Photo by Rich Zimmermann
Al Kooper on 12-29-1972 at Humpin' Hannah's
They weren’t just bars that booked bands or halls with stages. They were gathering places for devotees of particular genres or focal points for entire subcultures. Perhaps that’s why many of them were known as rock clubs, not rock bars, even though they served alcohol. The Milwaukee area was home to many vital rock clubs over the past 50 years, so many that we limited ourselves to 10 clubs within the Milwaukee city limits. These are places of memory for many Milwaukeeans, and several are invisible today, erased by the wrecking ball.
Avant Garde Coffeehouse
When it opened in 1962 on Prospect Avenue, the Avant Garde brought an espresso-fueled splash of Greenwich Village to the East Side. The Coffeehouse was a gathering spot for the city’s small Beat subculture and a supportive venue for Milwaukee poets, jazz combos, folk singers, filmmakers and experimental artists. Before it closed in 1968, the club became seminal for its role in exposing local audiences to authentic Black blues performers including such legends as Skip James, Buka White and Magic Sam. The Avant Garde was saluted with an exhibition at UW-Milwaukee’s INOVA in 2013.
The Boardwalk/The Globe
There was a time when you could hear live music at several East North Avenue clubs. Bands played Vitucci’s back room, BBC’s upstairs and even atop Hooligan’s bar every Monday night. But the Boardwalk, along with its later incarnation, The Globe, was the East Side’s musical hub. The Boardwalk’s shotgun-shack layout, with the bar and stage facing each other, added that sense of rock and roll claustrophobia. The labyrinthian basement and green room was truly a scene from This is Spinal Tap. Thursdays through Sundays, the venue booked a healthy diet of locals; Voot Warnings’ Fresh Sounds held down a memorable Sunday residency. Evolving into The Globe, the club moved the stage to the far wall and elevated it for a more big-time feel. Under new management, it was successful in booking all-ages shows, as well as out-of-towners like Chicago’s Mighty Blue Kings. For a while, the location was open as Hotel Foster and most recently as Snack Boys.
Café Voltaire/Odd Rock Café
For performance artist Scott Schanke, Café Voltaire was an art project—an ongoing and evolving installation with patrons, videos and cutting-edge local and national bands in a setting of DIY Bauhaus with a dash of Russian Constructivism. In 1987, Schanke handed the keys of the Bay View location to concert promoter Jack Koshick, who turned it into the Odd Rock Café, a bar for beer and bands, including some notable out-of-towners such as Hawkwind and Bo Diddley. The Odd Rock closed in 1990, and the old frame building (a sailor’s brothel in the early 20th century) stood empty for years before being torn down to make way for the Milwaukee Road townhouses.
Century Hall
The 1890 building had a long history (it had been a bowling alley) before becoming a performance space in the ’70s—a place where musicians and avant-garde theater found a home. Management and focus kept changing. During the early ’80s, Century Hall was a popular restaurant (great fish fry!) where Snopek and other local bands performed. In its final incarnation, it was a popular East Side tavern and—up the stairway—a venue for touring acts ranging from Johnny Thunders to Jonathan Richman, as well as popular locals such as The R&B Cadets and Those X-Cleavers. In 1988, Century Hall exploded in a five alarm fire. A strip mall now occupies its Farwell Avenue location.
Humpin’ Hannah’s
What better location for an underground rock club than a basement? Under the name O’Brad’s, the Riverwest dive had been the home for the city’s best-remembered psychedelic garage band, The Shag, in the ’60s. As Humpin’Hannah’s, the joint became was a destination for once or future legends: Cheap Trick (before they were signed) were practically the house band, and the rafters shook to shows by the MC5 and Lou Reed as well as Milwaukee proto-punk band In a Hot Coma. No surprise that penny beer night was also an attraction. The building was torn down and is now a vacant lot.
The Palms
Originally a cinema, it was called The Electric Ballroom in the ’70s—an ideal name for a rock club, but for some reason, the owners changed it to The Palms. From 1979 through 1986, the big hall on State Street was Milwaukee’s place to go for emerging new music—The Boomtown Rats, The Police, U2 and XTC (on their only North American tour) played The Palms, along with Yipes and other regionally popular bands. The Residents staged the club’s memorable final musical performance. Afterward, it became a strip joint until a fire gutted the building, leaving it to resemble a set from The Third Man. In 2019, ambitious plans surfaced to rehab the empty shell as a neighborhood music and cultural center.
The Scene
The Milwaukee Journal called it the place “where the action is.” From 1965 through 1971, Frank Balistrieri ran the Scene in the old Antlers Hotel, transforming the big-band ballroom into the city’s hottest rock venue. Local acts such as Junior and The Classics played in the lounge (sometimes accompanying go-go dancers). The ballroom became the setting for a fully integrated lineup including Dick Gregory, Smokey Robinson, Little Richard, Sam and Dave, as well as new rock acts such as Jimi Hendrix and Cream (complete with an in-house psychedelic light show company). The Downtown building was razed in 1981, giving way to the construction of the Grand Avenue Mall.
The Starship
The Downtown club arrived in time to midwife the explosion of punk/post-punk in the ’80s. Shepherded by drummer Kenny Baldwin, the former disco (owned by his father) became ground zero for a revolving door of locals and touring acts. Today, it’s a parking lot, but The Starship hosted a who’s who of cult favorites including Pere Ubu, Captain Beefheart, the Ventures, D.O.A. and locals like the Oil Tasters and the Stellas (who grew up to become Die Kreuzen). At times, the club even served as an off-hours practice room for local bands in need of a space. Can we start a petition to get Kenny Baldwin’s image on a postage stamp?
Sugar Mountain
The ‘70s era South Side club on West Forest Home had an unusual set-up for Milwaukee. As any roadie or musician who gigged there will recall, a long stairway rose between the front door and the second floor bar and performance space. Touring regional blues and rock bands played the decently-sized hall—and the management had an open mind for local bands. Milwaukee punks The Haskels did shows there, as did space rock group Arousing Polaris. One assumes the owners were deeply into music. Why else would they have named their club for a Neil Young song only available at the time as a B-side?
Teddy’s
The New York Dolls played there on their 1975 tour, even though it was mostly a jazz and blues club. Fifteen years later, a mechanical bull was installed during the short-lived Urban Cowboy craze. And then, Teddy’s went through several phases of eclectic booking, with mainstream rock acts eventually giving way to newer music and edgier performances by groups such as Those X-Cleavers, Plasticland and Wild Kingdom. In 1989, the building was purchased by promoter Peter Jest and renamed Shank Hall in honor of the mythical Milwaukee concert venue in This is Spinal Tap.
The Toad Café
These days it’s quiet at night on North Broadway just south of Wisconsin Avenue, but for three decades a venue hummed with live music. Originally known as the Stone Toad, the club was at one point a two-story operation with a disco in the basement and live music on the ground floor. (Years later, the disco mirrors were still on the wall downstairs when local bands used it as a practice space.) Originally run by Joe Balistreri, the Stone Toad’s stage hosted Phil Ochs, Willie Nelson, Cheap Trick, The Allman Brothers and Luther Allison. By the time Beverly Manthey took over as the Toad Café, with her trusty employees Susan Medved and Wes Streater, the venue balanced local acts with Living Colour, Reverend Horton Heat, Primus and Kevin Ayers. Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones even made an appearance to check out semi-regulars Trip Shakespeare. The Toad Café was also home to many benefit concerts.
Up & Under Pub
On September 27, 2020, the Up & Under Pub closed its doors. Long known as a music club, it initially got its blues rep when Steve Cohen and his group, Leroy Airmaster, moved their weekly Sunday jam session to the Brady Street pub. Owned by Peter Wolbersen (of Riverwest’s The Tracks), Up & Under welcomed national acts like Otis Rush and offered everything from comedy to jam bands to open mics during its run. The 1885 building currently sits vacant, but with plenty of prime pedestrian traffic, the smart money is this space will one day again be a vital business.
Zak’s North Avenue
Strategically perched like a castle, complete with a watchtower, on the corner of Humboldt and North, Zak’s had been a venue for touring blues bands, bluegrass acts and whatever else came through until Jerome Brisch introduced himself to owner Damian Zak. The guitarist for The Haskels, a pioneering Milwaukee punk rock band, convinced Zak to give the new music a chance. As a result of the club owner’s open mind, Zak’s became the Cream City’s CBGB from 1978-1979, the hub of the emerging local scene and a tour stop for everyone from Pere Ubu to Magazine. The building now stands empty.
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Photo by Rich Zimmermann
Luther Allison at Humpin' Hannah's on 12-2-1972
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Photo by Rich Zimmermann
Manfred Mann at Humpin' Hannah's on 12-7-1972
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Photo by Rich Zimmermann
Tiny Tim at Humpin' Hannah's in 1975
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Photo by Rich Zimmermann
Eddie Harris at Teddy's in 1974
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Photo by Rich Zimmermann
Perry Jordan and J.C. Hartsfield of Heartsfield at The Palms in 1974
