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John Carlisle of the Detroit Free Press writes about the Jolly Old Timers, a social club that is "an open secret of a bar hiding in plain sight for six decades in an old Victorian house at the edge of the Wayne State campus."
He writes that music flows as does whiskey and the smell of fried chicken wings at 641 Forest Avenue.
Until recently, you couldn't get in unless you were invited.
Carlisle writes:
The JOT is one of the last black social clubs remaining in Detroit from before the Civil Rights era, a place of chivalry and genteel manners where Motown is the soundtrack, where the employees are unpaid volunteers, the walls of the stairwell display black-and-white photos of their esteemed founders, and where someone will still always walk women to their cars at night.
“You will never see a woman standing in here,” said Fred Simpson, 75, the club’s treasurer and three-time past president. “Somebody will always give them their chair.”
He goes on to write:
Over time, as older members passed away, the club began to fade. There were fewer charity events, fewer members, fewer nights they were open. Recently, they dropped down to a dozen or so members, and opened only three nights a week.
But some of the younger members are working to revive the club and what it represented. They’re re-establishing their charity efforts, beginning with a Flint water bottle drive they just finished. They've opened their doors to the public during the annual Dally in the Alley street fair and on St. Patrick's Day. And they’ve added a few new members recently.
