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“Everything we do is a passion project,” says Bars & Recreation co-owner David Poytinger as he and his business and life partner Marla Poytinger show me around the former automotive service garage that is soon to be home to the latest Bars & Rec project, Slingshot Bar, 6325 W. National Ave. in West Allis.
Slingshot will open on Oct. 9 with a ribbon cutting event, followed by a grand opening weekend, Oct. 10-11.
“But this is really a passion project,” David adds, his hands covered in concrete dust from hours spent grinding the floor smooth.
“It has to be, for all the work we’re putting into it.”
Bars & Recreation is all about ideas. You’ve likely heard of at least some of their numerous bars, each of which focuses on a fun activity, be it axe-throwing, karaoke, sipping and painting, build-your-own miniature golf.
Slingshot Bar – due to open next week – is the most plainly named.
“There is no precedent for a slingshot bar, " David says. “Even axe-throwing, when we did it, there was a model that had been done – though we were doing it nicer – (but here) we are really just kind of making this up as we go.”
Marla says the concept and the building popped up at more or less the same time and were a perfect fit.
“It was 'we have to have that building' and we also have this awesome concept,” she says, “So it was perfect. We never really considered anything else seriously for this space.”
The space dates back to 1948, when it was constructed as a service center for Doering Motors.
Doering Motors was founded by Joseph Doering as Northwest Chrysler Dealers around 1925 and was initially located on North Avenue near Sherman Boulevard, though in 1926 it had moved east to around 27th and North and by the following year had landed at what is now 5602 W. North Ave., where it remained until the early 1930s.
During this era, it seems the company was also dealing in vehicles made by the now-long-gone Elcar Motor Co., based in Elkhart, Indiana, as well as used cars.
In 1929, Joseph Doering was honored with membership in the Chrysler One Hundred Club, which was bestowed by the Detroit carmaker on the 100 salesmen with the best sales records.
Sometime between summer 1932 and summer 1934, Doering moved to 6317 W. Greenfield Ave. in West Allis, across from the Paradise Theater, where it would remain for many years.
In 1935, the company was selling Packards, Plymouths, Dodges and Chevrolets.
Newspaper references suggest there was a seemingly short-lived presence at 7210 W. North Ave., too. Perhaps an office.
While continuing to operate on 63rd and Greenfield, Doering filed a permit in May 1938 for a new single-story service garage with a mezzanine, nearby at 63rd and National.
The garage, estimated to cost $60,000, was designed by engineer Emil A. Abendroth of Worden-Allen, an engineering and architecture firm.
Abendroth was born in Milwaukee in 1905 and tragically lost his father three years later. He attended University School, graduating in 1923, and went to UW Madison, where he graduated in 1926 with a degree in civil engineering.
After working for many years at Worden-Allen – a steel fabricator and engineering firm – where he rose to become president, Abendroth also designed the antenna atop the Hilton hotel in Downtown Milwaukee.
Resigning as president of Worden-Allen in 1964, he founded and was president of Abendroth & Associates, which offered engineering and architectural services. Among its projects was the mid-70s remodeling of Pulaski High School.
Abendroth, who died in 1987, also launched Global Medicare Inc., which built nursing homes, and in 1971 founded Laureate, which built senior housing, too. A branch of that company, Laureate Design, did renovation work on Laureate properties.
The Doering garage that he designed was built by Permanent Construction, whose William Whitten had a connection to Abendroth.
Whitten, who was born in Chicago but later lived in Brown Deer and was, according to his obituary, “a pioneer member of the Brown Deer School Board,” was involved in planning Brown Deer High School and as, “he liked to build things, especially large buildings,” it’s fitting that his work included constructing a meat packing plant in Cudahy, an International Harvester factory and a Morton Salt facility in the Menomonee Valley.
A former president of the Associated General Contractors of Greater Milwaukee, Whitten began his career as a part-timer at Worden-Allen in Chicago, where he surely knew Abendroth, and later became an estimator at the company, rising in the ranks and moving to Milwaukee where the company was headquartered.
When Worden-Allen expanded into construction by establishing Permanent Construction, Whitten moved over there and rose to become vice president. Later, the company became independent of Worden-Allen and Whitten – who passed away in 1981 – became its president.
By the time the permit was pulled, excavation work for the Doering garage had already begun.
By early June, Permanent was working on the foundation walls, which were completed by early July. Some sort of design switch – not specified on the surviving paperwork – required new forms to be submitted in August, but by mid-October the roof was on and by mid-December interior finishes were underway.
The project was finally approved in mid-May 1949 and on July 20 the Milwaukee Sentinel reported that, “Doering Motor has the service department completed in a new building at 6325 W. National Ave. and is doing business, although additional work is likely to take another 30 to 60 days to complete.
“Doering, a Plymouth-Dodge dealer, plans to use its old building at 6317 W Greenfield Ave, for sales of new and used cars with the service facilities concentrated in the new structure. All new equipment includes floor plug-in connections for exhaust vents.”
Doering continued to use the building even after the dealership moved out to 102nd and Cleveland on the west side of West Allis at the dawn of the 1970s, but not for long.
By spring of 1973, Adams Radiator Service, founded in the 1950s and located on 92nd and National, moved in, staying only a few years.
By 1978, an unnamed business was offering used cars at that address in classified ads that ran into late 1980. (The odd appearance of two classified ads seeing cocktail waitresses at the address in 1978 for a bar called O-Zone remains a mystery.)
In 1979 Doering had four locations, including ones in Waukesha, Hartford and Appleton and employed 160 people. Doering’s grandson Buzz – who had taken over from his own father – had been elected chairman of National Dodge Dealers Advisory Council.
The dealerships appear to have been active until around 1986 and these days Doering continues to exist in the form of a vehicle leasing company.
Meanwhile, back at the former garage, a pattern- and mold-making company called CasTech set up shop in the space, running CNC machines and other equipment.
However, in 2019 New Dalton Holdings Corp., which by then had taken over, closed CasTech and another nearby business, Motor Castings Co., eliminating 117 jobs here as, the Journal Sentinel reported, “New Dalton said in a statement. ‘Plans are underway to move a significant portion of Motor Castings casting production to Dalton Corporation, Warsaw, Ind’."
It wasn’t so long after that the Poytingers arrived on the scene, purchasing the building in early 2022.
But, says Marla, when Punch Bowl Social closed in the Deer District, “We were unexpectedly sidetracked by The New Fashioned,” which opened in the space across the plaza from the Fiserv Forum in April 2024.
“It was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”
Now, Slingshot Bar isn’t only the first-ever slingshot-themed bar, it’s also the first time the Poytingers have been their own general contractors on a build-out, a challenge they say has been softened by working with Waukesha-based Thrive Architects.
“They really helped us make a plan to get it done,” David says.
While the space was pretty much wide open, that doesn’t mean it’s been easy, says Marla, adding, “it was a complete renovation. The really big challenge was the environmental cleanup.”
Then they had to remove hoists from the floor and grind the concrete. They removed glass block and replaced it with new glazing. Some big window openings were blocked up.
A giant bar and the booths at the slingshot shooting range were constructed, new electricity and plumbing were installed, as were new restrooms ... the list goes on.
But, the Poytingers say, it’s been a good experience.
“These things are very unique,” says David. “It's hard to tell a designer or a general contractor, ‘we're building a slingshot bar’ or ‘we're building a build-your-own mini golf bar.’ A lot of these things come out of our brain. It's the nature of what we do.”
There’s a lot of uncharted territory to navigate in opening Slingshot Bar, where shooters will be in their own booths but can shoot at any and all of the targets out on the range. There will be all kinds of things to shoot at, including an old Jeep, objects hanging from the ceiling that will swing and spin when they’re struck.
The mezzanine will have an office and private events space with restrooms and a waiting area underneath. Next to the main entrance is a garage door that can swing up to accommodate seating that will spill out onto a space next to the sidewalk.
On the 64th Street side of the building there will be a mural that will be painted soon.
“That's the really fun creative part that our team is working on behind the scenes to get ready as David is building out the rest of the space,” Marla says.
Meanwhile, David is working long hours on every aspect of the place. As we pass a newly installed metal door and frame, he proudly shows off how square it is.
“Look it opens without catching at all,” he says, laughing that Marla doesn’t seem especially impressed. But I am. I’d be proud, too.
So, would they do it again by themselves?
“Now’s not the right time to ask,” David says with a smile. “Don’t ask me now. No, really, I would for sure. Marla would for sure.
“We are always very involved in the projects, and (here) at the end of the day, we have so much more control.”
Marla adds, “We've always been so involved that it got to the point that we had learned it all and David had learned so much. He was doing all the carpentry anyway and then overseeing a lot of the subcontractors, being on site and it was like, ‘I think we can do this. Let's try it.’
“It's been awesome because we can set the timeline, we have the control, financially, and it's much more efficient.”
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. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
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 been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
