Driving Through Milwaukee (Greenfield, Superior, Oakland: loft, condo, homes)

[brattpowered]

I'm driving through Milwaukee later this summer and I'd like to get a feel for the city. I won't have a long time to do this-- probably just over an hour or so--but I would like to find out what streets and neighboods I can explore. I like to visit old, traditional downtowns and ethnic neighborhoods, as well as the places young people enjoy going.

[Fishtacos]

Third Ward
Fifth Ward
Brewer's Hill
River West
lower East Side

You can very easily start in 5th ward, drive through 3rd ward connected, go through downtown and along lakefront to lower East Side, which if you headed west off of the water can take you to Riverwest and Brewer's Hill.

The direction is starting Southeast end of city, moving North and Northeast, and when on lower East Side, moving West.

5th Ward contains many ethic restaurants, much of which are in a Mexican populated area. Third ward is big loft/condo, lots of red brick, warehouse, refurbished along the water(both Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan), many restaurants, boutique shops, galleries.

Downtown not very big, and driving through it is easy, traveling North through it. You can go through heart of downtown or along lakefront for Lake Michigan views, ....to lower east Side, which is a mix of all types, many younger, more of a residential green/parks feel than the warehouse, loft industrial feel of Third Ward. And can head slightly west to Brewer's Hill, and Riverwest which is more mixed ethnically, predominantly African American and White.

All of this you could do in an hour's time if you didn't walk around anywhere and just drove.

I would definitely see much of the places on here, start one end and go to other.

[Nuclear_Art]

I'd recommend:

Brady Street between Oakland and Van Buren
Center Street between Humboldt and Holton
Dr. Martin Luther King Dr between North Ave and Pleasant
S. Kinnickinnic between Lincoln and Clement
S. Cesar Chavez between National and Greenfield
Mitchell Street between 6th and 12th
Wisconsin Ave between 6th St and the Lakefront

That should give you a great cross section of Milwaukee. It's a lot to see in one hour though.

[EnjoyEP]

I think alot of the suggestions posted above are pretty good.

One MUST:

Lake Drive on Milwaukee's lakeshore from north to south - this is the most affluent area in Milwaukee itself due to its setting right on Lake Michigan and you'll see just gorgeous views of vast Lake Michigan including beautiful old (very expensive) homes / mansions. It is very scenic and makes folks see what "the other side" lives like!

I would echo that areas to check out would be the Third Ward, the Fifth Ward, Brewer's Hill and the East Side streets (Brady, Downer, Oakland, etc.).

I would also suggest driving past Miller Park, one of the beautiful and unique baseball stadiums in MLB.

Check out 4th Street and State or so to see the Bradley Center - the NBA home of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Drive down Old World Third Street...you'll see some unique, neat restaurants, bars, retail (Usinger's).

I think checking out S. Kinnickinnic would be worthwhile. Mitchell Street between 6th and 12th boasts the historic Goldmann's.

I really echo what a previous poster said about Wisconsin Ave between 6th St and the Lakefront - that is a MUST! Then, hit Lincoln Memorial Drive and drive 'er north! Great stuff.

You could peruse over the Hoan Bridge which is cool. Make sure to get out of the car and walk the Riverwalk area for a few minutes.

You could even take Wisconsin Ave. from the lakefront all the way west up to Hwy. 100...you would go through some diverse areas (although this would probably take 20 or 30 minutes in itself).

Plenty of great stuff to check out!

[dkmisol]

The best drive (for an hour's worth of time) would be to follow Highway 32 through the city. Start in Bay View (Superior Drive), which goes over the Hoan Bridge, and then contains a bit of Prospect Ave, and then turns into N. Lake Drive.

Also, most of Water Street would be something to see.