The Playboy Club, 1014 E. Jefferson, Detroit
During the “Swingin’ Sixties,” Detroit was the seventh American city to get a swanky Playboy Club. Located on Jefferson just east of Downtown, the spot was known for nightlife, live music, a full dinner menu and, of course, the female servers who dressed in a uniform of a satin one-piece, bunny ears and a poofy cotton “tail.”
The nightclub, bar, and restaurant entertained guests with jazz crooners and comedians, and the bill of fare included filet mignon for $1.50. Unlike other Playboy Clubs around the country, the Detroit location did not require a special membership or key, per the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.
“Bored with the office routine?” asks one of the 1963 classified ads seeking Detroit area Bunnies. The listings promised young women a chance to travel and meet famous people. “Pretty girls, 21-26, can double their present income working in the luxurious Playboy Club of Detroit, soon to open. No experience necessary, we will train you. Please bring a swimsuit or leotard.”
When it opened in December of that year — opening night was a packed house and a fundraiser for Muscular Dystrophy — Detroit’s Playboy club was met with some resistance, not so much because of the skimpy outfits, but because of the tips-only payment for the women employees.
“Monsignor Joines the Pickets,” reads a Detroit News headline from Dec. 28, 1963.
“Joining last night’s picket line at the new Playboy Club … was Msgr. Clement Kern, pastor of Holy Trinity Church, who said he was there ‘mainly in support of organized labor,'” reads the article. Members of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders Union were also protesting “the club’s policy of basing the bunny waitresses’ pay on tips.”
Even Bishop Robert Emrich said in a 1964 Detroit News editorial that the club “has definite standards, and is not the den of iniquity some timid people believe it to be.”
The Jefferson Playboy Club closed in the fall of 1972 after reportedly losing $300,000 a year.
A second Detroit club opened in 1974 near Greenfield and Eight Mile. It sat nearly 250 between the Playmate Bar, Living Room and downstairs Party Room. It closed later in the 1970s.
mbaetens@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Restaurant Flashback: The Playboy Club in Detroit
Reporting by Melody Baetens, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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