Heaven was located at 19106 Woodward Ave above The Gas Station bar, just north of 7 Mile Rd. It was only open for after hours. I used to go there allot in the 80's. It was fun and it was open for quite a few years. If you have any stories about Heaven, please post them!
Also check out my other blog: motorgay.net
Here is an article about one of the DJ's that used to play at Heaven:
http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=6502
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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I took my youngest sister there once, who wasn't in the House scene, and she and I partied w/the boyz until dawn~ She later confessed that she had "so much fun that I thought I was going CRAZY!".. she said it with a slight smile, but was serious as Hell! She was partying so hard, she actually felt CraZy! LOL ... at one pointe.. while the loud thump of the bumpin' house music was playing, and a siren was sounding, and the RUSH was affecting, and the smoke machine was roaring...... she and I started doing jumping jacks to the beat! Yes, jumping jacks... did 'em for about 30 min's, and didn't think anything of it! Was having CRAZY fun! Again.. she thought she was going 'crazy'! ROFLMAO!
ReplyDeletesigned .. MOther of 3
I remember Heavens with great fondness. I used to go there alot with my ex.. Met many hot guys there.. Was mainly african americans and lots of guys who loved to vogue.. I especially remember this place because one night in 1990, a couple of Janet Jacksons dancers hung out with me and my friends at menjos. This was during her concert tour in the 90's. I knew they were telling the truth because we watched the making of her "If" video the next day on MTV, and there were the two we hung out with along with the other dancers..
ReplyDeleteI remember Heaven "ALL TOO WELL" - I hadn't come out, but, I had a couple of gay friends, was in the military and stationed in Michigan (Detroit Area). I remember going there after hours and partying partying partying!!! It was so much fun. I also remember getting a kick out of the Drag-Queens, and there was one in-particular; "Ms. Trixy" - she wasn't phine, but, she was PHINE in her own right. She was all ways dressed to the NINES! A total lady, but, would FIGHT HER ASS OFF OFTEN!!!! Rumor has it that she was always in and out of jail. I remember the circle where the really QUEENY guys would have what turned out to be KICKING CONTESTS, and all the guys would stand around the circle and yell - WORK!!! WORK BITCH!!!! WORK...!!!!! BITCH YOU BETTER WORK!!!! I used to get a kick out of them. I was always comfortable, always a dude (IN MY OWN RIGHT)....a goodlooking, lt.skin, cleancut BOY, that had a PHINE ASS boyfriend who was my first, and who wound up living with me (or we living together).
ReplyDeleteThat relationship was tragic...it taught me so much about the instability of the "gay-life" and how devious dudes could/would be and are...anyway, back to heaven! The music was so intense, it used to feel like the floor was moving, the guys in Detroit (many of them) were PHINE as hell. Made you wonder what the girls in the city did for boyfriends!
Heaven was the place to go - right after BOOKIES!
ANYBODY REMEMBER BOOKIES!!!!
WoW - ! How I've aged, BUT, Thanks be to GOD....I STILL LOOK GOOD!
;-)
THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!!!
Club Heaven wow that was my spot and the perfect after hours spot. Walking up those stairs hearing the music pumping and I always made the left turn to walk down the hall around to the back to survey the crowd and smoke a cigarette walking through the dance floor was always packed and very hot and peak time was around 3 am this was before straight people started to go there.
ReplyDeleteThis place was so fun. I remember hearing rumors that they would pay off the cops so that people could do drugs there. I certainly did my share of coke there! Way crazy after hours place.
ReplyDeleteThe D.J. Kenny Gutt became known throughout Detroit overnight for how successful he was at packing the floor with excited dancers night after night! Once when I was filling in at the "Detroit Club" downtown, as I was playing the first record of the evening on my turntables, the owner leaned into the D.J. booth and asked if I could play "just like Kenny Gutt on a Saturday night at Heaven". I wanted to barf at the suggestion, but it was the ultimate compliment for Kenny's Music. There were times when (downstairs) at the Gas Station I would be spinning records and we would all be worrying that the floor was going to cave in onto our heads from the packed dance floor in "Heaven Overhead" as hundreds of writhing bodies bounced to Kenny's Beats!
ReplyDeleteI worked at the Backstreet when Kenny worked there in the early 80’s. All I remember about him was he was short and I went home with him one night and he was pissed I didn’t stay the nigh :)
DeleteI never went there, but friends of mine did years ago. They said it was fun, but they never went back after one night a drag queen shot another drag queen right on the street in front of everyone who was outside the club. Does anyone remember this? Probably happened in the early 90s.
ReplyDeleteOMG!!!! I lived in fort wayne indiana back in the early 90's. but every friday night , i would round up a few friends and by 11pm we would be heading to detroit's after hours spot- Heaven's. Everytime i brought someone new with me, i would always watch the expression on their face when we turn the corner upstairs and viewd the crowded dance floor. lol Their mouths would always drop open in disbelief. House music bumping, dance floor packed, queens on the stage lip synching, the kids kicking and splitting in the circles....whew. PRICELESS!
ReplyDelete(By the way , does anybody have any of those old mixed tapes?? lets start a community swap site of old ken collier mixes..let me know..)
Words cant explain how much my friends and i enjoyed the good times there.
oooops , i meant saturday night above ...not fridays. :)
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Heaven was just that! Sweet heaven! walking around and cruising those rooms were always a great way to end the night!
ReplyDeletewow , thank you for all these memories , i used to hit this place back in the '80's , had a pocket full of cash and wanted to party ,damn, so much coke and so cheap !! , but, boy friend got jealous and i had to stop going ,, :(
ReplyDeletePlease contact me if you knew Robert (Booboo) Lowe. I am looking for memories of him. He was my boyfriend and was murdered in 1986 (not at Heaven). Hopefully someone sees this and responds.
ReplyDeleteHave any photos of him, name sounds familiar and I was down there during that era, I had a ex who hudtled down there and many of the hustlers stayed around the corner at his house on Havana. I still have contact with several of the living ones.
DeleteI lost more than a few friends down there. I wish I could turn back time. macdaily@rocketmail.com Jon
Hi Jon I sent a couple of emails. Hope you reply and thanks.
DeleteMemories Live for a Lifetime
ReplyDeleteI spent more than a few nights around these bars. It was the strip in Detroit's underground community. I partied after hours here many times. The place had it fair share of cute hustlers all around, Gas Station was a place to find dime store hustlers, like David Finley, a guy that had many drooling over his 6 foot body and dark brown hair and nice jerseys and tight jeans with his Supersize package. Darcy, hot little uncut guy with attitude and knows how to please you, Mark Lamgton, the short blond that had car loads of men standing in line for his 12 inch Magic wand. Robert Denmark, another short blond, tight body,sweet tender butt and wondering shirtless in his tight blue levis up and down the boulevard. James tall slanky, dark curly black hair, smooth talking hustler. Ricky and Steve Webb, brothers with big pingas and lots of passion. Others came and gone, but these stayed over the year. Not to mention the staff of Gas Station, Bill who owned the Gas Station, who partied with powder with boys often, but hated when the boys started smoking crack. Sean cute cuddly and sweet, Skip, hot sexy and delicious, Bobski, manly and passionate. I spent more than a few nights at Heaven and Gas Station, I wonder how many others slept on the pool table for a rump and a bump. Many of those are dead and gone, some to drugs, some Aids, some to prison.
Omg. These days were the best days of my life. I mosty came with my best friend who was a DJ and hung out with him and Ken in the DJ booth. The back room was the tea-ha. When you heard the latest songs first bars it was a mad rush to the dance floor. I remember dancing at times for hours straight. The walls were sweating it was so hot up in there and no one cared. Dark, loud, smoky and the best music your money can buy at 4am in the morning. Kens last song was always a slow song and as the bar closed you walked out into the daylight. Sickening! I meet so many beautiful people until one night I was dancing on the dance floor after going to this place for years and some big boy pull out a kitchen gin sue knife on me. I never went back. Months later Ken died and Heavens closed its doors. I thank God I made it through those years. I’m now 52 and can’t believe how much fun I had then. What an amazing place.
ReplyDeletePSA: Hi everyone! I'm a gay, Detroit-based writer who is working on a publication chronicling the rich, gay history of Detroit. I'm in need of people who were there and have beautiful memories/valuable insights they would be willing to share. If you this sounds like you, please shoot me an email (bennybrick95@gmail) and help further preserve this precious story!
ReplyDeleteAAAAHHH Heaven!!!! That was an awesome place back in the 80’s to hangout after hours if you didn’t get enough from Backstreet and Menjos. The music often outdid the DJ’s from Menjos and Backstreet!!! It was intense, smoky, dark and hot and I remember doing poppers and cocaine and dancing until closing. It was your last chance to score some D**k and find a dude. It was a very cruisy place and if you wanted or needed a dude bad enough there were always hustlers around. The music is what I went for and sometimes only taking a break for a smoke and something to drink. One night or morning I should say in the late 80’s there was gun fire in the parking lot, somebody got shot, died, saw the whole thing. I never went back after that. I don’t know if it was a club goer or what that got shot.
ReplyDeleteAAAAHHH Heaven!!!! That was an awesome place back in the 80’s to hangout after hours if you didn’t get enough from Backstreet and Menjos. The music often outdid the DJ’s from Menjos and Backstreet!!! It was intense, smoky, dark and hot and I remember doing poppers and cocaine and dancing until closing. It was your last chance to score some D**k and find a dude. It was a very cruisy place and if you wanted or needed a dude bad enough there were always hustlers around. The music is what I went for and sometimes only taking a break for a smoke and something to drink. One night or morning I should say in the late 80’s there was gun fire in the parking lot, somebody got shot, died, saw the whole thing. I never went back after that. I don’t know if it was a club goer or what that got shot.
ReplyDeleteAAAAHHH Heaven!!!! That was an awesome place back in the 80’s to hangout after hours if you didn’t get enough from Backstreet and Menjos. The music often outdid the DJ’s from Menjos and Backstreet!!! It was intense, smoky, dark and hot and I remember doing poppers and cocaine and dancing until closing. It was your last chance to score some D**k and find a dude. It was a very cruisy place and if you wanted or needed a dude bad enough there were always hustlers around. The music is what I went for and sometimes only taking a break for a smoke and something to drink. One night or morning I should say in the late 80’s there was gun fire in the parking lot, somebody got shot, died, saw the whole thing. I never went back after that. I don’t know if it was a club goer or what that got shot.
ReplyDeleteI am volunteering for the Detroit Sound Conservancy - they are trying to restore the Heaven sound system - http://detroitsound.org/heaven/
ReplyDeleteThanks Jody for doing this. I was Robert Lowe's (aka Robbie or Bobbie or Boo Boo) boyfiend. He was part owner until his death in June 1986. I forwarded the link to his older brother and family. They never really knew much about it or what an important part of the scene it was.
DeleteDoes anyone remember Todd Rudner? Became an MD . . . loved Todd!
ReplyDelete