
these beautiful you
know we’ll move around with it yeah the
414 you know yeah is that a is that a
414 Style no okay so what is for style
you say you come here anytime you do
this and then people will recognize it
so we got this we got the one right here
we’re going like this here sometimes you
give them a little bit of this and then
if you see somebody that you know for
you going to give me a tap one of these
yeah you one of those right there just
like that you’re from Milwaukee yeah so
born and raised from the north side only
other place I live was North Hollywood
but 4 and4 has my heart through and
through I got a Ted on me but uh my
number still 414 has been since the
seventh grade okay so legit 414 so for
those who know nothing about Milwaukee
what would you say is misunderstood
about this place or or or what should
they know sometimes uh I think they
Overlook the value you they say there a
small town and usually you’re looking at
what you’re seeing on TV and you’re
misunderstanding that you got to be in
the place to understand the place you
know or you got to allow space to create
space and a lot of times people don’t
feel allowed in certain spaces so they
don’t feel as if they can create there
but once they step into it and they see
that they can that changes the whole
dynamic like this
place hey
to
this experience we have everybody just
introducing themselves I don’t want
anybody ever feel like they’re on an
island when they no one’s by themselves
so this is how you build community is
just have an open space to allow people
to be themselves my mom got her Masters
in dance uh from WM here she’s 66 still
kicking it still modeling dancing
fulltime certified yoga teacher so I
really don’t have any excuse to not come
correct cuz she’s still coming correct
so yeah it’s a very it’s a very humbling
space and when you grow up in somebody’s
household like that you got no choice
but to be great and that’s what Fred
does with the 414 as you notice like
that’s what I’m repping right now yeah
414 yeah so got to rep
that so you know it’s just it’s one of
those things man I carry with me always
when you see me you going to see the 414
no matter
what this is known as Capital Drive and
so this is the one of the big divider
lines where the highway is right now is
all neighborhoods man it’s like an other
City they just yanked out neighborhoods
and put in the interstate and so that’s
that’s where one of the first
segregation lines were so we’re heading
now into a neighborhood it’s kind of an
inner suburb called shwood that connects
Milwaukee or not as a it’s right butts
up next to it and so a lot of this stuff
is in Milwaukee County but it’s not in
the city proper so they don’t share all
the same resources the roads are
different obviously the roads are better
like instantly right Lawns are
maintained there’s no trash overflow
none of that stuff man of course these
guys you know pay way more in property
tax than we do um in the city you know
so their homes are Valu sometimes it’s
the same house in a different zip code
is twice the value okay so how close is
the hood to the really rich area here
dude I’m telling you man a block away
sometimes but you could walk across the
street this really nice area is this is
2 miles from where we were how much are
these homes do you think Millions 800
900
oh wow look at that so that’s the lake
that’s in shorwood that’s called at
Water Beach looks like an ocean really
does beautiful homes here yeah from what
time period 30s 40s it’s when it started
so who was living up here in the 30s and
40s these are massive houses for that
time right doctors lawyers captains of
industry the Eline electric family you
can probably drive past their mansion
now it’s just more wealthy cats upper
Metal Management entrepreneurs business
business dudes the dude who was in that
band at that place wow that’s my mom
used to clean that place actually wow um
this house right here that dude in
Fallout Boy the drummer used to live
there he just sold that house had it
built and sold it are we back in
Milwaukee because the roads are bad
that’s right okay absolutely in fact you
can notice the street sign it changes to
like a lowercase and a helvetica font oh
okay so that’s what you know when you’re
in Milwaukee the true 414 knows that
yeah absolutely man so my mom used to
like uh clean houses after her Factory
job and so she used to be a house
cleaner for this thing the guy that owns
that um his family is like one of the
top law firms they have a building name
after him and stuff so she my mom was
like so beloved that when the guy that
ran the law firm passed away gave her a
fat kind of like inher not an
inheritance thing but hey thanks for all
the hard work you’ve done for me over
the years broke my mom down made her cry
it’s crazy like she would pick up his
laundry drive him to work the old man
would vent unpack all of the days you
know crazy stories with her and in a
weird way she would just sit there and
like listen and the old man needed it
and for that you hooked her up it’s
pretty crazy
dude kind of looks Miami H little bit
think so see you guys all come out here
in the Summers get in the water I did
man I do every day in the last couple of
weeks C it’s clean and it’s warm it’s
like it’s not 90° warm but it’s 75 oh
you got Beach yeah this is the beach
right here check it out hand it off so
this is Bradford
Beach volleyball courts tiki
bars could be maintained giving it look
at this is so
cool I like it man it’s old school needs
a little help though man although the
County’s doing its job they put out
picnic benches they clean and comb the
beach every morning beautiful I mean
look at that it’s pretty cool
right look at this iridescent like blue
kind of Shimmer it almost looks silver I
think we’ve been living in the shadow of
a world city like Chicago
forever and you know they used to make
fun of us cuz we were this kind of
Podunk very simple kind of town with not
a lot of flavor not a lot of Pride and
so when I my whole mission designing
communicating visually basically let
people know in Milwaukee that it’s okay
to be from here and when you travel be
proud about where you come from not
because of the beer or the cheese or the
sausage or the stereo type right but be
proud of what you do if you’re a a
dancer if you build machines that change
the world you know whatever that stuff
is that we do in Milwaukee take that
Pride with you man you know don’t be
ashamed of it you know you can say I’m
from Milwaukee and that’s damn cool we
are literally the ultraviolet light you
can see it in the water that guides the
state oh right I mean wow we are the
wans are fearless Sunshine Polkka doting
the night sky with our trophies and
scars right you know very poetic FR yeah
you put that on
t-shirts thank you man that was awesome
that was a great snapshot of your city
we went to different neighborhoods I got
flavors to get in any big city like this
takes days but that was that was really
nice happy to have you anytime and I
want to give a big shout out to the
414 Fred’s brand what’s the website 414
milwaukee.com all right cool go there
for the Milwaukee Gear thanks man’ and
I’m getting the full mafiosa Slavic jump
kit trust the bro I got you man trust
the
Bro guys thanks for coming along on that
Journey see you guys till the next
one look at that you got stuff it’s
great look at that zip
out nice look at that down the sleeve
detail yeah walk it down too yes sir
look at that yeah yes
sir