Sugar Shack
Milwaukee
Summary
The Sugar Shack, at 135 E. National Avenue in Milwaukee, was the city's first lesbian bar owned by and for women. Opened in May 1975 by JoAnn Kilsdonk with business partner Sharon Dixon, it advertised as "a bar owned and operated by and for women" and became hugely popular, often drawing crowds beyond its 150-person capacity from across the region. After Kilsdonk and Dixon separated in 1979, Kilsdonk ran the bar until selling it around 1981.
The business later reopened as the lesbian bar D.K.'s Tavern and, by the late 1980s, as the gay men's bar The Triangle.