2017
(3 votes, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Sarah Leonard
Dec 16, 2010
December’s Milwaukee Guerilla Gay Bar takeover at Red Rock Saloon. – Photo: Facebook
Like San Francisco’s The Castro, New York City’s Chelsea and Chicago’s Boystown, Walker’s Point serves as a sort of nucleus to Milwaukee’s LGBT nightlife. For years, gay and lesbian bars and clubs have flourished in the area, also known as the Fifth Ward.
But a growing number of LGBT Milwaukeeans, particularly younger gays and lesbians, don’t like having their social life confined to the South Side neighborhood. They feel it’s isolating.
In 2007, the Milwaukee Guerrilla Gay Bar was formed as an “alternative scene for folks who crave something different than what the gay Walker’s Point circuit offers,” says the group’s website.
The first Friday of every month, MGGB organizes a “takeover” of one of Milwaukee’s straight bars by rallying hundreds of members and allies via Facebook and Twitter announcements. The location of the “takeover” is announced the day of the event, and “guerrillas” show up unexpectedly at the designated bar that night.
Three years after the first guerrilla attack, 2010 could be considered the year of the LGBT takeover of East Side and downtown nightlife. Two gay bars have opened in those neighborhoods, and several otherwise straight venues have begun promoting gay nights.
Before Walker’s Point became the focal point of the city’s gay nightlife, the East Side served that role, says Joe Brehm, owner of This Is It! at 418 E. Wells St. Milwaukee’s oldest gay bar, This Is It! has operated continuously for more than 40 years.
“I think the East Side was always more accepting of diversity than other (Milwaukee) neighborhoods,” Brehm says.
Hybrid Lounge helped revive the East Side’s gay tradition in March, opening at 707 E. Brady St. and becoming the only gay bar on the popular Brady Street corridor.
In June, Tempt opened downtown at 324 E. Mason St. Tempt promotes itself as filling the void of LGBT bars and nightclubs downtown, using the slogan “Let us ‘Tempt’ you with what Milwaukee has been missing!”
Also opening this year on the East Side – and just steps away from Hybrid Lounge – was “Beyond Pleasuredome” at Trocadero’s Redlight nightclub, 1758 N. Water St. “Beyond Pleasuredome” picks up where the upstairs nightclub’s original gay night, called “Babylon,” ended in 2008 with the close of Redlight to the public. Trocadero general manager Chad Ellingboe says the nightclub revived Thursday gay nights in response to patron demand.
“Beyond Pleasuredome” advertises itself as a dance party for anyone, “gay, straight or undecided.”
“We just want to offer good drinks and good music to anyone,” while “trying to be as gay-friendly as possible,” Ellingboe says.
According to him, East Side patrons appreciate the opportunity to drink and mingle closer to their homes, and the gay night also draws University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee students.
Notte Nite Lounge, 1033 N. Old World Third St., also started a Thursday gay dance night called “Crave” in October. That same month, Coa, located at Bayshore Towne Center in Glendale, initiated a Tuesday gay night.
“We’re the first of our kind in this area,” says Enrique Torres, Coa’s general manager. “We want to make the gay community
comfortable in a different location.”
Brehm says he’s happy with the expansion of LGBT nightlife beyond Walker’s Point and does not regard the new activity as a threat to his business.
“Milwaukee for its size has more gay bars than other cities of its size,” he says, adding that no matter what the neighborhood, “Milwaukee is very welcoming.”
