Brostoff Reverses Tavern Suspension for Axel’s

Site of Axel’s Inn, 2859 N. Oakland Ave. Photo by Rose Balistreri.

Last winter, a Milwaukee police officer walked into Axel’s. Shouting over the dive bar’s thumping music, he told underage patrons to leave the bar immediately.

“This is your one chance,” he said, holding up a finger.

A few seconds later, more than three dozen patrons stood up and filed out of the building. The incident, which was captured on video and distributed across multiple social media platforms, was just one of several cases of underage drinking found at the tavern throughout the past several years.

The pattern captured the attention of the Licenses Committee, which on Jan. 23 recommended a 20-day suspension for the East Side tavern, 2859 N. Oakland Ave.

But just minutes before the full Common Council was to vote on the matter Tuesday, area Alderman Jonathan Brostoff recommended the committee change the suspension to a warning letter — the tavern’s fourth in five years — during a special committee meeting

Update: Council records confirm the suspension was reduced to a warning letter during the special meeting, which wasn’t televised. But during the following full council meeting, the City Clerk read that the 20-day suspension was recommended and the council voted unanimously without interjection. An earlier version of this article did not reflect the change to a warning letter.

“We scan every person who comes through the door who’s 40 or under,” owner Eric Rasmussen told the Licenses Committee during a Jan. 23 hearing. “We are absolutely doing our job, because that’s the number one priority for the bar.”

Rasmussen suggested that the recurrence of underage patrons admitted to the bar points to a larger problem across the city — not just an issue within his own business.

That’s especially true as fake identification technology continues to advance, he said, noting that he wishes police would address the root cause by identifying and ticketing underage patrons themselves.

When police raided the tavern last February, Rasmussen said he offered up his timestamped ID scanner logs to help officers identify those with false identification. But they declined.

“I don’t know what else I can do on my part,” he said.

But Brostoff didn’t see things the same way. “The onus is on you,” he told Rasmussen.

Axel’s has been cited and fined for serving underage patrons six times since 2010, according to a police report.

The committee also discussed a report from a former patron who alleges she was drugged while drinking at Axel’s. In an email to Brostoff, she wrote:

“Mainly through the neighborhood pages on [Facebook], but also very recently on Google reviews, women have reported their drinks being spiked at this bar. Several years ago, I believe I was also drugged at this bar and have since not returned.”

Additionally, a Google review from January 2023 alleges that a bartender attempted to slip a roofie (a slang term for Rohypnol, an illegal sleep-aid) into a patron’s drink. Additional reports of drugging have been posted to Yelp.

Rasmussen said he was confused by the reports and would never employ someone who would do such a thing. “I’ve never heard anything about that, but obviously I’m against it.”

Brostoff urged Rasmussen to take the reports seriously. “I don’t think there’s any reason to believe it’s fabricated,” he said.

The alderman moved for a 20-day suspension based on the police report and the committee’s adherence to progressive discipline. Axel’s received warning letters in 2023, 2022, 2020 and “a couple before that,” according to Licenses Division Manager James Cooney.

“I think that, especially given prior actions taken by this body, we need to continue progressively enforcing and making sure that things are of the standard that they need to be for a City of Milwaukee establishment,” Brostoff said.

Rasmussen said he’ll continue to work against underage entry by collaborating with police to find additional strategies and solutions. “I deal with this on a constant basis, and I have for as long as I can remember.”

In response to the allegations against bartenders, Rasmussen said he’d think about installing additional cameras to monitor activity inside the establishment.

Rasmussen’s family opened Axel’s in the late 1930s and has owned it ever since. He has run the tavern since 1988. The cash-only establishment is located near the corner of N. Oakland Avenue and E. Locust Street. It shares a building with Oakland Gyros.