The River Queen (also Side Door and Jocks)

The River Queen was one of Milwaukee's most legendary gay and drag bars, operating from 1971 at 402 N. Water Street in the historic Cross Keys Hotel, a building dating to 1853. Opened by Al Berry, who had previously run the Rooster, it was an elegant lounge of chandeliers and red velvet remembered as a place where visiting celebrities cocktailed. Berry sold the bar to James O'Connor in 1973.

In 1976 the bar became the center of a major police corruption scandal, after which it closed and then reopened under a series of names including Side Door, the S.S. River Queen, and Jocks. The aging Cross Keys building was gutted by fire in 1979 and demolished in May 1980; the site later became the Milwaukee Public Market.