The Blind Pig
Private Basement Studio in what was supposedly a secret speakeasy
Why is it called The Blind Pig?
Detroit natives Ken and Ann Mikolowski married in 1961. Ken received a BA in English from Wayne State University in 1964, and Ann studied art at both the Center for Creative Studies and Wayne State. By the late 1960s, they had become part of the radical artistic community flourishing in Detroit's Cass Corridor. They purchased the letterpress of the Detroit Artists Workshop and began to experiment in the basement of their house at 4339 Avery Street.
A “Blind Pig” was a Detroit slang term for police officers who had been bribed by speakeasy proprietors during the prohibition era of the 1920s.
Now a comfy studio apartment, part of the basement of 4343 Avery is rumored to have once been a popular local, albeit illegal, bar. Hidden behind shrubs and garden, the private entrance was a perfectly discreet watering hole during the prohibition era.