UFO Bar opens where UFO Factory stood

The Corktown room at 2110 Trumbull is open again. After UFO Factory closed in June 2024, Roula David reopened the space as UFO Bar and set a grand opening for the night of Friday, August 16, running from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

David already runs Spot Lite, the bar, gallery, record store, and dance floor on Detroit's east side. She bought the UFO Factory business and the building earlier in 2024 on a multi-year land contract, then spent the early summer turning it over while keeping most of what regulars cared about. The bar staff stayed on, and the underground rock, punk, and queer-focused DJ nights that defined the room since UFO Factory opened in 2014 carried over.

The food stayed close to the old format. Hot dogs and cold beer are still on the menu, now run through Gladys Nite, the vegan-friendly food truck operation that started at Spot Lite. The record store inside the bar stuck around too, with David telling WDET she had expanded the rock vinyl after a recent buy.

David framed the takeover as a rescue rather than a reinvention. Regulars came to her directly, she told CBS Detroit: "Our team was like, 'Can you please save this place for us? Because it's really important to us.'" Speaking to WDET, she put the room in a class of its own. "There's no bar outside of Hamtramck that has that vibe, energy and community," she said, adding, "I find that UFO is even deeper than the underground."

The opening weekend leaned into that. The grand opening event, billed as Ghettotechtopia, packed the room with DJs, and the venue's recurring nights came back, including Jennyoke, the Sunday karaoke night hosted by Jen David that had run at the address for years.

David, a Detroit operator who has spoken often about leading with her Arab American identity, kept the building's role intact: a refuge for a specific corner of Detroit nightlife, queer, punk, raw, and cheap, with a stage close enough to feel the kick drum. UFO Bar is open Tuesday through Sunday, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., and closed Monday.

2110 Trumbull St., Detroit