Hanging over the bottles behind the bar at Greenwich Time Pub in Detroit, there’s a clock showing time in Paris. Another shows Tokyo. And London. And you get the picture. Off to the side there’s even one for Detroit. This, we presume, is another way of proclaiming, “It’s five o’clock somewhere!”
Hounding research here at the Times teaches us that Greenwich Time (or Greenwich Mean Time) is time as measured from the zero-degrees longitude in Greenwich, England, which is used as the basis of standard time. What this has to do with a little bar in Cadillac Square in downtown Detroit, we aren’t sure. We figured we better order a tuna sandwich and try to figure it out.
The GTP (that’s what the cool kids call it) has been serving up lunch and drinks across from the Wayne County Building since the 1950s, and it’s a unique little hangout. On one side, it’s a diner. On the other, it’s a pub. It’s like Mel’s Diner meets the Regal Beagle. There’s also a second level dining room that doesn't remind me of any sit-com sets, but is available to rent for private parties or small banquets. Or to have lunch.
In Detroit’s endless historic bar scene, the Greenwich Time Pub is another perfect example, an aging building full of nice people and fairly priced food and drinks. Its evening hours are fluid, which is to say it stays open for as long as customers want to stay there and order drinks. When the people leave, it’s GTPCT, or Greenwich Time Pub Closing Time.
