What Robert Plant, Shaquille O'Neal Have In Common with Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, MI – If the walls of The Corner, a bar tucked in a space at the ritzy Townsend Hotel that closed this month, could talk, they might wail like one of its most famous guests, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, regarded as one of the best band frontmen in the history of rock and roll.

Or the walls might echo a boisterous scene from 2002, the year Bingham Farms resident Mike Ilitch’s Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, and a handful of Red Wings players bought the prize to the bar.

Dean Burnett, who has been a bartender at The Corner since it opened in 2002 and with The Townsend since its 1988 opening, recently reflected on The Corner's history with The Birmingham Eccentric’s Jay Grossman, whose report described the establishment as “charming, raucous, risque and classy ... all at the same time.”

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It was a big deal for Burnett when Plant showed up at The Corner without his entourage, but Burnett’s favorite days were when the Red Wings players showed up with the Stanley Cup and the Detroit Pistons beat the Lakers in 2004.

The bar is being converted into a 2,000-square-foot private dining and meeting room space for the Rugby Grille.

“Today is a bittersweet day, and most appropriately Friday the 13th,” The Townsend Hotel wrote on its Facebook page last week. “... More to come on plans for the space, but we’ll miss it dearly just like you.

» You can read more from Jay Grossman’s interview on hometownlife.com.

Image credit: The Townsend Hotel Facebook page