Commercial Spaces of the Present
Age Groups as Related to Businesses
Looking at social institutions in relation to the ages of people using them reveals a significance of placement with certain types of buildings. The northwestern corner of the neighborhood holds a majority of the taverns that line W. Lisbon Avenue and W. North Avenue. Daycares and learning institutions are mostly consolidated toward the eastern part of the neighborhood. W. Lisbon Avenue seems to contain mostly grocery stores and markets, whereas W. North Avenue consists greatly of personal business type occupancies. One thing that sticks out as interesting is the fact that there are not many sit-down restaurants within the area. These locations of different building types begin to separate into what can be categorized as age grouped institutions.
Kehr's Candy seems to hold a great deal of significance with this area due to its extravagant history as well as its service to a wide range of age groups. Kehr's Candy is centrally located in the neighborhood, on W. Lisbon Avenue, and seems to be one of the prominent business in Washington Park's past and present. The thriving business seems to split the boundary between the west, which appears to be more suited towards older age groups, and the east, which seems to cater to younger and family-oriented age groups. |
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Commercial Development in Washington Park
Today, both W. North Avenue and W. Lisbon Avenue still serve as the community's primary roadways and entry points, although many of the larger businesses have relocated. This could be due to the area's adjoining neighborhood being considered one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Milwaukee, or even that the poverty rate exceeds 60%. Though many of the larger, more corporate businesses are not present, Washington Park still has numerous churches, libraries, and one of Milwaukee's largest parks. Even though the area seems to be struggling, it is still evident that W. North Avenue will continue to bring in new commercial and residential development and will hopefully help the surrounding communities and neighborhoods thrive.
Cities are an expression of the people who occupy them, living among one another in a condensed area. In many ways, the manner in which public spaces are presented can often define large groups of people. It not only demonstrates the amount of attention and dedication the residents have, but it also shows that they are able to identify the aesthetic beauty and unique atmosphere their own space has to offer around them. Businesses can offer many benefits to the expansion of the city, but overall it comes down to the residents of the area to determine in what kind of neighborhood they live. |
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Gateway to the Community
The section of W. Lisbon Avenue that stretches from the Washington Park Library to N. 40th Street signifies the 'gateway' to the 'Rise and Demise' of the W. Lisbon Avenue commercial corridor. Throughout this stretch of the street, many of the buildings and neighborhood establishments have fared far better through the years of urban decay and white flight compared to those in other sections of the street and other major arteries in Milwaukee. Due to the ease of access to the neighborhood and its close adjacency, just two miles from Downtown Milwaukee, this stretch of W. Lisbon Avenue has been able to maintain its original character more than neighboring stretches of road.
The most significant attribute that marks this stretch of W. Lisbon Avenue as the 'gateway' to the neighborhood is that many of the (once) nicest buildings are more or less centrally located near the statue of Baron Friedrich von Steuben and the Washington Park Library. This area of the Washington Park neighborhood is also near the convergence of four major arteries that run through the city -- those being US-41, W. North Avenue, W. Lisbon Avenue, and N. Sherman Boulevard. Of course, this section of the street also borders Washington Park itself, which is the most likely reason for this neighborhood having not spiraled even further into decay like other nearby neighborhoods have. An alternate reason that this area has remained resilient can also be attributed to the fact that there were not that many businesses that existed in this location to begin with due to the fact that Washington Park was always there. This section of W. Lisbon Avenue currently holds two dilapidated bars, a convenience store, a hair salon, and the library. Furthermore, the lack of empty lots in this region of the street confirms the belief that there were not many businesses to begin with. Because of this, the space certainly has more of a processional quality to it, similar to that of the Renaissance piazzas across Italy and other public squares throughout Europe. Even though the space is not necessarily defined as a 'public square', the boundary between the park and the street edge is permeable enough to allow for pedestrians to feel a vibe that this is a place in which they can feel comfortable, a place that feels special and unique and allows for multiple activities. This urban vibe is further reinforced through the new construction of the play structure that was built on the corner of the park directly across the street from the library. Local residents and shop owners, such as Orlando, who shared some of his thoughts at Bus Stop Cafe, seem very frustrated with the direction in which the neighborhood is headed. There is so much talk, yet, ultimately, no action is being taken. Washington Park used to be one of the most vibrant areas in the City of Milwaukee. The area was host to many businesses, including restaurants, stores, and the very famous Washington Park Zoo. The intersection of W. Lisbon Avenue and W. Lloyd Street specifically is considered a gateway into the Washington Park neighborhood, although today this intersection is nowhere near what it once was. There are still some existing buildings that have adapted over the years. One of these buildings, named "The Park," used to be a drug store in the early 1900s and went on to become a candy store, law office, and now hosts a beauty salon. In front of this building now stands the Washington Park Library. Before there was a library, this site was home to many different businesses, such as a Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery. In the 1940s there was a restaurant called the Chicken Inn, and by the 1970s the Boulevard Inn restaurant had taken over. What is interesting about this neighborhood is the change of demographics over the years and how this could be related to its decline. This area used to be a predominantly middle-class, German neighborhood. According to a local resident of the area, people began moving out around the 1970s due to the high prices of taxes as well as other areas being more affordable and having better job opportunities. All this led to the abandonment of the area. In recent years, the area has gained a large population of African-American and Hispanic residents. This neighborhood has the potential to become a prosperous area again, but it is currently struggling to get back to where it used to be. |
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The Signs of Washington Park
An investigation into the commercial signage of Washington Park offers the perspective to examine notions of identity, self-expression, and culture in relation to the built environment. Fundamentally mediating and structuring life between the street and the interior of a store, signs offer clues as to what may be expected when entering an establishment. More than that, however, signage offers a tangible method to connect the physicality of the built world with the realm of ideas that may be more or less abstract; simply, it is a visual infrastructure. When examined not as discrete elements, but as a network, the neighborhood's commercial function can begin to be understood.
In Washington Park, signage offers clues as to what type of establishment is located within a business and also, due to the number of vacant storefronts, clues into what may have existed in the past, connecting the present with the lived in past. The chosen mode of mapping references three primary types of sign -- those that are placed on the surface of the storefront, those that project from the surface, and those that are homemade and express an affiliation with a subculture. The projected signs are equally proficient at advertising to pedestrians and drivers, while the surface signs are better for pedestrians because drivers speed past them too quickly to note the type of store. At the major intersection of W. North Avenue and N. 35th Street, there is a high density of signage. In this example, the relative proportion of sign types are more or less equal, suggesting that the area is equally important to both pedestrians and drivers. A similar phenomenon occurs at the intersection of W. Lisbon Avenue and W. North Avenue -- the proportion is highly skewed towards projected signage, signaling that the area is less important for pedestrians than drivers. Homemade signage is relatively sparse, but it is spread throughout the neighborhood. Ashraf Food Market has a beautiful mural, expressing the identity of the store, appropriating the visual infrastructure of hip-hop to connect with its locality. |
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W. Lisbon Avenue
The history of W. Lisbon Avenue from N. 37th Street to N. 39th Street uncovered a history of local, family-owned shops and successful community members. This section of W. Lisbon Avenue was once a mixed-use street with a private dwellings sitting among commercial shops.
The most famous resident of these blocks was Dr. William Wenzlick, MD. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard School of Medicine, Dr. Wenzlick practiced medicine in the area as well as wrote articles for medical magazines. He lived on W. Lisbon Avenue in a house he inherited from his father. There were also many different shops and businesses on W. Lisbon Avenue between N. 37th Street and N. 39th Street throughout much of the 20th century and into today. Dating as far back as the early 1900s, W. Lisbon Avenue's growth came from its role in connecting Downtown Milwaukee to its nearby suburbs. Around 1910, there was West Side Dye Works, and shortly after, the automotive sales and service dealer Rhode Automobile came along. Around 1916, the first dedicated food store, a meat market owned by Charles Rindlmann, began and was quickly followed by butcher Chas. Butcher and Daniel Blitz's Bakery in 1920. As the street progressed through the second half of the 20th century, these small, food-based vendors slowly closed to be replaced by services and small manufacturers. Some of these new companies included: Circo Tool Company in 1961, Metro Pest Control in 1984, and Lorene's Gems in 1970. Today the street has several convenience stores, a church, and a day care helping to carry on its tradition as a commercial strip. W. Lisbon Avenue is a street that connects Downtown Milwaukee with its nearby suburbs, and it is no surprise that a successful commercial strip developed there. While it has changed throughout the years, the tradition continues with opportunities for the community to gather and utilize small businesses. The commercial strip was once a vital piece of city life. With every necessity in separate shops that were all walking distance from their patrons' houses; residents were provided with high quality service, unlike in the big box stores of today. Additionally, since people shopped locally, they knew their neighbors and created a sense of community. Typically found on streets which connect downtown districts to suburbs, commercial corridors have lost their prevalence as cheaper big box and corporate stores become popular. Additionally, as customers stopped shopping at local shops, these establishments became even less of an important part of living in a city, causing them to fall into disrepair. Through the first half of the 20th century, these strips included shops that were directly up against the street since most shoppers walked or took public transportation to run errands. As cars became more popular for the middle class in the later half of the century, these shops began to set back away from the street to allow for parking. The architecture of the buildings themselves also began to change. Originally many shops had an apartment for the owners or extra income located on the second floor. As shops moved back away from the street, however, they became lower, one-story building which included only businesses. Finally, the employees of the business were once predominantly the owners and families. While today the occasional small business with a commercial strip location is family-owned and operated, many stores are corporate or franchised, and the owner no longer lives in the community. The commercial strip is still an important part of the American community today, but it is in a very different context. Rather than working to build community, modern commercial strips exist only to provide nearby services. |
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