  Detroitderek Member Username: Detroitderek Post Number: 24 Registered: 09-2007 |
Sorry for monopolizing the thread, I bought a book of Detroit Restaurants yesterday and noticed that a restaurant that I have a picture of called Nick's Gaslight Room used to be called Eastman's Gaslight. I found a picture of the interior from 1962. I was hoping someone may know a little more about this place ( when it opened etc ). I have a larger picture of it here in case you would like to see it ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/detroitderek/1315592270/ ) . Thanks again to everyone here on this site for all their help.  | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 3660 Registered: 10-2003 |
I've always thought that, if this place could be remodeled/restored inside to the way it looked circa 1940, it would be an incredible club. As it is now, the '60s/'70s era decor (and the persistent, rank odor) ruins it for me. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6214 Registered: 08-2004 |
Well I was in there a month ago for the Michigan Building Christmas party (imagine that... a "slumlord" throwing a fancy holiday party for all the tenants/workers in his building... unthinkable!) The place smelled fine, no odor whatsoever (although by the end of the evening I caught a hint of the smell of beer). But I agree with the dated decor, although it's still in good shape. (Message edited by Gistok on January 28, 2008) | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 183 Registered: 11-2006 |
I was there only onceabout 20 years ago. My wife at the time had her wallet stolen from her purse in greektown. What was left of it was found at the gaslight. They were nice enough to track us down and tell us they had found it. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 3670 Registered: 10-2003 |
Everytime I've walked in there, it smelled like a mixture of mold, stale beer, rank tobacco smoke, and ancient urine. Not pleasant. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6216 Registered: 08-2004 |
Fury13... I didn't use the restroom...  | ||
Polaar Member Username: Polaar Post Number: 25 Registered: 10-2006 |
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Polaar Member Username: Polaar Post Number: 26 Registered: 10-2006 |
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Polaar Member Username: Polaar Post Number: 27 Registered: 10-2006 |
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Everydayislikesunday Member Username: Everydayislikesunday Post Number: 358 Registered: 12-2004 |
I think this place has a lot of character. I've only been in there a few times in the past two years or so, but I've never noticed an odor. Every time I've been in there, the owner is giving away shots of Ouzo! Recently, when I've attempted to go, they've been closed. It's family owned, so their hours vary depending on business. I did talk to the owner last time I was there, and he said that they are open for all sporting games (I was in there a night the Tigers were in town). Last fall they had theme nights on the weekends; Friday was Greek night, and Saturday was Salsa night, complete with dance lessons. I'm not sure if those have continued, or not -- I hope so, I always wanted to attend Greek night... | ||
Whithorn11446 Member Username: Whithorn11446 Post Number: 190 Registered: 03-2007 |
When Billy Martin managed the Detroit Tigers in the early 1970's and later other teams he would often eat at Eastman's Gaslight with Bill Reedy. Then Martin, Bill Reedy, and Art Fowler would stop at the Lindell A.C. for a nightcap. Eastman's benefited from people that stayed at the Leland Hotel, frequented the theaters(Michigan & United Artists); worked at AAA, the Book Building, Michigan Bell, etc. So when that part of downtown was declining in the 1970's Eastman's suffered for it. | ||
Detroitderek Member Username: Detroitderek Post Number: 30 Registered: 09-2007 |
Thanks Polaar! Those are the shots in the book that I bought, except they are in black and white in the book. I feel cheated now. | ||
J_stone Member Username: J_stone Post Number: 407 Registered: 10-2003 |
I haven't been back in there since the Tigers were in the playoffs. Without warning - the owner increased the price of his drinks for that 1 night. Bottled domestics were 7 bucks, mixed drinks were 10 bucks and he was charging for waters from the tap. Being someone who would occasionally venture into the joint, our party of like 10 people had no idea until the bill came. I thought that was pretty poor. Love the exterior, but the 70/80's interior is pretty bad. It's a decent place to hang out for happy hour though. A Cliff Bell's-esque renovation would be cool, but it is sort of isolated and I can't blame the owner for not taking on the risk. Love the greek dancing/music on Saturdays. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 7525 Registered: 10-2003 |
If you check out the DPM service garage on Michigan, you'll see the location the owners previously owned, Leandies (sic?) one of my best memories of mid-70's restaurant-bars. Fabulous perch lunch on Fridays, always ran into Stroh executives and technicians I knew. Rather prophetic that another great 20th Century institution, the Lindall becomes part of the Mass Transit System (or lack thereof). | ||
Waymooreland Member Username: Waymooreland Post Number: 27 Registered: 11-2007 |
Good call on the jacked-up prices, J_stone. My wife and I were taking in the Winter Blast on the Saturday of Super Bowl XL weekend and got caught in the nastiest freezing rain out in Campus Martius. We were waiting to see my brother's band play at the Labyrinth late that night so we had a lot of time to kill, but we got soaking wet and were freezing our asses off. We tried to go to Bookies, but they were jam-packed and charging a cover. We stumbled into Nick's Gaslight and finally got to dry off and warm up a bit. Anyway, the point of the story is that we got something to eat and had some drinks and I swear all of the prices had to have been bumped up by 25%. We had no idea until the bill was dropped in front of us. I thought maybe they figured we owed them for rescuing us from the horrible weather. | ||
3rdworldcity Member Username: 3rdworldcity Post Number: 1004 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jams is correct. Stavros, the owner, previously owned a place which was condemned for the people mover station. He fought the condemnation. During that period, the Eastman family torched the place for the insurance. They were caught and did not collect anything, and at least one or two of the perps went to jail as I recall. The City gave Stavros the money to totally rebuild the place and he bought it with City money. It's nice inside and I patronize the place occasionally and have never had an unpleasant experience. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 11260 Registered: 10-2003 |
Can you really fault a business that is probably struggling for capitalizing on the SB. I doubt many places didn't jack up the prices and it is pretty naive to think that during SB you could find prices the same as a normal day. | ||
Dds Member Username: Dds Post Number: 526 Registered: 10-2006 |
The owner's name is Savvas. Stavros is a restaurant up near Lexington Heights. | ||
Kingofdetroit Member Username: Kingofdetroit Post Number: 44 Registered: 10-2006 |
When I was living in Trolley Plaza we'd go there and hang out with "Steve". He would always ask us if we wanted to go to Cyprus(his homeland) with him in the Summers. He would always hook us up with free shots and put on pr0n on the tv. It was pretty much always empty but that was back in around 2000-2001 when downtown was just starting to resurge. I would recommend that place to out of towners staying at The Plaza. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6223 Registered: 08-2004 |
Say... isn't that the former Detroit Times Building behind Polaar's last pic of the outside of the restaurant? I thought Nick's Gaslight was now the only building on the block. | ||
Waymooreland Member Username: Waymooreland Post Number: 28 Registered: 11-2007 |
Hey Jt1: I don't blame Nick's Gaslight at all for jacking up prices during the Super Bowl. I'm sorry if I somehow insinuated that I thought they had done something unethical. I just thought it was funny. If anything, it was a smart business decision. You're acting like I argued with the owner and vowed never to go back there or something. I was simply sharing an experience that I found humorous and directly related to the previous post. Isn't that what threads are for? | ||
Waz Member Username: Waz Post Number: 254 Registered: 11-2006 |
Whenever I go into that place it's deserted. I went there with a couple of friends this past Friday. We got there at about 11:00. It was "Salsa Night" and there were precisely three other people inside (not including the bartender and the DJ). I don't see how he stays in business. The heating bills alone for a place that size must be pretty outrageous. We joked that it's really a front for some kind of mob operation. | ||
Detroitderek Member Username: Detroitderek Post Number: 32 Registered: 09-2007 |
I wasn't sure if it was still open when I took the picture , to be honest. | ||
Rax Member Username: Rax Post Number: 118 Registered: 11-2007 |
Urban explorers have gotten lazy. In my day we would have simply tried the front door. Don't be scared. |
