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For decades, reporters and printers, cops and attorneys, ex-convicts and FBI agents, rabid Red Wings and Tigers fans, have hoisted a beer or a Scotch or a glass of wine and devoured burgers, grilled chicken sandwiches and steak fries at the Anchor Bar in downtown Detroit.
Secrets have been spilled there, and friendships have been made, and in some cases, lost. Countless hours have been spent by customers bitching about bosses, gossiping about co-workers, talking politics or soured relationships. Adding to the ambiance is the wall behind the bar that is lined with photos of dead people, most of whom were journalists.
The joint is quintessential Detroit, unpretentious to the core, like its owners.
The Anchor Bar has had four different locations since 1959. In 1975, it landed in its third spot on Lafayette Blvd., a block from the Detroit News. Then in the 1990s, it moved around the corner to its current spot in the Mercer Building at 450 W. Fort Street.
It started with the founder, Leo Derderian, a character out of a Daymon Runyon book. Then his son Vaughn started helping his dad run the joint after he graduated from Oakland University.
Now, Vaughn's son, also named Vaughn, is running the joint along with his dad, who is in his mid-60s. Leo passed away in 1994, right before the current place on Fort Street opened.
The youngest of the Derderians went to college for a couple years and held other jobs before he began working at the Anchor in 1999 at age 23. He started as a cook -- and not a very good one, he says -- and then a bartender before helping run things.
Things have changed in little ways. Since the youngest Derderian, 38, stepped in, veggie burgers have been added to the menu, daily specials are promoted on Facebook, authors do occasional readings in the backroom and the logo on the bar T-shirts looks far better than before.
That being said, a lot hasn't changed, including the Red Wing fans who regularly pack the joint before and after games.
Allan Lengel of Deadline Detroit recently joined the third generation of Derderians to discuss the business and what a 2017 move by the Red Wings will mean.
