There's nothing more Milwaukee than staying true to your neighborhood. That's why when Pete Djilas chose to open a bar, he picked one close to home.
Una is a two-year-old lounge that's been flying just under Milwaukee's radar at 4410 W. Forest Home Ave. From the outside, it looks like it could have once been a custard stand (it was actually a Chinese restaurant when Djilas bought the property). But inside it looks and feels like a bar transported across the city from North Avenue.
"This is my neighborhood," says Djilas. "I grew up around here. I know a lot of people who live around here and who are downtown and East Side kind of people. And sometimes they don't want to make the trip. We needed something cool in this neighborhood."
"Cool" is a more than appropriate word to describe the unassuming spot. The first thing you'll notice is that the music selection is a far cry from what you'll find at neighboring South Side taverns. The Strokes, Moby, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Beastie Boys and other artists you won't hear everywhere else grace their well-stocked jukebox.
"We keep the working class attitude, but the music sets us apart from anything on the South Side," says Djilas.
With dark red booths circling the rounded crimson walls, there's usually enough room to sit back and chill. Like its neighbors, the bar has a foosball table and dart board. Unlike its neighbors, the big screen TV is usually showing European soccer.
All this evolved from Djilas' original plan.
"We opened the bar with the intention of turning it into a social restaurant, but we changed our mind and kept it as a bar," he says.
And perhaps that's a good thing. Their drink selection is eclectic, showcasing Djilas' Serbian roots with a number of brands of Slivovitz, a potent plum brandy. In addition to Serbian beer (when he can get it), Djilas stocks a wide variety of better imported European bottled beers.
How has a bar like this stayed so discrete? Though Una has been around for two years, Djilas just put up a sign outside the building. "We've kept it on the down-low," he jokes.
However, word is getting out and people are beginning to travel across town to this unique lounge. But since it's so far removed from growing neighborhoods like Walker's Point, will customers continue to make the trip to Una?
"I can picture it, and we've definitely had people come from the East Side," says Djilas. "It would be great if they do, but I can also count on the neighborhood to support us."
{INSERT_RELATED}The support from the neighborhood, which Djilas calls "Serbian Village," is key to his success. That, and a policy often ignored by new business owners, puts Una in a position to succeed.
"The owners are here constantly. We want to know each other and run a friendly bar."
In fact, Djilas says his goal isn't to cram the bar full of customers every night. "For business purposes, packed is good, but I like the chill out crowd where everyone has a place to sit. Comfort is key here."
Djilas has a few plans for the bar this summer, including building a small outdoor beer garden and occasionally bringing in a DJ to spin. But mostly, he says he wants to keep the bar the way it is. Because, says Djilas, "We opened a bar that we like."
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
