Falcon Bowl

The Riverwest building that now houses Falcon Bowl has served many purposes over its 140+ year life including dance hall, roller skating rink, speakeasy, movie theatre, fraternal organization headquarters and a bowling alley of course. The basement bowling alley is one of a few surviving of its type in the city from a time when several Milwaukee taverns featured basement alleys. The six lanes alleys are from a time when the city was known as the “Bowling Capital of America” and had more than 100 alleys. This year, the lanes turn 111 years old making them the likely 5th oldest continuously sanctioned lanes in the United States. The building’s hall periodically hosted bands including Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, and the Violent Femmes.
From 1945 to 2022 the building housed the headquarters of the Polish Falcons – a fraternal organization – that helped polish immigrants assimilate through offerings like insurance and job placement. The Polish Falcons also offered gymnastics classes similar to the German Turners and their teams were winners of several tournaments. In 2022, the Riverwest Investment Co-op purchased the building from the Polish Falcons of America and a new operators took over the business from Lynn Okopinski who, with her late husband John, operated the business for 40 years. The new operators have made significant renovations to the building including restoring the hall bar, adding a pinball arcade, beer garden, green room and installation of a state of the art sound system. Today the hall hosts a regular line up of local and regional bands, weddings, and private parties.