Definitely great for kids and train enthusiasts. The website is not as helpful with FAQs and…read moreticketing left our group a little confused. We were hoping to get on at Elegant Farmer and ride to the depot but opted to just go straight to the museum/depot instead due to the ticket instructions. They don't have a direct line, just an answering service. The answering service staff was unhelpful and sounded irritated by taking a message. We were irritated for leaving messages that were never returned. If you have questions, reach out via the contact us option on their website at least 2 days in advance and you should be good. They are doing a lot with a little and making it enjoyable for the kiddos. Probably won't return but happy we tried it.

This weekend my husband and twin toddler sons went to Railfest at East Troy Electric Railroad. It…read morewas such a fun little event! They had trains doing rides every on the hour for a reasonable price and toddlers under 2 were free. Unfortunately, we didn't get to ride because the boys hadn't napped but it was so fun watching the trolleys and electric trains and hearing them go "choo choo" as my boys say. They had reasonable food - hot dogs and root-beer and model railroads to look at. My husband and k agreed that we will definitely bring the boys back next year and look forward to riding the trains! We also want to try the dinner train someday for a date night! How fun does that sound?!

Came here during Doors Open Milwaukee and was delighted with this stop on the Doors Open tour…read more The B1 model is the only home on the block available to tour. It's not only during Doors open Milwaukee, but at other times as well. Their website has a complete schedule but they're open typically at least a couple Saturdays a month. The tour price is led by knowledgeable docents and is $15. Our tour began with a bit of history about Frank Lloyd Wright, his style of architecture, etc. We then were able to tour the home with docents who pointed out some of the design elements in each of the rooms throughout the house. It's truly fascinating the attention to detail and how each element serves to create a sense of openness. From the compression at the doorstep, the release into the entry, to the floor to ceiling windows in the living room providing openness and a connection to the outdoors--it's all so beautifully and thoughtfully designed. If you're at all a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, or even just a fan of history or architecture, this is a must stop in Milwaukee. Get to it!

I've been on a few tours of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and homes. This tour was different. FLW…read morewas interested in affordable housing, and he designed a series of "system-built" homes now know as American System-Built Homes. Six examples of these homes were constructed and are still standing on Burnham Street. The tour takes you into two, one that is a duplex and one that is a single-family home. The duplex that you can tour is completely gutted. The single-family home (about 800 square feet) has been renovated and restored. There is no place to buy tickets or wait for a tour to start. So our tour group just waited on the front porch of the single-family home that is part of the tour until a tour guide arrived. (We bought tickets online prior to the tour, but people who didn't had to wait for the single-family home to empty of its current hour to get a ticket from a woman inside the house. The architecture and the theory behind American System-Built Homes are interesting. However, the tour was kind of all over the place, and we spent more time on the street looking at the buildings than we did in any of the homes. (Not sure what they do when it rains!) All in all, it was an okay tour, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it except to the most serious FLW-philes.

I was lucky to be able to join the tour even though tickets were sold out online. I am so grateful…read morethey squeezed me in. I wouldn't recommend wandering around too much, certain parts did not feel safe to me. The tour, especially for students, is extremely cheap. They should charge more, especially since they are in need of funds! The tour was great. I learned a lot about the history of the block of houses. Each one has a different story and history. There is no AC in the houses. So plan accordingly if you have a hot summer day.

We toured these houses on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and it was a lot more interesting than I…read morewould have expected. I knew little about Frank Lloyd Wright and took the tour with my Dad who is an architect. It was a great experience for the both of us. Our guide was very knowledgeable and did a fabulous job. She really immersed us in the vision Wright had for these houses. We were lucky and got to tour the house that they just acquired and will be restoring soon. It isn't officially part of the standard tour just yet, but we happened to be before a special private tour so they let us check it out too. I would recommend this to anyone who is even mildly interested. The gift shop closes at 3, so be sure to grab any goodies before the tour if you are taking the 2pm.

This was a really fun night, but it's very small and I don't see how they can justify $12 for…read moretickets admission. It was all one vendor and only one stage.

Milwaukee Oktoberfest was very nice. It was very well organized and had a nice variety of vendors…read moreand entertainment. The outdoor location near the lake was perfect as we had cool breezes throughout the day. Parking was accessible, very easy to get in and close to the event. Most of the food was very good however the curried cheese curds were way too salty and after 1 bite I ended up throwing them out. The variety sausage plate was excellent. The beers featured were authentic and flavorful. All the volunteers were friendly and happy to help you. There was plenty of seating for everyone to enjoy the bands and shows.

A good small art museum on the campus of Marquette University. Visited for the first time recently…read moreand was impressed with the special exhibit of photographs by Bill Tennessen, who documented the African American experience in Milwaukee, some events that I swear I attended. Dutch Masters and religious iconography represented, and a few outstanding representations of such; but Milwaukee Art Museum is still showing the Dutch Masters (Bader) exhibition, and the Haggerty felt slightly underwhelming by recent comparison. I love the story of the Keith Haring visit - faculty, staff and students got to paint in the characters, and the visit was well documented by Milwaukee media. Incredible showpiece upon entry. The small little museum that could! We visited the Saint Joan of Arc Chapel on the same day, check it out, too.

It is free, and there is street parking in front, but is it worth your time to go there if you…read morearen't in the neighborhood? Possibly not. If you are near by, I would recommend you pop in. The collection is very small, but it does have some interesting pieces. I think I might have enjoyed the architectures as much or more than the collection. It is probably not easy to visit the museum when the university is in session, as there probably won't be easy street parking.

Summer Solstice is defined as "the solstice that marks the onset of summer, at the time of the…read morelongest day, about June 21 in the northern hemisphere". And so marks that time of year when all things Wisconsin are on the up and up. It's time to enjoy the warmer weather and hopefully it's dry out. This 2019 Solstice was a dry one despite the long wind up to summer we've all been waiting for. Eastside Summer Soulstice is a particular great event and this year would prove to be one of the best. Why you say, because there are so many new businesses on this corridor of street corners where all roads East intersect. Hacienda Beer, Crossroads Collective and it's many restaurants inside and so on... Plus, all of some of Wisconsin's finest vendors all on the closed of streets and all in the mix. This event is dog friendly and people watching equipped. The sun was shining and although not hot it was a perfect temp to relax and enjoy all this city has to offer. We sat at Hacienda outside and people watched, listened to the 88.9 stage and ate food with our pooch soaking up the sun. Cheers to Summer Soulstice!

Summer Soulstice Solid. Great local music- so muchso that you can't see everything great happening…read moreat once. It's All Happening (at once)! Three well-spaced stages of great local music is the big ticket hang, here. Besides the great local music there's a good selection of quality Makers showing here, and an okay but not great selection of beer (would like to see more local craft on tap or in cans). I liked that Landmark and Von Trier and other places had bars set up outside. Great local MKE festival.

We hadn't intended to visit the Charles Allis Art Museum over our weekend in Milwaukee, but when we…read moregot our tickets to tour the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum a short walk away, they said our ticket also got us into the Charles Allis. So we walked over to check it out. The building feels much less like an art museum than a historic house. The house was completed in 1911, and it is beautiful. We did a quick self-guided tour through each of the rooms, but we didn't stay long. There's art in each of the rooms, pieces collected by Charles Allis. I wouldn't go out of my way to go to this museum, but it's not a bad place to visit if you're in the area and have a few minutes to spare.

Good little museum specializing in "19th Century French and American Paintings, Chinese and…read moreJapanese porcelains, Renaissance bronzes, Japanese netsuke, and original antique furnishings." (To quote their website). My son and I enjoyed our visit on a MAM reciprocity day. We were greeted warmly, and given a map and information on the temporary exhibit and permanent collection when we entered. The survey of Wisconsin art "Forward..." new art by seemingly younger artists, was cool, and hung throughout the Museum. The exhibit was a nice compliment to the older art, which includes pieces by Winslow Homer. Part of the charm of visiting the Allis Art Museum is seeing period art displayed in a period space. Rooms dedicated to the Barbizon or Hudson River Schools are also amazing for their period furnishings and history. See the Billiards room in the basement for a single lane bowling alley reminiscent of "There Will Be Blood", and also a creepy shower with a "Needle" faucet- What? The newer Rahill hall looks like a big old dance hall, and would be a cool space for a small event or mixer. I'm surprised to be only the sixth reviewer for this gem of a museum.

Thanks Yelp, for the tickets. Without you, my husband and I probably would not have made it to this…read moreyear's event. The one building that we wanted to see was the Frank Lloyd Wright-built house on the corner of Burnham St. and Layton Blvd. The line to tour the house, as expected for any FLW tour, was long and moved slow and that was only because they were limiting the number of people allowed in the home at one time, as the house is currently occupied. The current tenant, a professor of architecture at UWM, was nice enough to greet each tour group. He shared a little history of the house as well as what it was like to live there. We also saw the Arthur C. and Leonora M. Votteler Manegold House located on the corner of Scott St. and Layton Blvd., and Fire Station 26 located at the corner of 26th and Scott streets. The history of both buildings was very interesting and sparked both of our interests in learning a bit more about architecture in Milwaukee. I kept the tour booklet so that I can visit some of the "exterior only" tour sites at my leisure throughout the rest of the year. I hope we can attend next year because there are several buildings/homes that I would love to check out and a lecture that sounds interesting. 106/2015

The is nothing like it anywhere!…read more Historic Milwaukee, Incorporated is an active group dedicated to the history of Milwaukee, and not just to the preservation of Milwaukee's architectural gems but to the celebration and general enjoyment of those gems. Two major events each year allow thousands of folks to enjoy them. The two annual events are Doors Open Milwaukee in September and the Spaces & Traces neighborhood tour each May. (I actually participated in a couple of the Spaces & Traces tours many years ago, as a member of a club, providing vintage automobiles to add a touch of authenticity to the subject neighborhood, but I digress.) Spaces & Traces has been a part of Milwaukee for 34 years. In 2015, Spaces & Traces returned to Layton Boulevard. Over a century ago, 27th Street was way out in the country, a part of the old Town of Wauwatosa. It was the site of a celery farm and summer homes for well-to-do Milwaukeeans. As the city grew outward, this stretch of 27th Street became Layton Boulevard and was supposed to be the new Gold Coast for Milwaukee. Some spectacular homes were built on Layton Boulevard but it never developed as such. Like its counterpart to the east, the area developed into an ethnicity diverse neighborhood with a myriad of churches and styles of homes. Some participants in this year's Spaces & Traces opened up their homes, allowing us a glimpse into life in the neighborhood in the early 20th Century. A home designed by Milwaukee's prolific architect, Alexander C. Eschweiler, was open on Layton Boulevard. Severely damaged by a 2002 fire and by fire fighter efforts to save it, the home is being lovingly restored by descendants of the second owner. The fire company that helped save the house is a block away and was also open for touring! The School Sisters of St. Francis were kind enough to open their facility, including tours of their chapels, one being the location of a talk by noted local historian, John Gurda, who gave us an informative talk about the growth, ethnicity and development of Layton Boulevard and the nearby Silver City neighborhood. Also open for touring this year were two of the six Frank Lloyd Wright designed American System homes. Wright envisioned several homes for moderate income American families. He advocated the construction of homes off site and assembled at the build site. Unlike a prefabricated home, Wright advocated the cutting and fabrication of components at a factory, then shipping them to the site for assembly. He claimed this "American System" would cut waste and reduce labor costs by requiring fewer craftsmen at the job site. Only a few examples of his American System Homes were built, including these rare structures on Burnham Street. As always, there were far more properties open than is (likely) possible for one person to tour, but what I did see, and learn about Milwaukee, was well worth my effort. Here's a thank you callout to our Yelp rep, Rachel F., for opening the Yelp connection with Historic Milwaukee! Thanks to Historic Milwaukee, to the hundreds of volunteers, Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin and especially thanks to the owners who opened their doors to us to see into the past. Don't miss Spaces & Traces next year - and I'll be looking for you at Doors Open Milwaukee in September!