Mercury Bar / Michigan and 14th

**Debbiedo** · October-19-10, 10:22 AM

Does anyone know what's happening at the Mercury Bar accross the street from Slows? I heard new owners are in there remodeling the place. What's going on there?

**casscorridor** · October-19-10, 10:47 AM

word on the street is that it's going to be a burger joint

also...
-a new coffee shop is opening across the street on the Slow's block called Astro Coffee
- Roosevelt Park is slated to be redone, with a skate park included in the design
- the Imagination Station is remodeling one of the two houses into artists studios next to the hotel on 14th, with the other house becoming some sort of living art project
- the parking lot next to the hotel is complete, and available for Slow's customers as well as customers of O'Conner Reality, the new coffee house and burger joint.

**DetroitPlanner** · October-19-10, 10:54 AM

Personally, I think building a skatepark there will open the City up to more lawsuits, its a disaster waiting to happen. An attractive nusiance.

The for rent signs are still in the Merc's windows.

**Detroitnerd** · October-19-10, 11:04 AM

It's going to be a coffee shop with high-end coffee and $10 panini sandwiches. They want to hire dozens of people from the neighborhood and pay them living wages. Oh, wait ...

**lafayette** · October-19-10, 11:09 AM

Speaking of mystery buildings and refurbishing activities, anybody know anything about the building at the northeast corner of where northbound Mt. Elliott forks and becomes Conant, just north of I-94? Looks like it's about a hundred years old, possibly originally some type of retail/bar, up until recently was dark brown with an older white name of Mother's painted on it. A few days ago guys painted the entire outside of the building the color of Silly Putty. Looks like someone is doing something with it. Anyone know the history of the building and/or what's being done with it now?

**Detroitnerd** · October-19-10, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by lafayette

Speaking of mystery buildings and refurbishing activities, anybody know anything about the building at the northeast corner of where northbound Mt. Elliott forks and becomes Conant, just north of I-94? Looks like it's about a hundred years old, possibly originally some type of retail/bar, up until recently was dark brown with an older white name of Mother's painted on it. A few days ago guys painted the entire outside of the building the color of Silly Putty. Looks like someone is doing something with it. Anyone know the history of the building and/or what's being done with it now?

Yeah, people are working on old Mother's bar. It had some of the greatest graffiti on it a few years ago. Somebody had painted the virgin Mary on the door, so you'd see that driving up Mt. Elliot. Then somebody did an amazing thing: They painted Alfred E. Neuman's face over the virgin. I used to laugh my ass off at that. Then somebody -- possibly an outraged Catholic -- blacked the whole thing out.

I sure do wonder what they intend to do with that space. A bar? Maybe not. So far the only people developing anything along south Conant or Mt. Elliot are the Bangladeshi and Yemeni communities, not well-known for drinking.

**rjlj** · October-19-10, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Personally, I think building a skatepark there will open the City up to more lawsuits, its a disaster waiting to happen. An attractive nusiance.

The for rent signs are still in the Merc's windows.

Here is a list of nearly 100 Skate Parks in Michigan, most being public. If it works in other cities in Michigan and throughout the U.S., why can't it in Detroit?

http://www.concretedisciples.com/ska...e.php?state=MI

**Beatsworking** · October-19-10, 11:36 AM

DetroitPlanner- Why do you think a skatepark will be such a liability for Detroit? It is not a problem in West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills, Birmingham, Troy, Huntington Woods, Royal Oak, and every other community in Metro Detroit. What are you basing your assumption on?

**Detroitnerd** · October-19-10, 11:36 AM

Here's a link to a Google street-level view of Mother's Bar.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=...49.68,,0,-1.81

**Johnlodge** · October-19-10, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Personally, I think building a skatepark there will open the City up to more lawsuits, its a disaster waiting to happen. An attractive nusiance.

The for rent signs are still in the Merc's windows.

BACK OFF, POPS!

**lafayette** · October-19-10, 12:14 PM

Thanks Detroitnerd. Anyone know the history of Mother's?

**DetroitPlanner** · October-19-10, 12:18 PM

Originally Posted by rjlj

Here is a list of nearly 100 Skate Parks in Michigan, most being public. If it works in other cities in Michigan and throughout the U.S., why can't it in Detroit?

http://www.concretedisciples.com/ska...e.php?state=MI

You forgot the most important reason I am a killjoy and crumudgeon!

**lafayette** · October-19-10, 12:40 PM

found these old photos of Mother's online with the Alfred E. Neuman face. don't know what year it is:

Attachment 7605

**Detroitnerd** · October-19-10, 12:44 PM

Haha. Still makes me laugh. Awesome find, lafayette!

**lafayette** · October-19-10, 12:50 PM

When was Mother's heyday?

**Detroitej72** · October-19-10, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by lafayette

When was Mother's heyday?

I think it was last open around the time the Poletown Plant opened up, circa 1985 or so.

Speaking of developments, I noticed somebody is working on the bar next door to Lafayette Coney. I walked passed there and the doors were open, work was being done, and a cat was walking in and out of the joint.

**Detroitnerd** · October-19-10, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitej72

I think it was last open around the time the Poletown Plant opened up, circa 1985 or so.

Speaking of developments, I noticed somebody is working on the bar next door to Lafayette Coney. I walked passed there and the doors were open, work was being done, and a cat was walking in and out of the joint.

Yeah, they're reopening the old Arcade Bar. People from Grand Trunk offices used to cross the alley to drink there.

**jackie5275** · October-19-10, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by lafayette

found these old photos of Mother's online with the Alfred E. Neuman face. don't know what year it is:

Attachment 7605

I started working in Hamtramck in early 2000. The picture of the Virgin Mary had yet to be painted. The doorway was bricked up & just painted with the same brown as the rest of the building. I think the picture of the Virgin was painted sometime in 1990s & Alfred El Neuman sometime in 2004. I have a colleague who's worked here since 1990 who said it's been closed since he's been working out here.
I noticed work being done sporadically on it starting in late July. My guess, it's going to be a private club.

**DetroitPlanner** · October-20-10, 06:01 PM

I had a chance to view Cooley's skate park design at the Michigan Association of Planner's conference. I was a bit hasty with this one. It seems that it will not just be a skate park but a scultpture and seating area. Looks kind of cool. I would think that if you could put up signs that would say that theCity is not responsible for anyone doing anything idiotic, it might work.

LodgeDodger · October-20-10, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by lafayette

found these old photos of Mother's online with the Alfred E. Neuman face. don't know what year it is:

Attachment 7605

To me, the body of that graffiti doesn't seem to resemble the Blessed Mother. Really, Mary with a genie lamp?

**texorama** · October-20-10, 08:17 PM

Not a skateboarder or a fan of having them on crowded city sidewalks, but Cleveland's ramp, at the foot of E. 9th St., has been a great success, and I don't see why one here couldn't be as well. If it's well designed, the skateboarders will come.

**rjlj** · October-20-10, 10:40 PM

I don't think things like this that attract people to this park would be a bad thing.

Blarf · October-20-10, 11:15 PM

People still skateboard?

**RickBeall** · October-21-10, 09:16 AM

I read on DetroitYes about a year ago, that when the Poletown plant opened, someone opened a restaurant to capitalize on the employees. But the employees turned out to be mostly robots, so the restaurant closed. It was reopened as a Mosque or something with a picture of a holy person on the side. It closed. Someone painted the Alfred E Neuman face. and added "of Invention" under "Mothers". It was like that for nearly 10 years, greeting folks driving into sunny Hamtramck.

The only problem with that story, is that I wonder if Islamic people ever paint pictures of their holy people. I know they don't paint pictures of Mohammid.

**Rocko** · November-05-10, 10:48 PM

I drove by today and noted a boom crane with guys working up near the roof of the old Roosevelt Hotel, with their crane and equipment parked in that new Slow's parking lot....then I looked closer and it looked like there were some new windows in place on the second floor north elevation, facing toward Michigan Avenue. Now, this wasn't a close inspection. Has anyone else noticed this? Are they beginning some kind of stabilization work on the hotel?