"Old" Westside neighborhood bars, bakery's and more

[1KielsonDrive]

Thanks Lowell. It would be even more colorful on a bright summer day. It was pretty dreary out when i took the pics.

princealbert- I love the stories! Especially the sliding bartenders chair in the Alaskan and the old lady at the Aloha.

1KielsonDrive - dive crawls are always fun except for the fact that you usually cant find a dark beer! Everyone loves the Telway, it seems many find themselves there after a good night at the bar!

I will try to get some pics of some of the closed down joints some of you have mentioned here

Thanks everyone for your replies!!

Yup. You're correct. So I usually settle for a Pabst. Which, by the way, was for many years only available in true dives. Now, it's everywhere. Good. You can get whatever you like at my place. Tell me and I'll order it. I'm hoping to put a real nice draught systen in within a year. Let's see how business goes.

[Rosa]

Supreme Bakery is still good - great rye bread and pastries.
Feel bad that there is so much dumping in that area, behind
Mothers and all the way up to Central. Creeps me out when I
go there to buy my weekly bread. At one time, in addition to the bars along that stretch of Michigan, were bridal shops. Had my wedding gown made in a shop across from the 52nd
show bar - back when it was a piano bar and very classy. I
sort of remember that the bridal shop became a twister lounge.

That's good to hear. I will stop there. I've heard about all the bridal shops on Michigan. My Mom's family is from Downriver, but that was where you went to buy your wedding dress. That whole stretch was basically Hamtramck West.

[pgn421]

Abicks is a class act.
I miss Softball Bar, Milos Sugar Shack, Ralphs Picture Bar
And Gannons on the Highway.!

[Koe313]

Fair enough. I have been meaning to try the kielbasa at Markowycz's, so I think I'll hit the Starlite while in the neighborhood. Is Supreme Bakery still good?

I go to Supreme 5 or 6 xs a mth...RYE BREAD!!!!!

[reddog289]

I thought about buying a place down that way a while back.While I spent more time south of John Kronk. Had to go up to the Avenue for most things.Of all the places I have spent time in the CIty of Detroit, This area was the interesting of all.

[Stosh]

$6.00 a pound is a steal. You probably know that and you're likely commenting in relative terms. I bought some smoked sausage at Koptyko's in Hamtown recently. I think it was considerably more than $6.00 a pound. I think I paid almost $30.00 for a little over 2 pounds. It was sooooo good, I've been back a few times. It's a great snack or meal. Markowycz's is very similar in that it is all homemade and labor intensive. If you've noticed, most of the big meat company stuff out there is all pretty much the same. I think they make it all in one batch and then add some flavorings and call it 'brats', or Italian, or whatever.

I've been buying the fresh and smoked kielbasa for my family at Dearborn Sausage on Wyoming lately. It's very good, and considerably less than what you paid. A 5 lb box of fresh was $19.45. Smoked is $19.95. Look at www.dearbornbrand.com

[Whitehouse]

What strikes me the most, with my European eyes, is sometimes the complete lack of windows. Is that for safety or mandatory by law or something?

My regular stop.
[[Come to think of ot, this could also be one of the Detroit bars. Also a complete lack of windows. )

[Ezri]

More on the latin side of SW Detroit... I remember there used to be a bar called "Brisas del Mariel".
I was told the bar was opened after Fidel Castro allowed some prisoners to free from Cuba [[Los Marielitos).

I believe there used to be another bar in front of Armando's Restaurant and Clark Park [[on W. Vernor). I don't remember the name... I've just seen that it became a bakery now... I think it was a good change since that bar used to attract a lot of strange people...)

[jcole]

What strikes me the most, with my European eyes, is sometimes the complete lack of windows. Is that for safety or mandatory by law or something?

My regular stop.
[[Come to think of ot, this could also be one of the Detroit bars. Also a complete lack of windows. )

People like to drink in dark places and if you can't see if it's day or night, you're less likely to care what time it is. It's like the casinos. No clocks, no windows.

[Detroit_uke]

Why no windows in the bars - My opinion is - that way back then everybody walked everywhere. Everything you needed was in walking distance...and you didn't want your kids to see you In the bar when they were walking past.....

[kirkwood street]

does anyone rember the 7,11 & the sail inn bars?

[former_detroiter82]

Thanks for the memories as these were bars in the neighborhood I grew up in and actually went to most of them in my time living in Detroit. The bar that is on Freer & St. John used to be the Softball bar when I lived there and is just around the corner from the house I grew up in and must have changed names recently as I was in Detroit close to 2 years ago. It was a blast from the past seeing all the old haunts.

[former_detroiter82]

does anyone rember the 7,11 & the sail inn bars?

Yes I do remember the Sail in as I used to say sail in crawl out

[Rosa]

More on the latin side of SW Detroit... I remember there used to be a bar called "Brisas del Mariel".
I was told the bar was opened after Fidel Castro allowed some prisoners to free from Cuba [[Los Marielitos).

I believe there used to be another bar in front of Armando's Restaurant and Clark Park [[on W. Vernor). I don't remember the name... I've just seen that it became a bakery now... I think it was a good change since that bar used to attract a lot of strange people...)

There was a bar further west on Vernor that looked like it had cool lighting inside - I only saw it from the street - was it the WVS?

A guy told me years ago there was a place on Michigan that served a drink called a "Flaming Ruby" that they lit on fire, but he may have been pulling my leg.

There was a place around Livernois and Michigan called the Cermak or something, but I don't think it's there anymore.

[caspermi]

I believe that the Sail In was next to Piaskowski Drugs on Michigan Ave. They had a nice shuffleboard table in there.

[former_detroiter82]

I grew up in that area in the 60's and 70's and a few places come to mind.
- Michno's Cafe on the corner of Central and St. Stephens
- The Softball Bar on the corner of Freer and St John
- bar on the corner of Central and St John [[can't remember name)
- Who could forget the 52nd Show Bar on Michigan and 52nd. Remember as kid the ad in front for 'Antoinette the MonkeyLady". I was eight when the Tigers won the World Series in '68 and people were celebrating on Michigan Ave. A friend and I dared each other and we went into the place and each got a bag of chips and I still remember the gal dancing on stage at the time.
- There was a bar next to Piaskowski Drugs on Michigan that had a shuffleboard table game that we played on many times.
- I think it was the El Dorado Bar on the corner of Michigan and Livernois. Used to stop in and buy french fries in their restaurant on the way home from Boys Club.
- Don't know the name, but there was a go-go bar on the north side of Michigan between Martin and Livernois that had a series of torches on the front of the building. I remember driving past at night with my dad and the front was lit with the flaming torches.

Here are some other businesses that come to mind;
-White Tower Burgers on Central and Michigan. Cunninghams-later DOTS drugs, Neisners Dime Store, A clothing store next to a jewelery store [[can't remember names), Plizga Shoes, Jaworski's Deli, Piaskowski Drugs, Darpol Travel, 5 and 10 Dime Store, Sgt Russ Barbershop, Polys Hardware, Gniewak Trophy Shop, a hardware store on 52nd and Michigan, Banner Grocery and right next door was a magazine store where I bought many a comic book.

I'd like others to share memories of the area.

The bar on the corner of Central & St. John was the called Sly's Saloon when I lived in Detroit. I left home in 1982.

[former_detroiter82]

Does anybody remember the Time Out or Tip Top bars neither of which are still there

[EastsideAl]

What strikes me the most, with my European eyes, is sometimes the complete lack of windows. Is that for safety or mandatory by law or something?

Bars in the U.S. are traditionally mostly built to be dark, with few windows to the outside, somewhat like the pubs in England and Ireland from which they descend. You have to keep in mind the historical controversy over saloons in the U.S. and the American history of prohibition. Drinking could be considered something shameful [[and for more than a decade illegal) and was not something you necessarily wanted your neighbors, employers, friends, and relatives to see you doing.

Then, as jcole said, bar owners also discovered that it was financially beneficial to seal their customers off as much as possible from the outside world and the regular passage of time. That way they would be more likely to stay and party, or at least have another round or two. And, finally, in Detroit you have the added thought of giving potential thieves fewer places to break in from, which is why so many commercial establishments in the city, from bars to stores, are built like windowless bunkers, sometimes complete with razor wire fences on the roof.

[kryptonite]

Charlie's Bar on Springwells is a nice break from windowless and dark bars. The lady that owns it renovated it with plenty of windows. They restored the old bar nicely, it has atmosphere. She told me that the tin ceilings were damaged by a fire and she couldn't save them, that it broke her heart to remove them.

Just a thumbs up to Charlie's Bar - now back to MI Ave.

[pgn421]

was just at Abicks, real nice!

[reddog289]

Forgot about the bars on Springwells, Charlies was a good place the few times I was there. Youre right about the windows deal. Haven't been in alot of bars with windows now I think of it.

[Johnnie Sue Bridges]

Wow, thanks for the photos. This is my old neighborhood. I grew up in the 70s on 35th Street between Rich and Haratio--3 blocks from Michigan Ave. I remember lots of neighborhood bars, but the ones' that my friends and I hung out at most was: "Function at the Junction" on Jackson and Junction, the "Peace Forever Bar" on Michigan and military, the "Carnival Bar" on Vernor and Clark and "Zadapies" [[not sure of the spelling) on Vernor Highway. In the summer we mostly hung out in Clark’s Park. Our neighborhood bakery was on the corner of Buchanan and North Campbell. We ran a security guard company –King’s Security. We had all the really cool concert halls in the area like Eastown, the hall on 24th and Vernor, Goose Lake…so concerts were priority to me. We also had Detroit Dragway— Don Prudhomme’s Snake and Raymond Beatle’s Blue Max was the bomb.
Thank you, Johnnie Sue Bridges

[ronaldj]

On the way to school, used to walk past the Skyliner on 35th and Herbert. Lots of windows and a nice neon sign. Right at the bus stop.

There was a bar on 33rd and Herbert that that Mom and Dad used to walk to.

Frankie's was in the neighborhood.

Bar on the corner of 35th and Horatio. Cannot remember the name.

[Johnnie Sue Bridges]

On the way to school, used to walk past the Skyliner on 35th and Herbert. Lots of windows and a nice neon sign. Right at the bus stop.

There was a bar on 33rd and Herbert that that Mom and Dad used to walk to.

Frankie's was in the neighborhood.

Bar on the corner of 35th and Horatio. Cannot remember the name.

Hi Ronald,
You are so right, there was a bar on practically every corner. Us youngins didn't fraternize the corner bars much, unless we were looking for a family member or a friend's family member. LOL

[Fury13]

Can someone confirm [[or deny) that Stempien's is, in fact, closed? That is/was a great neighborhood bar.