Niko's
Milwaukee
Summary
2nd Street opened around 1982 by owner Niko Stathis. Accounts of it vary widely, with patrons remembering it as a blue-collar neighborhood bar, a punk club, or a restaurant; it is most often recalled as a gay punk bar. Lacking a strong following, Niko's was failing by 1983 when bar owner George Prentice acquired the lease. He remodeled and reopened the space as the video and dance bar La Cage, which became a long-running Milwaukee LGBTQ institution.