I Wish They All Could Be Milwaukee Girls

I recently got a tour of The Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee, the soon-to-open biker-friendly boutique just across the Menomonee River from the brand-new Harley-Davidson Museum. I say this as someone who’s never so much as sat on a motorcycle, let alone ridden one: this is a hotel I can’t wait to stay at.

I’ll have plenty more to say about this Desires Hotels property once it opens in a couple months—if you can’t wait, take a peek at this glowing article from Los Angeles Times writer Susan Carpenter—but for now, I want to take a moment to show off the hotel’s quite literal beauty.

You see, my former home city tends to get a bad rap when it comes to the attractiveness of its inhabitants. Simply put, when the average person thinks of places to go for female eye-candy, America’s cheese and beer capital doesn’t immediately spring to mind. And it’s too bad, because while I admit Milwaukee isn’t exactly Miami, some of the loveliest ladies I know call it home.

Photographer Charles Dwyer thought the same thing. Dwyer hired regular Milwaukee women to be amateur models, photographing them in classically sexy poses. The resulting series of mixed-media artwork now adorns The Iron Horse’s 102 guestrooms, fully engulfing a wall in each room, floor to ceiling. 

Every room features a unique Milwaukeean. Here’s a sampling …

Guests will like the art because it adds splendor to the rooms with a genuinely local flavor. I appreciate it because it shows love to a city of people who deserve more than they usually get.