Lampost Bar
Milwaukee
Summary
The Lampost Bar operated at 440 W. Michigan Street in downtown Milwaukee from about 1946 to 1963. Owned by brothers Charles and John Piscuine, it was a long-standing underground gambling venue that drew federal raids in the early 1960s. The bar has a place in early LGBTQ history through a 1958 case in which bartender Samuel Eskin was arrested for arranging meetings between men at the nearby Royal Hotel.
It also drew attention in 1960 and 1962 for letting female performers socialize with patrons in defiance of a city ordinance.