Watering Holes

During Prohibition, the consumption of alcohol carried on in the Brew City, often inside hidden speakeasies like “Mike’s Soft Drink Parlor” at First and Washington streets (the building now home to the c.1880 restaurant) and Kegel’s Inn in West Allis (which is still in operation), according to the Milwaukee County Historical Society’s magazine. At Mike’s, booze was stashed in an armoire with a false bottom, and delivered from an upstairs bedroom through copper pipes. And at Kegel’s, the proprietor brewed beer in the basement, with a button-operated, motorized trap door leading down.