One hundred years ago our Milwaukee River was a recreation destination – complete with swimming beaches, water slides, ice hockey in the winter, and summer cruises upstream to beer gardens and amusement parks. Fifty years ago the same river was an economic engine for the region, a commodity producer for the world, and a dammed up cesspool devoid of fish and swimmers.
Nik Kovac
Nik Kovac was born and raised on Milwaukee’s East Side. He proudly attended Milwaukee Public Schools—from McDowell Montessori School to Golda Meir Elementary School, and Jackie Robinson Middle School through Riverside High School. Attending Harvard University and graduating cum laude with a degree in mathematics, Kovac worked to become a beat reporter and then a newspaper editor in New York City. He returned to Milwaukee to work for the Shepherd Express and Riverwest Currents. Since April 2008, he has been the Alderman for Milwaukee’s 3rd District, which includes the East Side, Riverwest and North Downtown neighborhoods.
Posted inNeighborhood News
Groundswells and Ripples: The Community and the River
Unlike the lengthy waterways of Green Bay and Chicago, the rivers of Milwaukee do not go much of anywhere. You can’t get to New Orleans or even Madison by canoe from here, but you can dock a really big boat. “The port of Milwaukee has the broadest bay and deepest channels on the western shores of Lake Michigan,” observed local author John Gurda while summarizing the history of our city through the lens of its three rivers.
Posted inNeighborhood News
What I Stole On My Summer Vacation
Many of us remember having to write the dreaded essay explaining what we did during our summer months away from school. We might have gone to summer camp, or on a trip with our parents. Maybe we got involved in sports, took up a hobby, or just spent the summer reading every book in the library.
Posted inNeighborhood News
Brophy Declares Bankruptcy
Two years ago, landlord Tim Brophy hid under one of his tenant’s beds, hoping the police wouldn’t find him. They did. The city was after him then — and still — because of unpaid property taxes and outstanding fines relating to code violations on his vast collection of rental units in Riverwest, Harambee, Brewers Hill, and the East Side, which during its peak included more than 100 properties.
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Business Spotlight
20 Years of Lakefront
RIVERWEST has found another excuse to raise a glass of its self-titled beverage. This year is the 20th anniversary of the beer that made a neighborhood famous: Riverwest Stein. Towards the end of 1987, commercial production began at the Lakefront Brewery, an operation that Ann Pogorelc of Tony’s Tavern in Walker’s point still refers to as “the Klisch boys from Riverwest.”
The Klisch boys are the brothers Jim and Russ, a cop and a chemist, both born and raised in Brown Deer, who found themselves as young adults sharing a house at 2951 Bremen Street in the early 80s.
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