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The bar at the X-Ray Arcade (Cudahy)
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Ahead of the Saturday, Feb. 9, opening of X-Ray Arcade, the new Cudahy bar, music venue, gaming space and arts hub in the building previously home to The Metal Grill and Vnuk’s Lounge, Nick Woods has spent a lot of time familiarizing himself with vintage arcade machines. He’s been learning how to maintain and repair them, and so far it’s proven easier than might be expected.
“It’s been fun learning the quirks of how they work,” says Woods, who also fronts one of Milwaukee’s most prominent punk bands, Direct Hit. “They’re really primitive machines when you get down to it. It’s not like working with software and hardware and networks and all that. It’s basically just the circuit board, the monitor and the power source.”
The venue has also given Woods and his business partners a crash course in all things carpentry. Renovations of the building at 5036 S. Packard Ave. were extensive, and included new plumbing, electrical and acoustical upgrades, replaced floorboards and new bar and kitchen equipment. The bar was refinished, the wood was stained and the walls painted a fresh coat of black.
“It’s been really satisfying for me because I had no idea how to do some of this work,” Woods says. “That’s been the coolest part of me doing this. I worked corporate jobs for the last decade, then I had this double life touring with Direct Hit. But in terms of building and repairing things, I never had any experience doing that.”
Still, some of the skills he picked up playing in a hard-touring band have already come in handy in his new role as the arcade’s general manager. Prep for the venue’s launch has involved plenty of time on the road for Woods and his partners, who have purchased arcade machines from all over the Midwest and driven them back to Cudahy. The NBA Jam machine came from Omaha; Off Road from Chicago and Street Fighter from Detroit. They had to drive up to Minneapolis for Area 51, and down to Ferguson, Mo., for The Simpsons Arcade Game.
Donkey Kong machine at X-Ray Arcade
Other machines include House of the Dead, Maximum Force, Die Hard, Spider-Man and Donkey Kong. X-Ray Arcade will open with more than a dozen machines, in addition to six TVs behind the bar where patrons can play classic console games. There will also be gaming tables and board games. And a vast patio will offer the arcade plenty of room to expand once it’s up and running. Woods says they hope to add a three-seasons room that could have Skee-Ball and foosball.
Those games and the arcade’s all-ages policy will separate X-Ray Arcade from the countless other bars that line Packard Avenue, as will its large, 20-foot stage, which will host shows across the genre spectrum. The venue has already locked in about a dozen shows for March, including a record release show from the Milwaukee metalcore band Wits End on Thursday, March 7.
“Right now we’ve lined up mostly local stuff and really small touring punk bands, but we expected that’s how we’d fill up the calendar for the first few months, since most touring packages want to see that you have the venue up and running first,” Woods says. “I’m hoping by June we’ll have some bigger touring acts.”
A 13-foot projection screen will also enable the venue to host film screenings and community events. The vision, Woods says, was to create a space that could morph into whatever the community wants it to be.
“At the very least, we wanted to at least try to create a place that would be friendly to people under 21,” Woods says. “I grew up going to house shows and DIY spots, and I just don’t see many of them around Milwaukee anymore. The Shorewood Legion Hall is getting torn down in a couple of months, and there are no longer places like the Borg Ward or The Globe, public venues that book consistently. I hope we can fill that need.”
X-Ray Arcade opens Saturday, Feb. 9, at 5036 S. Packard Ave. For more information, visit facebook.com/xrayarcade.
