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The Docks Bar
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The
Friday night fish fry was a social and dietary staple in ethnic
neighborhoods of industrial cities like Detroit.
Roman Catholics were to abstain from eating meat on Fridays, so just about every workingman's bar offered carryouts that night: Fried perch (usually from Lake Erie), French fries, cole slaw and tartar sauce -- all on a paper plate covered with a second paper plate. One evocative beer garden -- complete with $6.95 Friday fish dinners -- is operating in the historic Delray neighborhood, one of the city's oldest blue-collar enclaves. Randall Thomas three years ago paid $70,000 for the aged bar, which had been closed for years. "I used to go in there a long time ago," he said. "I liked it. The guy asked me if I wanted it and I did." He named it The Docks, a nod to the Detroit River near its location on West Jefferson at Calvary. The area, across from Historic Fort Wayne, was developed in the 1880s with mills and foundries. It's a bleak landscape today. Old wood frame houses are scattered among vacant lots. A freight terminal is on West Fort where the Fleetwood Cadillac plant used to be. I-75 rushes past overhead on the long Rouge River bridge. Some of the narrow streets have more potholes than paving. Patty Benedict grew up in the neighborhood, attended Southwestern High and bought a house there about 15 years ago. "I got the house at a reasonable price and I know just about everybody," she said. Last year, Benedict began tending bar at The Docks. It's a tiny place, newly upgraded. There's a pool table and electronic games. The lunch menu is basic bar food. "I do a good lunch" business, Thomas said. "A lot of the people who come live in the suburbs, but they like it in here. "I had karaoke last night and I had 25 to 30 people in here." Thomas, a Southgate resident, grew up in the West Vernor-Springwells neighborhood and attended Southwestern on West Fort. After buying the bar, he said, he spent another $30,000 on a new furnace, air-conditioning, water heater, coolers, plumbing and wiring. The new owner also turned an upstairs flat into an office. He divided his time between the The Docks and a motorcycle parts and service shop, Southwestern Cycle, which he opened on Fort at Livernois seven years ago. |
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