Behind this modest downtown facade opened, in 1971, a café unlike any other in Ann Arbor. Step up close in your mind to the story etched into these walls: Tom Isaia and Jerry DelGiudice fashioned it as a European-influenced café serving espresso and cappuccino alongside a unique menu — homemade soups, Italian biscotti and crostini — paired with a full wine and beer list and top‑notch blues entertainment. They renovated an old downtown Ann Arbor building and gave it the name “Blind Pig,” the slang for an illegal after‑hours gathering place, a speakeasy.
In 1975 DelGiudice started Blind Pig Records to showcase many of the groups who played regularly here. Isaia and DelGiudice sold the venue in 1979 to Dave Whitmore, who three years later passed it to Roy and Betty Goffett. The Goffetts doubled the club’s space by renovating the rear portion, opening the 8‑Ball Saloon on the lower level and moving the stage to the more spacious main floor; the expansion made the venue more conducive to crowds.
Picture the main floor stage hosting tonight's indie rock act while the crowd downstairs settles into the 8-Ball Saloon.