Amaranth Bakery & David
David Boucher was born in Binghamton New York & Graduated from UWM Urban studies Masters Program. He bought an old summer home that belonged to the Gettelman family at one time. He lives on 1727 N 34 St. He has lived there for 20 plus years. He has seen Milwaukee change. Soon after he bought his home he bought a bakery and named it Amaranth Bakery. The word Amaranth is the name of a high protein grain plant that grows in community gardens here in Milwaukee.
The plant seeds are harvested like wheat. David says “Our mission is to provide healthy food for everyone”. On Tuesdays it is pay what you can soup night. The Amaranth Bakery located on 3329 W Lisbon Ave had trouble when they first opened because the house in front was a drug house.
But soon, David helped with getting the drug house taken care of. He wanted it torn down but their was so much red tape. The opportunity to purchase it at an extremely low price arose and David took it. Now he rents it out to an artist who is also very much involved in the community.
Before the Amaranth Bakery was a bakery it was a Pub and had been for some thirty years. When David and his team went in to restore it, they ripped 6 layers of alcohol infected and rotting carpet plus the floor joyces. David said “I couldn't believe it.”
David shared with us about his house. A couple of years ago he
gave a Gettleman a tour of his house. This same Gettleman was born and raised in the house. Gettleman was a big brewing name in the early days. They went on to create Washington Hights. When David’s house was originally built it was in the township of Wawautosa. There are many beautiful houses in this area! On the 1700 block of 32nd there is a beautiful home that has been in many magazines including but not limited too Home and Garden and various Milwaukee books. The house is fully restored, crown molding and all.
David told us this community used to be prominently German. “The Old Guard Wasps”, Irish Catholics, went one direction and Prespeterians went up the North Shore.
Lisbon road was built in 1846. They put a sewer in a couple of years ago and tore up the old track lines that were still there.
Every generation there has been some kind of seismic change concerning race in this area. Through the 60’s they spoke german in this area.
David asked this question when he arrived here. How did we get here, to this current situation? People said, “well there is nothing her in the inner-city.” David said “it all comes down to the business decisions, suggesting that if minorities settled in this area, the real-estate values are lower.”
Lisbon/Walnut Way is one of the sights that was affected by the neglect of city officials. Because they had intended to widen the street. The Amaranth Bakery is in the middle of the hour glass spot of Lisbon Ave And Walnut Way. What happens is, if you do not invest in something nothing will happen and things will naturally fall apart. That is what the city wanted, so they could widen the road. People wanted to invest but the city had so much red tape that they just couldn't. Eventually, the city ran out of money for their pet projects of widening roads and highways. Years of neglect left the inner-city in shambles. This is evident in many parts of the inner-city.
The most touching conversation that David has had concerning all of this was with a city official named Alderman Pratt. He said “Im here as an Alderman and when I was a young boy I grew up in the south bound lane of I 43 and I new that wasn’t right.”
The current layering here are African American home owners. A lot f Habitat for Humanity and ACTS (Alied Church Teaching Self Improvement corp) they have assisted more then 1000 people in obtaining homes.
The greatest concentration of south asian Hmong/Laotian was here in 1996.
These days a large somalian refugee culture live here in these homes. Still the largest amount of home owners are African American . These neighborhoods are not static, they change fast.
If interested in contacting David Boucher you can reach him at Amaranth Bakery & Cafe, 3329 W. Lisbon Avenue Milwaukee WI. His phone number is (414) 934-0587 Email- amaranthbc@gmail.com. Amaranth Bakery & Cafe Hours are Tuesday - Saturday 7:00 am- 2:00 Tuesday nights are open late for "Pay what you can soup night"
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