Bookie's Bar & Grille will open in its new location on Cass Ave. at Colombia at the end of the month. This is good news to patrons, who have missed the pub since it closed earlier this year after being the final tenant to vacate the Book Building.
There are pros and cons to the new location. It is in walking distance to the Fox Theatre, The Fillmore and Comerica Park as well as six bars: Centaur, Town Pump, Park Bar, Cliff Bell's, Proof and The State Bar. On the other hand, it is surrounded by gravel parking lots and across the street from the vacant Chin Tiki.
Co-owner John Lambrecht says, "People forget that when Bookie's opened on Washington Boulevard in 2003, there was nothing ... no parking, no streetlights." Here, there will be secured free parking in the lot behind the building on non-game days, so he feels they are already starting one step ahead.
The building features three floors and an outdoor deck. The first floor seats 150 and features a 70-foot-long granite bar with a stone front, a 16-foot projection television and six 50-inch plasma screens. The second floor is a VIP room and the third has an indoor bar and an outdoor deck that holds 120. There will be a full kitchen with late night service.
"It's the same character from [the old] Bookie's, just a lot nicer," he says. "It's definitely a different looking building, but you'd be surprised as to how well it all ties together."
Bookie's public grand opening will be March 27 with 8 p.m. general admission.
Source: John Lambrecht, Bookie's
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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