MKE Cafes: enjoy the coffee spots in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

MKE Cafes

This is my list of places in Milwaukee (city) where you can get coffee in an atmosphere that is similar to European-style sidewalk cafes, where you can get a coffee or drink and hang out, talk, write on a computer, or read. In past times, people would read newspapers (on paper--sometimes held together with long sticks! (like in Paris)) or write letters (on paper, before email) in cafes. The cafe offers sociable solitariness if you desire; or sociability on a variety of levels.

Many places in town serve coffee, of course, or have "cafe" in their name. You can always do a Yellow Pages search to find those. Here, I'm listing only those places that have a casual, coffeehouse atmosphere--where you are not hustled out after drinking or eating, and people hang out comfortably.

Also, note that you can access free WiFi and computers for your use at branches of the Milwaukee Public Library.

If you see something missing or incorrect here, please send a correction.

Icons used in listings

	Free Wireless Access. Use caution: I don't recommend ever accessing sites that contain your sensitive personal or financial information on a public WiFi network. If you access your email, make sure that you use the https protocol. I use a set of Surf Links for browsing Web sites on public WiFi networks. Also, be aware of your surroundings and keep your wallet, computer, and valuables right under your control--not where anyone can take them.
	Internet access computers available. These are gradually disappearing with the ubiquity of wireless access and devices. Use the Net Cafes information for public net access throughout the world.
	Has occasional live music
	One of my favorites
	On The Hop streetcar route

For a discussion of the cafe concept

	The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community by Ray Oldenburg People like to have a place outside of their workplace and outside of their home where they can hang out and feel comfortable. For centuries, cafes have provided such a "third place."
0195019199	A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein See section 88, "Street Cafe," p. 437: "The street cafe provides a unique setting, special to cities: a place where people can sit lazily, legitimately, be on view, and watch the world go by. Encourage local cafes to spring up in each neighborhood. Make them intimate places, with several rooms, open to a busy path, where people can sit with coffee or a drink and watch the world go by. Build the front of the cafe so that a set of tables stretch out of the cafe, right into the street."

The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community
by Ray Oldenburg
People like to have a place outside of their workplace and outside of their home where they can hang out and feel comfortable. For centuries, cafes have provided such a "third place."

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction
by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein
See section 88, "Street Cafe," p. 437: "The street cafe provides a unique setting, special to cities: a place where people can sit lazily, legitimately, be on view, and watch the world go by. Encourage local cafes to spring up in each neighborhood. Make them intimate places, with several rooms, open to a busy path, where people can sit with coffee or a drink and watch the world go by. Build the front of the cafe so that a set of tables stretch out of the cafe, right into the street."