I’ve been around quite a while, but this appears to be something even before my time.
When going through the Detroit Bar Association archives recently, I came across a whiteboard-about the biggest one I have ever seen. It was covered with photos, news clippings and DBA flyers from the early to mid 1980s. Don’t know the purpose or the occasion, but it is a something of a time capsule of the Detroit legal scene of that time. Most surprising to me were several notices promoting events and meetings at the “Lawyers Club” at the Book Cadillac Hotel. See the notice above.
The Book Cadillac opened in 1923 and was Detroit’s signature hotel for decades. It was a victim of the subsequent decline of downtown and closed in 1984. For more than 2 decades it was given over to vandals and thieves, who stripped the building of everything of value, down to the copper pipe. The destruction left parts of the building open to and unprotected from the elements. Mayor Coleman Young supported the demolition of the Book.
Miraculous to me, one of the early developments of downtown Detroit’s resurgence saw the Book Cadillac reopen in 2008 after a 190 Million dollar gutting and renovation.
Where was the Lawyers Club in the old building? Was it a private club? What was its history? Well, so far, I can’t find anyone who knows the answer to any of these questions. I have asked those at the DBA, and a few attorneys more “seasoned” than I. No answers.
Finally I called a left a message at the hotel itself. It took a few days to get back to me. They did some digging around. Very little about the history or location of the Lawyers Club. As near as they could determine, it may have been on the second floor near the Grand Ballroom. But, the gutting of the building before the remodel was complete. That space is now a second floor hallway leading to the new Grand Ballroom. So much for the Book Cadillac Lawyers Club.
Too bad. I like the idea of a Detroit Lawyers club, where the members of the “Guild” would meet, outside the lines, to confer, converse and otherwise hobnob with their brother and sister counsel.
As part of my work with various DBA Sections, I’d like to hold a Detroit lawyers’ bar crawl. Jacoby’s, the Detroit Club, the DAC and the Buhl Bar still exist, but other places like the Savoyard Club and the Lawyers Club appear to be gone forever-though I think the Savoyard space may still exist behind sealed doors at the top of the Buhl Building.
If anyone can add to the list above, or if anyone knows anything about the Book Cadillac Lawyers Club, please, please, please contact me at mjbutler722@gmail.com.
Even absent that info, let’s see if we can’t visit some of Detroit’s lawyers’ bars and conjure the spirits of attorneys past.
