Corktown’s Gaelic Club Has United Detroit’s Irish Community for 100 Years | Eater Detroit

"I've been coming to the Gaelic League longer than I can remember — my parents were members, and visiting the club has always felt like a pilgrimage to shared Irish-American heritage. On a bitter February afternoon I buzzed the door, longtime bartender Patrick released the lock, and stepping inside I found a warm, dim room of dark wood, prints of rural life behind the bar, a group portrait of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Uprising, the Gaelic League crest declaring “Conradh na Gaeilge, Tír Is Teanga,” a “Céad Míle Fáilte” sign, clocks showing Detroit and Dublin, and that cozy, “Grandpa’s basement circa 1960” charm complete with an electric fireplace, antique books, and farm implements. The club — rooted in the international Gaelic League (founded 1893) and formed in Detroit on December 9, 1920 — bought its Corktown headquarters from Ford Motor Company in 1951 and added an annex three years later; it has endured demographic ebbs and flows but remains a lively community hub with a broad age mix, from septuagenarians nursing pints to young new members and visitors. It’s proudly non-sectarian and non-political, focused on culture and community: weekly Irish-language nights and traditional-music sessions, Wolfe Tones concerts, fish fries, céilí dances, women’s wine nights, history lectures, genealogy interest spurred by Ancestry/DNA trends, and the madcap Parade Day and St. Patrick’s Day parties that help fund the club’s nonprofit work. Practical details matter, too: the clubhouse on Michigan Avenue at Wabash Street welcomes guests during posted bar hours (noon–8 p.m. Sunday; 2–9 p.m. Mon–Thu; noon–2 a.m. Fri–Sat), is cash-only with an on-site ATM, charges covers on Parade Day/St. Patrick’s Day for non-members, and has a $20 annual Irish-American Club membership (with separate Gaelic League membership requiring two years in the Irish-American Club and active participation)." - Mickey Lyons