MILWAUKEE — Mike Bondar helped transform Wolski's Tavern into a Milwaukee institution through a simple joke that became a global phenomenon. The bumper stickers he created as a gag for regular customers in the early 1970s—or so the legend goes—have since traveled to every corner of the world, from Germany to Mount Kilimanjaro.

Sean McCarthy, Bondar's nephew and current assistant manager of the tavern, said Bondar was just 20 or 21 when he became the bar's owner and worked at the establishment for many years.

"Mike bought Wolski's with his brother Bernie from their aunt back in the early 70s, I think, and retired, I believe, in 2009, so for a very, very long time," McCarthy said.

While McCarthy wasn't even born when the famous "I Closed Wolski's" bumper stickers originated, the story he

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