On Thursdays, Tommy’s Detroit Bar and Grill is serving food and beverages as usual. But in its basement and outside alley, Krysta Ryzewski and a team of students and volunteers are attempting to solve a Detroit mystery.

Ryzewski, assistant professor of anthropology, began conducting a building survey and site excavation of the facility in July. Located at 624 Third Street, the brick building has housed a variety of businesses since its construction in the mid-1800s. Among them, according to legend, was an illegal speakeasy – popular during Prohibition.

“Our work is trying to determine whether or not physical evidence in and around the building and/or complementary written sources in archival collections confirm the existence of a speakeasy in the building,” says Ryzewski. “The alleged speakeasy would have been a central gathering place for many of the Prohibition-era's criminals, politicians and businessmen; it was ground zero for a significant chapter of Detroit's history.” 

The all-volunteer project is jointly run between Wayne State University and Preservation Detroit.  

Ryzewski hopes to conclude the project with a celebration in December, appropriately occurring around the 80th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition.