I arrived in Ann Arbor my freshman year a green little dunce from the sticks. I left four years later a slightly larger dunce from the sticks, and I left very reluctantly. During my time at the University of Michigan I’d fallen in love with that little town. Part of that was due to the charm of Dominick’s of Ann Arbor, as fine a hangout as you could find in any college town anywhere. In the pantheon of joints, it’s right up there with the best of them.

Dominick’s is not just some crappy kid bar. It’s always had more of a graduate student/teaching assistant/university worker kind of vibe to it. Even though some undergrads went there, it felt more “grown-up Ann Arbor” than your typical student-filled, churlish stinkhole. Plus, it was a pizza joint. Double-plus, it had plenty of outdoor seating: a huge, sunny back patio under 150-year-old oaks with a fountain and a double-decker front porch overlooking the stately, stony U of M Law Quad, the best-looking spot on campus.

Aesthetically, Casa Dominick’s is gorgeous, with a semi-rustic, indoor/outdoor, hang-loose 1970s feel more akin to northern California than southeast Michigan. It was built, largely by hand, by the DeVarti family, whose paterfamilias Dominick was, among other things, a builder.

Dominick’s of Ann Arbor: Some History

Dominick established his casa smack dab in the middle of serious-student central, nestled on a mostly residential street between the Law School, the School of Business Administration, the College of Art and Architecture, and the School of Education. It opened in 1959, just before the ‘sixties to hit Ann Arbor, and hit they did. By the ‘seventies, Dominick’s was both a hub for the most studious (mathematics Ph.Ds famously worked there for hours at a time) and the most creative (the now-famous Ann Arbor film fest was born there).

By the time I arrived in the 1980’s, that old creative vibe was fading, but still there. I loved it, but as they were wisely militant about checking ID’s (and spotting fake ones a mile away), I didn’t go there much till I was a street-legal 21. Another reason to like Dominick’s: they keep the underage pipsqueaks out. Also, they close hard and fast, at 10 p.m. sharp. There is no late night debauchery. Dominick’s is a civilized joint.

By senior year I felt at home there, my favorite perch the upper deck of the front porch overlooking the Law Quad. Nothing against the backyard (I loved that, too), but being up high and in front allowed me the campus view and made me feel at home at the University, and Ann Arbor in general. A dozen years later I moved back, and I’m glad I did. I loved it even more than I did during my student years. Naturally I went to Dominick’s often, meeting friends there after work, biking over to hang out on weekends, attending birthday parties, etc. I loved that place. Still do, missing it from Brooklyn on a beautiful spring day, as I write this.

Now, all growns up, I’ve drawn a version of Dominick’s and made prints of it. I’ve also put the original pen and ink art for sale on my website here.