It’s been over a month since the Milwaukee Boat was cruelly taken from us. Though those of us who loved it will never get it back (unless someone buys it at auction), we’re pleased to report there’s now a new immobilized vehicle from yesteryear in our city’s midst.
Yes, as of last week, the fine folks at Transfer Pizzeria Café (101 W. Mitchell St., 414-763-0438) are now in possession of a vintage city bus that’s parked on its property. With the help of a flatbed trailer, a crane, and a crew of professionals, a nearly-75-year-old bus was transported to Milwaukee from Minnesota and installed on the restaurant’s Mitchell Street-facing patio, where it’s to become a permanent fixture.
Transfer co-owner John Rossetto tells Milwaukee Record he and his brother/businesses partner Russell started the search for a bus-related relic for their establishment—which is located at the intersection of two main Milwaukee County Transit System routes—about a year ago.
“Russell and I were interested in some sort of new physical feature or creative display for the restaurant —something that would tie into the Transfer name and kind of honor the public transit history of the building’s location,” Rossetto says.
He says after making some cold calls and getting some leads from contacts, they suddenly learned they could acquire far more than just the signage or rusted bus part they were initially seeking to serve as a decorative accent. They could have a whole city bus.
However, this find wasn’t just any bus. Though it served as a city bus in Minneapolis in its heyday, the Rossettos learned in speaking with Milwaukee County Transit staff and a local transit historian named Russell Schultz that the 1953 GMC available to them was the exact same model of bus that ran in Milwaukee between the early 1950s and the ’70s.
“Since we suddenly had access to an entire bus, we tried to expand our vision,” Rossetto says. “That’s when we decided to think big and we should try to incorporate the entire thing into the patio.”
Once acquired, the Transfer owners decided to have their bus restored, including an orange paint job to match the color of Milwaukee busses during its era. Rossetto also says they had “chopped maybe eight feet or so off the back so that it would fit” on the restaurant’s patio.
Now that it’s in its new home on the very same street where busses like it once ran with regularity, Transfer’s new vehicle will get a second life as additional seating and a decorative accent for its current sideyard patio. There’s still some on-site finishing work to be done on the bus, but Rossetto says he’s hoping it will be ready to host diners sometime in July.
Once the time comes to welcome patio passengers, Rossetto says there will be three or four tables in the bus, with a total of 12-16 seats. Seating will be offered on a first come, first served basis as diners express their seating preference with Transfer’s staff upon entering the restaurant. The front of the bus won’t be set up for diners.
“The floor remains, and the driver’s cab, and a couple bench seats were restored so that guests can climb aboard, take pics, and sit in the driver’s seat,” Rossetto says.
Another planned front-of-bus modification will be seen in the sign above the windshield at the front of the bus, where Rossetto says “Route 54” will be shown as a nod to MCTS’ Mitchell-Burnham route, he tell us was the city’s first bus line way back in April 1920.
Follow Transfer on social media for more information on the official opening of its patio bus later this summer.
