Hamtramck Pool League
The High Dive
11474 Joseph Campau Ave.
Hamtramck
Jan. 26, 2026
A dive bar is only as good as its soundtrack.
The High Dive exhibited high musical IQ for reading the room and playing the perfect playlist for Monday night Hamtramck Pool League.
While sipping Miller Lites and getting giddy from shooting Chilean pisco (unaged brandy made by distilling fermented grape juice), I couldn’t stop myself from Shazam'ing song after song after song.
This wasn’t new music that’s new to the fold. It was blues and R&B from antiquity, blasting full-bodied out of the High Dive sound system (going back and listening today still hit, but let’s not undermine the sound system at your local venue … or how strong the pisco is).
We’re talking about Chuck Berry’s “Oh, Louisiana.” We’re talking about the bluesy comedy of crude croonner Andre Williams and his song “Bacon Fat.”
How about the bizarro “Herbman” by Olu Dara, which feels like the spiritual musical cousin to Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut”? Major kudos to High Dive owner Leonard Lopp for bringing his time in New Orleans and the sense for the sound of that city to his bar in Hamtramck.
Between each track was heard the crack of a pool game kicking off. The camaraderie of a pool league is an interesting thing. I wrote about this before with photographer Donald Frith's book Rack & Ruin. (Some of the photos from this book are framed at High Dive.) You’re alone in your shot, but you’re in a competition with others, casually hanging around the bar waiting for your turn.
No better way to spend the time than listening to the golden era of R&B and blues in a venue as warm and kind as the High Dive in Hamtramck.
