0 0 a 0 ," 0 .' ** 'm 0 U46 UUU Wednesday,BNovember 6 -' , The ' t:.._ - ME DRUNK HISOR O Inourminds,theplacewasshroudedin Three Olives-soaked mystery, but we dove inwith open minds and mouths, ready for whatever Ripk's could throw at us. The first things thrown - well, handed - were two glasses filled to the brim with a thick pink concoction known as a Mindprobe, the house drink. We'd tell you what's in it, but no one really seems to know. On our very first trip to the bar, we brought a whole crew of Kerrytown-dwelling Rick's-virgins. Mindprobes in hand, and leftover pasta we ate communally from a Tupperware, We made our way to the sweaty and slippery dance floor. It prob- ably wasn't a sight typical to the average Rick's night, but sur- prises became a recurring theme during our Rick's expedition. Unlike Madonna - who recalled the story of meeting Bray in a 1984 interview with Rolling Stone, saying "those were good days" - we didn't find love. But we did discover an entire subculture built around the famed bar, a subculture that has persisted through decades of changes. INTO T HE G ROOV E , KAL MA.-. Love it or hate it, through the years, Rick's has become one of the most talked about fixtures of campus nightlife. In August, it was named one of the top-25 college bars in the country by The Daily Meal. It's the only club in Ann Arbor that's ever had a (now-defunct) website devoted to its line. N A In both 2008 and 2011, The Michigan Review, a conservative IT publication, deemed it the "worst bar in Ann Arbor," saying "You might have taken home a good hook-up a few times, but E you probably also took home a nasty case of Syphilis, as well." Our first mystery to solve about the bar: Rick. Is there a EDTR Rick?Who is he? Chris Hesse, general manager of Rick's, laughed when we asked if he had ever met Rick. "There really is no 'The Rick,' "he said, leaning back in his chair in the office tucked away just to the left of the steps that lead down from Church Street into the dark world of Rick's. We spoke with Hesse the day after Halloween, one of the busiestnight's for the bar. It was 11 a.m. on a Friday, andthe bar that had -justnine hoursbefore - held hundreds of inebriated cats, zombies, vamps and Mileys was now occupied by employ- ees wielding mops, cleaning up the sticky mess of glitter and spilled drinks leftover fromthe night's celebrations. The silence and (slightly) brighter lighting were bizarrely jarring: This was Rick's during daylight, our glimpse behind the curtain. Hesse told us that the man often confused as the original G "Rick" was Rick Novak, a manager and partner of the bar in the '80s. But it wasn't Novak who gave the bar its name. tudent on a four-year Rich Johnson and Steve Crawley originally opened versity wandered into Rick's, and based it on their favorite place to go out in Colo- called the Blue Frog- rado, also called Rick's American Cafe. After opening up in ountered an attractive Ann Arbor, Johnson and Crawley expanded, establishing a a local band and, like Rick's East Lansing. Named after "Rick's Cafe Amdricain" - the swanky night- two spent the evening club and gamblingden from the 1942 classic film "Casablanca" . Even though he was - Johnson and Crawley transformed the Blue Frogge into the d. bar and dance club it is now in 1979. Back then, it wasn't a given that the dark, crowded base- ucer Steve Bray, who mentwouldbe,well,so damncrowded. On Dec. 3,1978, Michi- five semesters in Ann gan raised the legal drinking age from 18 to 19 - and just 18 throughout her musi- days later, raised it to 21. it 611 Church, the Blue In the years following the law's passage, many hoped that Arbor establishment: the new age limit wouldn't be enforced. More thought it would be pointless to enforce. "It's an impossible situation," Michi- )ve, but searching for ganState University President Edgar Harden said in 1978, after arity and longevity of the legal age change was passed. "I don't see how you can have ite this story, we had students drinking legally at18, and the next day say it's illegal." never descended the But as drinking ages rose across the country, eventually basement that doubles culminating in the federal Drinking Age Act of 1984, crack- downs on underage drinking hit Ann Arbor - and they hit hard. According to the 1982 edition of the Michiganensian, bartenders and managers alike were shocked not only.by the fines bartenders could incur by serving the now-minors, but also the new tactics employed to ensure Freshman Drinker.2.0 couldn't sneak a beer in local bars. "One of the latest tactics for catching these lawbreakers is to send in burly, balding 19 /2 year-olds into bars to get served," the Michiganensian reporter wrote, "and report the bartender to authorities who are planted at the bar." "It really is a sad situation," one Rick's manager told the same Michiganensian reporter. "Since the enforcement of the drinking age, our bars are only half full." Campus staples like Charley's, which opened its doors in 1979, old-timer The Brown Jug, established in 1936, and Rick's endured the end of (legally) liquored-up minors. Hesse said he isn't surprised by the initial hit Rick's'took after the legal drinking age changed. He said current age restrictions on Rick's actually work to its advantage. The new 21-and-over policy helped establish the reputation of Rick's as a hangout spot for older students. "I think one of the reasons Rick's has sustained so well ... -is that this has kind of been known as the senior bar," he said. "It's where the 21 and overs hang out. We like to think it's the hardest bar to get into on campus." Not that the bar's zero-tolerance policy stops under- classmen from trying. "People get crazy trying to get in," said LSA sophomore Jor- dan Roth, who bounces at Rick's. "Girls have offered me num- bers. Guys try to give me an extra $20." Roth said the pressure can be tempting, "but if that per- son gets drunk, then whoever was checking IDs is in big trouble. It's not worth it," But for better or for worse, keeping Rick's minor-free has built up its reputation asan exclusively upperclassmen bar. "Senior year, everyone was very drunk and emotional all the time," Recent alum Proma Kholsa said. "And there's no place better than Rick's for that sort of business." "You say to yourself, 'It's gonna be dark, sweaty and crowd- ed. And maybe there will be a stranger creeping on me.' You know it's gonna happen, and you're fine with it." Hesse said he believes that regular customers know what they're getting when they cometo Rick's and that the bar never tries to be anything it's not. That understanding of the atmo- sphere and low-key look of Rick's contributes to its endurance. "People know what Rick's is," Hesse said. "We know we're not a big fancy Chicago, Vegas, New York-style club, and we don't try to be ... I mean, if you look around, it's a dingy, dark basement bar. People make of it what they make of it." Age restrictions aren't the only major changes Rick's has undergone through the decades. Shortly after Rick's first opened, it became known for its live music. The stage that's now recognized for uncoordinated bumping-and-grinding- and-falling once hosted performers like Matt "Guitar" Mur- phy, a - you guessed it - guitarist in the Blues Brothers, who played Aretha Franklin's husband in the movie of the same name, hit Rick's several times in the early '80s. The Pixies played there in 1988. So did Primus - a.k.a. the guys who do the "South Park" theme. University alum Karen Carlson frequented Rick's in the early 1980s. "People would go to Rick's for the bigger night outs," she said. "If you were really wanting to go out for a big night, not necessarily a dressy night, but just a nice, long night of hanging quut with your friends and having drinks and stuff, Rick's was always on the to-do list." LIK E A (RICS ne night in 1976i, a young at dance scholarship at the Uni a popular local bar and disco ge with her friends. She encc and charismatic waiter, a drummer in her, an aspiring artist - She asked him to buylher a drink. The1 talking about their shared love for music four years older than her, they connectec That student was Madonna. The waiter was songwriter and prod Madonna dated on and off during her f Arbor and continued to collaborate with cal career. The place they met? Located a .Frogge eventually became an iconic Ann Rick's American Cafe. We went to Rick's, not looking for l an explanation for the staggering popuL the famed roar. Before setting out to wr never walked through its double doors, oft-packed stairs that lead into the hazyl as one ofthe city's most popular bars. COVER AND INSIDE PHOTOS BY TODD NEEDLE PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALICIA KOVALCHECK