MILWAUKEE — Mike Bondar helped transform Wolski's Tavern into a Milwaukee institution through a simple joke that became a global phenomenon. The bumper stickers he created as a gag for regular customers in the early 1970s—or so the legend goes—have since traveled to every corner of the world, from Germany to Mount Kilimanjaro.
READ ALSO | The man who put 'I Closed Wolski’s' on the map: Farewell to Mike Bondar
Sean McCarthy, Bondar's nephew and current assistant manager of the tavern, said Bondar was just 20 or 21 when he became the bar's owner and worked at the establishment for many years.
"Mike bought Wolski's with his brother Bernie from their aunt back in the early 70s, I think, and retired, I believe, in 2009, so for a very, very long time," McCarthy said.
While McCarthy wasn't even born when the famous "I Closed Wolski's" bumper stickers originated, the story he has always been told is that it happened during the Vietnam War era, when regular customers joked about deserving recognition for their dedication to the bar.
Watch: Wolski's Tavern stickers carry owner's legacy around the world; nephew says stickers 'will never go away'
"As a joke, he made the bumper stickers for them and only had whatever minimum number you needed to get printed and gave it to his buddies," McCarthy said. "And then people started asking for them, because they saw it and thought it was cool, and they said, well, we'll just make more and only hand them out at the end of the night. And it just took off. So it was very much an accident that blew up."
The tavern now orders between 2,000 and 5,000 stickers annually to meet demand from patrons worldwide.
McCarthy regularly receives photos on social media showing the stickers in locations across the globe, including Germany, Belgium and Vietnam. The most remarkable discovery came when a family friend climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with plans to place a sticker at the peak, only to find one already there.
"Someone already did it for her," McCarthy said.
Bondar and his brothers bought the tavern to support their younger siblings, making it their life's work to maintain one of Milwaukee's most reputable establishments.
"We're very much not like a national chain sports bar type place," McCarthy said. "We're a place where you go in and it feels like it's an extension of your living room or your home bar."
The tavern's charm comes from its commitment to treating customers like family, serving quality drinks, and maintaining the tradition of free popcorn that Bondar insisted on providing to every patron.
"He loved making sure everyone had popcorn," McCarthy said. "He and his brothers, all three of them, are very much all about telling jokes as a bartender, like you're there to entertain people. So he loved telling a good joke."
McCarthy plans to continue his uncle's legacy by maintaining the bumper sticker tradition and bringing back some vintage designs that Bondar had created over the years.
"The 'I closed Wolski's' sticker at bar time will never go away," McCarthy said.
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