In many ways, Kelly’s is still the same bar that has sat for more than a century across from the neon glow of the giant Kowalski Sausage Co. sign on Holbrook Avenue. Claimed to be one of the oldest operating pubs in Hamtramck, it was sold to husband and wife Garrett Ragsdale and Kiersten Schilinski in 2021. Ragsdale is also an owner of the Marble Bar nightclub, which reopened in 2015 after a past life as a gay leather bar.
“A buddy of mine was driving by and saw a ‘for sale’ sign, and he knew that I was looking for another bar,” Ragsdale says of Kelly’s. “And we had been talking about wanting to open up a dive bar for a little bit. It was perfect timing, I guess.”
“We’re very dive-bar people,” Schilinski says. “Obviously, he owns Marble Bar, and that’s a different beast. So we wanted something more chill.”
The bar reopened earlier this year with some improvements, the most recent being a kitchen that is now officially up to city code.
“It was just in really bad disrepair when we walked into it,” Ragsdale says.
The two have come up with a menu that includes smash burgers, wings, and pierogi from Pietrzyk Pierogi. They say they plan on sticking to the bar’s blue-collar history by aiming to feed nearby industrial workers.
“We do get a lot of people already from Kowalski, and there is GM’s Factory ZERO, and [American Axle & Manufacturing] is right there,” Schilinski says. “American Axle still has a smaller office right there too.” The owners say they also plan to run wings specials on Wednesdays and Fridays, as well as more food specials during the football season. They also brought in new equipment so they can serve boozy frozen drinks.
Aside from that, Kelly’s is still largely a low-frills shot-and-a-beer kind of bar.
Other notable improvements include new flooring, siding, and roofing. But perhaps the most visibly noticeable change is the bathrooms, which have been completely modernized with new tile. “We have the cleanest bathrooms in Hamtramck,” Ragsdale boasts.
The building has reportedly operated as a bar since 1917, though Ragsdale and Schilinski note that its title document says 1921. Regardless, such an old bar unsurprisingly needed quite a bit of work.
“We didn’t really know the depth of what the building needed until we actually got in there, and cans of worms turned into bigger cans of worms,” Ragsdale says. All the work was done by Ragsdale and Schilinski and their friends, they say.
Former owner Brad Ruff had owned Kelly’s since the early 2000s after previously working at American Axle, and was also an avid motorcyclist. Tragically, he was killed just days after selling the bar in a motorcycle crash in Eastpointe, which also left his wife Patti Banas critically injured. Ruff was 64.
Eric J. Compton, who was driving the car that crashed into Ruff’s motorcycle, faces drunk driving charges with a trial set for Nov. 14.
Ragsdale and Schilinski say they want Kelly’s to be a biker bar, and to that end have hosted recurring biker nights on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month.
“We know a lot of bikers,” Schilinski says. “There’s a lot of young people our age who ride them who aren’t associated with clubs and whatnot and just want to be around other bikers.” The owners have also rolled out other themed nights including Wednesday karaoke and “Sungays,” where $5 “Trash Daquiris” are served.
Under Ruff, Kelly’s had become known as a hotspot for rock ’n’ roll shows, but the new owners say they want to deemphasize live bands because they don’t want to turn off potential customers with a cover charge.
“We want the bar to be open for everybody,” Ragsdale says.
They did install a new DJ booth, however, and invite guest DJs to play tunes during Sungays. And they also welcomed Ash Nowak of the DJ duo Haute to Death to launch a rock ’n’ roll-themed monthly happy hour from 6-9 p.m. on the last Thursdays of the month, dubbed “Heaven Was Full.” In a departure from Haute to Death’s penchant for danceable house, disco, and new wave music, Nowak’s happy hour at Kelly’s is billed as playing grunge, country, glam, and an aesthetic otherwise playfully described on a flier as “Down Riviera.”
Ragsdale says vinyl records are preferred, and that he steers DJs away from playing electronic dance music.
“No techno,” he says. “That’s what Marble Bar is for.”
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