One of downtown Detroit’s greatest dive bars is the Post Bar.
In its original, longtime Detroit location and owned by the Wheeler family, the Post Bar was a favorite fan hangout for pre- and post-Red Wing games and other downtown events, DJ music, and free pizza at midnight.
With its slogan, “The Post runs a good party,” and known for its graffiti-covered walls, the bar was located for decades on Congress Street across from Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place).
While there’s a location in Plymouth, the Post Bar is now back to its Detroit roots in a new spot with its dive bar and meeting place feel, as well as a place for drinks and food.
The original downtown Detroit space stood for more than 30 years but closed more than a decade ago. About 10 years ago, Jennifer Wheeler Dales and business partner and friend John Thomson opened the Post Local Bistro on downtown Plymouth’s Penniman Avenue.
The Post Bar also had several iterations in other suburbs, which Dales told the Free Press in a previous story that those locations changed hands or ownership from Wheeler family members years ago.
Dales is the daughter of the late William Patrick Wheeler, a banker who bought the original bar on Congress.
Its name, Dales said, came from being home to Local 95, a union post.
It was nearly a year ago, the Post Bar reopened in downtown Detroit on Broadway Street near Gratiot, by owner Dales, along with her son, Patrick, and business partner, John Thomson. Dales told the Free Press recently that she scoured for a downtown spot to bring the Post Bar “home.”
“It’s where (downtown Detroit) I thought the Post always belonged,” Dales said.
That home she found was at 1325 Broadway, and much like the original.
“We wanted to come back to Detroit, where our roots were, and Jen found this spot,” Thomson said. “It’s very long and narrow, and it suited the needs of the Post.
The new space resembles the old, complete with walls covered in graffiti with names, sayings, and pictures of the old Post Bar.
Inside, the bar is long and narrow, much like the Congress Street location. A standout and hanging from about the center of the bar is one of the original, restored Post Bar signs.
You can enter the Post off Broadway or from its back entrance along The Belt, an alleyway in downtown Detroit.
While it took a while to find a place, Dales said it’s been great.
“We didn’t’ realize how deep the roots of the Post really go,” Dales said. “We will be 50 years (in business) in two years.”
Added Thomson: “It was gratifying to see old faces that we might not have seen in a while rekindle stories about the past,” Thomson said. “That is really important to both Jen and me.”
Thomson said it’s not only a bar, but a restaurant, too, with a “friendly atmosphere.”
The Post Bar has a menu of sandwiches and entrees, soups and salads, a host of appetizers from smoked whitefish dip to mini pasties and flatbreads. Of course, there’s plenty of beer offerings on tap and by bottle, plus a wide selection of specialty drinks from margaritas to martinis.
When it comes to those graffiti walls, Dales said she tries to keep the writing fun, handing markers in bright colors to patrons to use. And on its outdoor patio, there’s a sign with the Post Bar motto, “The Post runs a good party!”
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter. Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for insider scoops on food and dining in metro Detroit.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit dive bar, loved for its drinks, food and graffitied walls, thrives in new location
Reporting by Susan Selasky and Natalie Davies, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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