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Flame Show Bar

The Flame Show Bar was a Black and Tan located just outside of Paradise Valley in the Sugar Hill area at 4264 John R.  It was owned by Morris Wasserman and opened in June of 1949.  Wasserman had previously owned Club Harlem in the 1930s.  The club featured a 100 foot bar with a seating capacity of 250 patrons.  Known for its big headliners and one hour floor shows that played three or four times a night, the club featured not only black performers but white ones as well.  It was considered a high-end club and the place to be seen.  Superstars like Billie Holiday, T-Bone Walker, Dinah Washington, B.B. King, Alberta Adams, and Muddy Waters performed at the club.  Later Detroit's own, saxophonist Beans Bowles, played there in the 1950s.  Bowles recalled, "Man, everybody used to play there.  It was like an assembly line.  We had stage shows seven nights a week.  We called it 'Little Vegas.' The whole corner was lit up by the Flame."  The Flame Show Bar closed in 1963 and today the area is now occupied by the Detroit Medical Center.

Morris Wasserman.jpg

Morris Wasserman

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Table Knocker
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Flame Show Bar Couple 1.jpg
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