MKE Streetcar--The Hop Destination Guide: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

MKE Streetcar "The Hop" Destination Guide

Edited by John December / Edition: 2024-04-22 / Updates: johndecember.com/mke

This is my guide ¹ to destinations served by the Milwaukee Streetcar, The Hop, Main Line. I list useful and fun destinations close to the streetcar stops for visitors and residents.

To get started, read this Overview of the route--columns on that page list "Highlights of the Route" and "Overview of Areas."

You can also look at the route in terms of activities along it--ranging from shopping to working, businesses, and events, or specifically find places for dining and drinks.

You can see a table of noted buildings--taller or historic along the route or more specific lists of Taller buildings in a table with their heights noted or Development on the Route--completed, major refurbishment, under construction, and proposed.

You can use the links under the "Main Line" listings to visit Web pages devoted to each station area of the streetcar route.

Criteria: I've picked general-interest destinations that are about 1-2 blocks (and in a few cases just a bit more)² from the streetcar stops. There is much more to discover beyond that, but this guide will help you make the most of the streetcar as a base for exploring Milwaukee along its route through the city. The "Explore Further" section includes links to places further from the route. I also have a blog section covering my observations of the streetcar, my use of it, and my study of research literature in transportation and how it relates to the streetcar and the urban landscape.

Navigating this guide: You can use the expanded table of contents in the "Destinations" column to go directly to activities that interest you. The Main Line column has links to pages covering the areas around the stops. The destination category links cover all the stops for dining/drinks, activities, noted sites, and further exploration. There are stop-specific maps and photos. You can return to this page by clicking on the icon. This guide is mobile friendly so that it will change in layout to fit to the screen of a cellphone.

Note: As in any large city, you should use due caution with your security, going about on the street³, and navigating the crosswalks (use extra caution at all intersections and cross only in designated crosswalks and obey walk signals). Be safe--and enjoy your trip.

Philosophy: I've lived in the area served by the streetcar for more than 20 years and have gone on many thousands of walks in the area.⁴ Milwaukee is more than just a set of destinations, but a truly special, walkable, urban place, and the streetcar route gives you a slice-of-life journey through several very interesting areas of the city. The experience of living in Milwaukee embraces a confluence of the natural setting--among rivers and by the lake--and the people, businesses, and institutions who have built, work in, and live in the historic, contemporary, and yet-to-be-built destinations. The result is more than the sum of its parts, and I hope that with this guide you might gain some insight into this. As a motivating statement, read this overview of where The Milwaukee Streetcar takes you. Bookmark johndecember.com/mke to get updates of this guide.

Maps

Further