David Lew, the L.A. artist who goes by Shark Toof, sold the High Dive in September 2024. He owned the bar from 2018, ran it as a Victorian-parlor immersive installation with techno bookings, and posted a long, gracious goodbye to the regulars when he announced the sale. He didn't say who bought it.
The buyers were Dwayne Wickersham and Leonard Lopp. Lopp is the general manager. He used to own the Keep, the downtown cocktail bar that closed during the pandemic.
In October 2024 he reopened the High Dive at 11474 Joseph Campau, alone behind the bar. he wanted to "float through the holidays" while figuring out what the new High Dive was supposed to be. The room kept Shark Toof's bones. The Victorian gothic furniture, the stained glass, the hand-tooled wallpaper, the architectural salvage, the fiberglass red shark head over the front door.
The shark is now mounted inside. Lopp said it was too goofy to throw away. More seating got added.
The vibe shifted toward something Lopp calls a neighborhood bar with cool programming during the week. Programming is the reset. Doom City Cinema runs offbeat horror movies.
There is a Jeopardy-style trivia night. WDET's Ryan Patrick Hooper has spun records there. Soup pop-ups happen.
DJs still play, but the new owners are pulling away from the all-techno bookings the High Dive was known for under Lew. Lopp is also using the sound system for live music, which was not in the previous regime. The drinks menu is doing something different.
Four non-alcoholic builds, all from house ingredients. A hibiscus tea Lopp makes himself. House-infused juices.
The customer adds spirits to taste, or doesn't. He calls it reverse-engineering a cocktail. Most of his collection is tequila and mezcal, which is what gets added when something gets added.
Two guys, a fairly small budget, and a Hamtramck bar that used to be a Carbon nightclub before it was a Shark Toof project before it was this. Wickersham and Lopp inherited the room in October and have been figuring out the third life on the schedule the holidays allowed. The shark, mounted inside, stays where Lopp put it.
11474 Joseph Campau, Hamtramck. Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays from 7 p.m.
