Beach Box, a funky New Orleans-type tavern, took over the building that for decades was home to locally famous Ono’s Pizza.

Beach Box, just a few blocks from Lake Street beach in Miller, looks like the sort of bar that’s been around for decades. But while the location has been home to businesses since the 1930s, when it was a shack that sold soda pop and sandwiches, the decor—memorabilia, kitschy toys and signs on every wall and nook—were all added by the new owners to create a funky, New Orleans-style dive bar.

Johnny Davis  and Allison Black  weren’t looking to buy a business when they started searching Miller Beach for a weekend cottage. They lived in Chicago and passed by often on their way to see friends in Beverly Shores and Southwest Michigan. While looking for a place of their own in Miller, they stumbled on a building for sale, which for decades was known as Ono’s Pizza.

“We still have the pizza recipes available,” Davis says. “We could reintroduce if we got a pizza oven.”

When Davis and Black bought the 1,100-square-foot building, it had been vacant for more than ten years. They built a bar and booths and added the fun decor to give it the look of an established corner tap. A glass of decent dry rosé is $5; martinis and Manhattans are $10. The menu suggests you ask a waitress or bartender about the “fancy” wine menu.

Food comes in little paper boats; available are all sorts of dogs (Detroit Coney, Cincinnati Chili, a vegan dog), as well as vegan red beans and rice (to which one can add andouille sausage), chicken sausage gumbo, slaw, BBQ squash and more.

The location has been home to businesses since the 1930s, when it was a shack that sold soda pop and sandwiches. In the 1940s Pignotti’s grocery store built a more permanent structure on the site at 720 North Lake Street. “Man with the Golden Arm” author Nelson Algren, who had a summer cottage nearby, bought Schlitz there by the quart, Davis says. In 1953 it became a hamburger stand called The Beach Box, and for much of the decades following it was Ono’s Pizza.

Davis, a former professional touring guitarist based in Los Angeles, puts together super groovy playists. Thursdays brings music bingo to the bar.

Davis hopes to host live music acts in the funky backyard.

He is planning to tap his contacts from Mosquito Fest and Pheasant Fest in Chelsea, Michigan, which he and Black have helped organize for some 15 years. They’re popular music fests with live indie rock bands, wiffle ball tournaments, food booths, and a country store.

At Beach Box, “We want to cover everything,” as far as types of music, Davis says, say, a jazz trio that can be enjoyed from a blanket on a comfy, slopey dune; or country, or bands like Nick Danger.

Beach Box , (219) 487-5036, 720 N. Lake St., is open Wednesdays through Fridays, 4 pm to midnight; Saturdays, noon to midnight, Sundays noon – 10 pm.

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