Lake Michigan doesn’t look like a lake. It looks like the sea. It looks beautiful and infinite, like the Mississippi Delta in the springtime. Maybe in a couple months everything will be under a blanket of snow, but for the opening weekend of the Green Bay Packers—playing their ancient hated rival from Chicago—it looked like heaven.
Nite Owl Drive In, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Polaroid SX-70 (all photos 2022)
An old pal had arranged a weekend where we would make the trek up to Green Bay to see the game. I don’t know anything about Wisconsin geography and all I knew about Milwaukee was from Laverne & Shirley reruns. I suppose there are websites now where you can look up these things but I decided just to fly in, rent a car, and explore.
A photo of every other block in Milwaukee, only semi-jk (the other block, they like to say, is a church), SX-70
There was a twenty person line at the airport for rentals; everyone was there for the Packers game. The folks behind me were from Hot Springs, Arkansas, the ex-pats behind them were now living in Florida. When I finally got up close to the counter, I heard a lady protesting that she wanted the smaller economy car she had signed up for. “Oh, hun, we are having some problems with them Kias and such,” the clerk said. “You’d be better off with a car that won’t run off on you.”
I did not get this awesome Camaro; I got a Jeep Compass, it was fine, Polaroid 600
I was staying at the elegant Pfister, in part because it was so close to the museum and an easy walk over to the Riverside Theater, where I was going to see The National. My buddy told me that’s where all the bigtime teams stay when they’re playing the Bucks or Brewers. He neglected to tell me it was famously haunted.
The lions of the lobby of the Pfister, Polaroid 600
I’m sitting here wondering how many pretzels I ate over the week. Probably less than five. Maybe. But cheese curds? The number approaches the triple digits. I’m literally still detoxing from it; last night I had a yogurt parfait for dinner to atone. But it’s like a phantom limb—I keep thinking about them.
MKE, Polaroid SX-70
I also had some great coffee and food in Milwaukee, with my favorites being a vegetarian Reuben at Comet Cafe and a fully vegan breakfast at Lafayette Place.
For this quiet morning, while I’m still recovering from travel, I’ll leave you with the mantra of 2022, from the Nite Owl Drive In—
“OLD FASHION” is this week’s installment of GORJUS, a newsletter devoted to art and life in the South on instant film. If you like it, consider sending it to a pal. Just like anything, some weeks are better than others. I’m gorjusjxn on Instagram, and you can see more Polaroids at McCartyPolaroids.
Reminds me, I’ve always wanted to get up to Milwaukee (just looked, it’s only a six-hour drive from me!). That Calatrava *wing* thing on the museum would be totally worth the trip for me. And those neighborhood bars with the Old Style beer signs!! Takes me back to the first times I visited Chicago. UBER-ubiquitous;)
Knew you’d make some killer frames up there.