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An Urban Explorer's Guide to the Buffalo-Niagara Region: Unique Landmarks, Historic Gin Mills, Old World Neighborhoods, History and More!

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Experience the Tour

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Tour Polish Buffalo

Buffalo Ethnic Tours

Tour German Buffalo

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Tour Irish Buffalo

Last Fine Time Tour

Buffalo Brewery Tour

Classic Taverns-Awards

Classic Taverns-Buffalo

Dill's Tavern

Top Hill Grill

Talty's

Daren's Tavern

Scharf's Schiller Park

Pristach's

G&T Inn

Gene McCarthy's

Ulrich's Tavern

Artys Grill

Dick's Eastside Inn

East End Tavern

Sportsman Tavern

The Malamute

Taverns of Polonia 1910

Dalys

Eddie Brady's Bar

Ten-O-Won Grill

Classic Taverns-Travels

The Concertina Bar

Mels Bar

Club 505

Steve's Lounge

Classic Taverns-Last Call

Felong's Tavern

Billy O's Golden Swan

Big Joe Dudzick's Tavern

The Broadway Grill

Bramer's Grill

Concord Restaurant

Messner's Aero Bar

Ray Flynn's

Kutas Warsaw Inn

McBride's Pub

Strusienski's Restaurant

Private & Ethnic Clubs

Adam Mickiewicz Library

American Serbian Club

Corpus Christi AC

Croatian "Cro" Club

Dnipro Ukrainian Center

Dom Polski - N Tonawanda

Eldredge Bicycle Club

Polish Cadets

St. Stan's Athletic Club

Third Warders Club

Ukrainian-American Center

FBTV Video

Historic Polonia District

Central Terminal

Polish Home Museum Project

Broadway Market

St. Stanislaus Church

Corpus Christi Church

St. Adalbert's Basilica

Superman Corner

Polonia Views

Eckhardt Department Store

Polish Union of America

PPS Broadway Mkt Report

Polskie Kolo Spiewackie

Lucki Urban

Buffalo's Polonia History

A Polka Moment In Time

Vintage Polka Posters

Pulaski Parade 1962

Pulaski Parade 2006

Pulaski Parade 2008

Broadway Fillmore

Polonia Stories

1910 Maps of Polonia Buffalo

Buffalo Polonia - 1910

Preserve a Polish Home

Kaminski Meats

Polonia Scrapbook

Polonia On Parade

1965 Polka Convention

Polish Paintings

Power To Polonia

Beer Murals Nielsen

Forgotten Bflo Features

Kids & Wigilia Traditions

The Simon Pure Brewery

Lost Bflo Train Stations

New York Central at War

Pennsylvania RR at War

Talkin' Proud!

Buffalo Union Station

Bayliss-Oshei Residence

Niagara Falls Steak Sub

Buffalo Heights

The Statler Hilton

Metro Rail 1973

Bflo Before & After

Retro Chip Collection

Melody Fair - N Tonawanda

Buffalo Courier Express

History in Your Pocket

Corner Store Experience

The Fair

Most Endangered Sites

Re-Light the Rand

Pierogi @ St. Nick's

Whammy Weenie

Skateland - East Ferry

Jimmy Griffin 1929-2008

Jack Kemp 1936-2009

Sattler Theater

Masonic Lodge #846

Broadway Grill Reunion

Vintage Xmas Cards

Bocce Club- Clinton St.

Smiling Ted's

Buffalo Snow

Edsbyn, Sweden

Buffalo Drive-In

Buffalo 1969

Ray Bennett Lumber Co.

Ray H. Bennett Home

Ultra Cool: 70s Buffalo

Buffalo Bowling Shirts

Great Northern Elevator

Pullman / Wagner Complex

Pierogi Capital of US

North Park Theater

Zywiec Brewery

Buffalo Beer Trays

1964 Campaign For Pres

Heritage Discover Ctr

Tale of Two Roundhouses

Brand Names Catalog

Trolley Lobby BCT

Mentholatum, Hyde, Smythe

Chez Ami 311 Delaware Ave

Schreiber Brewery

Forgotten Buffalo Sounds

Sounds of Buffalo Beer

Sounds of Buffalo

Sounds of the Hound

Utica Club Beer Song

Forgotten Buffalo-Lost

Gramza's Cigar Store

Burczynski Bakery

St. Gerard's Parish

The Polish Village

Rudas Record Store

Tondrowski's Shoe Store

The DL&W Terminal

Buffalo Gas Works

S.S. Aquarama/Marine Star

Aquarama - Final Chapter

Sattlers 998

Rivoli Theater - Broadway

H-O Elevator

Riverside Men's Shop

Mastman's Kosher Deli

Crystal Beach

Department Stores

CLASSIC PHOTOS

Bevador/Beerador Coolers

Parkside Candies

Buffalo's Last Roundhouse

Wildroot Factory

Buffalo Stockyards

Chicago Iron Works

Spolka Clothing

Forgotten Ontario

Tim Hortons #1

TH&B Train Station

Ivor Wynne Stadium

Canadian National Station

Minojijikum Island 1076

Forgotten Rochester

Retro Wegmans

Polonia Rochester

Spittoon Water Troughs

Forgotten Buffalo & Genny

Genesee Brewery Tour

Forgotten Bflo Roadtrips

Perreca's Bakery

F.X. Matts - Utica Club

Forgotten Buffalo-Media

Ch. 2: WGR & WGRZ-TV

Rocketship7

Commander Tom Show

Dialing for Dollars

Ed Tucholka

Polonia Media

Greg Chwojdak, WXRL

Tour of Bflo Broadcasting

WKBW Radio

WKBW Top 40 Celebration

KB Goes Kaboom! WKBW

1430 Main St - WKBW RADIO

A Thing of the Past 2006

WKBW's Tommy Shannon

George Hound Dog Lorenz

1420 Main St - WKBW TV

Forgotten Bflo Orchestra

R & L Lounge, 23 Mills St

Union Stock Yards Bank

The Think Bank

The Natural Tour

Preservation Corridors

Broadway

Fillmore Avenue

Lombard Gibson Mktplace

Project Paderewski

Forgotten Buffalo News

Despensata Corporation

Marketplace Kitchen

Buffalo Broadcasting

Art's Concertina Bar, Milwaukee
Owner Art Altenburg serves up a few High Lifes...what else would you drink in Milwaukee?
Owner Art Altenburg serves up a few High Lifes...what else would you drink in Milwaukee?
This historic gin mill located at 1920 South 37th Street in Milwaukee is "Art Altenburg's Concertina Bar." Dating back to 1900, Art's is currently being considered for the "National Register of Historic Places". My visit to Art's was a trip back through time when corner bars dotted tightly packed ethnic neighborhoods. In 2003, polka bands still played every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Dancing, fine polka music, and Milwaukee made beer made for a FINE evening at "Art Altenburg's Concertina Bar."

Concertina Bar on final notes

Art leaving Milwaukee landmark for family farm; new owner plans changes

Milwaukee Sentenal: Oct. 2, 2007

 

If you favor the kind of watering hole where the proprietor plops a concertina on the bar right in front of you and squeezes out a sweet tune, you'd better hurry.

Because Art Altenburg's Concertina Bar is closing. First Goldmann's and now Art's. We're reminded that Milwaukee's quirky landmarks don't last forever. Art has sold the building and the business and plans to be out by the middle of this month.

 

The good news, if you like live polka music, is that the new owner, Andy Kochanski, intends to keep the tradition of Art's alive, but minus Art. Kochanski's Concertina Beer Hall will operate in the same century-old brick building at 1920 S. 37th St. Same cramped stage right inside the front door. Same worn linoleum dance floor.

 

But - someone cover Art's ears for a second - Andy plans to allow accordions. Art is such an aficionado of concertinas that he would never allow their keyboarded cousins in the bar. "It's open to people and musicians who just love polka music," said Andy, 37, who works as an arborist for the City of Milwaukee and also as a firefighter in St. Francis. He used to have a heavy-metal video show on TV called "Threshold of Pain," but he admits he doesn't play any musical instruments.

"I'm going to do as much as I can for the polka community," he said, and that includes putting a portable defibrillator in the bar for anyone who overdoes it on the dance floor.

 

Art Altenburg's cult of personality developed rather quickly, considering that he opened the bar as recently as 1980 after a career as a car salesman. It's been a destination not only for the older oompah crowd but for young scenesters who brought their friends in for a round of culture shock and maybe a polka lesson. Bartender Marilyn Mold, who plans to stay on at Kochanski's, said, "If I had a dollar for every dance lesson I gave on the weekends, I'd be rich."

 

Three young tourists came in recently and showed Marilyn a mention of the concertina bar among Milwaukee highlights in a travel book they were using. The place was cool. Always there was Art and his dozens of concertinas behind the bar. Art in countless photos with regulars. Art keeping tempo by tapping booze bottles on the bar with drumsticks. Art entertaining customers with brain-teasers and puzzles he kept handy.

 

Not an easy thing, walking away from the business he loves. "You got that right," Art said. "I met a lot of nice people here." He learned to play the concertina as a kid, sometimes hitchhiking to his lessons. He pestered concertina players for tips on the instrument.

Now closer to 80 than 70, Art has struggled to keep the bar going after he fell from a ladder while trimming a tree in July. He broke his pelvis and messed up his back, and it took him seven weeks to get home from the hospital and rehab center to his apartment above the bar. Art plans a move to Mosinee, where he will live on the family farm and help care for his 96-year-old mother. He's been talking about doing that for quite a while, and the bar has been for sale for at least five years.

 

Andy first came into the bar sometime in the mid-1990s, and has been back dozens of times since then. He long had thought about operating a tavern and finally decided to make Art an offer. The deal was finalized last week. One thing not included in the purchase price is the slogan, "The only concertina bar in the U.S.A." Art had it copyrighted and wasn't about to throw it in the mix.

But he is providing Andy with five concertinas from his collection of 68. Art will keep maybe a half dozen and sell the rest, he said. Andy plans to continue featuring polka bands on weekends, but he's moving the popular polka jam session from Thursday to Wednesday. That frees up Thursday nights to try surf bands, rockabilly and 1960s hot rod music. His place will be open seven days a week and feature Packers games on a large-screen TV.

 

After his injury, Art reduced his hours to Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. He plans to be behind the bar the next two weekends after 7 p.m., and a farewell party is planned for the evening of Oct. 13, his last night in business. It's been a great run, he said, and a chance to meet visitors from around the world, including the Russians who showed up one night and sang "Beer Barrel Polka" in their native language as Art played along.

 

"But I've got other things I want to accomplish in my life," he said. Such as? "I'll probably go chasing women, do a little playing, and do a little traveling."

Sounds like lyrics you could set to concertina music.
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