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John Dye, who owns local cocktail lounge landmarks like At Random, Bryant's and The Jazz Estate, is adding Von Trier, 2235 N. Farwell Ave., to his portfolio.
Dye is buying the high-profile East Side building and the business from John Sidoff, who was, until a few years ago, was also owner of Hooligan's with his wife Cindy.
He'll be taking over in mid-May and it will be business as usual in the meantime.
"I'm not changing anything," Dye says. "Leaving it as a German cocktail lounge. It's super important to the history of the city and the East Side. It's been there for so long, consistently run.
"(I'm) keeping the stein club, keeping the patio, keeping all of that. I'll be cleaning some stuff up, doing some decor changes, but it'll still feel very Von Trier."
The Sidoffs bought Von Trier in 2009 and soon after added food. They considered altering its theme and decor a few years later, but relented after public opposition.
Since 2019 the Sidoffs have leased the German-themed bar and restaurant to Mark Zierath and Brian Eft, who own the Red Mill Inn in Brookfield. Eft also owns O’Brien’s on Vliet Street and Zierath owns Magoo’s on Bluemound.
Von Trier opened in the summer of 1978 in what had been home to Rieder's for more than 50 years. You can read an in-depth history in this Urban Spelunking story.
Dye is a fan of Von Trier and says the patio is the first bar patio he experienced when he moved to Milwaukee. A passionate history lover, he's always approached changes to his bars sensitively and says he will do the same in this case.
Recently, he brought the exterior of At Random in Bay View back to how it looked in its earlier days. At The Estate, he cleaned up the place while maintaining the vibe of the long-lived jazz club.
"It's kind of what I figured out I'm good at," he says. "I'm good at (learning and sharing) the stories of them, and I think I'm good at saving them and good at bringing changes to them that make them more desirable to go to without ruining them."
Dye expects that after he takes over, there might be a brief period during which Von Trier will have to close.
"I'll (be) dealing with Mark just to make sure it's a smooth transition and try to make sure the employees are taken care of the best we can," Dye says.
We'll keep you updated on any temporary closing information.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
