New to Milwaukee~

[strange_little_bird]

Greetings~!

I'm new to Milwaukee and I was hoping to learn of some fun things to do around the area -- or learn of some places to meet people. I moved from St. Louis, Missouri for a seasonal job at the Milwaukee County Zoo and I'll be around until September... My problem is that I'll be working long shifts until our show season starts in the end of May and the only people I know are my two co-workers! vv

I don't have a lot of time to really go out until later in the evenings, but when shows start I will have a few days off and, while I like exploring new places, I'd love to have some suggestions or meet some people~!

I work for a St. Louis area convention -- so naturally, I'm a fan of anime and I've found that the "Anime Community" is generally receptive to new people...so I thought I'd turn to the local convention attendees!

Thanks so much - and it's a pleasure to meet everyone!

- Edward

[Killgorr]

Well, glad to have you in our fair city!

Aside from Anime Milwaukee (which is awesome of course), there are tons of things to see around here. The concert scene is really active, lots of places to see shows, the Rave, Turner Hall - not to mention Summerfest around June-July. There are a BILLION lesser festivals throughout the entire summer season. We also have many theatre groups as well as comedy sports. Also, we have regular sports too (with large parking lots for tailgating). Museums? We got natural history and Harley Davidson! Unfortunately, there is no combo between the two in which you can see dinosaurs and tribesmen riding motorcycles (too extreme!).

Plenty of geek places too, comic shops, gaming stores - we can steer you the right way!

So, bowling alleys, clubs, places to get good tacos, we can hook you up, are you looking for anything in particular?

[strange_little_bird]

I'm very glad to hear about the museums~! (Pity about the lack of tribesman on motorcycles, though~) I would also love to learn of some good clubs, bars and "geeky" places. Also any information on the summer festivals would be fantastic~! I know about the zoo festivals (seeing as how I work there) but that's really about it.

Also, I'm not sure that Anime Milwaukee does it -- but some of the St. Louis area conventions have informal meetups every once in a while at a park or whatnot -- so if those exist, I'd love to attend one. If not - well I'm sure there's other ways of meeting some of the Anime Milwaukee attendees~ ^^

Thank you so much for the info~!

[Killgorr]

Well, we do have regular AMKE meetings - but mostly it's con business right now. See us AFTER the con, however...

Anyway, for comics and collectibles, there's Collector's Edge and my favorite - Lost World of Wonders.

For tabletop gaming stuff, there's the Boardgame Barrister.

Places to see movies, aside from the big mainstream multiplex places, I'd check out the Times (vintage and cult movies along with new releases), the Oriental and Downer theaters - they'll play independent stuff, foreign and occasional anime and film festivals. These places will also frequently have midnight showings and special events.

My favorite bars include Dog's Bollocks (British pub with a TARDIS inside and awesome beer) and Von Trier (German style hunting lodge tavern with equally awesome beer). Both are on the east side not far from eachother.

Summerfest is an entire week down by the lake towards the end of June into early July. There is a MILLION acts to see. Weird Al was there last year, new acts and lots of older stuff (Cheap Trick is there, like, every year). Before and after Summerfest in the same area are all the ethnic fests that go throughout the entire summer.

As far as other concerts go, you can check out the Rave, Turner Hall and several other places - if you pick up a copy of the Onion or Shepherd Express (located about everywhere near the entrance or exit of most places) you can get lists of upcoming shows.

Um, that's about it for now. There's plenty of stuff to do around here!