No one can claim that the business owners on the East Side lack creativity. Nine Below, an indoor “maker’s” mini golf bar opened on North Ave. in 2016. Sip & Purr, Milwaukee’s first cat café recently announced that it would be opening at 2021 E. Ivanhoe Pl. later this year. Now Marla and David Poytinger, owners of Nine Below, announced that they would open AXE MKE, an axe-throwing bar, at 1924 E. Kenilworth Pl.
In case you didn’t know, an axe-throwing bar is exactly what it sounds like. “Think of a cross between bowling and darts,” Marla Poytinger said in a press release. “You can rent a lane or two, grab drinks from the bar and kick back for some friendly ‘lumberjack-style’ competition.”
AXE MKE, which is slated to open this summer, will feature several throwing cages (also known as “pits”), a full bar and a private event space.
East Side BID executive director Kristin Godfrey sees AXE MKE as a positive reflection of where the neighborhood is going. “The East Side is truly Milwaukee’s entertainment destination,” she wrote in an email. “With entertainment options like the Back Room at Colectivo, The Jazz Estate, Milwaukee Film, the Oriental Theatre, Landmark Lanes and Nine Below, we were already home to the most fun in Milwaukee. AXE MKE is going to take that fun-factor up another notch and I will be the first person in line to experience it!”
A rendering of AXE MKE's interior.
