Clutch Cargo's, a popular club in Pontiac, closed its doors Thursday night. The building will be converted into a church for the Grace Gospel Fellowship.
It's a fitting remodel. The Gothic building was already a church once, before Clutch Cargo's started calling it home nearly two decades ago.
As a favorite locale for rock concerts and club nights hosted by local radio stations, the spot has seen its fair share of unholy things. Radiohead, the Foo Fighters, Katy Perry, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have all played there.
Less than Jake played Clutch Cargo's very last show Thursday night.
The band bought rounds of shots for the venue’s bouncers during its spirited 90-minute show, and Livonia-born lead singer Chris Demakes frequently toasted to the building’s history and joked he’d have to be dragged off the stage.
Former owner Amir Daiza sold the building to Bill and Sue Luther, who then donated the property to Pastor Kent Clark.
“Pastor Clark loved the building, and he always admired it,” says Daiza, a long-time area nightclub and restaurant owner. “I told him five or six years ago that if I ever sold it, he would be the one I’d give it to.”
