Honest John's, redux

**Kathleen** · August-31-11, 07:32 AM

Selden between Cass and Second.

Standard breakfast fare, with some awesome omelet choices.

Standard bar fare, with burgers and sandwiches. Even some really good selections for the vegetarian in the crowd.

**Downriviera** · August-31-11, 09:57 AM

I used to go to the old location after playing hockey at City Arena, which was nearby. I'm pretty hungry and thirsty after playing hockey, and of course they had no food there. But John was always kind enough to give us some stale pretzels to go with our beer. We decided that once a pretzel is stale, it is no longer a pretzel and becomes a breadstick. So from then on we always said we were going up there for beer and breadsticks after the game. We always donated some cash for the many great fundraisers, I think they called it the shakedown society. On my first visit to the new location I saw a cute coed sitting at the bar drinking a Black Label 40oz. I knew right then it was going to be a great place. I wish nothing but the best to John and his family.

**Django** · August-31-11, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Johnlodge

At the aforementioned relative's request, I am posting the following message:

I asked someone to try and politely put the kibosh to this and, well, it didn't happen. I'm gonna use a little bit of colorful language, here, but please try and read it in a calm voice

Mikeinmotown....who in the hell do you think you are posting something on a public forum that is patently not true. Someone will be reposting this for me, so I anxiously await your reply through them to me at the kid's table as to WHEN the last time you "heard" was. Secondly, who in the hell do you think you are posting something on a public forum about someone's faculties and/or ability to function. Especially someone as public as John and my aunt [[yes, I am the asshole relative whose panties got all in a twist). Do you not know that there are trolls out there who peruse forums such as this and whose intentions are, shall we say, greedy and below board? Or is your view one of kumbaya and lollipops....because if it is, I'd rather you be the crime victim and not someone I am related to. Thirdly, and this a question I hope [[probably blindly) that you have the stones to answer, how the fu*k is my aunt's condition even germane to the point you were attempting to make?Alley_cat...Where did you draw this conclusion from? Everyone at the kid's table seemed to draw the universal connection that, as a family member, I was universally displeased with what was written. Johnlodge, at my behest, very eloquently and succinctly made my point and I thought [[against hope) there would no need to expound on his any further. I fail to see how you could have misconstrued that because I didn't mince words over there. Couple that with the fact that since you seem to know John pretty well [[and, by extension, probably me, too) you must know how he absolutely loves to have his wife's name "out there", especially since her injury. I certainly hope I do not have to justify myself to him because of you. At least you had your facts straight [[probably because they came straight from me, yeah?). I don't want my family's business known here. Period . I want it the fuck out! [[Big fucking hint, Moderators!)

This I believe was first posted on the other forum, where no one is safe and nothing is sacred. Thats kinda ballsy to come back over here to a civilized site and claim injustice. WTF is up with that?

**stromberg2** · August-31-11, 12:44 PM

John's a great guy, never had any problems shootin' the shit with him. By the way, the bar and no grill makes a mean plate of fries!

Stromberg2

**SWMAP** · August-31-11, 12:51 PM

I don't get it. John Thompson lays out his whole life from pitiful beginning to sweet marriage to Irene and then her aneurism in 2010 to Neal Rubin of the Detroit News, who publishes it al one year agol, and then some relative of Thompson's takes offense and makes terrible threats for people talking about a public record on a public foru. That relative is the one who is out-of-bounds.

If Irene is doing much better - why not just provide the happy news? The original story of her brain attack is already WAY out in the public domain now, courtesy of her husband who didn't think anything wrong in talking about it.

**Johnlodge** · August-31-11, 01:10 PM

For the record, I am extricating myself from the conversation. If you want to ask questions, you can do so yourself, and vice versa. Django knows who to talk to. I've never been there, nor do I know any of the characters involved, just doing a favor for someone who has always been nice enough in all of my interactions, and helped me out with something once.

**stromberg2** · August-31-11, 01:18 PM

Here's the article...

Neal Rubin

Honest John's owner gives up bar for his wife

[IMG]file:///graphics/columnistmugs/NealRubin.jpg[/IMG] John Thompson looks like hell.
He should be giddy. He created one of the city's best-known taverns for his wife to keep her secure, and now he's sold it for her, to keep her husband sober.
Thompson handed over the keys to Honest[[?) John's Bar & Grill two Fridays ago to a pair of employees, and his old neighborhood and his old demons were supposed to be behind him.
Instead, he's in a booth along the far wall, gaunt and pained, running his hands through his otherwise untended hair. Irene kept him as close to under control as he's ever been, and what's her reward? A hospital bed.
Advertisement

"This neighborhood destroys people," he says. The doctors tell him that two head-jarring accidents in the barroom basement may have burst the blood vessel in Irene's brain. And you can draw big, bold lines straight from Selden Street to the drugs and the alcohol and the memories that are driving him away.
When Thompson was a kid, the bar he reopened as Honest[[?) John's was known as Elmer's. His mom turned tricks there. That was a good thing; when she worked a bar instead of a corner, somebody always saw who she left with.
If he made the bar his place, he figured, he could put a magnifying glass to those mental snapshots. He could examine them in enough dispassionate detail that they'd stop meaning anything, and then, if he was lucky, they'd burst into flames.
Horrors don't stop

Instead, new horrors surfaced. At the original Honest[[?) John's near Belle Isle, he'd poured drinks for everyone else for 13 years and stayed sober for the last eight of them. At the place in the Cass Corridor, open since 2002, he made it 2 ½ years more.
Then he reached for a bottle. "Vodka," he says. "Juice of the [[bleeps)."
He didn't drink every day or even every year. Sometimes he could pace the visions away, walking the same streets his mother had. But there was nowhere to put what happened when he was 12 or 13, after heroin left him orphaned and he lived in an abandoned hotel until a local reverend took him in.
"I've never told anyone this before except Irene," he says, and the hands go back in the hair and his brown eyes get full. There was a basement at the church, and there was a local guy who volunteered in the youth programs, and he took Thompson downstairs and raped him.
Decades later, someone else sent the man to prison. Thompson knew he should come forward, to add his voice and maybe make the sentence longer. He wasn't strong enough, and now that haunts him, too.
He promised Irene he'd say it aloud someday, and now he has.
It's time to go

Irene told him she didn't date saloon owners.
She's 60 now, four years older than he, and she was the comptroller at a car dealership when she walked into his old bar a few weeks after he opened. Ultimately, he changed her mind and she changed his ways.
At the first bar, he was the attraction. At the new one, the nurses from the medical center have breakfast and Bloody Marys when they get off work at 7 a.m., and it's self-sustaining all day long. He took it on faith that Irene would outlive him, and he built a business she could depend on alone.
When the decade neared an end and they were both still around, they decided to walk away. The new owners met at the bar eight years ago, when Jeff Fontecchio, 27, was the one-man overnight cleanup crew and Kelly Rossi, 30, was the Sunday night barkeep. They say they'll keep things pretty much the same and even bring back some of the wild things Thompson used to do for charity, like the wintertime dip in the Detroit River.
Everything was perfect, right up until a few weeks ago when Irene started babbling in the middle of the night.
Doctors put her into a coma, then drew her out. Rehab is a given; otherwise, the prognosis remains uncertain.
"Getting out of here means I'll never drink again," Thompson says. He knew that before the aneurysm, but now it's a mission.
Irene needs him more than the demons do. He fought them to a draw, and now it's time to go.
nrubin@detnews.com [[313) 222-1874

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100606/...#ixzz1WdBtQ4Ck

Stromberg2

**Alley** · August-31-11, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by SWMAP

I don't get it. John Thompson lays out his whole life from pitiful beginning to sweet marriage to Irene and then her aneurism in 2010 to Neal Rubin of the Detroit News, who publishes it al one year agol, and then some relative of Thompson's takes offense and makes terrible threats for people talking about a public record on a public foru. That relative is the one who is out-of-bounds.

If Irene is doing much better - why not just provide the happy news? The original story of her brain attack is already WAY out in the public domain now, courtesy of her husband who didn't think anything wrong in talking about it.

First, it's not our business to discuss her medical conditions--chat about the article you read if you just really can't fight that urge-- but anything beyond that is her business, his business, and not open season on a message board. Isn't this thread about the bar, anyway?
Second, what is happy about misinformation and continuing to talk about things someone relevant to the situation has asked you not to?
Moving along...

**SWMAP** · August-31-11, 01:32 PM

I don't know John Thompson, never set eyes on him. I could care less about his wife's condition. I did not spread any information here about that. I have never been to any of his bars.

John Thompson himself spread a lot of stuff last year to the millions of readers of the Detroit News. An update to that information - and even to discuss it - is a reasonable thing to happen on a Board like this.

And as a matter of fact, this thread started with an unprovoked rant against John Thompson. It wasn't only about the wonderful bar - it was about Thompson himself and how he ran his place. Why didn't you shoot free speech down then?

**Danny** · August-31-11, 01:35 PM

I never go to any store, restaurant that has the word 'honest' on it.

**Gannon** · August-31-11, 01:48 PM

Wait a g-d minute.

This thread started over a RAVE over how the bar was experienced by one who had stopped willingly going to it. I had gone a few other times, at other's invitations and when group meetings were held there. I stopped willingly going in, as a form of solidarity with those I had heard were banned for no good reason. I was even warned against aligning myself with John in any way, when I was around others who he has crossed...one morning I was harangued for taking John Sinclair there for breakfast!

I didn't understand the context, nor did I question it...the person who deliverd the edict was not one to answer those types of questions anyways!

Regardless, when I did go in there, I felt as if I were under some odd scrutiny. John did a great job inspecting everyone who crossed the threshold of his doorway. It felt as if at any time, the thin welcome mat would be yanked from under my feet. I never operate well under those circumstances.

I felt John was a ogre, and ever since that article have wanted to spend more time there. The food is excellent. Their employees are often from the creative community, so going there is one more way to support the arts downtown. [[Same with Union Street, the Majestic Complex, and a few other joints, too, btw!) Of the new owners, I didn't know the fellow...but crossed paths with Ms. Rossi in a few theater productions. She is the best consistent drooler that I've ever seen live. [[reference to a musical version of a famous movie an old friend adapted, and came back to town to direct her in...also the same time I'd met Audra Kubat, who was the 'MC' of the piece)

So, yeah, there never was a RANT that started this thread...it has always been a RAVE. My enthusiasm for this place knows no bounds now that I know John Thompson isn't in residence. I don't care if he profits off the transfer, he more than deserves it for creating and fostering it all these years.

But the fact remains, whomever took it over has maintained the positives...and now that this one great negative is gone, their business should reflect that. As I said, there may be throngs of previously banned individuals who flock there...too many people have reacted well to the news that he's gone.

I wish him and his wife the best...in every other way.

Sincerely,
John

**Gannon** · August-31-11, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

I never go to any store, restaurant that has the word 'honest' on it.

Thanks for the tip!

Honestly.

**mikeinmotown** · August-31-11, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by Johnlodge

At the aforementioned relative's request, I am posting the following message:

I asked someone to try and politely put the kibosh to this and, well, it didn't happen. I'm gonna use a little bit of colorful language, here, but please try and read it in a calm voice

Mikeinmotown....who in the hell do you think you are posting something on a public forum that is patently not true. Someone will be reposting this for me, so I anxiously await your reply through them to me at the kid's table as to WHEN the last time you "heard" was. Secondly, who in the hell do you think you are posting something on a public forum about someone's faculties and/or ability to function. Especially someone as public as John and my aunt [[yes, I am the asshole relative whose panties got all in a twist). Do you not know that there are trolls out there who peruse forums such as this and whose intentions are, shall we say, greedy and below board? Or is your view one of kumbaya and lollipops....because if it is, I'd rather you be the crime victim and not someone I am related to. Thirdly, and this a question I hope [[probably blindly) that you have the stones to answer, how the fu*k is my aunt's condition even germane to the point you were attempting to make?Alley_cat...Where did you draw this conclusion from? Everyone at the kid's table seemed to draw the universal connection that, as a family member, I was universally displeased with what was written. Johnlodge, at my behest, very eloquently and succinctly made my point and I thought [[against hope) there would no need to expound on his any further. I fail to see how you could have misconstrued that because I didn't mince words over there. Couple that with the fact that since you seem to know John pretty well [[and, by extension, probably me, too) you must know how he absolutely loves to have his wife's name "out there", especially since her injury. I certainly hope I do not have to justify myself to him because of you. At least you had your facts straight [[probably because they came straight from me, yeah?). I don't want my family's business known here. Period . I want it the fuck out! [[Big fucking hint, Moderators!)

Nothing I said in my comment was to hurt your Aunt. Your Aunt is a Saint. I was not the first one to say that and I'm not the last. Everyone likes her. So I did have it wrong about her condition. I thought it was a stroke, but it wasn't. The last time I HEARD about your Aunt was 6 mos. ago. So I'm very happy to hear she is doing so well now. Most of what you said made no sense so I don't know how to reply. As for John, I've known him for years. Mostly as a customer. For years I attended the moon shot, wrapped presents, delivered turkeys but never did the polar dip. So I think I know John pretty well. Oh, I also went on his river tours a few times. John's life was an open book and most of the stuff written on here are the stories he told about himself.

**East Detroit** · August-31-11, 06:03 PM

So... is H?J's with the new ownership something to visit or to avoid?

I think that got lost in the drama.

I was going to stop by after the Tour de Troit...

**Django** · August-31-11, 06:25 PM

I suggest Motor City Brew E.D.. or the Bronx.

**East Detroit** · August-31-11, 06:59 PM

Isn't Motor City the one with the contentious parking lot situation?

**Kathleen** · August-31-11, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

So... is H?J's with the new ownership something to visit or to avoid?

I think that got lost in the drama.

I was going to stop by after the Tour de Troit...

Haven't really seen any difference in the food or the ambience since John sold the joint. It is just as good as it always has been!

**Gannon** · August-31-11, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by East Detroit

So... is H?J's with the new ownership something to visit or to avoid?

I think that got lost in the drama.

I was going to stop by after the Tour de Troit...

I can happily say that this place is once again on our short list of top quality joints.

Breakfast was stellar...they have not lost their touch, using obviously high-quality ingredients deftly assembled into delights. Everyone had great food...

...but the best part was our waiter. She was prompt, engaging, attentive...enjoyable...and all around simply fantastic. We would go back just because of her.

So, YAY, new Honest John's owners...get the word out that the ogre is no longer in residence, and you might get a flood of previously banned people thronging through those doors!

I didn't want to type it all in again.

Cheers,
John