{"id":985,"date":"2013-10-11T02:01:06","date_gmt":"2013-10-11T02:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesupperclubbook.com\/?p=985"},"modified":"2013-10-11T02:03:45","modified_gmt":"2013-10-11T02:03:45","slug":"detroits-downtown-supper-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesupperclubbook.com\/?p=985","title":{"rendered":"Detroit’s Downtown Supper Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"$T2eC16JHJHcFFj-mMwvOBSUOJ8TRm!~~60_3\"<\/a>
\nI came into Detroit a night before my book signing at Cliff Bell\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> because I like the city.
\nThings seem so rock bottom, I feel a new slate of creative expression emerging–even though the vapor rising from the grates along Woodward Avenue still gives Detroit an apocalyptic\u00a0 feel.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t go far in downtown Detroit without someone mentioning the city\u2019s bankruptcy. It’s the same way everyone in Chicago harps about the Bears.
\nAfter catching a Tigers game I was sitting at a bar next to the Fox Theater.
\nA stranger looked me in the eye and asked, \u201cIs this city worth saving?\u201d
\nI\u2019ve been from Fairbanks, Alaska to the Guatemalan fishing village of La Barrona (pop. 900) where I spent a New Year\u2019s Eve on a mattress on a dirt floor. Adriana and I still question if we saw a black rat scurry across the floor to bring in the new year.
\nBut no one has asked me, \u201cIs this city worth saving?\u201d on any visit.
\nI could not answer that question objectively about Detroit.
\n\u201cOf course,\u201d I said over a Blue Moon at the Detroit bar. I elaborated that maybe Detroit should no longer think of itself as a major metropolitan area but as a boutique urban destination like Baltimore (pop. 619,000).<\/p>\n

\"Cliff<\/a>

Cliff Bell at work<\/p><\/div>\n

But what do I know?
\nI do not know what it is like to live day to day in Detroit.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s daunting,\u201d said Paul Howard, one of the founding partners who brought Cliff Bell\u2019s back to life in downtown Detroit. I had told him about my previous evening’s encounter. He said,\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s tough getting things done daily.\u201d
\nHoward, 39, is a Detroit native.<\/p>\n

\"Book<\/a>

Book party appetizers, fresh baked flatbread with tomato, basil and mozzarella<\/p><\/div>\n

I loved\u00a0 Cliff Bell\u2019s history and wanted to veer off the predictable rural supper club path to include them in my book.<\/p>\n

Howard and I had a couple long talks while I was researching the book. I closed the Cliff Bell\u2019s chapter with his remark about Detroit that still gives me chills. He reflected, \u201cMaybe a good analogy would be the people who held out in the Dust Bowl. They had the same sense of pride and would be happy to tell you about their lives.
\n\u201cI guess I\u2019m one of them.\u201d
\nYou find that in Detroit.
\nI go to Detroit a couple times a year and I\u2019ve consistently noticed the majority of people make an extra effort to talk to you, give you directions or share a story. And there is no argument that Detroit\u2019s Eastern Market<\/strong> <\/a>is more exciting and cross cultural than any Farmer\u2019s Market in Chicago. After all, I found Mountain Dew jelly at the the Eastern Market.
\nThe book signing turnout at Cliff Bell\u2019s was unlike any other of the half-dozen appearances I did this summer. There weren\u2019t many older supper club regulars.
\nCliff Bell\u2019s has been reinvented into an upscale urban destination. They are using Chicago\u2019s iconic Green Mill night club\u00a0 as a dark, visual template for live music. On a Thursday evening I saw\u00a0 Tigers fans (Cliff Bell\u2019s is just a couple blocks from the balllpark) and Wayne State students. Alissa Jenkins is studying journalism at Wayne State. Her friend Steve Duttine is a photographer from England who was documenting Detroit.<\/p>\n

We talked a lot about the presumed deaths of Detroit and print journalism.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN5615\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks to my friend Susan Whitall for this comprehensive write- up in the Detroit News.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Find her 2011 book “Fever: Little Willie John, A Fast Life, Mysterious Death and the Birth of Soul (Titan Books). The former Creem editor does justice to the precursor to James Brown and Stevie Wonder.<\/p>\n

Grits ain’t groceries.<\/p>\n