 
Edziu
Member
Username: Edziu
Post Number: 30
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, February 02, 2008 - 9:19 pm: |    |
Some of the fondest memories of my youth in Detroit are of the blind pigs. In the early 60's I worked at the old Receiving Hospital and the old Children's hospital downtown. I can recall going to many blind pigs in the area late at night after the bars closed.
The trick was to know the keyword to get in. Most were in large old houses. After knocking on the back door someone would open a small trap door and ask, yes? We would say Jacob sent us or whatever the code was and we were given entry. My friend Bill and I are caucasian and these establishments were primarily Afro American. I was only 21 or 22 at the time, but I swear we were made to feel right at home. NEVER, EVER did I feel threatened or afraid . The clients were friendly and gregarious. This was pre riots and Coleman.
Granted, these were illegal establishments, but the point I would like to make is that we were all having a good time with no hate, fear or prejudice. What happened Detroit? When did we turn down the path of isolation and bigotry? Or did we? |
Caldogven
Member
Username: Caldogven
Post Number: 152
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2008 - 12:49 am: | |
Edziu
Ask C.A.Y.
Shame on me!! |
Pgn421
Member
Username: Pgn421
Post Number: 336
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2008 - 10:05 am: | |
My dad used to go to one a long time ago. It was a house off Gratiot. It was in the 40`s 0r 50`s , anyone remember it. An italian fellow used to run it. |
Bill_rush
Member
Username: Bill_rush
Post Number: 18
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 8:26 pm: | |
For the Receiving Hospital/ Med school gang and the DPD Hqtrs in the fifties,our not-so-blind pigs were the Greek restaurants in the original Greektown. There for very little $ you could order "special" coffee and get a creamer full of booze along with your coffee. It kept you going in the "pits". |
Bill_rush
Member
Username: Bill_rush
Post Number: 19
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 8:29 pm: | |
For the Receiving Hospital/ Med school gang and the DPD Hqtrs in the fifties,our not-so-blind pigs were the Greek restaurants in the original Greektown. There for very little $ you could order "special" coffee and get a creamer full of booze along with your coffee. It kept you going in the "pits". |
Zephyrmec
Member
Username: Zephyrmec
Post Number: 29
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 11:41 am: | |
There were quite a few in most major cities, and likely still are. I frequented a couple in Northeast DC. when I lived there after I left Southfield in the 80s and also managed to find one in Harrisburg. In DC it was the safest and friendliest place for a white guy to be if you happened to be in NE or SE after dark. As long as you behaved yourself, it was great. One joint even had two oldtimers playing music on Friday and Saturday. $10 cover and BYOB or $1.00 draft beer. If you had been introduced, you were let in. If not the response was "private party, get lost" The one in Harrisburg was not so accommodating, they tolerated rockheads and had lots of trouble, the place ended up getting torched.
My dad frequented one in Detroit in the early 50s, run by an old Polish guy somehow related to my dad's best military buddy. I wish I had asked him for more details when the subject came up. |
Jman
Member
Username: Jman
Post Number: 130
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 12:06 pm: | |
In the early 60s, I used to go to one on the east side of Oakland Ave. just south of Highland Park and another one on Burlingame between 2nd and 3rd. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 4993
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 12:19 pm: | |
I was at one in Windsor, maybe 10 years ago or so. You went into an art gallery, and there was a trapdoor in the floor that led you into a basement. Down there would be booze and bands playing. It was there twice, the third time I tried to go, it was gone. Anybody else see this place? |
Terryh
Member
Username: Terryh
Post Number: 680
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 9:53 pm: | |
I went to a 'rave' party in the industrial area just south of East Grand back in 98. I didnt drink or do drugs but it was still fun. It was around St. Antoine-Hastings area. The place was dark with couches-dj-beer-that helium stuff partiers like to inhale. |
Detalum
Member
Username: Detalum
Post Number: 14
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Friday, February 08, 2008 - 11:17 pm: | |
This may be a dumb question since I don't know much about rave parties. Could they be considered the upscale, modern day version of Blind Pigs from back in the day? |
Sumas
Member
Username: Sumas
Post Number: 46
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 12:59 am: | |
Pgn421, the place might have been cardinelli's SP? It was a blind pig during prohibition. Well into the 70's they served "legal" wine in coffee cups. Great italian food. the entry to the restaurant was on a side street off of Gratiot. They would buzz you in, if you didn't look threatening. Unfortunately, it's long gone. The best blind pigs in the seventies were in china town. those places were so discrete that no one even knew detroit had a china town. it even appointed its own mayors. good memories. |
Pgn421
Member
Username: Pgn421
Post Number: 420
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 7:41 am: | |
Sumas- Thanks, it could have been..I cant remember what my dad said, its been a long time.Did the owner have nick name? |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 11642
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 7:53 am: | |
In the mid- to late-80s there was still at least ONE blind pig operating in the Medical Center area.
It was razed for the new Veteran's Hospital.
Same deal, go to the back door...always carefully watched from outside, the building's perimeter was SECURE...tell the eyes behind the sliding slot the magic word, and PRESTO! the door would open to another world.
Open cocaine consumption with a rather large tray for refills (never saw who was monitoring it, didn't look that close), the air hazy with what I later learned was a blend between weed and opium smoke (lost the scent for a decade until I caught it again in Utrecht, Amsterdam), gambling in all sorts of different forms (I'd swear there was a roulette wheel, but for sure they had a dice table and blackjack and poker)...cans of Pabst were $5, and nobody complained. Everybody was having a good time.
I was by far and away the whitest person there, it was the first time I was somewhere it seemed everyone called me 'officer'! "Hello, Officer!"
But, clearly, everyone WAS welcome. It was always the most honest party in town. One of the safest, too...you KNEW not just anybody could get in the place! |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 11643
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 7:56 am: | |
Detalum,
I'd call the raves; Blind Pig meets the Information Age. They came up with some curious ways to avoid the man while marketing to their crowd. |
Pgn421
Member
Username: Pgn421
Post Number: 421
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 8:43 am: | |
Gannon- I think i remember the building. Was it an old restaurant/house. Across the street from VH? |
Vetalalumni
Member
Username: Vetalalumni
Post Number: 948
Registered: 05-2007
| | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 8:53 am: | |
Very late 70s, Wyoming Avenue, west side of street, near 6 Mile road AIR. Nondescript building exterior, dark red and black interior, many people carrying heat, open drug use, alcohol (mostly beer), females "sellin it", open until sunrise. The type of place people would go after the "regular" places closed. |