Published February 3, 2025 | Updated July 20, 2026

It’s hard to miss that bright blue sign that welcomes you to Beer City in South Omaha as you’re heading east on L Street. So far as I can tell, the building itself started its life as Village Bar. This is not to be confused with a bar by the same name a few niles south and west in Ralston.

The Douglas County Assessor tells us that the building at 4147 L Street dates back to 1925 while newspaper archives show the address as far back as 1951. Perhaps it wasn’t advertised or not used as a commercial building.

David Furst was born in Papillion in 1905 and served in the Marines for four years before being discharged in 1930. After returning home he would work as a mechanic operating his own business. He opened the Village Bar in this building in 1951 and ran it alongside his wife, Minnie. Details of its early days are sparse, but he made a good run of it, operating the neighborhood watering hole until 1960. At that point, he became a deputy sheriff for Douglas County and later a maintenance worker for the Douglas County Courthouse before passing away in 1969. 

The bar earned a reputation for being one of the top spots in town for shuffleboard. According to the Omaha World-Herald, the tavern game made its debut in Omaha in the late 1940s at places like Frank Mlnarik’s Musette Bar. The establishment of a shuffleboard league in the early 1950s made South Omaha the mecca as many of the ten bars that participated were concentrated in that part of the city. The newspaper reported in 1978 that players representing Village Bar hadn’t lost a home match in three years.

Martin Conatella took the reins from David and while retaining the name, made it a shuffleboard destination and one of the ten bars that were a part of the Tuesday night league. Long time bar owner Tony Leonardo continued the tradition when he took over the Village Bar by 1978. I suspect that it lost its shuffleboard table in the 1980s by the time Ginger Semin took over and changed its name to Tweety’s Bar. Ginger was a softball player that continued to sponsor teams when she ran the bar. By this time, the popularity of the game had diminished. Already small at just over 1,000 square feet, it likely made more sense to use the space for more tables and other games including darts that took far less room. By 1988 Tweety’s had given way to Village Bar as it returned to its original name until becoming the bar we recognize today: Beer City.

Sports bars became much more prevalent in the 1980s and it seems that Beer City followed this trend when Ed Kresl took over in 1989. Billing itself as “the Biggest Little Bar this side of Texas,” it has become a popular hangout for fans of the Dallas Cowboys, which happens to be Ed’s favorite team. Ed told the newspaper in 2010 that the bar’s name was inspired by a Beer City in the small town of Remsen, Iowa. He happened to be in town for a family wedding and recalled that the party drank so much that its owner had to make a trip to Sioux City to restock. 

With enough room for just 64, it continued to sponsor a number of teams from softball to whiffle ball and even Little League. Like any sports bar worth its salt, it offers a number of televisions to watch the NFL. While it has undergone a makeover in recent years, Beer City has dartboards and a pool table and also hosts karaoke nights. It’s likely the only bar in town with a putting green on its patio out back. 

The longtime South O bar continues to hold its own and has been recognized for its friendly service, laid-back vibe, cash-only policy, and its loyalty to the Cowboys whether you show up to cheer for or against them. And that mural that honors its South Omaha roots.

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More pictures

• Omaha World-Herald archives
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96248276/david-j-furst
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/142546552/anthony-p-leonardo
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122964538/virginia-r-semin
• Beacon – Douglas County, NE – Report: 1820040000