This listing is for the Mai-Tai Supper Club's second location at 141 Grand Avenue in Schofield, Wisconsin. They opened in mid-June of 1974.
It was behind the Kenron Motel on the North end of Schofield, just on the left as you came into Schofield from Wausau. Today (as of 2024) this location is a U-Haul Moving & Storage.
Their large roof sign left little doubt as to what they served -- "Beef N' Spirits"! According to advertisements, they served a complete menu including steaks, seafood, and chops.
Matchbooks from the first location advertise the same, but with the addition of Cantonese appetizers and entrees as well. And Exotic Cocktails. It's unclear whether this second location also served Cantonese food.
However, this location's history is eclipsed by what happened to the old location!
The Mai-Tai Supper Club is shown here in 1978, the same year the original restaurant location at 1539 Rose St. in LaCrosse was sold by Rachel Skoug to Glenn Addis.
The first location on Rose Street lasted under the "Mai Tai" name at least through Mother's Day of 1980 according to newspaper advertisements in the La Crosse Tribune.
In January 1983, Addis sold the property to Arthur Lucas, who renamed the LaCrosse restaurant location "Arthur's Restaurant". The restaurant closed five months later.
Later that year, Lucas was convicted of first degree-murder. According to news reports, Lucas shot Theodore and Carlene Ann Buschkopf in a Winona, MN., hotel room; Theodore Buschkopf died from his injuries. Investigators later discovered that Arthur Lucas and Carlene Ann Buschkopf had planned the hit in order to collect life insurance money to fund the restaurant's intended reopening.
Instead, the building was razed.
Carlene died in custody in 2010. Arthur was released in 2013 after serving nearly 30 years in prison.