The story
SafeHouse opened in Milwaukee in 1966 as a theme restaurant, and founder and owner David J. Baldwin filled it wall to wall with spy memorabilia. Its banquet rooms have booths with secret entrances into the bar. It has appeared in films shot in Milwaukee, including "Major League."
Baldwin retired on June 16, 2015, and sold the business to the Marcus Corporation, which opened a second SafeHouse in Chicago in April 2017. The Chicago location announced in 2023 that it was closing permanently.
Everything that was here
- 1966–present · still open
SafeHouseRestaurant
This downtown bar has been packed with spy memorabilia since 1966. Rachael Ray joked you'd have to be a CIA agent to figure it out in one trip.
See the map in 1967 →
Did you know?
Founder David J. Baldwin collected the spy memorabilia himself.
Some booths have secret entrances.
A Chicago branch opened in 2017 and closed in 2023.
Nearby history
The Rave/Eagles Club
212 W Wisconsin Avenue · 323 m away
The Eagles built this 1920s clubhouse around a 25,000-square-foot oval dance floor, and touring bands now sign the walls
This Is It!
418 E Wells Street · 356 m away
Karl Ratzsch
320 E. Mason St. · 360 m away
Mader's German Restaurant
1041 N Old World Third Street · 405 m away
Charles Mader opened it in 1902 as "The Comfort." When Prohibition ended in 1933, it served Milwaukee's first legal beer
Newhall House Hotel
225 E Michigan Street · 408 m away
Princess Theatre
738 N 3rd Street · 501 m away
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