Ron Zeller made At Random cocktail lounge in Bay View a Milwaukee nightlife institution

At Random, the cocktail lounge that's been a Bay View institution for more than half a century, got that way because of Ron Zeller, who became a Milwaukee nightlife institution himself.

"I think the most ridiculous thing in the world is a shot and a beer," Zeller told The Milwaukee Journal in 1985. "That's simply to get drunk. Why not go home and drink? It's cheaper."

Zeller, who turned At Random into a cocktail destination decades before the craft cocktail boom took hold in Milwaukee, died Sept. 7 at age 92.

An Army veteran who served in Germany during the Korean War, Zeller later tended bar at Bryant's, a cocktail lounge at 1579 S. Ninth St. that had a reputation for specialty drinks.

"Those were the days," Zeller said in 1985. "People used to sit on the steps waiting to get in."

In 1964, Zeller and his wife, Shirley, bought the Delaware Tap, a tavern at 2501 S. Delaware Ave. Four years later, he renamed it At Random.

"It started out as a neighborhood bar when I decided to buy it," Zeller told the Journal Sentinel in 2010. "The neighborhood couldn't believe I was going to change it from a card-playing, beer-tapping television bar."

Zeller turned At Random into a date-night spot, where beer and shots were replaced by fancy cocktails served to patrons sitting in vinyl booths while lounge-friendly music played in the background.

How fancy? At Random's bar menu featured more than 100 cocktails, from classics like a Sea Breeze and a Hurricane to the bar's famous Tiki Love Bowl, a flaming drink made from five kinds of rum — served with two straws.

"That drink makes a big impression on a girl," Zeller told the Journal Sentinel in 1998. "It shows her that her date is a man of the world. I guarantee you'll have a fantastic evening after sharing a Tiki Bowl."

Other than the Tiki Love Bowl, At Random was best known for its ice cream drinks, which made up nearly half the bar's menu. In later years, the ice cream drinks were a part of its kitschy appeal — which didn't always thrill Zeller.

"We made it for lovers," he said in 2015. "Now, people think I'm Baskin-Robbins."

By the 1980s, Milwaukee's nightlife scene was changing, and not for the better, according to Zeller.

"Nobody relaxes anymore," Zeller lamented in the 1985 Journal interview. "We have two busy nights a week now, where we used to be busy all the time. I remember when Wednesday used to be date night and everybody was out."

Still, Zeller persevered. But after operating At Random for nearly 50 years, Zeller was getting ready to retire and looked into selling the bar. In 2015, when the then-83-year-old bar owner couldn't find a buyer, he found a developer who was interested in buying the building and five neighboring houses Zeller and his family owned and replacing them with 120 apartments.

But when word got out about the proposed development, 200 of Zeller's Bay View neighbors packed the South Shore Pavilion at a public meeting to voice their objections, leaving the project dead in the water.

In 2018, Zeller finally found a buyer in John Dye, who previously had purchased two other landmark cocktail spots: Bryant's, Zeller's former employer, and the Jazz Estate on the east side. At the time Dye took over the bar, it was closed more often than it was open, but the building was still well-maintained.

Dye reopened At Random later that year, with Zeller's entire final menu intact, including the ice cream drinks and the Tiki Love Bowl.

Shirley Zeller died in 2021 at age 86. According to the funeral home notice, Ron Zeller is survived by his children, Randall and Larsen aka Patricia; his brother Richard; along with grandchildren, nieces, nephews, other relatives and "many friends."

A memorial gathering is planned for 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 17 at Prasser-Kleczka Funeral Homes' Bay View Chapel, 3275 S. Howell Ave. A memorial service will follow at 6 p.m.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ron Zeller made At Random in Bay View a Milwaukee cocktail institution