I’m on the flight home from Arizona to Milwaukee. I ended up working full-time over the Internet while I was down there, so I did almost no blogging in my free time. I actually don’t mind that it worked out that way, as it gave me some valuable insights into the wants and needs of many of the people who are heavy users of coffeehouses—nomadic workers who commute, at least in part, by hopping a Wi-Fi signal. I gained a new appreciation for the chains, all of whom perform very well down there, and added skepticism of their independents, who come in a much wider variety of stripes than is the case in Milwaukee. I spent the bulk of my time at Borders, of all places. The Starbucks location at the Scottsdale Fashion Square had been remodeled at some point over the past year to remove all inside seating. The year-long climate permits them to use an outdoor deck area with wooden tables and chairs—seating that is, if anything, probably more comfortable than the standard-issue elementary-school tables and chairs they normally use. I don’t know why, but I believe the drink quality at Starbucks is higher in Scottsdale-area locations. I’m not sure exactly why that is, but my best guess is that because the stores do so much more business, their labor budget is higher, allowing more employees to work full-time or thereabouts. I can flat-out say that I’ve never seen a Starbucks as busy as the Fashion Square or Hayden & Osborn locations. The only Milwaukee-area one that even comes close is the 24-hour Starbucks in Wauwatosa. I think the real enigma within a conundrum is why a place with a year-round shirtsleeve climate would be such a bonanza for coffeehouses. The only ready explanation is bucks—the very thing that makes the name of our newly successful basketball team so bitterly ironic. Obviously, many or most of those bucks come from people who don’t live there, even for part of the year. However, Milwaukee has the capability to attract tourists and visitors too.
I’ve been pondering the differences between the two places for months now. The more I think about it, the more elusive valuable conclusions seem. It’s tempting to think of Arizona as Bizarro world Milwaukee, but the reality is not that black and white. One advantage down there is that the relative youth of the built environment means it makes more sense for the way people live today. In Mllwaukee, there is great resistance to the idea of tearing things down that are no longer adaptive. As a result, it is exceptionally difficult to get around, particularly in areas with parking shortages.
I remember my fourth- and fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Madsen, telling us children of the late stages of the Cold War that Milwaukee would suffer a missile strike in the event of a nuclear war due to its industry. It won’t be due to the kind of industry we had 25 years ago, but we need to get back on somebody’s hit list. It’s hard to imagine anyone bothering to program a nuclear missile to head towards Milwaukee nowadays, unless maybe they’d gotten food poisoning from eating at George Webb’s . The possibly implied, deeply discomforting greater question Is this : Why bother with the missile, anyway?
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