From 1968 to 2024, This Is It! stood as Wisconsin’s oldest continuously operating gay bar — a bold, simple tavern that became a home for anyone who needed one.
Inside those walls: nights full of laughter, drinks, drag, and desperate hope; a place where closeted kids, working-class queers, and wandering outsiders could come, be seen, and belong. From resisting shame in the ’70s, surviving the AIDS crisis, rallying through Pride milestones, to dancing under neon into the 21st century — This Is It! survived all of it.
Wearing this sweatshirt is more than nostalgia — it’s a salute. To the founders who opened the doors when the world was still a little too loud. To the patrons who found joy, love, solidarity, and safety at 418 E. Wells Street. To the generations who knew that some places aren’t just bars — they’re home.
For a city, a community, a history: this one’s for Milwaukee.
