William Ronald Gurdjian 1940-2018

[professorscott]

Ron was the latest, and probably last, proprietor of Tom's Tavern, the quirky dive on West Seven Mile Road. I have no details but suspect others may.

[professorscott]

Oops - 2018 of course. Not sure how to fix the thread title.

[gnome]

First time at Tom’s was some time in the early 1980’s, met Ron when he was arc welding on the 5th floor of the Viola Lofts. Ron loved Tom’s and Tom Lucas and when Tom died in the 90’s the patrons took it over.

Literally.

While Mike Ilitch and his CFO, Charlie Jones, held the liquor license, the folks who went there ran the place. They bought the beer, ran the cash register and kept the place from closing until Ron bought it.

Ron was not an easy guy. He was like a lot of men; kind and mean, generous and cheap, thoughtful and thoughtless. He hated big shots, unless they came in a glass. Ron was Ron.

He was like the building. A little crooked. A little caved in by time and gravity. A little mysterious, joyous and feisty.

The bar may survive, it may just poof and become a spot that use to be. A spot that you’ll drive by like Topinka’s or the Tuller or a thousand other places that made us, us.

That would be a shame.

That which makes us, us, is what is unique. We can live just fine in an Applebee’s world, a Hooters universe where the sameness of same is without surprise but we will be less for it.

To Ron, and Tom’s, a passing of unique.

[Zacha341]

I thought it had caved-in all the way by now!

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[professorscott]

While Mike Ilitch and his CFO, Charlie Jones, held the liquor license, the folks who went there ran the place. They bought the beer, ran the cash register and kept the place from closing until Ron bought it.

Thanks Gnome, that's lovely. I am proud to have been one of the aforementioned barkeepers during that transitional time along with Wayne Parlow, Ron and some others. Without Charlie's constant assistance and the patronage of a lot of the U of D and U of D High folks, it never could have lasted long enough for Ron to sort of fall into the driver's seat and keep it going the last 25 or so years. [[Tom died, I believe, in 1991. Saying that Ron "bought" it is overstating things a little bit I think.)

Over the years some folks asked us, during the time when the proprietorship was in flux, where did the money go that we took in? The answer is simple; the place never made any money at all during that time. Those of us tending bar and keeping it open were also subsidizing it. Ron seemed to have been able to bring back enough business to at least make the place break even, and hopefully for his sake it did a little bit better than that.

[gnome]

Professor,

The really confusing ownership status, and history, of Tom’s is so circuitous that to fully describe it would make the readers’ eyes bleed.

I would hate to take a deep dive into the books at Tom’s. I am sure it is not much of a money-maker as the place is too small to create much more than memories.

The place is a clubhouse. A not-so private space where like-minded adventurers gather to regale each other with tales of daring-don’t.

[Henry Whalley]

The place is a clubhouse.

Yeah, so much so that propinquity was the sole qualification to be made temporary proprietor when Tom decided to go to the racetrack.