Old Detroit Bars

[carman]

Does anyone have any information on a Sexton's Lounge on Warren?

[EastsideAl]

Buddy and Jimmy's was at Cass at Parsons, SE corner...a ramshackle house the had a been a blindpig during Prohibition...

THANK YOU Detroitbob! I just got back to this board and this thread after some time away to see that you had posted this. I've been trying to remember the name and precise location of this place for years. My Uncle Bud used to hang out at that joint every time he got back to the city, and drag the rest of us in there. I was in there a couple of times when I was a kid and all I remember is a lot of smoke, what seemed a precariously sagging floor, a woman with few teeth in her head behind the bar who was very nice to me and gave me some pop, and an old black pianist of indeterminate sex who played great stuff for an old fashioned floor show that seemed right out of Sophie Tucker-era vaudeville or the show bars of the 1920s.

[kibitzerkin]

Al, early on when this post began you commented on the shooting that took place outside the Kibitzer. My grandfather owned this bar from the 30's until the early to mid-60's. My dad who has now past, used to drive me by the place in the 70's. My grandfather's cousin Herman originally opened the place just as prohibition was lifted, and eventually turned it over to my grandfather. I believe it was located in the first floor of The Aderna apartment building, which is now The Wayne Court apartments. Does this location sound correct? Were you ever in the Kibitzer? Please share any memories that you may recall. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[EastsideAl]

Al, early on when this post began you commented on the shooting that took place outside the Kibitzer. My grandfather owned this bar from the 30's until the early to mid-60's. My dad who has now past, used to drive me by the place in the 70's. My grandfather's cousin Herman originally opened the place just as prohibition was lifted, and eventually turned it over to my grandfather. I believe it was located in the first floor of The Aderna apartment building, which is now The Wayne Court apartments. Does this location sound correct? Were you ever in the Kibitzer? Please share any memories that you may recall. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

That is indeed the correct location. I was in the place a few times circa 1978. A lot of the people who drank there were older men, and a guy I was acquainted with back then was one of them. It was a long time ago, and I was not in the most lucid state of mind back then, if you know what I mean. I mostly remember the place being dark, but with windows unlike a lot of corridor bars, so a fair amount of light came in during the afternoon. Someone had wedged a pool table in there then. The shooting I witnessed there was over a pool game gone wrong.

[kibitzerkin]

Thanks Al, I never was in the bar, I was too young when my Dad used to take me by. If memory serves me correctly, there was a neon sign in the front window that read "Kibitzer Cafe" or "Kibitzer". My Mom & Dad had their wedding reception at the bar in December 1950. From the pictures of that day, it looked like the walls had knotty pine on them much like a cabin. Was this how the walls were when you were there? My Gpa had many famous friends that visited the bar when they were in Detroit. Pat O'Brien and Rosemary Clooney were often there along with the local hookers and everyday regulars.

[EastsideAl]

I think the wood paneling was still there.

[dkbradley]

Hey RickBeale this is DK [[Garwoodian). I was in Cobbs Corner every night in the early 70's so I remember most of the places mentioned here to a greater or lesser degree. Yes the Willis show bar had an amazingly improbable burlesque show. I went in with my boss around 1968. We sat at the bar and watched a hardended 40+ burlesquese-type dancer walk back and forth on either a stage or a part of the bar - I don't remember exactlly how it was set up. The entire scene was like a 1940's movie set and was more strange than sexy to someone my age. Much like the taxi-dance studios. I had a pool hustler friend in the 60's whose wife worked as a taxi dancer in one of those locations [[I think there were two of them on Woodward). It was probably the "Artison" [[last open as the Bittersweet coffee shop above the Reggae place and which had preserved some of the old taxi-dance print material carefully hanging on its walls). [[The Bittersweet was on its way to becoming my favorite place had it stayed open! I actually felt that it was going to become the anchor of a small bohemian center on that section of Woodward!) Anyway, one night [[probably about 1966) he had to go see her about something so I accompanied him. I recall a darkly lit barroom type setup with a dance floor with numerous 50+ aged men [[the WW1 generation!) dressed in old suits and wide ties paying something like 25 cents a minute to dance with younger women. There were dark corners on the dance floor where you could dance off with the accomodating woman [[perhaps all weren't) and be more touchy-feely [[I don't think any active sex was going on unless it was in private rooms). It was a real time capsule even for the 60's. I can't remember it being open through the 70's as one poster suggested, but its very probably true. Detroit still retained many of its "old" establishments through the 70's. How about the canvass-topped arcade on Woodward near the now I-75!

[dkbradley]

I just went back and read the entire forum thread. In deference to those much more knowledgeable about this history, I may have confused the Willis Show Bar with Anderson's Gardens - whichever had the burlesque show was the one I meant. And, thanks to the remarkable memory of another poster I'm not sure if I went to the Artison [[sic) or one of the other taxi-dances. The Moulin Rouge also sounds vaguely familiar. In any case going up and down Woodward thousands of times in my life I would have seen all the signs anyway, so they are not suprisingly jumbled in my memory. I stick with the reference to Bittersweet though, I really wish it had stayed open - it got off to a really interesting start.

[dookie joe]

Bradley, I think the Willis Show Bar was the one with the burlesque, since they advertised it on the sign, although by the time I was running around the Corridor in the 70s, I think they'd stopped the shows there, although I'm not positive.

However, I can pretty much guarantee the taxi dance place above the Sassy Cat Theater was open in the 70s, because my friend and I broke into it once. We didn't steal anything; we were just kids screwing around.

It was fairly easy to get onto the roof of that place [[it was a favorite spot from which to watch the Thanksgiving Parade each year). One day we went up there and found a window half-open, so we crawled inside and poked around [[this was during the day and the place hadn't opened yet). It was set up like a disco, with a dance floor and DJ area.

[dookie joe]

I don't know if I mentioned this elsewhere in this thread [[or another one), but there used to be a peephole in the alley behind the Sassy Cat when you could look in and see the movies. My little brother Steve discovered it. Here's an excerpt of something I wrote about the famous Sassy Cat peephole:


As we neared Woodward Avenue my redheaded brother turned south into an adjacent alleyway. We trekked a few hundred feet before Steve paused at an opening between two buildings. The space was only about six feet wide but it went back a good 10 yards. The littered floor sloped faintly downward until the cubby hole ended at a brown brick wall, where several black plastic garbage bags were stacked.

I could vaguely hear a song.

Steve smirked. “Come on.”

We followed him in, maneuvering around a White Castle cup, a tattered little girl’s sneaker, a Wild Irish Rose bottle, a milk carton. I tiptoed through the rubbish, anticipating rats. Sure enough, a fat, mangy one darted from the pile of bags and slithered through a crack at the base of the back wall. I jumped, even though I’d been ready for it.

I retreated two steps, snatched the wine bottle and hurled it at the bag pile. Nothing moved. Steve picked up the old shoe and flung it. Nothing. We waited a few more seconds before venturing forth.

About halfway in, I noticed an obscure entrance to the building on my left. The two adjoining wood doors were painted a murky gray that blended with the dark bricks.

Steve pointed. “Right there. Look in that hole.”

Someone had used a knife or screwdriver to widen the space where the two doors met, leaving an opening about the size of a quarter.

A saxophone melody harkened.

I knelt onto a conveniently-placed slab of cardboard and edged my eye to the hole. It took a second to adjust. Then a flickering image came into focus: a blonde. Her head bobbed up and down.

It dawned on me what was happening. I giggled.

“Now, then, tell me who’s bullshittin’,” Steve crowed. “Fuck you guys!”

He had every right to gloat. The king of false alarms had come through with a real doozy — a peephole into the Sassy Cat Adult Theater!

“Let me see,” Shawn pleaded.

“Hang on.”

“C’mon, Duane.”

“Hang on!”

“Shhh!” Steve hissed. “Keep your voices down! Someone inside’ll hear you!”

“Yeah, but Duane won’t let me look.”

“Jeez, all right, here!” I moved aside and Shawn scrambled to take my place. When he peeked in he giggled, too.

Steve eventually wanted his turn. They argued. Then I was ready for another look. There was more hushed bickering.

Shawn came up with the best plan: each of us would get five minutes alone at the hole while the other two guarded the alley. Nobody had a wristwatch so we had to estimate ― which, of course led to more disputes whenever someone’s turn was up:

“No way can that be five minutes already!”

“Fuck you, get out of the way!”

“Ssshhhhhh!!”

Steve and I were pulling guard duty when a familiar figure appeared in the alleyway.

“Pssst! Shawn! Someone’s comin’!” Our brother joined us as Junior the bum approached.

“Y’all got a quarter?”

Junior was a crazy old man who limped around the neighborhood talking to himself. He had a huge scar on his forehead and the whites of his eyes were yellow. Supposedly, he had been a professional boxer back in the 1940s, before something happened to make him go crazy. According to one rumor, the Mafia chopped his wife into 10 pieces because he refused to take a dive. Others said he just got punched too many times in the head. However it happened, Junior was definitely nuts. He’d shuffle around in circles punching the air, giggling, cussing and talking gibberish.

Did he know about the peephole? I kicked at the ground. “Nope, we ain’t got no money,” I mumbled.

“Ya’ll got a cigarette?”

“Nope.” Kick.

Junior grunted and hobbled away. Shawn started back for the hole.

“Screw that, asshole, it’s my turn now!”

[RickBeall]

Great story exerpt Dookie.

Hi Bradley, I remember the runway or stage that was part of the bar at the Willis Show Bar. I had no idea what it was for. Burlesque! Who would have guessed. I never saw any of the shows, but I remember the place well. Anderson's Garden did not have a stage built into the bar. It was just an ordinary bar, as I remember it. There was a lot of ... uh "activity" though.

[humanmachinery]

I really miss the Third Street Saloon, which closed about five or six years ago.

It always had a decent number of patrons, though I'm told the owner got himself into other personal problems that compromised his finances.

[RickBeall]

I loved the Third Street Saloon too. What I heard, which may be the same story from a different perspective, is that the father sold it out from under the son. The son had been running it for years. The son then bought the Ramp bar [[or some such name) at W. Grand River and the service drive, but now that building no longer even exists, so I do not think that went too well.

I loved how Third Street was so tastefully decorated with pieces from other buildings ... panelling, ... all kinds of stuff. It was just the perfect place for an inner city university. Perfect atmosphere.

[kellyroad]

I loved the Third Street Saloon too. What I heard, which may be the same story from a different perspective, is that the father sold it out from under the son. The son had been running it for years. The son then bought the Ramp bar [[or some such name) at W. Grand River and the service drive, but now that building no longer even exists, so I do not think that went too well.

I loved how Third Street was so tastefully decorated with pieces from other buildings ... panelling, ... all kinds of stuff. It was just the perfect place for an inner city university. Perfect atmosphere.

Yes, the Ramp Room was a Henry Ford Hospital and Wayne State University favorite....Molson's on tap

[TenKGent]

the bars my brother and running mates hung out were the 'topless go-go' joints....downtown it was Johnny's Dream Bar. out on the east side we went to Chi-Chi's. we'd hit the clubs on Livernois, Bruce's Sound A-Go-Go, Foxes'Den, and the BrassKey. back then $20 could get you all you wanted to eat or drink. big fun after a day of working or playing basketball.

[Gin2Sin]

Where Honest John’s was originally Elmer’s Bar! Bob & Betties was in the Building on Second Ave. right next to Fred’s Key Shop. I think the Bar everyone is referring to as Henry’s is really Harry’s on the 75 Service Drive. Another Bar was The Park Henry Bar which became The 2500 Club and is now AFB! Jumbos Bar, The Temple Bar, Al’s King of Clubs. Inside the Old Fort Wayne Hotel on the First floor there was The Burgundy Lounge, in the 40’s to about the mid 60’s it was a steak house, then it became a neighborhood bar. Butches Bar on Park Ave. was owned and operated by the Purple Gang, and its whore house was up stairs. We also had The Gold Dollar which was a Drag Bar from the 40’s to about 1992, We also had Pat’s Place, The Charlotte Lounge which was originally the Gaiety, These are just some of the over 100 Bars that were in Cass Corridor.

[DetroitScooter]

This has got to be the greatest thread ever. Thanks for the stories and contributions, everyone. Amazing.

[syd47951]

hi bodybagging this is one of the notorious burgess's answering you. I am so sorry to hear about your mom she was one of the best. last time i talk to her she was living in East Jordon up north. her and my mom ran the streets together for all my life. I am pretty sure i know which one of her sons u are if you are younger than Murf your name should be J.M. I am one of the Burgess's you forgot about I am the other sister I am pretty sure i know your brothers and sisters. Write back soon we will talk.

[Vox]

Jumbo's bar 3736 Third

http://bruceharkness.com/Niagara%20a.../Page%2031.htm

Verdi's Bar 44 Sibley

http://bruceharkness.com/Niagara%20a.../Page%2050.htm

Willis Bar

http://bruceharkness.com/Niagara%20a.../Page%2026.htm

Poke around a bit in the subject and you may find more people and places.

[mikefmich]

Vok, the website from the links you posted above......wow. Much is very compelling, evocative. Some of the strongest images I've seen in awhile, & Im a photographer.

[agnetha]

I can remember this old black guy we called Shoeshine who would shine shoes for a nickle. I lived in Ramsey's apt building From when I was 3 until i turned 7 and I can just see the old drunks sitting on a log next to the building singing and telling their storys. Once a man in our building was giving free Mowhawk haircuts to all the neighborhood wineos including a woman named Rosemary that had a Giant Tattoo of jesus on her back.

__________________________________________________ _______________________________________

I used to frequent Andersons Gardens in the 70's and "shoeshine" used to shuffle around the bar and the johns would pay him to shine the ladies shoes--His name was Albert and was rumored to be quite well-off-- I really do believe that because I personally watched how many dollar bills or 5's were going in his pocket in just one round of the tables on many many occasions. I remember "Curly" too--The owner Harry Leavenburg would constantly kick him out but he would keep showing up occasionaly. The band would play every night and the lead sax was a guy named "George" who drank more than he actually played the sax. He would put one of those toy monkeys that banged cymbols together on top of the piano and he would just get such a big bang out of that. All these people were such a trip! I have good and bad memories of my time there. --My memories of the old Cass Corridor daze don't come up much anymore but what I DO remember well was the working girls and how big hearts they all had. Mixed up, confused, and taken advantage of yes of course, but in spite of it all they would pretty much do anything to help each other--kind of like a little family and Harry and Ruth Leavenburg [[the owners) were the parents lol---their son "Mutsie" [[Harry Jr.) worked right along side his dad and was like a "brother". LOL

And the bartenders were quite a special lot as well---There was an ex-boxer who was known as "Baby Face Jones [[Harold Jones) in his fighting days and was quite well-known. An older gentleman Herman who would tell stories and sing to you--a sweet gentle man who loved the girls like they were his own daughters LOL

Someone wanted to know some of the girls names--here's ones I remember-- Sylvia, Rusty, Barbara, Shirley, black Shirley, Dottie, Brenda, Big Debbie, Little Debbie, Nancy, Terry, Jackie, Lisa, Kyla---- and I could go on and on--I remember them all with a warm heart. I wish I could find someone who remembered Kyla ---she was an angel and I'd love to know what happened to her.

[mr_onion]

I remember Little Harry's bar on Jefferson,, ugh, great historical bar but Stupid Anita Baker Tore it down, Thanks for nothing Ms. Baker

[XESON]

hey, i finally am able to respond to some of the comments here... so ..im aunt is 70 years old, she having me write her life story . the interesting part , well there is many is that she was a hooker at andersons in 1959 throu the early 60s she has told me so many stories about the girls , harry the owner, the clints, and surrounding area. She was trying to remember the name of the pool hall nect door to andersons club, thats where her boyfriend woud hussle money while she worked. any one able to recall the name, or/and have any pics from that area and time . her hooker name at the time was candy. she worked with many girls whos tricks were professional men, one girl she recalls alot is named May, she owned a motel of her own, which came in handy.

Ramsey's was a well-known, reliable auto, truck repair garage on Selden between Second and Third Avenues.
Harry ran Anderson Gardens on Third just North of W. Willis.
The Calumet Bar was across the street. Big Red-headed Ed had a 2nd-hand furniture store next to it.
A pimp named Rob, who owned a fancy Italian restaurant in Livonia, operated out of the Selden BBQ in the '60's. His nephews ran errands for him.

"Shanty Bill' was an older resident of a small apartment house on Cass just North of Temple. He sold Watkins products for income additional to his Social security. He was well-liked and an exceptionally good dancer.

[XESON]

sorry about typying errors, can anyone suggest places to look for pics of third street area, mainly Andersons garden club, and the pool hall that was next door to it. Also need the name of the pool hall. my aunt is 70 she use to work as a hooker there in 1959 to the early to mid 60s she is currently writting her life story and wanted me to find some info/pics on the place,

[XESON]

yes, your right, my aunt is 70 years old she is having me write her life story, in 1959 to the early to mid 60s she worked at andersons as a hooker, she was having me search for some [ocs of the area and i ca,e across this site. do you recall the name of the poolhall that was next door to andersons?