Ad for the Miami Show Bar from Guest August 1958 (Courtesy of Dave Toorongian)

Originally operated as a supper club in the 1950s/1960s as the Miami Show Bar, Vietnam veteran Daniel Overstreet about it in 1979 and named it The New Miami was opened as a place for veterans to have a home with free admission given to those who served. Overstreet redubbed “Miami” to stand for “Missing In Action MIchgan”.

Over time, the bar has played host to many of the bands on the scene while connecting to other happenings around Wayne State University and the Cass Corridor.

After opening as the New Miami, the bar changed its name to the Old Miami. Either way, the venue has been a staple on the Detroit music scene since its opening, offering opportunities for a range of local and national acts from punk to heavy rock to soul, hip-hop, and r&b.

More about the bar can be found here and here.

The 40th anniversary of the Old Miami was covered by the Metro Times in early 2020.

Have a story or information to share about New Miami? You can do that here.

5 thoughts on “New Miami

  1. I remember watching The Clashes Tour bus 🚌 driving up on the side walk and the band walking straighten into the bar where we were playing. But we were done and packing up when they showed up. That how got to see them arrive. So our manger Doc Williams hung out with them all the way back to the holiday inn. One of the most interesting 🧐 things I found out decades later there Original drummer was Richard Nothers Snake Hips Dudansky. My name is Dudansky. I wonder if this bloak is one of my relatives 🤔 My cousin Richard Dudansky found him on Facebook. Crazy world.

  2. Larry Hardy

    Thank god for the New Miami. As a relatively poor denizen of Case Corridor in the early to mid 70’s this bar along with Formerly Alvins were both walkable bars with music.At the New Miami I saw the Zooks ( local friends – 10 years Tangiers) and Devo and Formerly Alvins local band Shadowfax was the house band.

  3. Thank god for the New Miami. As a relatively poor denizen of Case Corridor in the early to mid 70’s this bar along with Formerly Alvins were both walkable bars with music.At the New Miami I saw the Zooks ( local friends – 10 years Tangiers) and Devo and Formerly Alvins local band Shadowfax was the house band.

  4. Thank god for the New Miami. As a relatively poor denizen of Case Corridor in the early to mid 70’s this bar along with Formerly Alvins were both walkable bars with music.At the New Miami I saw the Zooks ( local friends – 10 years Tangiers) and Devo and Formerly Alvins local band Shadowfax was the house band.

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