"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com is back for another round! The whole month of February, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs -- including guides, the latest trends, bartender profiles and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!
I did the first story on Zim’s in April 2006. Mike Zimmer opened his sports bar and restaurant at 770 N. Milwaukee St. on Oct. 2, 2006 for a Monday night Packers game. As of today, the bar has officially closed.
On Sunday, Zimmer held a final Packers party at Zim’s. Strong smells of cigarette smoke were still in the air Monday morning (Zim's Twitter account had announced "Smoker's Welcome" -- guess if you're closing, might as well go out with bang) and remains of the party were still on the tables this morning, too.
The bar’s Facebook account announced the closing on Saturday with this message:
"Well all good things must come to an end, or in this case a pause. Zim's last day open on Milwaukee Street is Super Bowl Sunday. Stop in tonite and celebrate our last Saturday here, and get ready for a kick-ass final Sunday."
Zimmer told several people and Larry Sandler at JSOnline that he may relocate and reopen Zim’s in the future. So, stay tuned.
Finally and most importantly, Zimmer, who will take some time off before making a decision on where and when to reopen, is thankful for the past 4 1/2 years. He told me this via e-mail, "I want to thank everyone that helped make Zim's such special place over the years. I am speechless at the amount of support and gratitude I have received from everyone during this hard time. All I can say is a heartfelt "Thank You, and I hope to see you again soon!"
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
