Molly's / Molly & Oscar's

It's hard to believe now, but there was a time when Superior, Wisconsin was a lawless frontier town, filled with vice, crime, libation, and all sorts of morally colorful characters. And for generations, the only thing resembling a gay bar in town was Molly's (405 Tower Ave.)

Mary OKash Muench Spaun (1914-2013,) nicknamed "Molly," grew up in her parents' Blue Moon Tavern. She was a tomboy with 10 brothers and sisters. During Prohibition, she was a teenage whiskey runner who moved liquor between buildings in underground tunnels. In 1938, she opened Molly's with her first husband Oscar Muench. Oscar died in 1952 when their son, also named Oscar, was not even a year old. Molly moved her business to the 1895 tavern at 405 Tower Avenue, where it would remain for the next 53 years.

Contributors describe Molly's as a "sailor bar" well into the 1950s: a rough tavern where a whole lot of down low men-for-men connection was happening under the radar. It was a divey mix of all walks of life: gangsters, call girls, bikers, blue collar workers, college students, and closeted gay men for many years. 

"If you didn't want to pay for it, you could definitely get it from someone at Molly's, and that someone was usually a grain trimmer looking to scratch his itch," said a contributor.

Molly was a local icon known as the "Queen of Superior." She was well-connected to mayors, police chiefs, elected officials, and captains of industry. Sailors came from all over the world just to have a beer and shot with Molly. She loved to sing and would often be called upon to do a number while bartending. Her birthday party, held each year on Valentine's Day, was legendary in the Twin Ports.

Molly was a very superstitious women. When business was light, she'd throw pennies at the door to conjure customers. She started her day eating raisins soaked in gin or rum. She believed she could abate her arthritis by keeping a potato in her bra. And she believed it was bad luck to turn down a drink -- coaching her employees to never "take the shingles off the roof."

Molly married Andrew Spaun (1918-) in 1965, but the couple divorced in 1987. His final resting place is unknown.

Molly's son Oscar (1951-2013) came out in the early 1970s, and got more involved with the tavern. He decorated the bar with rotating exhibits of vintage antiques. He loved to dance, so he loaded the old jukebox with disco, Motown funk, and diva anthems. If it wasn't for Oscar's, Molly's Tavern would have closed decades earlier.

Oscar invited liberated gay people to hang out at the bar, something Molly didn't always agree with. Like many straight bar owners of her generation, she begrudingly tolerated gay people rather than openly welcoming them. She actively policed the dancefloor with NO BODY CONTACT signs. Contributors remember her furiously screaming at dancers who got a little close -- and pounding her fist on the bar until they separated. 

"Molly didn't really like gay people," said Bob Jansen, "but she sure loved their money." 

Taking the lessons he learned at Molly's, Bob opened the Main Club in 1983 as an out gay bar that embraced and encouraged LGBTQ customers, rather than tolerating them for profit. That changed everything forever in the Twin Ports. Molly's was now a quaint old-fashioned relic, rather than a regional destination, and a bitter reminder of what the community was willing to accept in earlier times.

Molly's struggled through the economic highs and lows of the 1980s and 1990s. The bar was already old -- but it was starting to fall apart. Damages from a 1994 fire were barely repaired. When something broke -- even light bulbs -- they were not replaced. It was clear that Molly's was a tavern living on borrowed time. 

Molly's closed in 2005. She moved to an assisted living center, where she continued to plan her annual birthday parties, with big plans as her 100th approached. 

She passed away at age 99 in 2013. Sadly, her son Oscar died only a month later. Two of Superior's most eccentric nightlife characters were gone within the same spring.

The Molly's building still stands at 405 Tower Avenue and still operates as a tavern.