The southwest corner ofFarwell and North has been home to bars for nearly a century. During World WarII, it was Rieder's, a “super bar” that, in addition to serving fresh drinks atthe bar, sold bottled liquor and six-packs to-go. It was a swanky lounge knownfor cocktails mixed with freshly squeezed juices, a jukebox that played classicaland European music, and tall, blond cocktail waitresses.
In 1978, Rieder sold hisbar to Karl Lotharius, the owner of a disco just south of Milwaukee and Wells streets called Oliver'sCabaret. Lotharius, who hailed from the German town of Trier,named the bar Von Trier, German for “from Trier.”Lotharius decorated his bar with German art and décor, including intricatewoodcarvings, ornamental beer steins and antlers (as both wall mounts andchandeliers). Among the colorful stained-glass windows is an importedcustom-made piece featuring a Bitburger Brewery beer advertisement. AfterLotharius bought the adjoining building and converted it into the bar's backroom, he worked with an antique dealer to decorate it. The dealer happened topossess a handcrafted Cyril Colnik chandelier that had been removed from the Pabst Mansionwhen it was on the verge of demolition. Lotharius bought the antique and had itinstalled in the back room, where it remains today.
Over the course ofseveral years, a UW-Milwaukee student, Mike March, painted murals on the wallsand ceilings of the bar depicting scenes of a pastoral German countryside andthe town of Trier.It wasn't long before Von Trier had a reputation for a lively back patio, greathot toddies and an outstanding beer selection that featured German and otherEuropean brews.
On an early fall morningin 1981, Lotharius was struck in the abdomen by a double-barbed, metal-tippedarrow outside his Murray Avenueapartment and later bled to death at the hospital. In the wake of his death,which remains unsolved, bar manager Mark Eckert also became manager of theowner's estate. He purchased a share of the business in 1983, and the rest ofthe business from the last two shareholders in 1989. With the exception of apopcorn machine in 1990, and a new exterior wall to replace the glass blockfa%uFFFDade that was driven through on two separate occasions, Von Trier didn't seemuch improvement over the next two decades. The bar grew dimmer and dirtieruntil, after 31 years at Von Trier, Eckert sold the business to John and CindySidoff, the owners of Hooligan's, in October 2009.
With a team ofrestoration experts, building contractors, bar managers and student workersfrom Right Step, the Sidoffs cleaned Von Trier from top to bottom, scrubbingthree decades of grime from the surfaces. They threw away enough junk, brokenequipment and furniture to fill five large Dumpsters.
Behind the bar, theowners installed new beer lines and towers, refrigerators, freezers and adishwasher, as well as plumbing and electrical fixtures.
“We have about 75 beersright now,” manager Jory Hanson explains. “We'rebringing in a few new beers every week to bring it up to 100.”
Von Trier currentlyserves 12 draft beers, but will be upgrading to 24 when the second draft towerarrives from Germany.Numbering nearly 20, hot drinks such as the %uFFFDber-popular hot buttered rum (dark rum with butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove mixture with a lemon twist) arestill a priority on the menu. An underutilized area of the bar was convertedinto a quaint wine cellar where management plans to host wine tastings. Tocontinue the very-Von Triertradition of free salty popcorn, the new owners also purchased a brand-newpopcorn machine.
The Sidoffs didn't haveto advertise Von Trier's reopening on Dec. 10, 2009they simply turned on thelights. Accordingto Hanson, 235 light bulbs had to be replaced, including all the lamps in theoutdoor beer garden, as well as the spotlights on the front overhang. The long“Von Trier” sign, which hadn't been lit in more than a decade, was restored,and the red neon sign perched above the threshold was repaired. Other thancleaning and updating, the new owners haven't changed the core personality ofVon Trier; they just gave the old bar some love.
“The best complimentswe've gotten so far,” Hanson says, “is that we didn't do anything.”
www.vontriers.com / 2235 N. FarwellAve., Milwaukee, 414-272-1775 / Open daily from 3 p.m. - 2:30 a.m.
