Back in January, when The Pub Club was preparing to open at 1103 N. Old World 3rd St., co-owner Jake Dehne told OnMilwaukee.com, that he and his partners Seth Dehne and Mike Zimmerman are "always analyzing what Milwaukee wants and expects."
And now it's clear that Milwaukee wants and expects a patio. It's true. After being cooped up inside so long, we can't wait to sit outside with a beer and a burger.
With that in mind, The Pub Club is almost ready to launch its new streetside patio. A grand opening party is slated for this weekend. Bad weather prevented the event taking place as scheduled last weekend.
The wooden patio is 37 feet long, running nearly the length of the pub's 3rd Street side, and 15 feet wide. It seats 56. Another smaller area south of the building will add six tables and 30 seats.
The deck was designed by Rinka Chung Architecture, which also designed the club's interior, along with input from the Dehnes.
"The slats are wine and whiskey barrel staves," says Jake Dehne. The slats are a design feature inside the pub, too.
"The black barrels are Jack Daniel's barrels that will serve as table bases as soon as our tables come in for the tall tables."
The Pub Club has already done some test runs of the patio, Dehne says.
"We have had one good day so far and it was full from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. with people eating and drinking," he notes.
"It is unique to Downtown and starting to create a nice buzz."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
