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Just Us was opened by an attorney from Kenosha (Steve Byers), and a lesbian from Milwaukee (Janet Mueller), and was managed by Lory- who was decked out in a tux for opening night. It is remembered by many as one of the most equally mixed 'LesGay' (men vs. woman) gay bar Milwaukee had seen to date. The bar had a patio, a variety of non-alcoholic drinks, a nice cocktail hour and many weekends there were drag shows or pageants. (Steve Byers did drag from time to time.) Unusual for the time, the bar also had a "non-smoking Lounge", a glass enclosed room with a separate bar that was designated non-smoking: you could sit or stand around in that room, without being surrounded by smoke, and through the large glass windows watch the action throughout much of the rest of the bar, including the dance floor. (The room was a bit on the small side however, and the segregated feeling and inability to mingle with the rest of the crowd was a definite drawback; while great in concept, it didn't work well and wasn't too popular a room to be in.) In addition to having a nice stage/ dance floor area, the bar had a full service kitchen. They started with Friday fish fry on tables around the dance floor area on Friday evenings, and gradually added other food items. They also made the space available for area LGBT groups to hold meetings free of charge. Parking was available in a vacant lot across the street. Unfortunately, the bar didn't last as long as many had hoped. In June 1998, the owners announced that Just Us would be closing. One of the co-owners, Steve Buyers, had recently lost his partner, and Steve decided it was time to move on. The bar held their "Retirement Party" on July 24 and 25 and closed thereafter. (It continued to appear in Bar Directories of In Step newspaper until October, as the guide was only infrequently updated.) Recollections: The following are recollections of others who have been kind enough to submit their personal memories to the webmaster. You are welcome to do the same! (Recollections collected and organized by Jamie Taylor.) ---> Just Us was probably the most equally mixed (men vs. woman) gay bar I have ever seen in Milwaukee. I was sent there on photo shoots a few times over the 4 years it was open. I was covering a drag event there once and brought a date (Don) with me. Let me tell you, it probably wasn’t fair to bring a date on photo shoots. I often had to leave the person standing all by themselves while I was running around getting pictures. This was probably our second date and Don’s first date with me while I was on a photo shoot. We had a couple of shots (he didn’t do shots back then) and a couple of drinks. Halfway through the shoot I looked over at Don and he looked as if he was doing his best to “keep it together.” I went over and asked if he was ok and he said no. I took him to the bathroom where he puked. I felt so bad for him. I know it embarrassed the hell out of him and a couple people came in to make sure we were ok, making it even more embarrassing. I cut the photo shoot short and we went to my car where I called his wife (they were separating at the time) from my car phone (yes back when they were installed) to tell her Don was way too drunk to come home. She was NOT happy. I took him home and tucked him in bed. "I’m not sure why the bar closed but I know parking was an issue and the fact that it was in 5th street. Many gays were afraid to walk in that area for fear of being gay bashed." ---> Just Us had an AWESOME "Fish Fry", similar to the awesome fish fries at M&M club ---> Steve and Janet were such awesome bar owners, not to mention all of the work they do for the LGBT community....two of my most favorite people that Ive ever met, gay straight or whatevah! ---> Steve Byers was one of the owners, he was a lawyer for the Civil Liberty Union, his partner was Offie Hobs and was also the president of the Brew City Bears. I think part of the problem was the size of the bar (where they served drinks) did not allow very much back and forth movement. Sage met there a bunch of times. I also think that because Steve worked two jobs plus running the bar became too much and lead to the decision to close it. 
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Credits: Bar history by Don Schwamb and Jamie Taylor with recollections by other Facebook contributors.
Historical images and scans by Don Schwamb.
Website concept, contents, design and arrangement by Don Schwamb.
Last updated: September-2022.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
