John McGivern’s Main Streets

– John McGivern: I'm in one of Milwaukee's founding neighborhoods, the only one with its original name.

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'Cause these are our Main Streets Somethin' 'bout a hometown speaks to me There's nowhere else I'd rather be The heart and soul of community's right here On these Main Streets - This episode is the Walker's Point neighborhood of Milwaukee.

I am where the Menominee River and the Milwaukee River come together.

North of here is Milwaukee's downtown.

South of here are residential neighborhoods, and Walker's Point is the transition between the two.

And today, the Latino community makes up the majority of this working class neighborhood.

Like the rest of Milwaukee, Walker's Point is in southeast Wisconsin.

It's about a mile from Milwaukee's lakefront.

It's one square mile in area, and it's got a population of just about 8,000 people.

This is Walker's Point.

There are two things that really shaped what Walker's Point is today.

– Emmy Fink: First, I need you to know that Walker's Point was settled by a gentleman who was a Virginia businessman.

His name was George Walker.

He actually came to this area because he was gonna do some trades with the Native Americans, but got here and was like, "Oh, yeah.

I could definitely..." - Like it!

- "...develop this town."

And develop this town he did.

- Hence all these factories around here.

– Emmy: Exactly.

- This is it, yeah.

- And there was no bigger factory at the time than the one behind us, Pfister & Vogel Leather.

They were one of the world's largest tanneries, so Milwaukee was the place for leather processing.

It really put this area on the map.

- And all of the immigrants came because of some of these factories.

- Exactly, so that's the first thing.

- There's a second thing.

- There's a second thing, and it's right behind us.

- What is it?

- We can even hear it a little bit.

- What?

– The-- - John: Oh, the interstate!

– Emmy: You got it.

So, the interstate brings a lot of good, right?

But the interstate for Walker's Point did not bring a whole lot of good, because what it did was divide the neighborhood in half.

Literally, the bulldozer came in and just bulldozed blocks.

- Talk to me about the silver lining.

- The community wanted to preserve what was still left, and that they did.

In 1978, the National Register of Historic Places came in and said, "What you have is worthy of our list.

On it's going."

So, a big win for Walker's Point.

- Yeah, and we're gonna take a walk around and see what's in these historic buildings, aren't we?

- We're gonna walk in Walker's Point?

- That's what we should do.

Yeah, we might as well!

You ready for this game, you guys?

– Molly Snyder: Yes.

– Royal Brevvaxling: Sure.

- We're talking to you because you know this area.

- We do, quite well.

- This is Walker's Point, and this is your home.

- It is, of 14 years.

- We are standing in front of what structure here?

– Molly: The Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church.

It's one of the oldest churches in Milwaukee.

– John: It is?

– Molly: Yes.

– John: It's not called that anymore, is it?

– Molly: They merged with Our Lady of Guadalupe.

– John: Okay.

– Molly: And that was in 1966?

– Royal: I think so.

- So, when it was built in the mid 1800s, this was not a Latino church.

- It was a German church.

- It was a German church.

- Yes, and so, this style of architecture is very common in Germany.

It was the Zopfstil.

You can always tell them by the rounded windows and the rounded arches.

- So, still an active parish in this neighborhood?

- Sure is, yeah, yep.

A lot of active parishes in this neighborhood.

Bells are the sounds of Walker's Point.

– John: Yeah.

– Molly: And we love that.

– John: Yeah.

– Molly: It's beautiful.

- Test question number two.

- All right.

- Architecturally - Okay.

- This house, do you know anything about it?

– Molly: We do.

This is the Louis Fuldner home.

– Royal: It's beautiful.

– Molly: It is beautiful.

It's Italian-style architecture.

- Italianate.

- Italianate.

Rounded windows and the eaves.

I love the combination with the Cream City brick.

That is so Milwaukee.

– John: It's gorgeous.

– Royal: It is gorgeous.

– John: This whole block speaks to what was going on here in the late 1800s, doesn't it?

– Royal: Yeah.

– Molly: Yeah, it was really a melting pot of a lot of Europeans.

– John: Yeah.

– Molly: It is the oldest neighborhood in the city, as we know, and it really was and is a melting pot of many different cultures.

– Royal: Yeah.

- The final on this exam, what's this building all about?

– Molly: We're standing in front of La Cage nightclub.

– Royal: Whoo!

– Molly: Frederick M. Bahr, he started this as a grocery store, had the building built, and he and his family lived up there.

It's generally a Victorian style mixed with other influences.

In 1984, this became a gay nightclub.

– John: Yeah, La Cage, it's called.

– Molly: La Cage, and it was Milwaukee's first video dance club.

Nightclubs that showed videos, you know, the whole MTV explosion was happening.

Like, we heard of 'em in Chicago and New York and L.A., and we finally got one here in Milwaukee.

- Yeah.

- And it was so exciting, because it was definitely a gay club, but it brought just music enthusiasts from all over and people who just loved to dance.

– John: So, because people show up here, they show up other places as well, around this neighborhood of yours.

– Molly: Exactly.

Truly, everyone is welcome.

Yeah, they even let people like us in.

- Look at you two.

- They haven't kicked us out yet.

- No, somehow, I don't know.

- I would call your test result an "A" for both.

- Oh!

– John: There we go.

[all laugh] - Molly: So good.

– John: This gift to the city of Milwaukee by Coakley Brothers became a Milwaukee icon almost overnight.

Take a look at the mosaic panels.

They give a modern twist to the memory of the old rooftop water towers that were all over Walker's Point back in the day.

Very, very cool.

It's a great story, isn't it?

– Ernesto Villarreal: It was in 1978.

- Okay.

- My two brothers and I, we decided to put a grocery store.

– Derrick Villarreal: My grandparents, their siblings, they all realized that they needed to bring Hispanic products to Milwaukee because there was such a calling for it, and that's what they did.

– Olivia: Villarreal: Before that, everyone had to go to Chicago for the food.

– John: Yeah.

The produce department at El Rey?

Come on, it is so gorgeous.

Help me, what is this?

I'm Irish.

I have no idea what this is.

Is it a wristband?

I need a big frying pan for this.

El Rey in Spanish means what?

– Derrick: "The king."

– John: "The king."

And who named it "the king"?

- My grandpa and his brothers.

- So, now it's 2025.

What's the future, and who's next in charge?

- Well, right now, the second generation and the third generation is coming up.

- I've wanted to work for the company my whole life, ever since I was a kid.

– John: Right, yeah.

Like, going to work with my dad, going to work with my grandpa, just seeing everything, it really-- I really connected with it.

– Ernesto: And they like it.

They're very proud of our company.

– John: They should be.

- Yeah.

– John: And it's really important that that's the case.

- Yep.

– John: Talk about what happens at this factory.

What do you make here?

– Derrick: We make all sorts of things, ranging from chips, tortillas, tamales, barbacoa, carnitas.

- I'm slowing her down.

[all laugh] - Derrick: The most popular is our tortillas and chips.

– John: And does this happen all day, every day?

– Derrick: Every day, every day.

– John: Every day.

– Derrick: It's a from-scratch process.

The most important thing is we wanna keep tradition.

We really wanna make sure that our chips taste the same now as they did 30 years ago.

– John: Right.

– Derrick: Per day, we can do about 2,500 bags.

- Wow.

It's a perfect chip.

[crunches] Mmm, still hot.

– Derrick: These are chicharrones.

– John: Chicharrones, which are pork rinds.

– Derrick: Pork rinds.

- Oh, they're delicious!

- Really good, yeah.

- Yeah.

- So, we grew little by little by little.

– John: Yeah.

– Olivia: And everything grew with us.

- Can you believe what's happened since 1978?

- No, never.

- Not at all.

– John: El Rey is the king, the top, the best.

– Derrick: Yeah, I would say so.

- Back in my high school days, I used to play traveling fastpitch for a team called the Racine Belles.

And I wish I would have had a facility like this, Heavy Hitters Athletic Facility.

Now, this is not just a couple of, like, batting cages.

This is the real deal.

The co-owner, Felix Santiago, he used to play pro baseball, and he now has put his teaching hat on.

He teaches young and old the game of baseball, America's greatest pastime.

Now, if I just had a pitcher-- - Ready?

– Emmy: Yep.

[bat pings] [gasps] - John: #### - Emmy: I did not do it on purpose.

I don't have that much control.

[both laugh] - You have quite a place here.

– Jan Oelke: Thank you.

- What's the first thing I said to you?

"You have a lot of stuff."

- Yeah, yeah, we do.

– John: Can I tell you, I don't think people know about this business.

- We rent out furniture, dishes, and decor to event clients, wedding clients, theater, commercial TV.

We also do residential staging and short-term to long-term rentals.

- And how long have you been collecting, Jan?

- We're in our 13th year, almost 14th.

- What gave you the idea?

- I was a stay-at-home mom for several years.

Before that, I was in molecular genetics, and-- - Excuse me?

Wait, what?

- It was either I was gonna go back and finish my PhD, or I decided to start a rental company.

[laughs] - John: Right.

- So, this is our mock-up area.

This is where we bring clients in to do mock-up for events.

- And these are gorgeous.

I like this, I love the color.

And are a lot not sure what they want?

– Jan: Oh, yeah.

So, it's a figuring out.

There's a lot of questions that I ask.

I tell 'em what we can do with the budget that they have, based on what their needs are.

- "I'm gonna be stealing this one," they're thinking.

– Jan: We have modern pieces, contemporary pieces, more vintage pieces, all different styles and aesthetics.

– John: There are some choices, three levels high, of soft seating.

[both laugh] You're very organized, aren't you?

– Jan: We try to be.

It helps to have good staff to keep everything organized.

– John: Yeah.

You've got some inventory here.

– Employee: Yeah, there's a lot of stuff.

– John: Yeah.

– Jan: Welcome to the dish room.

This is Renee.

– John: It's good to see you.

– Renee: You, too.

- Maddie, come talk to me for a second.

– Jan: Small ware.

– John: Small ware.

- Basically silverwares, any glassware, plates, bowls, serving wares.

– Maddie: Anything you eat off of, anything that goes on a table.

- It's a lot.

- It is a lot.

– Jan: Just making sure they get the right thing is mostly what we spend our time doing.

- Now I'm nervous.

[laughs] - We'll deliver, we'll unpack, set up, go back, pack it up afterwards.

– John: I don't know this business, but it seems like a big business to me.

Fifteen years in the making.

It's really interesting.

Congratulations, it's a very cool place.

– Jan: Yes, thank you.

– John: We are at Rivera Western Wear, and this is Teresa.

How long have you been here?

– Teresa Rivera: About 25 years.

- Twenty-five years?

- Yes.

- You and your husband, Allejandro?

- Yeah, 36 years.

[laughter] - You're still smiling!

Did you come from Mexico to open up this store?

– Teresa: Yeah, we did.

– John: What do people shop for?

– Teresa: Boots is the most selling, and then hats and then tejanas, and those are cowboy hats.

- Teresa, will you give us a full makeover?

– Teresa: I can do that, yes.

– Emmy: Well, let's get shopping.

– John: So, all of this is Mexican made?

– Teresa: Everything.

– Emmy: Go get a hat so you can be my cowboy, okay?

Oh, those are sassy.

Let's go with that, all right.

I think I need a bigger size.

– Allejandro Rivera: Special socks.

– Emmy: Put that on?

- It's special socks.

– Emmy: So, this is behind the scenes.

Let's see, let's see if it fits now.

Oh, fits just great!

Oh, here's this fancy sock again.

Will you tell us what your store means to you?

You and your husband come, you started your-- - It means, I think, it's our second home, or our home, because we only go home to sleep, and we come back.

- I'm gonna ask Allejandro to help me.

Allejandro!

I'm not changing my pants.

– Allejandro: So, necesito, botas, sombrero, camisa.

- Why did he just look at my face to get me some boots?

- No, this is-- [laughs] - John: Oh, here we go.

Oh, these are nice.

Let's get a black in size 12.

This is going out, fancy.

You could kill somebody with these.

– Allejandro: I'll bring you the Mexican socks.

– John: Oh, the Mexican socks.

[laughs] What do you think?

– Emmy: Okay, how about a shirt?

Yeah, there's some bedazzles.

The amount of inventory you have in the store is-- I mean... - John: It's amazing.

– Emmy: You could come in here a dozen times and still find something brand new.

And I was so impressed with how many different styles you have of the shirts and the boots and the moccasins, everything.

– Allejandro: Wait, wait, the belt.

- Oh, that's nice.

Look at that.

- Yeah.

– John: We're in the heart of the Latino community, though.

– Teresa: Yes, yeah, all around here is Latino.

And we know everybody, 'cause they come back.

– John: And you know them all, 'cause-- - Teresa: Yes, yeah, we know them all around.

Mm-hmm, yes.

- Too classy.

- Yes, this is too Saturday night.

[both laugh] - Emmy: [gasps] Oh.

- This and the boots?

– Emmy: Are you kidding me?

- Oh, yeah.

[laughs] - Emmy: I love you.

All right, now I just need a belt.

When people come in, you really have to help them from start to finish, 'cause they're not gonna know probably exactly what they're looking for.

Look what Teresa did for me.

- Yeah, let's go.

- Thanks, honey.

– Allejandro: Okay, I bring you a hat.

– John: Okay, what do we have?

– Allejandro: Okay.

– John: [gasps] Oh, I love this.

[claps] - Allejandro: You are ready for the dancing.

- Okay, where's my partner?

Yeah, this is cool.

– Teresa: [gasps] - I feel so good, Teresa.

- Yes.

– Emmy: Now we just need somewhere to go, because we look too good to just-- - John: Where should we go?

Western Wear or bust.

[bright accordion music] Since 2013, All Hands Boatworks has been teaching young people how to build wooden boats by hand.

So, the mission sounds simple, but the actual results are incredibly profound.

Through classes and summer camps, they dive into math and science, the value of craftsmanship.

Then it's all capped off with community rowing events that really instill a lifelong appreciation for our rivers and our lakes.

Important work.

– Emmy: Well, this is something I have never done.

I'm about to try my first float therapy session.

We are at Float Milwaukee.

Inside this pool is 900 pounds of Epsom salt.

The water is at body temperature.

It is like the most relaxing thing you can do.

You have no distractions from the outside world.

You can play music, you can have there be no sound.

You can keep the lights on, you can turn the lights off.

The only thing that could make this possibly better is if the three of you get the heck out of here.

[groovy music] - John: What happens the moment you find out that you're nominated for a James Beard?

– Dave Swanson: I was working on the dishwasher, de-liming it, when I found that out.

[both laugh] That's-- Yeah, yeah.

– John: So, Chef, French cuisine is really your background?

– Dave: It's my background, but it's not our focus here at Braise.

– John: But it's not-- no.

Talk about your school for a minute.

– Dave: Yeah.

- Where do we start?

- We're gonna start by making a spice paste, okay?

We started doing, like, demonstration-style classes.

So, let's just go ahead and squeeze those limes in there.

But then, people were asking to do more hands-on.

So, now, they wanna do it, they wanna do it.

– John: Yeah.

- Maybe lime squeezing was about the level we're gonna go to, okay?

That's about it.

[both laugh] - Lemon squeezer?

– Dave: Now, we do have, like, 60 topics, from knife skills to making stocks and sauces.

- Do you like ginger?

- Oh, I love ginger.

Yeah, ginger and garlic, you kind of measure with the heart, so you don't need to worry about the recipe for that.

– John: Mm-hmm.

- When I left the world of Le Francais and Sanford, I kind of left that behind me in my head.

And then, when it was time for me to do my thing in the restaurant world, the things that I wanted to do were the restaurant, the RSA, restaurant-supported agriculture, distribution for it, the culinary school, and then a home delivery system.

So, we have some ghee here that we make in-house.

– John: 'Cause you can buy ghee on the shelf.

- You can, but if you can turn a pot on, you can make ghee at home.

- You can?

- We're gonna add some onions.

Okay, let's go ahead and add all this yogurt.

Look at you go.

We will transfer the chicken to this large bowl.

– John: So, if there were 12 people here, they'd all be making one of these now.

– Dave: They'd all be making this.

So, at each station, they'd be making their own tikka masala.

- It's a lot of people's favorite place.

- Yeah, it's always endearing to hear that.

People, like, have their first date here or are married here or something.

So, it's always wonderful to see that connection.

You can put everything that we have into a crock pot and make it, but it won't have that depth of flavor that we're looking for.

– John: Thank you.

– Dave: Cheers!

- Thanks, it's exciting.

Mmm, how good is that?

Congratulations on all this.

- Okay, I'll take that as a compliment.

- It is, it is!

– Dave: It's good to hear.

– John: Walker's Point has several murals that celebrate the heritage and the history of our Latino community.

The most notable is this six-story mural painted by Midwest artist Mauricio Ramirez.

Who is this famous woman depicted in this mural?

[playful music] - That larger-than-life personality behind me is Selena.

The Mexican American singer earned herself a Grammy and fans worldwide.

– John: Emerging as well as established artists have been calling these galleries at the Walker's Point Center for the Arts home for nearly 40 years.

And as funding in public schools has decreased, they've been working hard to fill that gap for arts education for Latino children.

And they were the first group in the area to really celebrate and embrace Day of the Dead, which is a traditional Mexican celebration that happens every November.

This is the Walker's Point Center for the Arts.

We are at Zcalo.

– Jesus Gonzalez: So, it means a plaza, gathering place.

We quickly realized there is a vibrant community of food entrepreneurs here.

How can we build a plaza that we can incubate them and help them grow?

– Sean Phelan: And really break down the barriers to success for a food truck.

– Jesus: Esta Leo, Maria?

- Leo Farfn: So, from Venezuela.

That's where we are from.

And we started out of a tent, and after five years, we started here with the incubator program that Zcalo Food Park has.

We offer a very fresh product and very authentic.

Maria, my wife, is the one to blame on that.

And it's been great.

– Jesus: I think the real highlight is seeing the evolution of the food entrepreneurs, and now they're moving into brick and mortars.

So, we're able to see that growth, which has been really neat.

– Sean: Being able to support them in their journey is equally as rewarding.

– John: Nice.

What do you see going on here in the future?

What are your hopes?

– Jesus: I think we're gonna continue to offer the support that we've been doing for the food entrepreneurs, be able to support them as much as we can.

- This is really for everyone to experience it all, yes?

- Completely.

– Jesus: Our tagline here is "You belong."

This is a place where you can genuinely enjoy your time, support local businesses, and experience what Milwaukee really is.

- Why is this important to this community and to our city?

- We've always been very intentional about what Zcalo is.

It's a gathering place.

- But it's more than food.

This is really about community.

- Absolutely.

– Sean: The other great thing about Zcalo is that, you know, we have picnic tables, so sometimes you might have to sit next to someone that you wouldn't normally sit next to, you know?

And people say, "Oh, what are you eating?

Oh, that looks really good, where'd you get it?"

And it starts this conversation that never would have necessarily happened because they didn't have a place that they could come together.

- I mean, there's constantly something going on.

I mean, this is a plaza, right?

And so, this is the town square.

There's a lot of activity going on.

– Sean: What better thing to bring people together but food?

– John: It's good!

You guys have done really well.

I'm in an old train station.

This used to be the home of our local railroad, the Milwaukee Road.

In fact, this is the actual ticket window.

For the last 90 years, this has been home to the Model Railroad Club of Milwaukee.

If these rails were full size, they would be nine miles long.

And this setup is almost exactly the same as it was when it was set up in 1950.

It's amazing, isn't it?

You wanna see this?

You need to come the last Sunday of every month.

There's a free open house.

Check this place out.

Hey, there goes the Hiawatha!

I am thrilled about this visit.

We're at Orlandini Studios.

This is Irvin.

How are you, sir?

– Irvin Orlandini: I'm good.

- Eugene, good to see you.

What can we see?

- Well, on the walls, you can see our history.

– John: Oh.

– Irvin: We have there examples of many of the things we've made over time.

- Oh, yeah.

– Irvin: We make different things out of plaster, ornaments, columns, moldings.

– John: Your grandpa came from Italy?

– Irvin: Yes, yes.

The original studio, my grandfather started in 1932.

– John: It's a good story, too, because online, it says that he was on his way to Minneapolis, but he never made it because he met the gal.

[all laugh] - Irvin: Yes, so he stopped here to do a quick job, and met a girl at a dance and decided to stay.

– John: I looked at a list on your website of places that you have done work in, either restorative work or work-- new work.

And I've been in like-- It's like, "I've been there, been there, been there, been there."

– Eugene Orlandini: You know, my uncle used to tell me, "Well, you could find an ornamental plasterer in the '50s like you can find a drywaller today."

There were lots of us out there, but the fact that it fell out of favor, a lot of places, just-- there wasn't the work.

– John: Yeah.

– Eugene: And my uncle and grandfather hung on, and, yeah, they're pretty much the last man standing in town.

– John: And here you are.

And are you the last man standing in town?

– Eugene: We may be the only ones who are full-time professional plasterers, in town.

In town.

- Is most of the work you get restoring, or is it replacing and making new?

- Lately it's been, what, about 90% restoration, almost.

- Yeah.

So, the two things that are bad for plaster are excessive heat and excessive water, yeah.

So, this is a light fixture that a client brought to us from their home.

So, it has these bells that hold a light bulb in each one.

- This literally fell apart in my hands when I was looking at it.

- Making this is actually complicated, because it is a fully three-dimensional piece.

It's the ability to kind of visualize things in three dimensions, but also inside-out.

– John: So, I have to be able to imagine that this is what's gonna come out... - Irvin: Right, right.

– John: ...of that.

Look at that.

I don't know if I'd be good at it, but I get it.

I do.

Do people walk in looking to buy?

– Irvin: Yeah.

– Eugene: We always invite visitors, and usually we'll have 'em give us a call first, 'cause sometimes we're out on jobs.

But come on in.

– Irvin: I love to give tours.

I love to show off what we do here.

- Uh-oh, You just opened the door.

[all laugh] - Thelma Carol Wine Merchants.

It's a wine and spirits bar meets wine and spirits shop.

But it looks like a library, which is so fitting, because the owners named it after their two grandmothers, Thelma and Carol, who were both librarians.

Now, on Thursdays, they have samples.

And we timed this right.

It's Thursday.

To Thelma and Carol.

Cheers, you guys.

– Rebecca Button: Cheers.

– Jerel Hall: Cheers.

Slinte.

[upbeat music] - Walker's Point has some of the oldest homes in Milwaukee.

- Some of the most beautiful homes.

I don't even know how to describe 'em.

- Some people describe them as Milwaukee's living museum.

- Ooh, I like that.

We are so lucky that we have this so close.

There's nowhere else I'd rather be The heart and soul of community's right here - Here we go.

- Here we go.

- Like a-- I-- That's hanging me up.

- In this mural.

[car horn beeps] Ohh!

- All right, I'll be napping in the office.

[all laugh] - And Herman left!

[all laugh] - Emmy: Right down the middle?

- [high-pitched] All right, I'll do it right down the middle!

- All three of the mem-- That was so bad.

- How do I look?

– Lois: [laughs] Okay, see, this is why we don't let John use the camera.

– Announcer: Thanks to our underwriters.

Together, doing good for 130 years.

Horicon Bank: It's the natural choice for community banking.

- There's no place like Oconomowoc.

Explore, play, shop, stay!

Visit Oconomowoc!

- My father taught me that to make great bakery, you have to do it the right way.

O&H Danish Bakery, where kringle traditions begin.

- Support for this program provided by Plum Media.

From first spark to final edit, it's all about bringing stories to life with purpose and precision.

– Announcer: Financial support has been provided by our friends at Greenfire, a construction management company, the Friends of PBS Wisconsin, and the Friends of Main Streets.

– Announcer 2: One way you can support your favorite show, and, of course, we mean this show, is to shop online in our store, where you'll find the perfect gift for that big fan.

And, of course, by "big fan," we mean you!

Thanks for shopping!

– Emmy: Can't a girl just enjoy a float in private?