Colectivo Coffee – Lakefront

1701 N. Lincoln Memorial Dr., Milwaukee

By far my favorite building that is also a café—it’s formerly the Milwaukee River Flushing Station, which was a giant pump built to deal with river pollution—built in 1888. That kind of industrial site built today would be ugly, but back then they felt the need to build a beautiful brick structure with tall, arched windows. Check the excellent article at the OnMilwaukee website for history of the building and Colectivo’s transformation of it into a café. I would visit more than any other café except for its great popularity, which means it’s always a zoo. They do have outdoor seating in warmer weather, so that alleviates the crowds a bit—people love sitting outside, even with all that car noise. For me, the ideal is to get a seat inside, and there are multiple levels open to sitting with food and coffee—great vistas from all—including good people watching. The side with the old pump structure is spectacular—it kind of looks like the “atomic pile” in the Batcave. There are a few interesting cubbyhole hideout seats, if you look for them—I imagine people have their favorites. My fav is the small table on the landing, halfway up to the 2nd seating level—from there you see the entire café side—and there is a secret place to hide notes—it’s where I like to propose meetings and trysts, share passwords and cryptic texts.

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