Famous people's places / Detroit – Downtown
Book-Cadillac Hotel
A 1924 downtown skyscraper hotel that housed bandleader Jean Goldkette's booking agency, closed for two decades after 1984, then restored and reopened in 2008 as the Westin Book Cadillac.
01 / The story of this place
Make time for these
When the Book-Cadillac Hotel opened on Washington Boulevard in 1924, its thirty-one stories made it the tallest hotel in the world, a showpiece of the Book brothers' downtown Detroit real estate empire. Bandleader Jean Goldkette ran his booking agency, Jean Goldkette's Orchestras and Attractions, out of offices in the hotel during the 1920s and 1930s, managing dance bands that played the Graystone Ballroom and other Detroit venues and helped launch young musicians like cornetist Bix Beiderbecke onto the national stage. The hotel hosted presidents and celebrities through the mid-twentieth century, but it declined along with downtown Detroit and finally closed in 1984, standing vacant and decaying for more than two decades. A major restoration brought it back to life, and it reopened in 2008 as the Westin Book Cadillac, again a working hotel in the heart of downtown.
- Opened in 1924 as the tallest hotel in the world
- Housed Jean Goldkette's booking agency in the 1920s and 1930s
- Closed in 1984 and sat vacant for over two decades
- Restored and reopened in 2008 as the Westin Book Cadillac
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 3
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Jean Goldkette 1893–1962 · bandleader, pianist, booking agent, ballroom operator
Worked here
Downtown hotel that housed the offices of Jean Goldkette's Orchestras and Attractions; restored and reopened in 2008.
- Louis Kamper 1861–1953 · architect
Worked here
His grand hotel, closed in 1984 and reopened in 2008; the four figures over the Michigan Avenue entrance are Wayne, Cadillac, Pontiac and Navarre.
- Abe Bernstein 1892–1968 · leader of the Purple Gang
Related place
The downtown hotel where he lived out his last years and died in 1968; closed in 1984 and reopened in 2008 after restoration.
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Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
Events at this place
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We have no published upcoming events linked to this place yet. That does not mean the venue has no events; check its official calendar too.
Official website & visitor information ↗