How do you get into Shelby?
We have not confirmed it. Shelby is in the directory because it calls itself a speakeasy, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
The drinks at Shelby
How the venue describes itself: “Inventive cocktails and culinary offerings await behind a blue metal door in the back of Coffee Down Under. Reservations recommended — visit shelbydetroit.com to book today.” (from its own website, retrieved 9 October 2026)
The current drinks list is published on the venue’s own site — see the menu.
Beyond what the venue publishes we have not verified a list, so what follows is the period rather than the bar: Blood and Sand, Bobby Burns, and Rob Roy are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
The building
Documented — Shelby occupies the State Savings Bank, a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places under reference number 82002910. The listing is a federal record maintained by the National Park Service, and the nomination document is the primary source for the building’s architectural and social history.
National Register reference 82002910 · NPS nomination document
Where Shelby sits
Shelby is in Detroit, Michigan, in Wayne County, in the Midwest of the United States. The city sits inside the Metro Detroit metropolitan area.
Our directory currently lists four speakeasies and hidden bars in Detroit. The full list is on our guide to hidden bars in Detroit.
Measured from the map pins, the closest of those to Shelby are Cafe D’Mongo’s Speakeasy, about 550 m away, Hazels Place, about 5.2 km away, and Miss Eva’s Detroit, about 17.6 km away.
Michigan holds 36 listed venues in this directory. See them all on our Michigan speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in Michigan
Michigan did not wait for the federal government. Statewide prohibition took effect here in 1918, two years before the Eighteenth Amendment came into force nationally on 17 January 1920. By the time the Volstead Act was being enforced across the country, Michigan already had an established illegal trade and the habits that went with it.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in Michigan.
What the newspapers recorded in Detroit
Searching the Library of Congress run of Michigan newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from Detroit:
- Detroit tribune, September 23, 1933 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Detroit tribune, November 18, 1933 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
Hours published by the venue:
- Wednesday to Thursday, 5pm to noon
- Friday to Saturday, 5pm to 1pm
Hours as published on the venue’s own site, retrieved 9 October 2026.
You can reach Shelby through its own website and on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
The address is 607 Shelby Street, Detroit, MI 48226. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For Shelby we hold street address, official website, social accounts, opening hours, a published drinks list, an online booking link, and a listed-building record. We do not yet hold telephone number.
It is in the directory because the description in the source data describes it as a speakeasy.
Two independent open datasets, OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps, both carry this venue at this location. Agreement between them is the strongest existence check we can make without visiting.
The source data classifies the premises as a bar.