Terry Doering, the current owner of John's, is celebrating his 10th year as sole owner of the bar.

(With respect to the previous owners Ralph and John, the following is an article from the La Crosse Tribune and picture of the previous owners.)

Picture the casual pose of a professional bartender at work. A bartender unflustered by the scream of the juke, the smash of a breaking glass or the often ending in a friendly beer fight.

Ralph Mehringer is a pro at his work. After 17 years on the job, he’s able to transport eight Old Styles without spilling a drop and slap a ham and cheese together in seconds.

Beer and sandwiches is a business at John’s Bar. With no frills, John’s is the place to go for many college students. Why? There’s no entertainment, fair service and little room in which to circulate. Ralph, bar manager since 1959 says it best; “We’ve always just tried to specialize in a popular priced glass of beer.”

In mid-October, I talked with Ralph and bar owner John Urbanek, a retired postal employee.

Focus – Can you give me the historical background of John’s?

JOHN – The building was built sometime in the late 1880’s. The bar was originally called Gladstone’s and then for six months it was Eddie’s Cigar store. I bought the place in 1958 and started business sometime in May of 1959. It was just beer drinking then, the kids couldn’t go where there was liquor. So they came here since we only sold beer.

RALPH – When we started here, there was only the Rustic Inn and the Madrigal, which turned into the Kollege Klub and is now Times Square. Later on, the Varsity Club and Your Uncle’s Place (Macamba Club now) opened.

Focus – Has John’s always attracted the college-aged crowd?

RALPH – Yes, since we started in 1959. Students are very nice people to deal with. The majority of people, you give them a chance, and they’re decent. Different types of people prefer different places. We’ve always stressed our lunches and good drinks.

Focus – Third Street is constantly changing, whether it be face-lifting the front of the bars or renaming them. Do you ever think of changing your look?

JOHN – There’s not a lot of bars like this in existence. There’s a few, but not that many unchanged originals from years ago. I’ve painted here and there and people come in and say, “What did you do that for? Now you’ve made it different.” People don’t want change. We’ve changed a little, put in new toilets about 16 years ago and a new floor. But the bar’s the same. I don’t know how long that’s been here. Years and years. We don’t want to change anything. These tin ceilings are hard to find, too. We wouldn’t change that.

Focus – When do you do your best business?

JOHN – Oktoberfest is the biggest crowds. People used to come from all over for Oktoberfest. Whenever the college crowd’s here it’s always big.

Focus – Any memories of past Oktoberfests? Wasn’t it in 1966 when everything got out of control?

RALPH – Yes, I think so. And ten the next year they decided to have it without beer. On top of all the other difficulties, it rained and rained all day. We had a lot of people in here, people from St. Paul and other places. They were so disappointed, having been invited to come to La Crosse and when they get here, there was no activity.

JOHN – I know somebody who came from Carolina and they were so disappointed, they had heard all about it and they said “We’ll never come back again.” It was so advertised then; now , they only advertise locally. They also don’t advertise Oktoberfest for Saturday, yet the parade is Saturday and the beer tents are open.

Focus – What’s your biggest seller?

JOHN – We sell Old-Style the most, it used to be that Schlitz was our top veer. You know Heileman’s does a lot for this city and people should be proud of our brewery. I remember about 30 years ago La Crosse had a lot of little breweries. There was one where Max’s is on the Causeway and another one where Pogy’s Pizza place is on Third.

Focus – Beer does seem to be a tradition with this city. Any other memories?

RALPH – It was four years in March, I think, (Midnight March 23, 1972) that the 18-year-old law went into effect. The night before it was so busy, it was a Wednesday night. You couldn’t move in here. Everyone started lining up at the bar at ten before midnight. (Midnight marked the start of 18-year-old liquor drinking). At twelve, we started bringing up the liquor and we almost ran out of it.

Ralph abruptly left the conversation at this point, as a customer had arrived. John and I continued our conversation.
When Ralph returned, I asked my last question of the day. What do you see as the future of John’s? Ralph hesitated a bit, then simply said, “We’ll be here.” And I believed him.

(Picture: Bar Manager, Ralph Mehringer (left) and owner John Urbanek.)