As with any great Detroit dive bar, there are stories to be told about Nancy Whiskey, in this case a rumor that the phone booth still visible in the bar today was Jimmy Hoffa’s unofficial phone of choice as an alternative to his federally-bugged office phone a few blocks away. The self-proclaimed “Detroit’s Oldest Party” has persisted through any number of bumps in the road, including a fire in 2009 and the global COVID-19 pandemic that threatened every bar’s livelihood. Fried fish is the food of choice here, a fact made famous by a Long John Silver’s commercial, of all things, in 2014.
As far as its location, Nacncy Whiskey Pub sits in Corktown but exists a few blocks away from what most savvy Detroit travelers might associate with the neighborhood. Where the heart of Corktown is a pretty active strip (that includes fellow Detroit dive bar LJ’s Lounge), the area around Nancy Whiskey Pub is fairly desolate in comparison. Street parking is ample here and the largely residential area fades into a vacant plot just a few feet away from the bar’s front door.
But being removed from a more heavily trafficked area is nothing if not a dive bar calling card, Nancy Whiskey Pub standing as a divey icon in ample green paint that stretches from its front door to the trim throughout the structure. The front door and its adjoining surfaces include no windows, a trait consistent almost entirely throughout the space. Inside, the age of the space is the first trait that comes across to a first-time visitor, the stamped ceiling blending into vintage crown molding, all of it above a classic dive bar layout with green wood paneling halfway up the bar’s otherwise white walls.
