This Is It

This Is It! was a gay bar and lounge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, opened on August 1, 1968 by June Brehm, a straight married woman who wanted a safe space for her gay friends. For more than five decades it was the oldest continuously operating gay bar in Wisconsin and one of the oldest in the United States, serving as a community anchor through many eras of social change. It closed permanently in 2024, with its closing widely reported in early 2025. Even after shutting its doors, This Is It! remains a landmark of Milwaukee and Wisconsin LGBTQ+ history and a reminder of how long-running bars anchored queer community life.