Oh Milwaukee, I know there is so much about you to discover. I have already enjoyed some of your attractions: Crowded House at The Pabst, movies on Downer and pizza at Zaffiro’s. I look forward to so many more: tailgating at Miller Park, the Film Festival and eating steak at Bartalotto’s. However first, I feel I need to tell you of your international fame.
I have recently moved here from Canada and prior to my move, a typical conversation went kind of like this ….
Friend, “Hey, I hear you’re moving”
Me, “Yeah, to Milwaukee.”
Friend, “…..(lost in thought)…..Milwaukee …..hmmmm…. isn’t that where Happy Days was set?”
Me, “ ….(excitedly)…. Yeah! And there’s a statue of The Fonz!”
Now I have to tell you, that while I consider myself somewhat “downtown,” The Fonz statue makes me inexplicably happy. It took me a while to get there, as apparently it is not the first attraction Milwaukeeans want to show off. And I admit, upon first viewing I was a little disappointed. I had imagined him raised up, a la Queen Victoria opposite Buckingham Palace. This thought made my father, a Brit, scoff, “He’s hardly royal.” Well, I suppose.
However, as a new resident, I find this humble, rather diminished icon of my youth strangely comforting. I like knowing he’s there. When I’m in the neighborhood, I like to walk by and see that he is still giving both me and the city the thumbs up.
This is my first blog for Inside Milwaukee. I have called my blog spot Off the Chalkboard, in reference to a list my partner, Jim, and I, keep on a chalkboard of all the interesting things we want to see and do. Seeing The Fonz was one of those items. I will continue to write about our activities and hopefully give you an outsider’s view of inside Milwaukee.
Ehhhhhhh!
