By 1930 Cliff was back at it and he opened the Erskine Bridge Club on the corner of Erskine and John R. Not a deck of cards in the place, it was known for its quality liquors from Quebec. About the club, a 1954 Hotel and Restaurant Journal article wrote, “Few people, it seems, recognize...Read More

Unlike the numerous basement speakeasy operators in town, Cliff made little effort to keep a low profile and his Prohibition era exploits soon attracted the attention of the authorities. By the spring of 1928 Cliff was a wanted man and went on the lam. He eventually was arrested after a four months long manhunt. Article:...Read More

But it wasn’t long before Bell was back in action, opening one “speakeasy” after another during the 14 years of Prohibition. In 1922, he began operating in the Grand Circus Chop House behind the Detroit Athletic Club. Better known as the DAC Annex, members could sneak out of the dry club for a quick drink....Read More

When Prohibition began in 1919 many of Detroit’s watering holes closed leaving young Cliff Bell out of work and bitter about what he saw as “an unwarranted infringement on the personal privileges of red blooded Americans.”Read More

John Clifford Bell was born in 1886 in Cincinnati. With only a fourth grade education, he moved to Detroit in his early teens. At 16 years old his family moved him to Detroit where his father put Cliff to work as a porter at his pub on John R. So began Cliff’s long career as...Read More