Aloha, Chin Tiki

The Ilitch family ramped up their Detroit demolition spree this past week, taking down a couple more viable but not "contributing" historic structures in the area behind the Fox Theater. For a group of gajillionaires who love to squawk about "saving" the historic Fox they sure do love to tear down old buildings (with city/state money) and pave them over for surface parking. Or to build the ugliest new buildings in the world (do a google image search for Motor City Casino, I dare you).

One we lost this time around was the Chin Tiki, the old Polynesian restaurant on Cass Avenue. I knew it was coming - once the Ilitches buy a building you can pretty much guarantee it's coming down at some point, but also I saw workers emptying out the building about two weeks ago. Instead of just shaking my head at the waste of it all, this one hit a little closer to home.

Photo the unwitting compliments of Andy over at HotFudgeDetroit.

See, back in the day, when hipster meant swing dancing and Combustible Edison instead of skinny jeans and Franz Ferdinand, I was a full retro tiki nut. I was super into collecting tiki mugs, as well as researching the history of American tiki culture. I would do the pilgrimage to extant tiki bars whenever I traveled, including a fantastic birthday at Chicago Trader Vic's. This is ... almost 15 years ago now? Wow. When I moved back to Detroit I used to enjoy driving by the Chin Tiki and imagining how amazing it would be to open a tiki bar (or a gay tiki bar!) in there.

This was also the advent of the internet age, and on one of my first personal websites (nerd alert) I transcribed a piece that originally ran in Left Bank, the awesome Detroit-centric magazine that Pure Detroit's Shawn Santo published in the 90s (an all-too-rare resource back in the days before you could just google any Detroit history you wanted). After I saw it the building coming down this week I went onto an old backup and pulled it up, so we can all remember the glory days of the Chin Tiki.

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[In 1996 The Left Bank Publication published an interview with Dee Dee, one of the female impersonators who used to perform at the old Gold Dollar on Cass Ave. back in the '60's and '70's. In this excerpt, Dee Dee reminisces about the Chin Tiki, right down the street...]

Can I ask you about Chin Tiki? Do you remember anything about Chin Tiki?


Ummm. I was there quite a few times... it was a beauuutiful bar. They used to have a river coming right through the table...it was just beautiful ... and the Polynesian dancers ... none of them were Polynesian - they were all neighborhood girls - but it was a good show. AND THE DRINKS...they used to have this one drink - I can't remember what it was called - but it was served in a conch shell ... with 7 straws and an orchid floating in it. And it cost like, seven bucks ... and honey, four people could suck on this drink all night and get GOONED. I have no idea what was in it but you had to order NO MORE ... it was wonderful and very relaxing, and the food was EXCELLENT ... that was a real bad thing when that place closed down. It's a shame ... I would love to see the inside now, it's been closed for years...

And they had a stage show?

OH YEAH. Oh yeah, they had Polynesian dancers every 1/2 hour - I mean it was just HULA girls and none of them really knew ... I guess if you were really Hawaiian or if you'd ever been to Hawaii, you'd probably laugh ... but when you're sitting there and you're half in the bag ... if was fun ... it was entertaining. You know - it was something to do and most people went there for the food anyways, not for the dancers ... but it was like Greektown and the belly dancers, it was on the same order as that. It was not some elaborate show - I guess the 'Dollar show was a whole lot better than that - but it was a lot of fun ... I really miss it ... I knew everyone who worked there, I guess that's what I miss ... all the girls from the 'Dollar would go down there in between shows ...

Back then too -- half the buildings are gone now -- there used to be a great big Chinatown ... GREAT BIG CHINATOWN .. and there were like, five Chinese restaurants, and the Chinese restaurant that was right next to the 'Dollar - the building's still there, but it's all gutted and everything ... Oh it was wonderful! They had all individual party-like booths, and they were open until ... whenever the people left. The Gold Dollar would close at 2:30, and everyone would go from the Gold Dollar right next door. It would be one great big party booth and everyone would sit in there and order food and just have a great time ... The ladies were all real friendly and they knew us ... it was nice. Mmmm, excellent. And then Chinese New Year - they'd block off the whole street and the dragon would run through and everything...

They did that in Detroit?
Oh yeah, for YEARS! Five or six years, before it started fading out, but oh yeah ... Chinese New Year is a big thing - they'd block off the whole street and bring in a big bandshell down there...

It was wonderful ...

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You can see some more pictures and read about the history of the Chin Tiki in this Metro Times article from 2003 (only seven years after the peak of the trend, way to be ahead of the curve MT). And Dee Dee is still a denizen of the Cass Corridor - if you go to Canine to Five you can get your dog groomed by her!

As an aside, the Ilitch demolition of the Chin Tiki as well as this building a block away on Grand River is a perfect example of why there has been no progress in reviving a street level experience in Detroit. How in the world is a small business owner or developer going to open a business if viable spaces don't exist? Chin Tiki may not have been a whiteboxed space, but it was intact and could have been dusted off and reopened, a la D'Mongo's.

Instead all we are left with are spaces that are so blown out that nothing can be done short of a total rehab, or parking lots. That, ultimately, is what discourages me about the possibilities of an organic Detroit revival. If everything has to be built from scratch, it's going to look like the suburbs and cost as much (or more). And then all the interesting businesses that grow out of risk and inexpensive space can never happen. And then I have to move to another city because the douchebaggery makes me nauseous. And then nobody wins.
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And the hits just keep on coming

Hey, just to kick you when you're down, I wanted to let you know that we here in SE Michigan fared no better than California (again). Voters in the multi-culti funkytown of Hamtramck also voted to hate gays a little more, defeating the Hamtramck Human Rights Ordinance. 55.4% of Hamtramck voters cast ballots against it.

Those Hamtramck United folks worked their butts off though, and according to council member Scott Klein in this article in Between the Lines, they will keep pushing the issue. So we all need to thank them a lot, and maybe offer them a non-sexual massage the next time we see one of them.

Jay McNeeley. Jay McNeeley. Jay McNeeley.
(thrice for Google Image searches)

And if you see Jay McNeeley a.k.a. Gladys Kravitz - the guy from Ypsilanti who nosed in and decided Hamtramck needed to make this a ballot issue in the first place - or any member of the American Family Association, feel free to kick them in the balls. If it's a chick kick her in the cooter, I don't care. I'm tired of this bullshit.
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Hot anti-gay action!

Did you read the Detroitist today? Because he did a write-up on a gay-related issue and saved me the time.

Fred Phelps and his caravan of crazy (www.godhatesfags.com) are coming to Grosse Pointe (of all places) to protest GP South High School's production of "The Laramie Project" next month. Read Detroitist's report here.

When Phelps was in Ann Arbor a few years ago Martin and Keith at the /aut/ bar came up with this idea to get people to pledge money for every minute that Phelps and company protest. "Every Minute Counts" eventually became a popular counter-protest to the Phelps brigade all around the country. Nice job, fellas.

Here's the picket schedule comment - you can't make this shit up!

11/21/08 - 2:45 - 3:30pm Grosse Pointe South High School - God Hates You! 11 Grosse Pointe Blvd That's right, these little turkeys believe they can change the fact that Matthew Sheperd is in hell, 10+ years now. Lot's of luck on that one. If you wanna go to hell, then follow his example! Mt 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: AMEN!

Maybe we should do an "Every Minute Counts" for this? We can give money to a worthy gay charity, like Supergay Detroit or something! Or maybe something possibly more worthy, like Triangle Foundation or Ruth Ellis Center. I dunno, just tossing that out there. What do you think?
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I did not make this graphic but it's funny as hell.

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This must be some kind of record

I got my car back from the latest theft attempt on Thursday. I stayed in all weekend, but ventured out tonight to the Park Bar to meet up with friends for a bit. Someone broke into my car again just to rifle around and see if there was anything in it. At least they didn't rip apart the ignition this time.

Five days - that's definitely a record. The previous record was two weeks. You're improving, Detroit.

God, whatever I did to piss you off for this shitty year, mea culpa. Please forgive me.
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Racism on Parade

Well it's Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers, so that naturally means an influx of sports-loving suburbanites rolling into downtown, acting like drunk assholes and leaving their trash behind them.

One of the weird things about being a white male who can pass for straight (when I try really hard) is that other white people feel more at liberty to say their secret white-people things to me. Such as this evening, following the Tiger's game. I sequestered myself away in a non-sports venue, although it was not entirely sport-fan-free.

As I sat there, minding my own business and reading the paper a guy started talking to me. He was down from St. Clair Shores for opening day bar-hopping with a friend. He saw Barack Obama in the paper I was reading and asked me what I thought of him. So I told him, in vague terms (I like to keep it light with strangers) that I thought he was pretty amazing, but I also have a lot of respect for all the candidates this time around.

The guy leans into me and says all subdued-like, "I just don't know if I can vote for a n*gger." I shit you not.

He could obviously tell from my complete loss of composure that this was not something I was ok with, and started back-pedaling pretty quickly. I told him in a I-don't-want-you-to-punch-me way that I found that a completely insane thing to say, and moved to the other end of the bar.

Of course there I was assaulted by some drunk bottle-blonde who, after I told her five times I didn't want to talk to her, turned to whispered conversations with her companion. Initially about my being an asshole (apparently) it devolved into "I'm not being a racist, I'm just saying ..."

Ah yes, baseball season is here. That means the balance of cool vs. asshole suburbanites shifts toward the 'hole. I'm sure it will all go fine and be good for the bars and restaurants downtown. I just hope I don't get called a faggot while walking down the street again.

A sad reminder ...

Just in case you thought it was all sunshine and puppydogs for gays in the New Millennium, here's something to make you think:

Dying Lesbian's Partner Denied Access To Her
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 22, 2008 - 1:00 pm ET

(Miami, Florida) Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond had planned to take their three children on a family cruise. The Olympia, Washington couple had been together 18 years and with their children were looking forward to the holiday.

But just as they were about to depart on the cruise from Miami, Florida. Pond, a healthy 39-year-old, suddenly collapsed. She was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami with Langbehn and the children following close behind.

But once Langbehn and the children arrived at the hospital the hospital refused to accept information from her about Ponds’s medical history.

Langbehn says she was informed that she was in an antigay city and state, and she could expect to receive no information or acknowledgment as family.

A doctor finally spoke with Janice telling her that there was no chance of recovery.

Other than one five minute visit, which was orchestrated by a Catholic priest at Langbehn’s request to perform last rites, and despite the doctor’s acknowledgement that no medical reason existed to prevent visitation, neither she nor her children were allowed to see Pond until nearly eight hours after their arrival.

Soon after Pond'’s death, Langbehn tried to get her death certificate in order to get life insurance and Social Security benefits for their children. She was denied both by the State of Florida and the Dade County Medical Examiner.

(more at the link)

This year's Presidential election is critical to the gay civil rights movement not just because we don't need another enemy in the White House blocking helpful legislation, but the Supreme Court is at the tipping point. It's already a little rough for us on there, and one more conservative appointment is going to insure that problems like the one this poor woman encountered in Florida don't go away anytime soon.

HA!

Here's a little SupergayDetroit blind item for you ...

What prominent downtown Detroit architecture firm declined to make a proposal on the new Affirmations Community Center in Ferndale because one of the principals cited a need to not promote a "gay lifestyle"?

I'm blind iteming because I don't want to jeapordize my source, but the controversy that ensued from that info becoming internally known led to the HR department putting forward a comprehensive diversity hiring program.

And by that I mean, a bigoted middle-aged male asserted his assholeness, his growing company told him to grow the fuck up, and said company became a better organization because of it. Even if the straight guys are still uncomfortable about it.

It's a fairy tale ending.