The Wreck Room Bar

The Wreck Room was Milwaukee's first cowboy and Levi/leather bar, opened in July 1972 at 266 E. Erie Street by Wayne Bernhagen and his partner Bill Kindt. Known for its rustic decor, including the front end of a car protruding from a wall and barrels of free peanuts, it became a hub for the city's leather community and the home bar of the Silver Star motorcycle/leather club. The bar hosted long-running anniversary street parties and the Wreck Room Classic softball tournament.

After Bernhagen died of AIDS in 1987, the bar passed to Kindt and gradually declined. It closed in July 1996 when the building was acquired by the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.