"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee is back for another round, brought to you by Great Northern Distilling: grain to glass spirits, handmade in Wisconsin. The whole month of March, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs – including guides, the latest trends, bar reviews, the results of our Best of Bars readers poll and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!
Late this afternoon, we stopped by the soon-to-be-completed bar Urban Bay View, located at 939 E. Lincoln Ave., formerly home to Gerry’s Diamond Tap.
We expressed how hard it was to believe it was the same space.
"It’s not the same space," said Paul Jonas, owner of Urban. "Well, the walls, the footprint is the same."
The previous tavern was ensconced in maple wainscoting for decades, but Jonas and crew removed it to reveal tin patterned walls, ceiling and a mahogany wood-topped bar. Stephanie Quinn from Modern Edge Design is handling the design, which will be a blend of warm tones, wooden, re-purposed tables and a large, circular fireplace suspended from the ceiling in the lounge area.
"It’s going to be a cozy fireplace that 20 people will be able to sit around," says Jonas.
The plan is to open on or around April 15, exactly one year to the day that Jonas purchased the building, which also has two loft apartments that are for rent on the second story.
"There really aren’t any major hurdles left; we just have to get the work done and the final inspections," says Jonas.
A 7-foot-by-10-foot sliding door will eventually open onto a deck that will wrap around two sides of the building but, this summer, will be the threshold to a street-side patio.
Urban will offer 16 beers on tap, a large selection of bottled and canned beers, along with four cocktails on tap and a full bar. Paul Kennedy, currently the manager at Jonas’ other bar, Tonic Tavern, will manage Urban Bay View.
Urban, named for Jonas’ late father – Urban Jonas – will have a subtle golf theme in honor of his dad’s favorite pastime.
Here are eight photos from today's visit of the work in progress.
1. Tee time: April 2016
2. Surprise: tin ceiling!
3. Surprise: tin walls!
4. Surprise: mahogany-topped bar!
5. Big plans
6. Future tabletop
7. A very pleased papa
8. An Urban welcome, coming soon
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
