Saying goodbye to This Is It

In August 1968, Catherine "June" Brehm and business partner Michael Latona were shopping for a space to open a new kind of bar. After a long day of shopping, June took a look around the tiny tavern at 418 E. Well Street, and announced "this is it. We aren't going anywhere else."

For the next 56-1/2 years, This Is It served three generations of Milwaukeeans with a spirit of love, acceptance, and unity that customers couldn't always find in the outside world.

This Is It was open the night the Stonewall Uprising began. Milwaukee celebrated major historic victories here -- the nondiscrimination ordinance of 1980, the Gay Rights Law of 1982, the 1st Annual Pride March and Rally of 1989, Tammy Baldwin's election in 1998, local marriage equality in 2014 and national marriage equality in 2015, even the bar's own 50th anniversary in 2018 -- as well as countless moments and milestones across six decades.

This Is It survived the AIDS crisis and the COVID pandemic to become the state's oldest gay bar and one of the ten oldest gay bars in the nation.

Sadly, This Is It closed its doors on Sunday, March 9, after years of unforeseeable financial challenges, including a global pandemic, skyrocketing supplier costs, and a devastating road construction project that left the business almost totally inaccessible (and often, perceived to be closed) for nearly a year.

"At a time when our history is literally being erased and/or rewritten, we are also rapidly losing the heritage sites that matter most," said Michail Takach, Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project chair. "For the past decade, we've all been told repeatedly 'we don't need gay bars anymore; nobody cares if you're gay anymore.' As the outside world becomes more and more hostile, where will people go when these inside worlds no longer exist?"

This Is It led a citywide effort to install the state's first rainbow crosswalks, dedicated in November 2018 after a collaboration between most recent owner George Schneider and community partners. Since 2018, the bar has also hosted the city's only permanent Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project exhibit. 

The fate of the state's only rainbow crosswalks -- erased in the year-long reconstruction of Wells Street -- remains unknown.

"If you still think 'nobody cares if you're gay,' check out the comments sections on every news story about the closing of This Is It.  Since January, we've seen exactly how much people care -- in the form of exclusionary and divisive legislation targeting this community."

"If you still think 'we don't need gay bars anymore,' you're in for a surprise.  In the weeks, months, and years ahead, we're all going to learn the hard way how much the world needed spaces like This Is It:  then, now, and always."

A legacy of unapologetic inclusion

Since day one, the history of This Is It has been obscured by urban legends, although the true story is actually much more remarkable.

June Brehm, a married suburban mother of two, opened This Is It to create a haven for her gay friends. June, a service industry veteran, visited many of the city's gay bars with her restaurant co-workers. She was shocked at what she saw.

“You simply could not get a decent cocktail. You had no idea what you were drinking, because the bottles were unmarked,” said June in a 2008 interview. “And there was never any ice. Never!”

"I told my friends, 'I'm going to find you a better place to be, even if I have to open the damn thing myself,'" said June. "And that's exactly what happened."

“Everyone was so busy telling me I was crazy for wanting to run my own business. You’re a mother with two children, can’t you just be happy with what you have? You’re a woman, what do you want with a bar? These questions didn’t make any sense to me. They called me stubborn, silly, stupid—on and on! It really pissed me off."

"I do remember one person, a gay friend, saying June, you’re going to get yourself in trouble, and for what? And I said, because I know it needs to be done, and if that gets me in trouble, then so be it."

"Let them come for me," she said.

June's commitment to her "boys" eventually created friction in the business. Welcoming gay men -- at a time when it was technically illegal for licensed taverns to serve homosexuals -- was not only controversial, but risked scaring away the downtown professional customers Latona wanted. He warned June that This Is It was getting a bad reputation -- and that it would never survive as a known gay bar.

Frustrated, June made a historic stand that sealed the bar's fate.

"I pulled out two $20 bills and asked him, you tell me which $20 is gay and which $20 is straight,” said June in 2008. “He looked totally confused and just kept getting redder and redder in the face. I don’t know if he was going to have a stroke or what! I just laughed and said, ‘Until you can tell me what the difference is, I’ll serve whoever I want to serve, and you can shut the hell up!’”

Latona exited the business in June 1970. June became sole owner of This Is It for over a decade.

Changing times

After June's 1981 stroke, This Is It became a true family business. Her son, Joe Brehm, managed the bar for the next 25 years. Longtime customers remember the "Joe & June" years as a golden age, despite the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on the local community.

"My grandmother called herself the 'Gay Queen,'" said Sarah Freiheit, Joe's daughter. "We'd go to luncheons at Mayfair Mall and she always seemed to know everyone, everywhere. Everyone just loved her so much."

June passed away January 3, 2010 at the age of 92. Even at her advanced age, June was still involved in the day-to-day operation as a book-keeper and business manager. Her longtime friends were certain she'd live to 100 -- or longer -- due to her lifelong determination.

"My mother always said she'd write a book about working at This Is it, and all the crazy people she met, and all their crazy lives," said Joe Brehm in 2008. "But she loved them all too much to drag them like that."  

This Is It enjoyed a resurgence during the Mad Men era, which repopularized 1960s cocktail culture, design, and ambience for the millennial generation. By 2008, the 40-year-old bar was poised for an unlikely comeback, even as its oldest patrons began to fade away. At the 50th anniversary celebration, owners announced exciting plans to remodel, expand, and reinvent This Is It as a performance, event, and dance space.

George Schneider, who joined the bar in 2010, worked closely with Joe to learn the business. When Joe's health declined, George took on additional responsibilities, and ultimately bought the business with the Brehm family's full blessing. Joe Brehm passed away on April 3, 2016.

In 2021, Brian "Trixie Mattel" Firkus invested in This Is It as a remote business partner. However, Schneider and his team continued to manage the day-to-day onsite operation for the next four years, despite incredible financial, operational, and logistical challenges to the survival of the business.

“Some seemed to think Trixie came in with a bag of money and saved us... That’s not what happened,” said George in a 2022 interview. "This was an investment. This was not a bar rescue."

In recent years, This Is It expanded not only its space, but June's original vision of support and inclusion, by adding a non-alcoholic 17+ night for queer youth and serving as a home base for Milwaukee's ballroom house culture. These changes introduced the space to an entirely new generation, as well as communities of color who might not always have been welcomed in white-owned queer spaces.

This Is It announced its closure on social media on Sunday, March 9. Unlike other legacy gay bars, This Is It did not host a closing celebration. However, its customers hosted an unofficial celebration in Cathedral Square on Sunday, March 9, featuring DJ Femme Noir and other local artists.

Final farewells

At the time of the Stonewall Uprising in June 1969, Milwaukee already had three dozen known gay bars, and continued to host a surprising number -- for a city of our size -- until the early 2000s.

However, with the exit of This Is It, Milwaukee now has seven surviving queer spaces: Fluid, Walker's Pint, Woody's, Harbor Room, Kruz, Pop and La Cage. The title of the longest-running gay bar in Wisconsin now falls to Green Bay's Napalese Lounge (opened in 1983.)

"The closure of This Is It! means the loss of a space where people could freely express themselves, connect with chosen family, and celebrate their identities," said Ricardo Harris of the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project. 

"It also represents the erasure of history, as such spaces are often some of the few places where LGBTQ history is preserved and honored outside of books and museums. For local LGBTQ businesses and performers, it means losing economic and creative opportunities."

"Ultimately, the loss of This Is It! is deeply felt because it was more than just a bar, it was a home, a cultural landmark, and a place of resistance and joy."

"The abrupt closure of This is It in Milwaukee is a reminder of the fragility of LGBTQ community in the state," said Don Schwamb, History Project founder and This Is It customer since 1971. "It is unfortunate to lose 'gay' bars as gathering spaces, which during the 1980s and 1990s were the lifeblood of the community."

"We at the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project encourage all in the LGBTQ community to support those bars and businesses that still survive. We will continue to ensure that all LGBTQ people, businesses and organizations live on permanently by preserving our collective memories and knowledge -- so that future generations can remember, learn, and take inspiration from them."

Learn more about This Is It at our website.