Characters from the Anchor Bar, including Leo Derderian (top right).
For decades the Anchor Bar in downtown Detroit -- it's had four locations since 1959 -- was the go-to watering hole for Detroit journalists from the Detroit News, Free Press, WDIV and more. It was also a hangout for cops and many others.
The bar, now at 450 W. Fort St., was recently sold after being in the hands of mutli-generations of the Derderian family. It was also the bar the FBI raided in May 1971 when Leo Derderian, the first generation Derderian, ran the joint. Agents rounded up about 150 people around Michigan, including Leo and 16 Detroit cops, as part of a $15-million a year gambling ring run out of the Anchor. The news even made The New York Times.
Tim Kiska, host of The Detroit History Podcast, talks with Vaughn Derderian, son of Leo Derderian, who created the place's mystique; former Detroit News columnist Pete Waldmeir; Berl Falbaum, who wrote a book about the place; and Julie Altesleben, a Detroit News copy editor/page designer, who brings us into the 21st century.
Deadline Detroit will run the series by Kiska every Monday through April. Enjoy.
