Duke Faker, the last member of Motown’s legendary Four Tops, died Monday of heart failure at his home in Detroit.
While he was remembered for the group’s hit songs like “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” “It’s the Same Old Song,” and “Bernadette,” he was also the former owner of a floating restaurant in Detroit that no longer exists.
Many will remember the Lansdowne, which was docked in the 1980s on the Detroit River behind Cobo Arena and Hart Plaza.
Detroit city planner Alex Bullock was the brains behind turning the Lansdowne, a former railroad ferry between Detroit and Windsor, into a floating restaurant. Bullock was also behind bringing giant vegetable murals to Eastern Market.
The Lansdowne is believed to be the oldest side-wheel paddle ship in North America. Launched in 1884, she was built in Wyandotte for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad and used as a railroad ferry.
In 1970, she was taken out of service after one of her engines exploded, according to Free Press archives. By converting the Lansdowne into a floating restaurant, Bullock helped secure a federal grant to convert the ship. Specialty Restaurants purchased the ferry from Lansdowne Inc.
The 319-foot-long, 60-foot-wide Lansdowne was opened on the banks of the Detroit River in 1983 by California-based Specialty Restaurant Corp.
With views of the Windsor skyline and Detroit River, the yacht’s interior features “a rooftop oyster bar and cocktail lounge with two elevated dance floors, a massive oak and copper island bar and a visible kitchen,” according to a Free Press report.
The restaurant’s most notable feature was the two antique food trucks on the roof, and there was also a Paddlewheel restaurant and dining areas for parties.
As a restaurant, Specialty Restaurant Corp. closed the Lansdowne in 1988.
Fakir, who founded D&D Enterprise Associates Inc. with his cousin, Detroit dentist Darnell Kaigler, purchased the restaurant from Specialty Restaurants in 1988. The duo invested in renovations to the Lansdowne, including renovating the kitchen and transforming the space into a more nautical-themed space.
According to the Free Press, plans included renovating the restaurant into a riverboat-style restaurant with Creole/Cajun cuisine, live jazz and a nightclub. Fakir and Kaegler even traveled to Louisiana to find a chef. They found Sandra Morris from an Italian restaurant in New Orleans and hired her.
D&D filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990 and eventually sold the restaurant to Specialty Restaurant Corp. As the Lansdowne, it closed in late 1991. A later version of the Lansdowne was the Baja Beach Club entertainment complex, which offered a sports bar, piano bar, karaoke, dance club and traditional restaurant. There was also a bungee jumping jack attraction. Larry Spatz, CEO of the Baja Beach Nightclub Co., signed a 10-year, $3 million lease for the Lansdowne, according to the Free Press.
But this was short-lived, and the Lansdowne was not moored for another few years in the spot it had occupied since the early 1980s. In July 1995, the Lansdowne left the Detroit River. Specialty Restaurants Corp. towed the ship to a storage facility near Cleveland. The owners blamed the Lansdowne’s demise on a lack of parking space behind the Cobo yard.
“We didn’t have much luck in Detroit,” Jim Dixon, regional manager for Specialty Restaurants Corp., told the Free Press at the time. “Without 200 to 300 accessible parking spots, we had to use valet parking. It was a tough place to operate.”
In 1999, the Lansdowne was towed to Erie, Pennsylvania, according to A news story from the Erie Times was posted to the AllAboardRailDiscussion collection.with the possibility of converting the copy to another restaurant on the river bank.
The Lansdowne’s final demise occurred in 2005. The ship, still owned by Specialty Restaurant, sank off the coast of Erie, Pennsylvania, where it was moored. It is reportedly unclear what caused the ship to sink.
Contact Detroit Free Press food writer Susan Sellasky and send food and restaurant news to [email protected]. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Support local journalism and Become a digital subscriber to the Free Press.
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