Like Michael Jackson’s final tour, the name turned out to be prophetic.

This Is It!, a Milwaukee gay bar and LGBTQ+ institution serving the public for nearly 60 years, has closed its doors.

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“This is It! has been so much more than a nightlife spot for the queer community,” a Facebook message from co-owners George Schneider and drag superstar Trixie Mattel read. “It has been a gathering place, a safe place, a second home, and the memories made at the bar will stay in our hearts forever. We want you to know that we did everything we could to keep our doors open for you.”

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Mattel, a Milwaukee native who stepped in to help pull the bar out of financial decline in 2021, mourned its passing and described the perfect storm that led to its closure.

“When I bought in during COVID, every gay bar was doing horribly — every bar, every restaurant, every business,” Mattel on her podcast, The Bald and the Beautiful, after This Is It! shut down suddenly on March 9.

“And I came in during COVID and it was like, ‘Alright, now we got two people on CPR instead of just one, let’s try to troubleshoot this,” Mattel said of reviving the business with co-owner Schneider, who bought the bar from founders June Brehm and her son Joseph in 2012.

This Is It!, known by locals as Tits, opened in 1968 and was Wisconsin’s long-running gay bar and one of the oldest in the United States.

The bar was a center for fundraising for both the LGBTQ+ community and its Milwaukee neighbors, with beneficiaries like the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the G/L Community Fund. In 2016, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the first out senator, lauded the original owners for their contributions to Milwaukee’s LGBTQ+ community.

But the community largesse didn’t extend to the bar’s own finances.

“The business was struggling when I came in and we’d been circling the drain,” Mattel said.

Mattel cited the pandemic and a recent eight-month street closure around Tits as reasons for the final curtain.

“It was really sad,” she said. “That’s the bar that I got my first drink at, that’s the bar I met boyfriends at, I met my roommates there, I loved performing there. I’ve done dozens of shows there over the years.”

This Is It! closed despite Mattel’s efforts to raise its profile nationally. In 2024, she worked with friend and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City castmember Whitney Rose to bring the show to Milwaukee for a party at This Is It!, after a trip to her Trixie Motel in Palm Springs the previous season.

But the publicity couldn’t overcome the bar’s financial difficulties.

City officials joined in commemorating the bar’s passing.

“On behalf of the city and the entire community, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to This is It! for its incredible and far-reaching impact over the years,” Alderman Peter Burgelis and Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa said in a statement after the closure. “For nearly six decades, this iconic establishment has been more than just a bar — it has been a sanctuary, a safe space, and a vital gathering place for Milwaukee’s LGBTQ+ community.”

“To the dedicated staff, talented performers, and unwavering friends who made This is It! a home for so many, we thank you. Your passion, commitment, and spirit brought this place to life, creating a legacy of love, joy, and inclusion that will never be forgotten.”

“I know gay bars are just bars,” Mattel said, but “I loved that bar.”

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