Wisconsin's oldest gay bar, co-owned by Trixie Mattel, has now closed

Yahoo

11-03-2025

This Is It!, the oldest gay bar in all of Wisconsin co-owned by George Schneider along with RuPaul's Drag Race superstar, entrepreneur, and Out100 honoree Trixie Mattel, announced that it is officially closing for good as of Sunday, March 9 — a surprising development to fans and attendees who seemingly didn't realize that the establishment was on the verge of shutting down.
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Since opening its doors in 1968, This Is It! has been the oldest continually running gay bar in the state of Wisconsin through its founder, June Brehm, and her son, Joseph Brehm. Its subsequent owner, Schneider, started working at This Is It! as a bartender in 2010 and acquired the bar in 2012.
Schneider spent 2019 investing in the expansion of the bar — which, unfortunately, preceded the lockdown guidelines of 2020 in response to the spread of COVID-19. Just like many other bars at the time, This Is it! faced financial hurdles that almost led to its shutdown. Except that Trixie, a drag superstar born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who credited This Is It! as the first gay bar she visited after turning 21, stepped in to become a co-owner of the establishment in 2021 and saved it from closing immediately.
Sadly, the official social media pages for This Is It! announced Sunday, March 9 that the bar was now closing effective immediately. The full statement shared on Instagram and Facebook (re-shared via @Drag_Crave) read:
"This summer would have been the 57th anniversary of This is It!. Unfortunately, that celebration will not come to pass. As of today, we have closed our doors permanently. The COVID crisis and the years following 2020, coupled with the 8 month closure of our street and sidewalk last year, put the business in a position that we could not ultimately overcome.We would like to thank all the staff, performers, and friends who made the magic of This is It! happen over the years. We also thank everyone in the community for the many years of loyal patronage. This is It! has been so much more than a nightlife spot for the queer community. It has been a gathering place, a safe place, a second home, and the memories made at the bar will stay in our hearts forever. We want you to know that we did everything we could to keep our doors open for you.One last time, we honor our founders June and Joseph Brehm. While they are no longer with us, they would have been fighting the last few years along side us. Their memory and legacy lives on in our hearts too.It's with much sadness, but with so much love, we bid all of you farewell. Take care of each other, and please continue to support local and queer-owned businesses."
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On Sunday, Schneider also shared a personal message on social media recalling his own experiences at This Is It! and processing the loss of a historic venue that he had been committed to for 15 years.
Schneider's personal statement read:
"On November 8th, 2010 I worked my first shift at This is It!, and what a journey it's been since! As you may have heard, that journey has come to an end. The bar has closed permanently as of today.Losing an institution like This Is It! is shocking and surprising. Let it be a reminder to continue to support local businesses however we can. We are all at risk in this unstable world. Sentiment, nostalgia, and memories don't pay the bills.The bar had been struggling for some time. After I went all-in on the expansion in 2019, the bar was forced to shut down for COVID. This nearly forced us to go under, but we survived. We were then challenged by endless annual construction - the streetcar, park upgrades, utilities, and the other projects beyond our control. We also have had no neighbors for nearly all the time. We never had an opportunity to fully recover.Last year's closure of our street and sidewalk for nearly 8 months was something the bar did not ultimately survive. I held on as long as I could. We did our best, and we tried. I have given This Is It! my blood, sweat, tears, and every last dollar I had to try and keep it afloat. I gave the bar my all — literally everything — and I am proud of that. I just wish it was enough to keep us open.I don't know what's next for me. I'm nervous to start over. Closing the bar was never part of the plan. After being so dedicated to something, it's difficult to conceive of what's next - but I remember that adversity rapidly reminds us of our strengths. Being so completely immersed in the bar and nightlife culture, I have forgotten many of those strengths, my accomplishments, and the experience that allowed me get where I am. I look forward to rediscovering these parts of me.I am also thinking a lot about the people that I've worked with up until today. It weighs heavy with me. Their worlds have been upended by the closure too, so please support them however you can. I am eternally grateful for all of them, and owe them so much.In closing, I wish all the best to our queer community, our performance community, our staff at the bar over the years, and to our loyal patrons who kept us going - even when things got rough. You were the magic of it all for me. I'll be seeing you. Thank you."
www.facebook.com
George Schneider
One day later, rumors and speculation ran wild not only between locals, but also through social media due to the venue being co-owned by Trixie, one of the most popular and successful drag artists of all time.
Schneider responded with another statement, shared on Monday, March 10, elaborating on the reasons why This Is It! closed:
"Ok… Here's the tea… There is none. The money ran out. I closed suddenly because we needed to make sure we had enough money to pay the staff for the hours they worked, it would be terrible of me to continue to operate and THEN not pay the staff. That would've been irresponsible.The problem was systemic. I appreciate all of the calls for fundraising, but the truth is that business was already down 20% organically since the pandemic and because of inflation, that put the bar in a breakeven situation for several years. THEN last year's construction project pushed revenues to over 50% down, and that yielded a net loss for every month that we operated.I put tons of my own personal money into the bar to try to keep us afloat and drained my personal savings completely. I never asked Trixie to put any money in because I saw what happened when I put all of my money in, it temporarily created a cushion, but the problem did not go away.It would've been irresponsible of us to think that throwing more money at the problem would fix it."
www.facebook.com
George Schneider
In the same statement, Schneider also took time to address the optics of This Is It! closing despite its attachment to Trixie — whose successful career running companies like Trixie Cosmetics and the Trixie Motel, touring around the world, and starring in several TV shows and web series felt contradictory to these struggles of the bar.
Schneider wrote:
"We never called for fundraising or alerted people that we were struggling because guess what people would've said: 'Trixie has money, make Trixie pay for it.' Again, that's not smart business practice. And we would've been dragged for asking for help, or at the very least ignored. Kind of a catch 22 situation.So, no conspiracies, no hidden agenda, just no money and tons of debt that added up on top of the debt that we had to assume during Covid in order to stay alive. When I expanded the bar, we forecasted and budgeted for a volume of business that would sustain operations and be profitable. In the one year that we had to use the new space before the shutdown, we were operating well above and beyond those numbers.When I said that Covid changed everything, I meant it, because we never got back to those numbers. You can say that I was an irresponsible operator, but how in the hell could I plan for the last five years?I know a lot of people have said, 'Oh it was busy in there, I don't understand why it closed…' to that I say it was busy from your perspective yes, not from a numbers perspective. And what days did you go out? Was it Friday and Saturday only because those days are always busy? The business never recovered after Covid, period — and trying to combat on top of that construction proved impossible.Please understand that I am the last person to want to throw in the towel, and if it wasn't completely necessary, I wouldn't have done it. I hope that you can have peace with that. Staying open for a grand farewell would've been a logistical nightmare. You may not agree with how things went down, but I did what I had to do, and I did everything I could do. I will always cherish my years at This Is It!. This is the last I will say on the matter."
www.facebook.com
George Schneider
In May 2021, Trixie shared her first YouTube video as the official new co-owner of the establishment.
Under the title "Trixie Learns Bartending at This Is It!," the Drag Race winner discussed her own experiences as a young gay person finding this gay bar in Milwaukee and understanding the importance of queer spaces like this.
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- YouTube
Trixie went on to film another YouTube video at This Is It!, which was released in December 2022.
In the video, This Is It! co-owner — Trixie's business partner — Schneider made a special appearance to help explain certain regional differences in the making of a cocktail.
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- YouTube
Last but certainly not least, This Is It! was also featured in the first season of Trixie Motel, which premiered on Discovery+ and became a Max original series over time.
During this segment for the renovation series, Trixie got to choose a "Signature Pink Drink" for the Trixie Motel with the help of fellow Drag Race winner (and also a Milwaukee, Wisconsin queen!) Jaida Essence Hall.
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- YouTube
Following an incident that led to a broken window at the This Is It! bar in May 2024, Trixie issued a response published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which reads:
"This Is It! is not Milwaukee's favorite gay bar, it is Milwaukee's favorite bar. Everyone in town has a personal story or anecdote, or sometimes even a night they can barely remember. The exterior has rainbow accents that invite all walks of life into the space, and remind people to come in and act right. It reminds people that even if you're homophobic, not in this (expletive) building you're not."
Out has reached out to Trixie Mattel for comment.
This story is still developing…