Wednesday, November 30th -0001
Milwaukee, A Thirsty City
By Tyler Maas
Having been called “The Nation’s Watering Hole” and having its legendary nightlife featured in countless national periodicals, Milwaukee has as many bars per capita as Las Vegas, Miami and New York City.
Did you know...That Milwaukee has 957 Taverns/Saloons/Bars in the city limits today?
Milwaukee’s staggering menagerie of drinking establishments is nothing new. In fact, our city boasts an impressive tavern history that goes as far back as the late 1800s and can still be seen today through the preservation of time-honored ale houses. Since 1873, the Bay View bar Puddler’s Hall has been open for business. Though the years have brought about changes in both name and clientele, it still stands today as both a historic tavern and a remodeled tribute to the iron workers, or “Puddlers,” who’d sit at the lake-adjacent union hall after a day of hard manual labor. Not far from Puddler’s Hall sits Club Garibaldi. Opened in 1908 by Italian immigrants, the tavern has been remodeled, expanded upon, and has changed hands a number of times. The once quiet corner pub now regularly plays host to rock bands, but the same bar that thirsty Milwaukeeans sat at over a century ago can still be experienced. On the other side of the river, the renowned East Side bar Wolski’s also celebrated its centennial in 2008. A driver can’t go a block in this city without seeing an “I Closed Wolski’s” bumper sticker affixed to a car’s rear fender.
If one seeks to glimpse into Milwaukee’s
rich industrial past, they need look no further than its bars. And even as the city’s drinking reputation grows with every new tavern that sprouts up, locals will always have a place in their hearts – and their neighborhood – to pay homage to Milwaukee’s tavern roots.
