The story of Sherman Perk: How a salvaged bit of the city’s past became a community gathering spot | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
September 5, 2019
When their kids were growing up in Sherman Park and started going to coffeehouses, they would all hop in cars and leave the neighborhood because there wasn’t a shop in their neighborhood.
Their parents, Robert and Patrice Olin, decided thatestablishing the Sherman Perk coffeehouse would be their way of “giving back tothe neighborhood that raised their kids,” Bob Olin said.
“Unfortunately, by the time we opened, we only had one childleft at home,” said Bob Olin, “but she worked here, and she and her friendswould come and hang out, which was fun.”
Bob and Pat Olin grew up in Whitefish Bay and Bay View,respectively, and met at the University ofWisconsin-Eau Claire, where he majored in business and she earned a nursingdegree.
Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing!
After college, they returned to Milwaukee and moved to the Sherman Park neighborhood. They chose it, they said, because the cost of housing was affordable. They’ve owned three homes and raised four children in the neighborhood — moving as their family grew and later as their kids left home. Now they live on North 49 Street, a stone’s throw from the coffee shop.
Since opening in August 2001, the coffee shop has emerged asa community gathering spot in one of the most racially, religiously and socioeconomicallydiverse neighborhoods in Milwaukee.
“Our customers have really shaped our business” — themenu, hours and the activities, Bob Olin said.
After Labor Day, the shop features live music on Friday evenings throughout the winter. During the summer, bag toss is popular. Over the years, the Olins have hosted karaoke and poetry readings and provided an audience for new musical groups, among other activities.
‘You see all types’
Greg Kirkish, friend, neighbor and regular customer, said hewalks or bikes to Sherman
Perk about four mornings a week. In addition to good coffee and a bite toeat, he enjoys reading the newspaper and chatting with other customers, hesaid. He’s become acquainted with many people who live in the neighborhood thatway.
“You see all types of people and everybody seems to getalong,” Kirkish said.
Noting that the Olins turned a blighted eyesore into acommunity asset, with “a lot of sweat equity,” Kirkish added, “If somebody comesin there, and they forget their money, or they don’t have any money with them,Bob will give them a coffee.”
“I don’t think you’re going to find that at Starbucks orother places,” he said.
When Sherman Perk opened, it offered four flavors to go intodrinks. Now it has 36, Bob Olin said.
From gas station to
coffee shop
In early 2000, the company Bob worked for abruptly closedthe computer manufacturing plant that he managed. Bob was thinking about hisnext career move and Pat was working nearby at St. Joseph Hospital when theylearned that a gas station on North 50th Street was going to be razed.
A neighborhood association considered buying the propertyand turning it into a coffee shop, but legal and environmental issues createdtoo many barriers.
The building had been in tax foreclosure and wascontaminated with automotive and aviation fuel. The need to pay tens ofthousands of dollars in back taxes and fund an environmental cleanup made italmost impossible to find a buyer, Olin said.
Then Cliff Leppke, an automotive and architecture enthusiast,came to the rescue by passionately advocating for and eventually winning city historicaldesignation.
“It took 14 months for us to legally acquire the propertyusing a new state statute that one of the assistant city attorneys in Milwaukeehad authored that specifically addressed tax delinquent, contaminatedproperties,” said Bob Olin.Pat Olin added, “It paved the way, I think, for many other people to dosimilar (projects) … with the potential to really create something wonderfulfor their communities.”