A Local Defiant Garden

My city has a long history of being divided between east and west side, with the state capital building being the midpoint. In short, the west side (where I grew up) is home to the University of Wisconsin campus and the gracious living that accompanies that. (There were/are some notable exceptions: there was a large and vibrant working class Italian neighborhood called The Greenbush just south of campus which was razed in a shameful fit of "urban renewal" in the early sixties.) The east side (to which I migrated as a young adult and where I still live) was largely industrial; home to Gisholt, Oscar Mayer, Rayovac and numerous smaller industries.

When I was a child growing up on the west side, the east side was a scary place to me. We drove through it only to get out of town and visit my grandparents near Milwaukee. My dad's chosen route was Williamson Street, as down and out a street as existed in Madison at the time, inhabited by down and out people and home to a bona fide motorcycle gang, the C.C. Riders led by a guy named Dick Smith.

Fast forward a few years. I was a young adult, and Williamson Street was becoming the counter culture place to live. There was a fledgling food co-op and rent was cheap. My brothers were sharing an apartment on Willy Street (as it was and still is affectionately known) and I moved over there too. The neighborhood was undergoing some transformation, and one of the leaders was none other than Mr. Dick Smith (mentioned above.)

There was an empty lot kitty-corner to my apartment house and next to Dick's house. It was purchased by the restaurant chain Taco John's, which intended to put up a fast food taco joint there, development much opposed by the neighborhood. Taco John's didn't care; they went ahead and began building on the lot. That night, in glorious Monkey Wrench Gang tradition, Dick organized his motorcycle gang buddies and they dismantled everything that had been built. Same thing the next night and the next. This went on for some time, it ended up in court, and eventually (a few years later) Taco John's donated the land to the neighborhood association for a neighborhood park.

Willy Street is still a special place. Unfortunately it is undergoing major luxury condo-ification right now, with some of the early community members leading the charge. (Money talks.) But the park is small and funky, and there is not a chain store to be found (unless you count the St. Vincent DePaul thrift shop.). Every September the park is at the heart of an annual street festival, the Willy Street Fair, and Dick Smith has been a prominent feature, dressed like a combination of Bacchus (the Roman god of wine) and the Green Man, smeared in green make-up and swathed with fruiting grape vines. Not your image of a motorcycle gang member!

This story always warms me to the cockles of my heart.