Nite Beat

Nite Beat was an early Milwaukee lesbian bar, considered the first such bar on the city's south side. Over roughly twelve years it occupied three locations—on West National Avenue and then two sites on South 2nd Street—and was remembered as a no-nonsense "diesel" bar run by a proprietor named Carrie. It advertised in the early GPU News as a women's bar. In June 1972 the venue became the Riviera Show Lounge, beginning a series of renamings; the building was later destroyed by arson in 1974.