Sharon Ward, Safe Ride coordinator and treasurer of the Milwaukee County Tavern League, tended bar at The Last Drop, 1979 S. 15th St., until it closed a few months ago. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
I grew up on the city’s South Side, during a time when a corner bar or often times several, was no more than a block or two away. It was where we purchased penny candy as kids, and also where we’d run into our mailman or next-door neighbor. Needless to say, the tavern culture is deep in Milwaukee, especially on the South Side.
But, times have changed, and a stroll or drive anywhere in the 53204 or 53215 ZIP codes provides evidence that the old-time corner bars are a dying breed. I explored some of the reasons why in the first of my two-part special report on the decline of neighborhood taverns. The second part looks at crime and licensing issues that have also contributed to the decrease in corner bars.
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Favorite of 2017: Last Call: Milwaukee’s South Side taverns
by Edgar Mendez, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service December 29, 2017
Raised in a South Side neighborhood where he still lives, Edgar Mendez is the managing editor of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Mendez is a proud graduate of UW-Milwaukee, where he double majored in journalism and sociology, and of Marquette University, where he earned a master’s degree in communication. He won a 2018 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award and 2014, 2017, and 2018 Milwaukee Press Club Awards for his reporting on taverns, marijuana law enforcement, and lead in water service lines. In 2008, he won a Society of Professional Journalists’ regional award for columns dealing with issues such as poverty, homelessness and racism. His writing has been published by the Associated Press, Reuters, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other media. He has also co-authored three articles published in scholarly journals.
