This Abandoned Detroit Bar Gave Birth to a Blues Legend

This building, sitting at 7649 Oakland, was erected sometime before 1910 as a dual-storefront on the ground floor and apartments on the second. When 1934 rolled around, it took a different direction: that May, a liquor license was granted for the establishment and it was turned into a bar. The upstairs was likely used as an apartment.

The Apex wasn’t just a bar – it featured many live blues bands and was a huge influence on the local music community. The Apex became known beyond the Michigan border and eventually brought acts from across the Midwest to Detroit. One that stood out from the others was a man from Mississippi: John Lee Hooker.

Leaving home at age 14, he came to Detroit in the early 1940s hoping to find work. His search finally led him to The Apex Bar. He quickly became a local favorite and would soon become respected worldwide.

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One of John Lee’s songs that became a favorite not just in blues circles, but also for classic rock fans when his song “Boom Boom” was recorded by The Animals in 1964 and again by Big Head Todd & The Monsters in 1997. In 1995, "Boom Boom" was included in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's list of "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". You can listen to that song HERE.

John Lee gave The Apex Bar credit for his creation of “Boom Boom”. According to the book Working Musicians, Hooker says “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.....Whenever I’d come in she’d point at me and say ‘Boom boom, you’re late again’.....Then one night she said, “Boom boom, I’m gonna shoot you down.’ She gave me a song but she didn’t know it.”

John Lee Hooker finally left Detroit for greener pastures and worldwide respect in the late 1960s.

The Apex eventually stopped having live bands and performers and was purchased by the Persell family in 1989. When Mrs. Persell passed away in 2014, the Apex closed.

The Apex Bar was purchased by a non-profit organization in 2017 in an attempt to revive it into a cultural landmark. Although still closed and vacant, the hope to revive The Apex remains.

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