El Trombone opens on West Vernor in the former Mutiny Tiki space

A new gay bar called El Trombone has opened at 4654 Vernor Hwy in Southwest Detroit, in the room that housed Mutiny Tiki Bar for nearly a decade.

The bar lists itself as a gay bar in Southwest Detroit and is open for walk-ins Wednesday through Saturday, with no cover and a 21 and over door, according to its own website. Posted hours run 6 p.m. to midnight Wednesday and Thursday, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, and 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday. The room is available for private buyouts.

The space is run by the Detroit Optimist Society, the hospitality group founded by Dave Kwiatkowski that also operates the original Mutiny. The group's other Detroit rooms include Sugar House, Wright & Company, Bad Luck Bar, Honest John's, Grandma Bob's, and Time Will Tell, along with Finger's Crossed in Northport. El Trombone is the newest addition to that lineup.

Mutiny Tiki Bar poured its last drinks in early March after almost ten years on West Vernor. Owners told the Detroit News in February that the bar could not keep going at its current business levels and planned to reopen elsewhere in the city, targeting the fall.

The opening leaves the Mexicantown corridor with its own dedicated LGBTQ spot, a category that has been concentrated on the east side and in Hamtramck. Bartender Luka Backus, who came up at Optimist Society rooms including Sugar House and Bad Luck Bar, brought the idea forward and is leading the concept. Backus described the look to Metro Times as "a hyperpop, leather daddy vibe."

Whether that aesthetic finds the same steady crowd the tiki bar held for ten years is the open question the corridor will answer. For now, the address at 4654 Vernor Hwy is back in business with a different concept behind the door.