An ode to the bathroom art at Dirty Shake
4642 Second Ave.
Detroit
Jan. 12, 2026
Let’s do the math. For anyone who’s spent time wasting time in a dive bar, you’ll come to realize that a lot of the time is spent staring at the wall or the back of a stall door as you hit the bathroom.
For years, our ancestors covered these walls and doors with primitive graffiti, directing us on who to call for a good time, which glory hole would lead us there, crude poems that skewed blue and whatever witticisms the last pissing pioneer left behind.
“Could this view be better?” I asked myself one day.
And in that moment, Dirty Shake delivered with art that somehow elevated the dive bar bathroom game and managed to keep paint marker graffiti to a minimum.
To be clear, Dirty Shake is a bit of a faux-dive. It’s brand new. They serve cocktails. The patrons are more attractive than your usual dive fare. But it’s got the burger down and has the same feeling of similar dives in the neighborhood, even without the legacy.
Considering that, it makes sense that the bathroom game would be a bit elevated.
It’s thanks to framed movie stills, which make you feel smart for recognizing which scene the movie is from and sums up the banality of life through the cinematic lens.
Take, for example, this shot from “Jurassic Park,” of the evil lawyer Donald Gennaro (played by Martin Ferrero) running away from heroism by hiding in the bathroom, using the toilet and being discovered by a blood-thirsty T. Rex. Who hasn’t seen this movie? I admire that it proved difficult to find a high-res shot of this scene, this pixelated framed shot looking like something I’d print off my computer in 1998.
Or how about the multiple nods to the American hood comedy “Friday,” pulling stills from two all-time cinematic shitters Craig Jones (played by rapper Ice Cube, who I predict will one day win an Oscar) and Willie Jones (portrayed by the late great Detroiter John Witherspoon)?
My vote for “Wow, this is too close to home to actually make me laugh” is the stock photo of a man in sensible slacks with a bit of dribble running down his pants. I’ve been there. Who hasn’t? What’s worse is that there’s times when I haven’t noticed, proudly walking back to my pride and getting called out for the dribble on my pants.
Dirty Shake is elevating the art of the dive bar bathroom. Which other local dives will follow their lead?
