As a kid growing up in Madison, Sam Swartz would ask his mom if they could go downtown — specifically, to State Street.
He remembers feeling excited about “going to the shops, or walking past the coffee place,” said Swartz, now a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in journalism.
Michelangelo’s Coffee House was for Swartz what the fictional Central Perk was for the characters of “Friends,” a main hangout. He recalls grabbing coffee and “walk(ing) up and down State Street, just chatting.”…