"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com is back for another round! The whole month of February, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs -- including guides, the latest trends, rapid bar reviews and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!
Club Tap
8828 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa
(414) 257-4142
clubtap.com
Open 365 days a year, Club Tap is Tosa's old reliable. It's been there nearly as long as anyone can remember. It opened in 1939 and many believe it to be the oldest bar in Wauwatosa. On a recent visit, bartender Jason was amicable and less than five minutes after taking a place at the bar, another patron fired up a conversation. That's Club Tap, a neighborhood place of city-wide renown.
Menu: There are 14 beers on tap including Fat Tire and Blue Moon, imports like Bass and Guinness and hometown favorites like Lakefront's Riverwest Stein and High Life. But there's a vintage Schlitz sign out front, so how can you resist a bottle of the Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous?
Price: Daily specials, like $1.50 Point tappers, Schlitz cans and Blatz are a bargain.
When to go: Anytime. Literally, anytime. It's open every day of the year.
Dress: Casual, baby, casual.
Don't miss: The free wi-fi! Club Tap may feel kinda old school, but don't let appearances fool you. And I hear the tacos are fab, although I've not had the pleasure myself. Some of Tosa's best pizza is right next door at Lalli's. Stop in and bring home a pie.
Parking: Street parking isn't too hard to find, although prohibited on the south side of North Avenue.
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.
