Photo by Marie Schneider, Wild Elegance Photography
Two legends of Milwaukee’s LGBTQ scene, drag superstar Trixie Mattel and the city’s oldest gay bar, This Is It!, are joining forces. Trixie, a local girl who achieved international stardom by winning the third season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” is now a co-owner of This Is It! (locally known as Tits).
Officially, this means that Trixie will be doing virtual appearances at Tits and participate in the creative direction of the institution to fend off the devastating effects that COVID has on bars and performing spaces. Unofficially, this is a heartfelt project for Trixie to work with the space that catapulted her onto the queer stage. Together with Tits’ owner George Schneider, she wants to bolster a space that is a home before being a business.
“[This Is It!] is the first gay bar I’ve ever went to regularly,” Trixie recalls. “I remember going in there at 21, meeting some of my best friends there, I remember being served my first drink by George who is now my business partner. Until you are a queer person going to queer spaces, you don't realize how much more important it is than just a business. When I started going there regularly and feeling a sense of community and meeting my best friends, it's the bar that really facilitated me becoming 100% comfortable with myself, one drink at a time.”
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Trixie, who now lives in Los Angeles, has seen firsthand the ravages of COVID in what used to be the mecca of queer-owned businesses. After witnessing half-a-dozen gay bars shuttering permanently, it pushed her to invest in the spaces that matter to her. The partnership plans with Tits were years in the making, and COVID rushed them forward. In spirit, Trixie and Tits are old friends coming together. “Now, if I die, I’ll have to will my shares of the bar to someone—that’s the main difference,” she jokes.
“I've bought my mum a house in Milwaukee and I've bought myself a house in Milwaukee,” says Trixie. The one thing that has stopped her from “coming home” is the pandemic; but it is only a hindrance to her projects. “I want to spend more time at home, period, so this bar will hopefully be for me a great reason to come home a lot more, to spend a lot more time finding ways for the bar to work.”
International Experience Meets Local Clout
“I have the unique experience of basically performing in every gay bar on the planet, so it's really helped hone some great instincts for what works and what doesn't work,” says Trixie. Before the pandemic took some wind out of her sails, the drag icon was unstoppable; she toured all over the globe and performed with the greatest. Even robbed of touring, she maintains an immense online fanbase.
Photo by Marie Schneider, Wild Elegance Photography
George Schneider
Trixie brings celebrity and clout to the table, but This Is It! lacks neither. As Milwaukee’s oldest gay bar, continuously operating since 1968, Tits is a landmark of the LGBTQ community. “I always bounce ideas off Trixie. I think what is most fruitful about this partnership is that we are both not only dedicated to the space itself but also preserving the institution that is This Is It!,” says George Schneider. They are both approaching this partnership as equals and as friends.
“This is it! is a bar that is doing extremely well for years—decades!—so I have the advantage here,” Trixie quips. “I'm not coming into a struggling business—we’re taking something we already love and we get to brainstorm ways to always make it better.”
“What I always loved about working with Trixie is that she is not afraid to stick her neck out there, take a calculated risk in business, and as far as the bar is concerned, always willing to contribute new creative ideas, thinking outside of the box,” Schneider explains. “She brings a global perspective to the floor. She has the perspective of having been pretty much in every queer space around the world, being able to tap into that experience and translate it with a local flair into fun, interesting, exciting new elements of the bar.”
Fans of Trixie Mattel know that she is a constant fountain of ideas when prodded; when asked about her involvement with Tits, she was eager to rattle off: “I've been paying a lot closer attention to the attendance of the shows, the performers in the shows and what performers we have regularly. I keep an eye on all the new talent in Milwaukee, and I pay attention to what all the other gay bars on the planet are doing. George and I are having really frequent check-ins talking about things we've seen happening in other cities that we'd like to incorporate—gay bars are always innovating!” Another idea she is toying with: Being hands-on in the bar and bartending as Trixie Mattel in full drag attire.
She continues, explaining an idea she intends to share with her 1.2 million Youtube subscribers: “I would love to do some drink-making at the bar on my channel, learning how to make signature drinks. I think that would be really fun! I just want to make This Is It! more of a destination, so people are like, ‘Oh, we're going to Milwaukee? Trixie Mattel has a bar there, we have to go!’”
Bolstering the Community Through COVID
If the decision to enter the bartending business in the middle of a pandemic seems odd, Trixie has one of her usual quips to offer: “When I fly to Milwaukee, I usually go to the bar before I even go see my mum. That's how I feel about the place.”
Photo by Marie Schneider, Wild Elegance Photography
Worried patrons should keep in mind that This Is It! has been following all the safety restrictions to the letter. “Obviously everyone is required to wear a mask, everyone must remain seated, the tables are socially distant, and we also limit the number of available chairs that we have,” George Schneider explains. “We've upgraded our air filtration system, and we've also made some systematic changes behind the scenes that really allow for a safe environment for the patrons and the staff.”
For shows, the performers have protection—even the drag queens have shields on—and access to the building requires a temperature check.
Beyond that, George Schneider explains, “this is not just a personal and professional investment on Trixie’s part. What it really comes down to is an investment in the whole LGBTQ community, not just in Milwaukee but in a global sense. To show that, even in these dark times, we still invest in the community. It is a boost of enthusiasm, morale, and I think there’s a great deal of excitement surrounding this!”
