After going through the main part of the museum, there are a couple more places that you'll need to see to conclude your visit. The grounds surrounding the museum include a terrace area and riverwalk along the Milwaukee River, two Rivet Plazas - an area where memorial "rivets" are displayed, and a bronze statue called "The Hillclimber", which was donated by the grandson of William Davidson, Willie G. Davidson - currently a senior vice-president and the defacto "face" of Harley-Davidson. Davidson said the family "chose the hill climber as a subject because it portrays the thrill and adventure of the sport and because of the important role motorcycle competition played in developing enthusiast culture.” The statue is one and a half size normal scale and was designed by Jeff Decker, a Harley-Davidson licensed artist.
Between the main restaurant building and the restaurant/gift shop building is a plaza laid in bricks. I'm guessing the Harley-Davidson Museum people encourage "burn-outs" on the bricks, given the number of tire marks left on the pavement. Even for a cold day in early October, there were a number of bikes parked near the museum. But I didn't see any of them lay down any rubber while I was there.
I actually went backwards on my tour of the museum. I went into the restaurant and gift shop areas first before heading over to the main museum.
The restaurant at the museum - Motor - is a full service restaurant that serves lunch and dinner. The decor is sort of a contemporary industrial design in a big open space. With brick floors, floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides and a very high ceiling, my guess is that the place gets very loud when there's a lot of people in the place. It was just around 5 p.m. and there was just one couple having dinner and a couple guys at the bar.
I took a seat at the bar and ordered up a Leinenkugel Oktoberfest and watched part of a ballgame that was on the television behind the bar. The bar seats were heavy duty, welded bases, probably made at the Harley-Davidson factory. I can't say they were very comfortable. The full bar featured mixed drinks, wine and beer. There were a number of teardrop shaped Harley-Davidson gas tanks on display behind the bar, as well.
I asked the waitress for a menu, just to see what they had to offer. Although it didn't seem to be anything that I would call outstanding, there were some interesting items such as Chicken Schnitzel, a one-pound pork chop, barbecued ribs, and "Ma's Meatloaf", the ultimate comfort food served with mashed potatoes and gravy. Motor also featured a couple of burgers, chicken sandwiches, and a beer-battered, deep-fried walleye sandwich. I thought about coming back there for dinner, but I had another place in mind for a meal that evening.
I got to looking a little more closely at the contraption they had to separate the bar area from the dining room. It turned out that it was a series of rods, gears, engine parts and pulley wheels most likely fabricated by Harley-Davidson workers and welded together. The intricate placement of the bars and gears was sort of interesting to look at. It was definitely unique and pretty cool.
The Harley-Davidson Museum touts itself as a family destination and for those families who don't want to have a meal in the Motor restaurant, they have a sort of snack bar area - Cafe Racer - that serves a variety of fast foods for breakfast, lunch and light dinner. The limited menu features soups, salads, wraps, some sandwiches and breakfast burritos. There's counter service only and it doesn't have the ambiance you'll find at Motor. But, if you have a lot of little kids, Cafe Racer is probably better suited for their tastes.
Cafe Racer sits in between Motor and the Harley-Davidson gift shop - known as "The Shop". The large room keeps the "contemporary industrial" decor that is thematic throughout the museum grounds. The gift shop has the usual items - shirts, jackets, biker clothing and leathers, signs, posters, memorabilia, stuffed-toys and knick-knacks. Here's a word of warning - Although many items were very interesting to look at, nothing was cheap. If you have kids, don't take them into this place or you're going to be buying overpriced trinkets.
This is a wall display of old Harley-Davidson pictures and memorabilia. There were a number of coffee-table books, as well. But they were certainly proud of the things they were selling. Some of the books were over $30 bucks, while some of the pictures and posters went from around $50 to well over $200 dollars. You either have to be a deep enthusiast or have deep pockets to buy some of these items.
One full wall of the gift shop was nothing but t-shirts. $25 dollar t-shirts. Ouch. And none of the t-shirts were what I would call anything special. They had both men's and women's t-shirts for sale. Oh, there were a couple of nice designs, but nothing that I really needed to have - especially at $25 bucks a pop. Actually, there wasn't much of anything in the gift shop that I really couldn't live without. Especially at the prices they were charging. My God!
All in all, the Harley-Davidson Museum was a wonderful experience. I promised my late mother years and years ago that I'd never get a motorcycle. Although I've wanted to get one, I've held on to the promise I made. That doesn't mean that I don't have an affection for the Harley-Davidson motorcycles. But as I said before, even if you're not much of a motorcycle enthusiast, the Harley-Davidson Museum holds a lot of history. It's truly a celebration of American design, engineering, and ingenuity. If you go, bank on spending at least three hours in the museum. It's really worth the trip.
Comments