Gusoline Alley

Detroit, Michigan

Field Note

In the great mashup of Detroit-area passions, it should come as no surprise that the concepts of cars and cold beer have been smashed together in the form of Gusoline Alley in the city’s Royal Oak near-suburb. As the Gusoline Alley Royal Oak surroundings have undergone a significant facelift over the years, so too has the Detroit dive bar itself, melding 1984 roots with a few layers of fresh paint.

Gusoline Alley takes its name from original owner Gus Pappas, gifted the bar by his parents. Pappas melded a love for all things related to gas stations with his newfound business, giving Gusoline Alley the distinctively automotive theme that permeates the space today. Pappas as sadly since passed away and new ownership took the reins in 1996 leaving the theme and the name above the door untouched.

From there, the Gusoline Alley story does take a bit of a turn into gentrification, mirroring the increasingly upscale nature of a Royal Oak neighborhood that was decidedly less polished when the bar opened in 1984. At the center of this slow march toward progress is the Gusoline Alley jukebox, an analog neighborhood beacon for many years that earned the distinction if best jukebox in Detroit. That jukebox has since been replaced by a digital version and the trademark bathroom graffiti painted over, tangible representations of the shifting vibe within Gusoline Alley and Royal Oak more broadly.

Digital jukebox or not, a 1976 Cadillac still juts out of the bar’s wall and road signs absolutely cake every Gusoline Alley surface, creating a dive bar vibe despite bursts of modernization throughout the space. Though the bar’s signature patchwork stone entrance has since been updated to a more streamlined, modern version, the interior wood paneling is thankfully intact, down to the faded markings of interior installations long since removed. Most if not all of the automotive signs within Gusoline Alley are vintage pieces, including a massive Ewing Oil banner.

The Gusoline Alley footprint is slender, enough room for a long bar on one side of the room and a handful of modern tables opposite. The overhang above the bar is, of course, also covered in vintage signage, the emblems of various car companies sprinkled above Gusoline Alley’s bar stools. Some of the bar’s updates are welcome ones, credit cards introduced in 2015 and the beer selection vastly expanded to the point of sparking Gusoline Alley’s trademark hook of “100 beers, 50 seats.”

Despite the many changes to Gusoline Alley and Royal Oak, a handful of staff members remain from original owner Pappas’ tenure, adding to the innate authenticity to the Detroit dive bar. A heavy dose of that authenticity can be found above and behind the bar rail where countless stickers dot the beer coolers and drop ceiling panels sag every so slightly thanks to years of service. Any time-tested dive bar has a celebrity sighting or two as part of its lore and Gusoline Alley is no different with tales of Motorhead’s Lemmy playing the bar’s pinball machine or Flogging Molly commanding a portion of the bar for an impromptu acoustic set.

Gusoline Alley is a dive bar and a manifestation of an evolving neighborhood at the same time, polished surfaces intermingling with ancient signs installed in 1984, never to be touched again. Most importantly, digital jukeboxes and credit cards fail to outweigh Gusoline Alley’s unique character, a blend of old and new manifested in a way that feels perfectly “Detroit.”