Editor's Note: Below is a press release provided by the family of Mike Bondar.
Milwaukee honors its legends. For more than a century, Wolski’s Tavern has stood as a Milwaukee Lower East Side institution, a place where time slows down, laughter gets louder, and closing time always feels like an achievement.
The Wolski’s family shares bittersweet news: the oldest brother, longtime bartender, caretaker, and storyteller of the tavern, Mike Bondar, has passed away peacefully, surrounded by family and friends.
Mike – a great-grandson of the founders – has been a fixture behind the bar for decades. Known for his wit, warmth, and the way he could remember your order before you even sat down, Mike will always be remembered as part of the Wolski’s tradition.
Founded in 1908 and ensconced in a residential area in Milwaukee on Pulaski Street, just north of Brady Street, Wolski’s has been run by the same family for four generations. From its modest roots to being named by Esquire magazine as part of America’s “Best Bar City.” Wolski’s has thrived on community, camaraderie, and the sense that closing down the bar isn’t just a badge of honor – it’s a rite of passage.
The world-famous “I Closed Wolski’s” stickers. Whimsical and heartfelt, and from Mike’s creative brain, the ubiquitous sticker became part of the Milwaukee fabric like Robin Yount or The Fonz. You can scarcely walk down a street without seeing the sticker on a car bumper. People had to ask what it was about, and it was an inside joke that became known internationally: Spotted internationally in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean. To name a few - You can’t escape them.
Mike often said the stickers started as a joke in the 1970s: A crew of diehard customers wanted some recognition for sticking around from noon to 2 a.m., and Mike created the sticker as his answer and the sticker was posted everywhere by loyal Wolski’s patrons.
“It’s hard to picture Wolski’s without Mike,” said the Bondar family. “But just like our great-grandparents before us, he made sure this place would live on – not just for our family, but for Milwaukee. The tavern will remain open, the stickers will keep circulating the globe, and Mike’s spirit will always be on Pulaski Street.”
As Wolski enters its next chapter, the family invites everyone to raise a glass in Mike’s honor. Stay late. Laugh loud. And if you close Wolski’s, you know you’re part of something bigger – a story that spans generations.
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