Dionysus was the last of three queer spaces to operate at 183 S. 2nd St. between 1969 and 1974. After two years as the New Riviera / Riviera Show Lounge drag dinner theater, the space reinvented as a six-day-a-week cruise bar with drag only on Saturday nights. It's unknown who owned or operated Dionysus.

On April 14, 1974, Dionysus was torched by a queen fired from the high-budget Milwaukee Entertainers Club show of the season. The resulting "Easter Sunday Inferno" destroyed not only Dionysus, but the entire city block. By dawn, Milwaukee's new gay village had been reduced to a single bar. To date, the identity of the arsonist remains unknown.