Clubs & dance floors / West 8 Mile Road
Cheeks
Closed – archive entry
A former club on West 8 Mile Road near Schaefer (from the early 1980s), often named as one of the first clubs to play Detroit techno.
01 / The story of this place
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Cheeks opened in the early 1980s on West 8 Mile near Schaefer as a swanky, velvet-rope club with white owners; after a run of about four years they moved on to a bigger club (Menage) in Pontiac, and The Warehouse owners Larry Harrison and Marshall Jackson took over and opened it to a broad crowd. Jeff Mills developed his turntablist persona “The Wizard” there (well-known 1983 footage shows him scratching Egyptian Lover records), and John Collins and Stacey “Hotwaxx” Hale held residencies. Kevin Saunderson handed John Collins early promos there, and celebrities such as Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin and Detroit Pistons players dropped in; the closing date is not known.
- Jeff Mills as “The Wizard”
- Early Detroit techno promos
- Residents John Collins and Hotwaxx
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
Published events automatically linked from our event guide. Times are local to the venue.
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.
Source and former website ↗