Beck's Books

Beck's Books was a long-running adult bookstore that was constantly at odds with the law.

It was originally owned by Thomas Gilbert Wohlers (1936-2013) of Waukesha, Wisconsin.  The bookstore may have been named after his wife, Rebecca "Becky" Wohlers. In the 1990s, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentions owner "Tom Beck," which may or may not have been an alias of Wohlers.

Beck's advertised in GPU News between 1975 and 1977.  Considering the era, the store offered a surprising selection of leather, bondage, and rubber fetishwear, as well as an extensive assortment of "transsexual" and gay media.  For a few years, Beck's operated a second store at 390 West Main Street in downtown Waukesha.

As urban renewal began to transform downtown Milwaukee, Beck's struggled to find a sustainable location. After its original Plankinton Avenue location was razed for a surface parking lot, they moved to 215 W. Kilbourn (formerly the Waldheim's Furniture building.)  When this property was razed in 1982, they moved again to 312 W. Juneau. inside the Sydney Hih Building. 

In later years, a gospel church operated above Beck's on Juneau.

After a suspicious fire, the Sydney Hih building was denied historic preservation and demolished in August 2012. 

Wohlers passed away in Arkansas in 2013.