Mills 50 dive bar Wally’s Liquor will reopen, longtime owner says

Shuttered dive bar Wally’s Liquors could reopen on Mills Avenue before the end of the year after the longtime owner sold the establishment.

Linda Updike, widow of namesake Wally Updike, said she has sold the 0.35-acre Orlando property with the bar and liquor store to a new undisclosed group.

“We only talked to people that were serious about reopening it as Wally’s,” Updike said. “We didn’t want to talk to anybody that wanted to put up a high-rise.”

Updike wouldn’t disclose the name of the new owners, and documents on the sale have not been recorded yet. Wally’s Mills Avenue Liquors is at 1001 N. Mills Ave. in the Mills 50 District.

Wally’s has been an iconic site on Mills Avenue near downtown since 1954 and was known for its colorful crowds, lewd wallpaper, flowing booze and disregard for closing time.

Local bigwigs such as lawyer John Morgan rubbed elbows with bluecollar workers and was known to shout “For the People” before buying a round of beers, patrons said.

But Wally’s closed in August after Updike’s business partner and Wally’s operator Martin Snellgrove fell ill. Snellgrove died in September.

Updike said the old staff from Wally’s would be hired back with the new ownership and little would change except for the phrase on the sign that says “Same Family Since 1954.”

“I guess they’ll need some paint for that,” she said.

The building will need some renovations before it can reopen, she said. It needs structural repairs after decades of “Band-Aid surgery” in areas such as electrical and the roof.