Bert’s restaurant and jazz bar made sure to pay tribute to the queen of soul long before she passed away, and they were lucky enough to have Aretha Franklin dine with them.
When you walk inside the “Motown” section of Bert’s you’ll see a classy chandelier and gold records hanging on the walls. Within a corner of the Motown room is a tribute to Aretha Franklin, a section of the bar painted purple called “Aretha Franklin Corner”.
“We wanted it to be an elegant area, because she was an elegant person,” said Miller London.
Miller London is the general manager of Bert’s, and used to work for Motown Records. He says the owner of Bert’s knew they had to honor her even though she never signed with Motown records.
“He knew how strong and how great a person Aretha was to music in the city of Detroit,” said London.
Bert’s staff says Aretha came in three different times to dine, the last time she stopped in to check out "Aretha Franklin Corner”.
“People didn’t know Aretha could really cook so you know she was, it was almost like having chief Ramsey here,” said owner of Bert’s Jai-lee Dearing.
There are multiple pictures of Aretha hanging in the purple section of the bar known as “Aretha Franklin Corner”, and a picture of a very special man in her life hanging from above the room as if to watch over her.
“You got to have a picture of her dad because without him there would be no Aretha,” said London.
London says he grew up down the street from Aretha, and he feels lucky to have known her and that she stopped in to dine and Bert’s.
“I can only echo what everybody else had been saying all day she was just Ms. Aretha Franklin the queen of soul in every sort of way,” said London.
