Any parts of Milwaukee that remind you of Chicago? (West Allis: loft, home)

[Master Jay]

Hello, I typically post in Chicago forums. One thread someone posted asked about neighborhoods or suburbs in Chicago that reminded them of other cities in the States, or even in the world. Milwaukee was named by a couple of commentators, including myself.
I'm curious if anyone would like to compare one of our neighborhoods or suburbs up here to a neighborhood or suburb with Chicago...
Stay safe and healthy, all!

[Empidonax]

There are some parallels, at least. Our Upper East Side is a micro version of Chicago's Lakeview-Lincoln Park areas. The Milwaukee North Shore has some demographic and planning/infrastructural parallels with Chicago's North Shore. Wauwatosa is a little bit like Oak Park.... Chicago's Pilsen has similarities to Milwaukee's Polonia neighborhood, and a handful of artsy/gentrifying neighborhoods in Chicago make me think of Riverwest. I love that both cities have a Humboldt Park.

Can't wait to get out again and visit Chi-town.

[Master Jay]

Empidonax. Good day. Did you see where I posted in a Chicago forum on Little Italies that our Bay View neighborhood is similar to Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood( mixture of Croatian and Italian)? I think your comparisons are spot on.
We almost nowadays have our version of Chinatown Square. Just west on Hwy 100 and National Avenue, almost all those storefronts are East Asian restaurants and stores. Have you seen that?
And this one is more obscure I think. But I live by the Milwaukee/Greenfield border. So, take a walk in that subdivision between Morgan Avenue and Forest Home Avenue; 43rd Street to 51st Street. I can't quite put my finger on it. But it SO reminds ne of areas you'll see in Chicago's Forest Glen/Norwood Park/ Edison Park area. Can anyone confirm or deny?

[Master Jay]

And YES. I can't wait until this ban is lifted, so I can go back to Chicago!!

[Milwaukee City]

More areas of the south side do than the north, IE Lincoln Ave, Mitchell Street, 16th Street, 5th Street, Walker's Point, sections of Bay View. It's a mini-Chicago like many others have said. More culturally and feel than size. Most of our busy streets or main streets are all filled with buildings, our "sout siders" both have accents, you know...yous guys and dats. There are a lot of similarities just on a smaller scale.

[Master Jay]

Milwaukee City, one difference is our historic Bronzville is on the north side, where it is on the south side in Chicago. However, both cities' Germans predominately settled on the north side. I love both cities for having diversity. But obviously Chicago takes the prize! Not too often I hear Poles speaking Polish up here. But in Chicago land it definitely happens! Our Koreatown is 2 Korean restaurants by Prospect/Farwell

[Empidonax]

Originally Posted by Master Jay

Milwaukee City, one difference is our historic Bronzville is on the north side, where it is on the south side in Chicago. However, both cities' Germans predominately settled on the north side. I love both cities for having diversity. But obviously Chicago takes the prize! Not too often I hear Poles speaking Polish up here. But in Chicago land it definitely happens! Our Koreatown is 2 Korean restaurants by Prospect/Farwell

I definitely wish we had more of an Asian presence in Mke--the two Korean places don't quite cut it, and the area you mentioned out around 108th and National is fine, but not quite there yet. There's an Asian presence on National Ave. from 13th to 35th, and a bit of a presence on 27th in the area around Grange, but not enough to make it like Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, much less like the more developed Chinatowns. Sadly, a lot of Asian places have closed during the current crisis.

[Master Jay]

Empidonax, good morning. I've been to both Korean restaurants. And Seoul is the better of the 2, in my opinion. It certainly is the more authentic. Yes, the little strip on 108th (Highway 100) and National is the best we have for a Chinatown :/ Years ago I went to the massage parlor there. And the first thing I thought was, "This looks like one of those seedy looking places I might see in Chicago!"... Boy, was I RIGHT! It was my first time going in an actual massage establishment. I had always utilized the Chinese accupressurists you see in the malls and they are AWESOME! So, silly me thought an actual massage PLACE would be a break from all the shopping mall noise. Well, it was THAT, buuuuuuut it was something more offered to me. They ended up getting busted (go figure!). So back to the Southridge Mall it was for me, ever since!
You are right, there are some Asian places along that part of National Avenue, and 27th and Grange. The "closest" thing we have to an Uptown "Argyle Street".
We also have an Orthodox Jewish presence along Roosevelt, between Sherman (43rd Street) and 55 th Street, on the north side. THAT reminds me of the orthodox Jewish section of West Ridge. Don't you think?
May I say it again: SMALL comparison to our Chicago siblings.

[Empidonax]

Originally Posted by Master Jay

Empidonax, good morning. I've been to both Korean restaurants. And Seoul is the better of the 2, in my opinion. It certainly is the more authentic. Yes, the little strip on 108th (Highway 100) and National is the best we have for a Chinatown :/ Years ago I went to the massage parlor there. And the first thing I thought was, "This looks like one of those seedy looking places I might see in Chicago!"... Boy, was I RIGHT! It was my first time going in an actual massage establishment. I had always utilized the Chinese accupressurists you see in the malls and they are AWESOME! So, silly me thought an actual massage PLACE would be a break from all the shopping mall noise. Well, it was THAT, buuuuuuut it was something more offered to me. They ended up getting busted (go figure!). So back to the Southridge Mall it was for me, ever since!
You are right, there are some Asian places along that part of National Avenue, and 27th and Grange. The "closest" thing we have to an Uptown "Argyle Street".
We also have an Orthodox Jewish presence along Roosevelt, between Sherman (43rd Street) and 55 th Street, on the north side. THAT reminds me of the orthodox Jewish section of West Ridge. Don't you think?
May I say it again: SMALL comparison to our Chicago siblings.

Those are definitely some good comparisons.

I've often marveled at the similarities/parallels between Milwaukee and Chicago with regard to the downtown layout and infrastructure--the riverways, the bridges, the lakefront parks, the lakefront highways (LMD and LSD), the placement of museums (MAM and AIC), the built-up downtown core flanked by loft neighborhoods and warehouse districts.

UW-Milwaukee parallels UI-Chicago (both non-flagship urban public research universities), and both occupy a place just outside of the downtown orbit, though they do not have parallel geographical and sociodemographic locations (UIC lies in the old Italian neighborhood west of downtown Chicago; UWM resides north of downtown Milwaukee in a tonier neighborhood, though not too far from Brady St., a legacy Italian neighborhood).

I'm not sure that Marquette has a parallel in downtown Chicago, but perhaps De Paul's downtown campus or Loyola's Water Tower campus serves the function of an established private school in the city's core.

There are some parallels between both cities with regard to older mansion districts (each city has/had a district just north of downtown near the lake), though I'm not sure that Chicago has a parallel to the old Concordia neighborhood and adjacent Wisconsin (Grand) Avenue, and Chicago seems to have had many more pockets of mansions in other parts of the city and inner-ring suburbs than Milwaukee did.

Both cities have fairly typical geographic patterns of urban poor outside the wealthier east side and upper east side, though Milwaukee's Bronzeville established itself west of the downtown-east side corridor, and Chicago's version has been south of downtown. (Chicago does have a sizeable black population in the city's near north side, somewhat parallel to Milwaukee's profile.) Milwaukee may have more of a "northside" (working class black and urban poor) vs "southside" (white working class) mentality than Chicago does, though I agree that Bridgeport and adjacent areas (spreading into the southwestern suburbs) parallel Milwaukee's working class southside a bit.

I'm not sure if Chicago has a geographic or functional equivalent of the Menomonee Valley--perhaps the old stockyards? That tags into Bridgeport, though.

Milwaukee's main legacy cemetery is Forest Home, southwest of downtown and "out of the way" of the historically wealthy downtown and northside residential areas, but it seems that Chicago's main legacy cemetery is Graceland, very much in the path between historically wealthy neighborhoods downtown, north of downtown, and in the North Shore. Even though these sites are not geographically parallel, they nevertheless serve(d) a similar purpose--to lay to rest and monumentalize the city's leading figures.

If Mitchell International is Milwaukee's equivalent of ORD, then perhaps Timerman Airport on the west side occupies the functional place of Midway (though they are very different kinds of airport). Does Chicago have a Miller Valley? Milwaukee has "company towns" such as West Allis and Cudahy--is there anything similar in Chicago?

[Master Jay]

Empidonaz, WOW! What a well written comment. I enjoyed reading your analysis!

I'm trying to think of what my neighborhood might be compared to. I live on the Greenfield/Milwaukee border near Alverno College. Very residential. Some parks. Nothing Major to draw in visitors. I'd say safe and clean. Ethnically diverse to a point, in the sense that there is a nice mixture of Caucasian and Latino, and Zablocki Park has a Filipino Health Center.

Hmm, what do you think? My area may be akin to Portage Park-ish? Jefferson Park-ish? (despite the fact that they are northwest Chicago, and I am southwest Milwaukee).