![]() ![]() On the form, he listed his occupation as “self-employed vocalist.”įiguring he might not be the best risk, the staff finally agreed to let him pay $50.15 a month, and the once and future King became a proud Harley owner.įor today’s proud Harley owners, the museum offers a twice-yearly “Dream Experience” (Nov. Shortly after he recorded “Heartbreak Hotel” in 1956, a young Elvis went into an HD dealership and filled out an application to purchase a bike. Most of all, I loved seeing the bike donated by Presley. I loved seeing the Captain America bike and the one ridden by Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Terminator 2.” Only the fact that those early bikes had no brakes. What’s so unusual about that, you might wonder. That’s understandable when you learn that early riders often reached 100 miles per hour. We do not want our machines to be ridden by lunatics.” ![]() I loved reading the comments of an early executive who said, “We are building motorcycles to be used by sane people for pleasure and business. I loved seeing the earlier bikes that were used to deliver everything from mail to milk, and to see the bikes still used by police and military units. On my tour, I loved seeing Serial 1, the oldest known Harley-Davidson in existence, dating from 1905. The museum, which is something of a mother church to Harley riders, is also fascinating to non-riders such as me. Seventeen years later, they were selling bikes in 67 countries. In 1903, Arthur Davidson and Bill Harley built their prototype bike in a 10- by 15-foot shed on the Davidson property. Harley-Davidson lovers will truly be in “Hog Heaven” while touring this one-of-a-kind museum in the city where the motorcycle was born. I am, of course, referring to the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, which if not quite as American as Mom and apple pie, certainly qualifies as one of the country’s most iconic inventions. Marlon Brando rode one in “The Wild One” Jay Leno and U2 drummer Larry Mullen are fans and Elvis Presley once bought one on installment. ![]() The museum also has one of the nation’s best collections of American and Haitian folk art (700 N. There are pieces from Claude Monet and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Pablo Picasso and Mark Rothko Winslow Homer and Andy Warhol, as well as one of the largest collections of works by Georgia O’Keefe, who despite her New Mexico connection, was a Wisconsin native. As stunning as it is, it is just the receptacle for the 30,000 artworks that take up four floors and 40 galleries in one of America’s oldest art museums (1888). The interior is equally stunning, with a glass-domed ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows allowing a panoramic view of the lake as a backdrop for the art.ĭon’t think all the art is in the architecture. The total effect appears that of a structure floating over Lake Michigan. The building’s architectural design can best be described as a combination of the Sydney Opera House and a Gothic Cathedral complete with flying buttresses and ribbed vaults. The spectacle takes 3 ½ minutes and always attracts an admiring audience. Composed of 72 steel fins with a 217-foot wingspan, the “wings” open and close several times a day. ![]() One feature of the six-year, $34 million redesign by noted Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is the angel wings sculpture atop the museum. We are reverently silent, as if awaiting a heavenly visitation, which, in a sense, we are. I learned that Milwaukee was once home to the Big Four of beers - Pabst, Miller, Schlitz and Blatz - and that during the 7th-inning stretch at Brewers baseball games, it’s not “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” but “Roll Out the Barrel” that fans still exuberantly sing.īut most of all, I learned that the city’s top two attractions are museums, which although polar opposites, provide visitors with a top-quality experience.Įlvis Presley’s 1956 Harley at the Harley-Davidson Museum.Īt the stroke of noon on a sunny day with springlike temperatures, I am standing - along with a throng of people - on the pedestrian bridge outside the Milwaukee Art Museum. I learned that the city, which became home to resourceful immigrants from Germany, Poland, Ireland and Italy, was known as “the machine shop of the world” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I learned that the Wisconsin Cheese Mart on Old World Third Street has 200 varieties of cheese and that Cafe Benelux, a hot spot for rooftop dining, has 47 pages of beers. However, following a few days in this vibrant city, I have a store of new knowledge to add to my repertoire. That pretty much covered what I knew about Milwaukee. And there were the iconic TV comedies, “Happy Days” (check out the bronze statue of the Fonz on the walkway alongside the Milwaukee River) and its spin-off “Laverne and Shirley.” There was (and still is) beer, of course, a legacy of one of this country’s strongest German heritages. Before my first trip to Milwaukee this summer, I had only a few references to help me get a handle on what makes the city tick. ![]()
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