Downtown (18)

Business · Milwaukee 'New' Riviera The 'New' Riviera was the final, short-lived location of Tony Machi's gay-friendly Riviera bar, at 952 N. 3rd Street in Milwaukee. Machi relocated the business there after a March 1964 fire destroyed Business · Milwaukee Ad Lib Nightclub The Ad Lib Nightclub operated at 323 W. Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee from 1966 to 1975. It opened as an upscale cabaret and supper club that booked nationally known jazz musicians, then shifted Business · Milwaukee Alex's It is documented in a single national gay bar guide from 1970, which suggests it opened around 1969 and operated for only a year or two. No local references to the bar have been located, and little el Business · Milwaukee Belmont Hotel Coffee Shop (As shown below, while the next-door Gaytime Bar was listed in nearly every national Gay Bar Guides only from about 1965 to 1967, the Belmont Hotel Coffee Shop was listed only off and on in national g Business · Milwaukee Bourbon Beat The Bourbon Beat operated at 400 N. Plankinton Avenue in downtown Milwaukee from about 1961 to 1963 and appears in national gay bar guides of the period. It was a renaming of the Black Nite, whose rep Business · Milwaukee Captain's Cabin The Captain's Cabin operated at 400 N. 2nd Street in Milwaukee from the fall of 1963 to December 1966. Operator Wally Whetham opened it after closing his earlier bar, the Black Nite and Bourbon Beat, C Place · Milwaukee Cathedral Square Park Cathedral Square Park is a downtown Milwaukee public square that has been used for civic events and, in recent years, LGBTQ+ visibility efforts including rainbow crosswalk installations recognized by Business · Milwaukee Clifton Tap Clifton Tap was one of Milwaukee's earliest known gay bars, operating as the tavern of the Clifton House Hotel at 336 W. Juneau Street through the 1940s and 1950s until about 1965. Run by William Mans Business · Milwaukee Grand Prix The Grand Prix, often listed as the Grand Prix Lounge, was a Milwaukee bar on East Juneau Avenue whose name derived from an earlier racing-themed incarnation. By the late 1960s its interior featured r Business · Milwaukee Hunter's Club It is documented by a single advertisement in the October 1971 issue of GPU News. No other advertisements or mentions have been located, and how long the bar operated and served gay men is unknown. Business · Milwaukee JC's Pub & Grill It did not market itself as a gay bar and sought a mainstream crowd, though its busiest nights coincided with LGBTQ events such as drag shows and fundraisers. The bar never advertised in the gay press Business · Milwaukee Lampost Bar The Lampost Bar operated at 440 W. Michigan Street in downtown Milwaukee from about 1946 to 1963. Owned by brothers Charles and John Piscuine, it was a long-standing underground gambling venue that dr Business · Milwaukee Mickey's Dynasty 7th Street for less than a month in early 1987. The space had previously been a gay bar called the Grand Avenue Annex. Its main draw was proximity to the established Grand Avenue Pub and a nearby bath Business · Milwaukee Milwaukee Eagle The Milwaukee Eagle opened on November 22, 1997, in the basement of the Sidney Hih building, a space that had previously held the gay bars Golden Shaft and the Unicorn. A leather and Levi bar with a l Business · Milwaukee Mint Bar The Mint Bar had one of the longest histories of any Milwaukee gay bar. Opened by Christ Mares on New Year's Day 1949 at 422 W. State Street, two decades before Stonewall, the small, cozy tavern was a Business · Milwaukee Nitro Nitro was a large tri-level discotheque on North Water Street, reopened in 1992 after a major renovation of the Sunday-only gay bar previously known as Park Avenue. It billed itself as 'Milwaukee's Pr Business · Milwaukee Papagaio Papagaio was a Milwaukee dance club opened on North Broadway in December 1981 by Bobby Bell, who had previously run the Red Baron disco. Inspired by Rio nightlife, it became known for booking groundbr Business · Milwaukee Pink Glove Pink Glove was an exceptionally short-lived Milwaukee gay bar at 631 N. Broadway, open for just 67 days in 1958. Opened by Marvin and Harold Klein in a remodeled former cocktail lounge, it is believed