Pocket Change opens above Gratiot with a red neon sign and a rooftop patio

The only sign out front is a red neon "COCKTAILS" glowing in a second-floor window at 1454 Gratiot. Miss it and you walk right past. Look up and you find Pocket Change, the cocktail bar Nelson Kazan opened in April 2025, in the roughly 1,200 square feet that used to hold Collect Beer Bar before Collect moved east the summer before.

Kazan has spent about a decade behind Detroit bars. The resume runs through SheWolf, Flowers of Vietnam, the Apparatus Room and Republic Tavern. Pocket Change is the first room with his name on the door.

The space is dark and warm, with deep red walls, low light and heavy curtains, seating for around 49. Kazan worked with Colin Tury of Tury Design, the same hand behind Vecino and Supino Pizzeria nearby, and modeled the feel on New York cocktail rooms and Japanese hi-fi listening bars. Up another flight there is a rooftop patio that looks over Eastern Market.

The drink list pairs classics with house creations like the Bingo Bango, a spicy tequila cocktail, alongside a rotating wine list drawn from Italy, France, Slovenia and Austria with most bottles at $60 or under.

"We're all about a free-flowing, energetic environment driven by great music and great drinks," Kazan told Hour Detroit, describing a room built for mingling rather than waiting on a table.

Kazan's partners are brothers Kris and Fred Lelcaj, who he worked with more than a decade ago at Sava's in Ann Arbor. Kris owns Babo Detroit in the Park-Shelton; Fred once ran Fred's, a café in Ann Arbor. The brothers have talked about bringing a version of Fred's to the ground floor below the bar, and the rooftop has run Sunday pop-ups, including an early oyster night with Sarah Welch and Cameron Rolka of Mink in Corktown.

Pocket Change is open Thursday 7 p.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., and Sunday 2 to 10 p.m. at 1454 Gratiot Ave., across from Eastern Market.