Lampost Bar

The Lampost, formerly known as "The Old Lamp Post Tavern," was bombarded by vice squads and federal raids from the late 1950s through the early 1960s. It was long-known as an underground gambling venue where tips on horse races, sports games, and boxing matches were phoned in from the bar to Los Angeles and New York. 

Lampost owners Charles and John Piscuine were charged with illegal gambling on multiple occasions. 

And it seems the Piscuine family was filled with secrets. 

• Their sister, Josephine Lavora, was the mother of infamous restauranteur and scandalous Milwaukee Mafia moll Sally Papia, whose opened her first restaurant across the street at 431 W. Michigan St (formerly Mr. Anthony's) in 1963.  After that location was destroyed by fire in October 1967, and Papia was hit with federal tax liens ten days later, Sally's Steak House moved to the Knickerbocker Hotel.
  
  
• Another brother, Joseph, was married to Josephine Scalici, whose brother Pasquale was a "midget clown" who played a Munchkin in the Wizard of Oz, later toured with the Spike Jones Band as "Frankie Little," ran the family bakery on Brady Street, and did bookie work on the side.  On September 29, 1964, the FBI reported that someone nicknamed "Little Frankie" requested a commission from the Balistrieri crime family.  The Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation believed that “Little Frankie” was actually Pasquale Scalici, who was operating a newsstand at the corner of 3rd and Wisconsin at the time.  When Pasquale died on New Year's Eve 1989 at age 89, he was believed to be the world's longest-living little person.

On July 10, 1958, Samuel Eskin was arrested for "pandering" at the Lampost (440 W. Michigan St.) He lost his bartender's license, was sent for psychiatric evaluation, and was put on a one-year probation. He was also forbidden from returning to the Lampost Bar.

At the time, pandering was code  for "pimping," and Eskin was known to arrange meetings between men and other men -- in private rooms at the Royal Hotel across the street. He was finally caught in 1958 when he set up a patrolman with a male "date." The owners denied any knowledge of Eskin's dealings and ended his employment.

The bar sparked controversy again in 1960 and 1962 for allowing female performers Martha Artis and Julie Davis to sit at the bar and socialize with patrons after their shows. This behavior was banned by Milwaukee city ordinance since the "come-on girl" epidemic of the 1930s. The Piscuines asked Judge Christ Seraphim to consider if that ordinance might be out of date and out of touch for 1960s liberal Milwaukee. Ulitimately, they and their performers were let off the hook with $1 "symbolic" fines.

Until 1963, the Loop Cafe operated next door to the Lampost, before being sold and moving across the street to 603 N. 5th St.

The Lampost was demolished in 1967 for construction of the downtown Boston Store parking structure. Charles Piscuine moved on to manage the Towne Room Bar at the Towne Hotel (723 N. 3rd St.) before his death in 1969. Oddly, his obituary mentions that he will always be remembered for his gambling habit. 

The corner of Fifth and Michigan was already a seedy place by 1967, and it somehow managed to get even seedier in the years to come.