7649 Oakland Avenue
The Apex Bar / Apex Lounge
7649 Oakland was built in the 1910s or 1920s. I’m not certain who the architect was, but this story is less about the building and more about what happened there.
In May of 1934, a liquor license was granted for a bar at the address. The establishment was run by Achille Caron, who may have been a French immigrant. This era of Detroit saw the expansion of bars and alcohol production after the 21st Amendment repealed prohibition. The upstairs was likely used as an apartment.
The bar is located in the North End, a neighborhood compromised initially of Jewish and other European immigrants. As Detroit’s population boomed, the North End saw an increasing percentage of black residents from the south. I’ve seen articles reporting that the neighborhood was originally called that because it was on the north side of Paradise Valley, the business and entertainment district of Black Bottom.
At some point, the establishment became the Apex Bar/Lounge. The venue specialized in live blues bands and was a staple of a thriving music community on Oakland Avenue. Acts from across the midwest took the stage, but most were local. One man, in particular, would make the joint famous.
John Lee Hooker was born in the depths of Mississippi. His stepfather was a musician and taught him to play the guitar. By age 14, Hooker had left home and was on his own. He spent time in Memphis and Ohio before landing in Detroit in the early 1940s looking for work.
Eventually, he was booked to play the Apex. He quickly grew a following around Detroit, but he’d soon be a household name across the country. When asked about one of his first hits, Hooker had this to say:
“I used to play at this place called the Apex Bar in Detroit. There was a young lady there named Luilla, she was a bartender there. I would come in there at night and I’d never be on time. Every night the band would beat me there; sometimes they’d be on the bandstand playing by the time I got there. Whenever I’d come in she’d point at me and say ‘Boom boom, you’re late again.’ It dawned on me that that was a good name for a song. Then one night she said, “Boom boom, I’m gonna shoot you down.’ She gave me a song but she didn’t know it.” (From the book Working Musicians by Bruce Pollock)
Hooker would remain in Detroit until around the late 1960s. Earlier this year, Mayor Duggan’s office awarded him a posthumous key to the city of Detroit at Detroit Music Weekend. It was given to Zakiyah Hooker, John’s daughter, who was performing at the festival.
For decades after Hooker left Detroit, the Apex chugged on. In 1989 the Persell family purchased the bar. Charles had grown up in the area, attending Northern High School, and was a sports coach there as an adult. His wife Marvelous wasn’t from the neighborhood, but she began running the bar after Charles’ sudden death in 1995 from a heart attack.
In the early 1990s, there were still ads for live music there, and Danny Blue & The High Style Blues frequented the stage. Under Marvelous’s management, the bar earned a reputation as Detroit’s cleanest. At some point, live music stopped being a regular occurrence at the Apex, but the bar remained open. In May 2014, Marvelous passed away at 74 years old.
I believe the Apex closed the same year Mrs. Persell passed away.
In 2015, a non-profit called the Detroit Afrikan Music Institution was formed by Bryce Detroit and Jean Louis Farges. In 2016, they received a grant from Artplace America to purchase and renovate the Apex. In 2017, the non-profit purchased the building for $150,000. In 2018, Ray-El Roofing did work to stabilize the roof.
In an interview with Model D Media, Bryce explained their plan for the Apex. Their goal is to reestablish the location as a neighborhood cultural hub. He explained that, in addition to birthdays and wedding parties, block clubs and community groups used to meet there. They hope to turn the structure into a place where that could happen again.
There will be two portions to the renovation. First, the venue will be available for the community to rent and utilize. Second, there will be a production suite for recording music and other content.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Bryce twice, and I firmly believe that the structure is in capable hands. He was in the news in 2020 for his ‘Hood Closed to Gentrifiers’ project, is a founding member of the Oakland Avenue Artists Coalition, and is an accomplished music producer, performer, and curator.
Although the Apex has been closed for nearly a decade, the next chapter for the structure has the potential to be just as bright as its past.
While editing these photographs, I listened to John Lee Hooker. I thought about what it would have been like to see him, Little Sonny, and Little Mack Collins play at the Apex. It got me thinking about who the next generations of Detroiters will wish they had seen in their prime and what venues they will wish they had been old enough to frequent.
Regardless of the future of Detroit’s music industry, I hope the Apex is there to see it. The way things are going, it will be.
