Omaha Exploration

Beer City is a Cowboys bar located just 753 miles north of Dallas. Dating back to the 1950s, it has a history of being a top shuffleboard spot in the city. Today those smooth, powdered boards have been replaced with televisions.

So with that, we explore the history of a classic South O bar whose next-door neighbor is a tiny car lot nestled between it and Graceland Park Cemetery. Located at 4147 L Street, the assessor tells us that the small one-story building was built in 1925, but I have my doubts. The first newspaper listing I can find for the address dates back to 1951.

David Furst opened the first watering hole on this spot. Born in Papillion in 1905, Furst served in the Marines from 1926 until being discharged four years later. Returning home and acclimating to civilian life, he found work as a mechanic operating his own business before transitioning to the bar business in 1951. He operated his Village Bar alongside his wife Minnie. This bar should not be confused with the longstanding bar of the same name in Ralston. Details of the bar during these days are sparse, so it may have just been another nondescript South O bar. After leaving the business in 1960, he became a deputy sheriff for Douglas County and later a maintenance worker for the Douglas County Courthouse.

Martin Conatella took the reins after that and continued to operate it under the same name. A Navy veteran who served during the Korean War, Conatella was an avid trap shooter and bowler who also made the bar famous for its shuffleboard. I wonder how many tables were crammed into the bar that measures just 48 feet deep and 30 feet wide, given that a standard table is 22 feet long. A bit of quick math and I’m going with four max, given that you still need space for the bar on the east side of the building.

From what I can tell, shuffleboard first started popping up in Benson in the late 1940s, and not long after, South Omaha became its mecca in the city due, in part, to places like the Village Bar. Through the next decade at least, it cemented itself as the beer tavern pastime of choice. 10 bars participated in a weekly World Series tournament that attracted the best players across the city.

The bar continued to operate as the Village Bar when longtime South O bar owner Tony Leonardo, who previously operated King Leonardo’s Bar, took over in 1979. Virginia Semin later changed its longtime name to Tweety’s Bar though reports suggest that it reverted to the Village Bar name in the late 1980s.

By the time current owner Ed Kresl took over in 1989, the shuffleboard tables had long been removed due to lack of space. Without the tables, the 1,000-square-foot bar has a population (er capacity) of 64. That’s when it took the name by which we know it today: Beer City. Its name was inspired by a bar of the same name in the tiny town of Remsen, Iowa. Kresl happened to be in town for a family wedding and recalled that the wedding party drank so much beer that the owner had to make a run to Sioux City to restock.

These days Beer City operates more as a sports bar and home for displaced Cowboys fans, owing to Kresl’s loyalty to the team. Billing itself as “the Biggest Little Bar this side of Texas,” the bar is just under a 10-hour drive from AT&T Stadium, home of the Cowboys.

Sans the shuffleboard tables, the bar has plenty of televisions to watch the Cowboys, in addition to a pool table, ping pong, and dartboards. It also hosts karaoke nights and is likely the only bar in town with a putting green on its patio out back.

Beer City has undergone a makeover in recent years, and its bright blue mural on its western exterior wall was added around 2022 by GroupHug Studio. The neighborhood bar continues to hold its own and has been recognized for its friendly service, not to mention its laid-back vibe and commitment to football and even offering free food on occasion. If you plan to visit the bar that ranked ninth out of 32 bars in the 2024 Dive Bar Road Trip, be sure to bring cash, as they don’t accept cards.

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• Omaha World-Herald archives