4654 West Vernor Highway
R. H. Hocking Shoe Company, V.L. Bar, Mutiny Tiki Bar
According to the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, a tiny store was located on the parcel currently home to the structure pictured here in 1921. It was labeled ‘iron’ and doesn’t show much more context to allow us to understand what it was. Within a few years, the structure pictured here was completed. It features two stories and a storefront on the main floor.
According to an advert for Red Cross Shoes, a shoe company was established here by 1938. The R. H. Hocking Shoe Company is the only newspaper ad I’ve found for this address before the 1960s, with adverts in 1938 and 1939.
In 1961, a pool table was for sale here. It was in like-new condition and the ad said the table was meant for a tavern. There may have been a bar here then, but I’ve found no trace of it.
By 1993, the V.L. Bar, also stylized as the V & L or VL Bar, was operational on the main floor. Anca Talevska owned the establishment.
On Wednesday, April 28, 1993, Jose Ituralde, 44, entered the bar. Talevska was working and said he came in, looked around, said nothing, and walked out. Ituralde came to the United States in 1980 from Cuba and then to Detroit in 1987. According to police, he had approached officers in plainclothes at Vernor and Morrell, a short walk from the bar he had just departed. They said that Ituralde began swearing at them in English and Spanish and, when approached, wouldn’t remove his hands from his pockets. One of the officers thought he saw Ituralde pulling a weapon, so the cops fired shots.
After the guns went off, a woman who Anca Talevska said hung around the victim came into the bar looking panicked. After she told her what had happened, Talevska locked the door and closed the establishment for the evening.
Jose Ituralde, who also went by Jose Valdez, was shot six times. Police said that they had issues with him previously, he was a known drug user, and he was known to carry a .25 caliber handgun, which wasn’t found. The shooting was shortly after the murder of Malice Green, which prompted more outcry for better police regulation in Detroit.
Ituralde had previously stayed at the Salvation Army at 14 and Michigan but had more recently been residing at the Roosevelt Hotel in Corktown. The officers, Rico Hardy and Ira Todd, were suspended with pay by their then-boss, Benny Napolean, who was Wayne County Sherriff until his death in December 2020. A jury acquitted both officers in April 1994.
I’m not certain when the V.L. Bar closed, but I believe it was open into the 2010s. In 2017, a new bar opened on the main floor. Dave Kwiatkowski, a restauranteur, opened Mutiny Tiki Bar after years of success with establishments like Sugar House and taking over local staples like Honest Johns in the Cass Corridor.
Since then, a mural has been added to the uptown side of the structure, and the interior has seen a complete makeover. This structure appears to be in solid shape, so hopefully, it can continue serving as a neighborhood watering hole for generations!
If you know more about this or adjacent properties, contact me or reach out to the Detroit Historic Designation Advisory Board’s Detroit LatinX History Project.
