OT: The Pretzel Bell Will Return to Downtown Ann Arbor
I sincerely apologize if this has been posted, but I have not seen it. Mods please delete if this is repetitious.
After closing in 1984, the legendary Pretzel Bell will be revived in downtown Ann Arbor in the current location of Lena (the corner of South Main and East Liberty), which will close January 17. The original Pretzel Bell opened in 1934 after Prohibition ended. Much of the space was filled with Michigan sports memorabilia and it was visited frequently by Michigan athletes, professors and other campus groups, including the parents of students. It closed because of health viiolations.
The P-Bell was particularly popular for kids who tuned 21 as they were required to stand on the table and chug a free pitcher of beer. It would be even more crowded when a sorority member had her 21st birthday and got up on the table to consume it all without any stoppage of gulps.
Partners on the new P-Bell include former UM athletes Dugan Fife, Andy Mignery, Bruce Elliott, Fritz Seyferth and Bruce Zenkel.
It will be managed by Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell, who are founders of Northern Brewing Company in Dexter as well as other restaurants in Ann Arbor and Traverse City.
January 14th, 2016 at 3:27 PM ^
as an 87 grad, i fondly remember the PBell. my roomate worked there as a waiter for a while.
looking forward to swinging through during football season
January 14th, 2016 at 6:30 PM ^
I had my 21st at the Pretzel Bell. The procedure was to drink 21 beers while friends transcribed the events surrounding each one on placemats.
January 14th, 2016 at 3:30 PM ^
January 14th, 2016 at 3:37 PM ^
That place was magical.
January 14th, 2016 at 5:36 PM ^
January 14th, 2016 at 7:55 PM ^
That place served a really nice Irish Coffee, a nice place for a nice night cap.
January 14th, 2016 at 4:18 PM ^
Come for the Limeade ... stay for the (often hilarious) insults from an owner too old to really give a shit if you're offended! Drake's was definitely an experience.
My first vote would go the humble Steve's Lunch. That place was my favorite when at Michigan.
January 14th, 2016 at 8:15 PM ^
Best breakfast, ever.
And, if the Pretzel Bell is comnig back, can the Village Bell be far behind?
January 14th, 2016 at 7:37 PM ^
i didn't know drake's was gone
January 14th, 2016 at 3:31 PM ^
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January 14th, 2016 at 3:37 PM ^
The corner of 4th and Liberty, across from the post ofrfice, where Champion House was.
January 14th, 2016 at 3:40 PM ^
Owned by Main Street Ventures.
It serves upscale Mediterranean food..........pricey, but a great bar area.
An expensive sushi restaurant lasted a year in the space.
January 14th, 2016 at 4:22 PM ^
is pretty good. Had dinner there the night before the OSU game. Not cheap, but I didn't feel like I overpaid for the meal. Service was very good, too.
January 14th, 2016 at 3:35 PM ^
Next up - Village Bell and Bimbo's?
January 14th, 2016 at 3:42 PM ^
would be to bring back both. Then I might recoup the hundreds of dollars I poured into both in the late 70s.
January 14th, 2016 at 3:49 PM ^
They were all hangouts I went to when I arrived on campus in 1977. Great memories - except the time I got totally trashed at Bimbo's and was so hung over/sick the next day, I missed the Duke-Michigan football game that same year. I hope they try to capture at least some of the charm and nostalgia in the new P-Bell.
January 14th, 2016 at 4:26 PM ^
At least you did not kill yourself slipping on Peanut shells.
Next up - Limeade and Drake's Sandwich Shop?
January 14th, 2016 at 4:40 PM ^
Closed the year I came to campus as a freshman. Everyone I knew who had attended Michigan in the years and decades before I did told me it was a place to which I HAD to go.
It closed before I ever had the chance.
January 14th, 2016 at 5:03 PM ^
My Dad graduated in '44 and always talked about Drakes, especially the Limeaid. I was there a couple of times. While my son was on campus I encouraged him to hit some of the iconic restaurants that are still in business - Angelo's, Fleetwood Diner, Argieros, Cottage Inn, Blimpy's - so he will have memories to share - as the VBell, PBell, Bimbo's, Thanno's Lamplighter were mine.
My Dad went to High School at old Ann Arbor High (the Frieze building, now North Quad), U of M and had a small business near campus so he would hit up Drake's and Thano's among other campus hot spots.
January 14th, 2016 at 5:40 PM ^
January 14th, 2016 at 6:00 PM ^
I lived in an apartment that was right behind Thano's. I can attest to the fact that many a cop ate there, and they usually entered through the back door Goodfellas style. That apartment was almost as good as the time I lived upstairs from Angelo's. (I think they converted that house to part of the restaurant as part of an expansion.) The smell of their bread baking in the morning was out of this world.
January 14th, 2016 at 6:39 PM ^
and the greek pizza. used to go there after UM basketball games. frieder and a few players almost always showed up too.
January 14th, 2016 at 6:55 PM ^
I had some friends who were very, very passionate about Thano's, for whatever reason. The last night it was open, they went in and ordered everything on the menu for one last run around the block. The management, apparently, was not pleased.
January 14th, 2016 at 6:55 PM ^
January 14th, 2016 at 3:38 PM ^
Sadly I suspect like the Old German (another of my old man's favs), the PBell will be reincarnated as an overpriced shell of its former self featuring subpar (at best) craft beer options and intensely average food.
January 15th, 2016 at 2:14 AM ^
The Old German was so, so, so great. If you're ever hankering for the old menu, they released a cookbook with the recipes after it closed.
January 14th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^
I'm too young to ever have been to the Pretzel Bell (I'm a 2002 grad) but my late father (Class of 1947) told me counless stories about "going with a girl" to the Pretzel Bell back in his heyday. Reading the OP brings back memories of walking around town and hearing the same stories every year when we made it to AA.
I can only imagine that this will be a popular spot with a bunch of former well liked athletes steering the ship!
January 14th, 2016 at 4:44 PM ^
not to dig into your family history too much but is there a 55 year gap between you and your dad? Go dad!
January 14th, 2016 at 9:44 PM ^
January 14th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^
I am not pleased. This take over is forcing the closure of my favorite bar in Ann Arbor, Habana because it is located below the location this pretzel place will occupy. Habana currently is one of the few dancing options on main street (or really ann arbor) that is both cover free and caters to the mid-20s Ann Arbor crowd. There are rumors the owners may try to revive it somewhere but it is just sad that a bar that is packed every Friday and Saturday has to shut down for what appears to be nostalgic purposes.
January 14th, 2016 at 3:56 PM ^
Is that really the reason? That makes me sad as well. Habana is pretty great
Old folks downvoting: why couldn't they scrap something unsuccessful in place of this new place? Why did they have to get rid of one of the few places I actually enjoyed on Main during undergrad and would walk out there for?
January 14th, 2016 at 4:16 PM ^
January 14th, 2016 at 4:26 PM ^
THE mLive article said both Lena and Habana would reopen somewhere else... I believe it's the same restaurant management group for both.
January 14th, 2016 at 4:31 PM ^
Blue Tractor, North Peak, Grizzly Peak, Jolly Pumpkin, Old German, Mash, soon to be PBell and several others I can't think of are all under one corporate umbrella doing it's damned best not to seem corporate.
January 14th, 2016 at 3:53 PM ^
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January 14th, 2016 at 3:56 PM ^
January 14th, 2016 at 4:03 PM ^
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January 14th, 2016 at 5:42 PM ^
January 14th, 2016 at 5:45 PM ^
but it is a different atmosphere for a different kind of night
January 15th, 2016 at 2:15 AM ^
First World Problems
January 14th, 2016 at 8:26 PM ^
Best margaritas in town. Fish tacos excellent, too.
January 14th, 2016 at 3:41 PM ^
Been gone from Ann Arbor too long :(
And not old enough to know wtf Pretzel Bell is.
January 14th, 2016 at 4:00 PM ^
Why did it close the first time?
January 14th, 2016 at 4:10 PM ^
It was going downhill and not cleaning up to the standards that the County Health Department required.
Think roaches in the back rooms.
January 14th, 2016 at 4:23 PM ^
I had heard that the place was floundering financially due to poor management. In particular, certain of the wait staff were robbing the place blind while the owners "saved money" using old-school receipt pads.
Brunches were a special place for this sort of abuse, from what I heard. Everyone had the same bill, so abuse was rampant.
I heard this a couple years after they closed, as I was working my way through school at other restaurants. Solely WOTS - no proof.
January 14th, 2016 at 9:19 PM ^
that the last ownership funneled the profits into a drug/drinking problem and lost interest in the place, thus closed down.
I recall eating there once as a kid, my recollection is that they had pretty good pretzels (imagine that) with some sort of unique mustard. Every wooden tabletop had stuff carved into the surface of it, all over. That's all I remember about it.
It will be interesting if the generation who remembers it will flock back, or if this is a new & unique concept under a historic name. It seemed like it was pretty far from campus (on Huron?)
January 14th, 2016 at 4:01 PM ^
These pretzels are making me thirsty!
January 14th, 2016 at 4:10 PM ^
They had a remarkable memorabilia collection, which got auctioned off in 1985, after they closed the place.
I seem to remember that the original PB had to be located west of Division, because that was the dividing line between wet and dry areas of town beginning in the early 20th Century.
January 14th, 2016 at 5:34 PM ^
I was born and raised in Ann Arbor and never heard that story, cool!