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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 156
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 2:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't know how much of an interest anyone has about this; I found my dad's stash of old drink stirrers and started thinking about the dimly lit, tuck-and-roll upholstered neighborhood watering holes of old.


lounge stirrers


I hear these were good places to meet people; music from the jukebox not too loud for talking.

Here are some of the addresses and phone numbers found on these stirrers...any of these ring a bell?

Jack McEvoy's Bar, 9126 Chalmers, LA 1-9610
(had cool sayings on the reverse, such as: "Golddiggers are usually paid by the weak.")

Chapoton Bar, 22512 Mack Avenue

The Moon, 22010 Chrysler Drive

Eddie Fritz Lounge - Detroit

Hi Topperer Show Bar, 1527 E. 7 Mile Road, TW 1-9???

Eagles Nest Bar, 5111 E. McNichols

The Falcon Show Bar - Wonderful Food, Dancing Nitely (the yellow stirrer at the top of photo)

Blarney Stone Bar, 15224 E. 8 Mile Road

Club 49er, 7442 Kercheval

Al Haddad's Book Bar, 227 Michigan

Famous Door, 212 West Grand River

Parisian Room, 1453 East Jefferson

Gensey's 11420 Jos. Campau, Hamt., TW 3-9523

"Compliments of the Starlite Tavern" (no address)

Van Dyke Club - Detroit (no address)

Jim Deland's, St. Clair Shores

And of course, there were other lounge relics from more well-known establishments: the plastic tree branch stirrer stamped with "Elmwood - Windsor" and one from the Hotel Statler. Also a few that I don't know if they're from Detroit or not.

Feel free to add to this list of old Detroit cocktail lounges if you have some old napkins, matchbooks, etc. These are some amazing relics!
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48202
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Username: 48202

Post Number: 40
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 2:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Eastsidedame:

Thank you for sharing your Dad's drink stirrers.

Does your Dad’s collection have anything from Muana Loa?

(Message edited by 48202 on May 22, 2007)
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Irvine_laird
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Username: Irvine_laird

Post Number: 53
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 8:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'll drink to your dad's collection, Eastsidedame (a little "cheese" with your wine, there).

The Detroit Historical Museum is going to open a new exhibition in March 2008 on "watering holes" as you call them in your post. Would your dad mind if you loaned his collection to the museum for a few months? Please e-mail me at bradi@detroithistorical.org if you'd like to participate.
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Kathinozarks
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Username: Kathinozarks

Post Number: 527
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 10:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Pictures of interiors would be bitchin'!
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Rrl
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Username: Rrl

Post Number: 827
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 10:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Of these, the only one I am aware still exists is the Chapoton Bar, Mack Ave about a quarter mile south of 9 Mile.
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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 158
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 1:26 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hey, Irvine_laird...do you want the matchbooks too?


Matchbooks


Dad passed away in 2005, but my mother says she'll GIVE the stirrers and matchbooks to DHM if you want them. I'm trying to finish up work before the holidays, but I'll e-mail you for the particulars this weekend.

Sorry, no evidence of the Muana Loa. Dad was a master bricklayer and stonemason. (Now you know why I'm so anal about building preservation). After working on the job site, he and his buddys would knock off at about 3:00pm and go down to whatever bar was close to the site. He'd still be home in time for dinner.

He went where ever the jobs were and picked up a rather interesting collection. We have quite a few from Warren as he worked on a lot of schools for the Warren Woods School District and Macomb College on 12 Mile. When he was building Ford Auditorium, he went to the Parisian Room, near Riopelle...and so on.

My mom, who met my dad at the Falcon Show Bar in 1955, just shook her head:

"I put up with his pack-rat ways for 50 years." she said. "I always told him I was going to put his stuff in a museum."
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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 159
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 1:31 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Just FYI: The back of the Little Harry's matchbook (2681 East Jefferson) says:

"Like the old time tavern that stood at the crossroads and met the travelers at the hospitable hearth ---- so do we, in the same spirit and cordiality, welcome you."
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Paintnprint
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Username: Paintnprint

Post Number: 10
Registered: 04-2007
Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 7:23 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My mom used to sing at the Blue Chip on weekends, just behind Federals and the Mercury Theater while we were sucking down Cokes from the Puritan Community Market at Puritan and Kentucky. Remember the Pilgrim sign? Or the ice house in the parking lot?
I was a Safety-Boy at Wyoming and Puritan for years.
After work I'd crash Al's penny candy store a block up, fish through the bottle caps near the front door, in a coffee can, come up with a Double -Cola top which read "Get one free" under the cork. Skinned lots of knuckles for free pop.
Koko
P.S. He had a meat display near the register, and if you got out of his sight and fished under it, you'd always come up with lost change. Woodlawn Drugs was even better for this. "He mister, by money rolled under the magazine rack (which it hadn't, as I didn't have any money.) "See if you can find it." Then I'd fish-out a buck or two (big money in those days, and buy my comic or monster magazines.
Ooops, sorry to hijack the thread.
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2291
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 8:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks for sharing, Eastsidedame!!

"Fat" Jack McAvoy!! Didn't he have a place on Whittier in later years?
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Blueidone
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Username: Blueidone

Post Number: 71
Registered: 03-2007
Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 8:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My father was a machine salesman for his entire adult life. Two martini lunches and entertaining of clients at dinner was the way business was conducted then. I remember going to fancy dinners at his favorite places...Larco's, Palumbo's, Scotch & Sirloin. It was at these places were I learned what a "Shirley Temple" was, how to sit and eat like a lady, how to dance with a gentleman and to appreciate a good filet mignon. My father was a regular at these places and my brother and I always got to sneak cherries and olives from the bar. My dad is 91 now, just stopped working three years ago due to macular degeneration. Thanks for some great memories, Dad! And thanks Eastsidedame for reminding me of them!
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The_rock
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Username: The_rock

Post Number: 1755
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 8:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I note my swizzle sticks include:
London Chop House
(Old ) Cliff Belle's
Detroit Boat Club
The Whitney
Jim's Garage
Victor Lim's
Hotel St. Regis
Sheraton-Cadillac
Golden Lion
Hotel Pontchartrain


Metro Detroit includes Machus Sly Fox, Machus Red Fox, Kingsley Inn, Fox and Hounds, Dearborn Inn.
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Irvine_laird
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Username: Irvine_laird

Post Number: 55
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 8:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I enjoy your little story about your dad, Eastsidedame, and the story about what your mom said to your dad.

When you e-mail me this weekend, I will send you the contact information for the museum's director of exhibitions and programs. She is thrilled about your dad's collection.

We hope you have some more stories to tell when we get together with you.
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Norwalk
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Username: Norwalk

Post Number: 82
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 9:17 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great story Paintnprint! Monster magazines! Those where my favorites too!
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Cambrian
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Username: Cambrian

Post Number: 1116
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 10:13 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have a nice matchbook collection. It's good to see somebody else was watching out for the swizzle sticks.
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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 161
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Saturday, May 26, 2007 - 5:26 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

....with extra cherries???

Blueidone, sounds like we had a similar type of education. That Father-Daughter thing is very important, isn't it?

Of course, it was also all about showing off their well-behaved little girls to their buds, huh? I don't know what the laws are in Michigan, nowadays, but as long as with you were with a parent and being taken care of, nobody said too much.


2300


Hey, Paintnprint, hope more west siders and downriver types check in. Two of these match books I have read as follows:

The Club Bar, 3429 Michigan Avenue, Wayne, Mich.
Larry & Jerry Gossett

Sand Box Lounge,
Liquor - Food - Entertainment
27600 Schoolcraft at Inkster Road in the shopping center 1/2 mile east of D.R.C.

(I swear, it says all of that)
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Pgn421
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Username: Pgn421

Post Number: 79
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Sunday, May 27, 2007 - 8:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kathleen- Hi. I Think its the same Jack. I used togo to Fat Jacks. His son Tom used to run Diamond Lils on Mack and Kerby.
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Catman_dude
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Username: Catman_dude

Post Number: 144
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Sunday, May 27, 2007 - 3:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I've never been inside a "lounge." It was only several years ago that I realized lounges were different from fine restaurants. From movies, I got the impression that lounges were martini places, being dimly-lit, with black ceilings and over-stuffed semi-circle seating around a half-moon table, some of them large. People went there in dressed-up fashion, socializing the whole evening away. This is where "lounge act" and "lounge lizard" comes from.

Anyway, here's an article on the "Cocktail Way Of Life": http://www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg /mckewan.htm
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Ed_golick
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Username: Ed_golick

Post Number: 644
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, May 27, 2007 - 3:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Anybody got anything from Harry and Alma's, on Gratiot and 10 1/2 Mile in Roseville?
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Jimg
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Username: Jimg

Post Number: 856
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, May 27, 2007 - 7:16 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Baker's Keyboard LOUNGE...article with pix....
www.detroitmusichistory.com
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Taj920
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Username: Taj920

Post Number: 217
Registered: 01-2004
Posted on Sunday, May 27, 2007 - 10:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

48202:
I think my brother has a menu from the Mauna Loa. He worked there in high school.
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Smogboy
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Username: Smogboy

Post Number: 5212
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Monday, May 28, 2007 - 12:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Taj... if your brother wants to sell that menu, let me know. I'd be more than willing to pony up for it.
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Paulmcall
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Username: Paulmcall

Post Number: 159
Registered: 05-2004
Posted on Monday, May 28, 2007 - 7:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

How about the 20 Grand?
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Ookpik
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Username: Ookpik

Post Number: 239
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Monday, May 28, 2007 - 8:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Quote Eastsidedame:

"He went where ever the jobs were and picked up a rather interesting collection. We have quite a few from Warren as he worked on a lot of schools for the Warren Woods School District and Macomb College on 12 Mile."

Eastsidedame - Would you mind listing a few swizzle sticks/matchbooks that you have from this area? No scans are necessary - a list would be fine. I have lived in this area for over 40 years and attended schools in the Warren Woods district as well as Macomb College.

Ookpik
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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 164
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 1:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't remember the "20 Grand:. but I have a matchbook from the 24 Karat Club at 16890 Telegraph, South of 6 Mile, Detroit, Michigan 538-4455. "Make every night...Dining & Cocktails Businessmen's Luncheons, Banquets, Parties, Weddings"

Yeah, I could do dining and cocktails every night....

ookpik: I spent a couple of years at "12 Mile High" myself.....here are a few from Warren:

"Crazy Horse Saloon" (in the Cymbal/Warren Motor Inn) at 11777 E. 8 Mile Road at Groesbeck.

Larry's (A Saloon) at 5491 W. 12 Mile, Warren Mich., 574-1380

DAD'S BARBER SHOP!: V.I.P. Trim-Style Barber Shop, (Unisex styles and perms) 28940 Schoenherr, Warren. Pickwick Shopping Center.

Ennis Restaurant & Lounge, 8601 E. 13 Mile Road, east of Van Dyke.

Interlude Lounge (Dancing Friday and Saturday Evenings. Luncheons, Dinners, Cocktails) 5491 E. 12 MIle Road (west of Mound), Warren Michigan.

The Regency Room, 7280 E. 12 Mile Road, Warren, Mich.

Does anyone remember the Lollipop Lounge? 13318 East 8 Mile Road, 371-9700? It was a lobster house! Yum!!!
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48202
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Username: 48202

Post Number: 43
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 2:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Taj920:
I would appreciate it if you could post pictures of the Muana Loa menu. I am curious to see anything related to this restaurant. Its short tenure was over before my time.

Eastsidedame:
How many stirrers and matchbooks do you have?
If the The Detroit Historical Museum is not interested in saving the matchbooks, and you do not find any purchasers, I would like to have them. Please make sure that they don’t get thrown away.
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Eastsidedame
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Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 168
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 3:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was going to give DHM only the "Detroit-area relevant" items: about 62 matchbooks and 49 stirrers.

I have a lot more souveniers from vacations in FL, NYC and other places, plus a lot of 80s vintage Houston-area stuff. A majority of the Detroit items are pre-1980, though two or three things are from subsequent visits back home.

I'm concerned about any regulations concerning mailing matches. I wonder how that would work?

I'd like to see interior lounge photos, too, but they're hard to come by. If anyone knows of a good site to view vintage lounge interior photos, please post it.

Unfortunately, the photos I've taken in the past have been of the entertainment, not the decor of the club. Duh!

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