Techno & house / Hamtramck
Motor
Closed – archive entry · 2002
A former techno club at 3515 Caniff in Hamtramck (1996–2002), in its day one of the world's best-known techno clubs.
01 / The story of this place
Make time for these
Motor opened in August 1996, founded by Steven Sowers, Carlos Oxholm and Dan Sordyl (it was called Motor Lounge for its first two years), with a main room for about 800, a 300-capacity side room and a back lounge; archived pages show an 18+ door policy. Residents included DJ Bone, Mike Clark, DJ Minx, Derek Plaslaiko and Brian Gillespie, 89X simulcast its Friday nights from 1997, the Tuesday party “Family” drew a queer crowd, and Derrick May, Richie Hawtin (Y2K party), Underground Resistance and many international DJs played there; it also hosted the Kraftwerk afterparty on June 11, 1998. It closed over Labor Day weekend 2002, squeezed by rising DJ fees and the post-9/11 downturn.
- Main room for about 800
- Residents DJ Bone and DJ Minx
- Kraftwerk afterparty, 1998
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 4
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Mike Huckaby 1966–2020 · DJ, producer, educator
Performed here
One of his residencies; Motor was the leading Detroit-area techno club after 1996.
- DJ Bone · techno DJ, producer, label owner
Performed here
His “essential two-year stint” as resident helped make Motor Detroit's leading techno club.
- DJ Minx · DJ, producer, label founder
Performed here
Hamtramck club, opened in 1996 in the former Falcon Club space, where Minx was an early resident.
- Jason Huvaere · event producer, founder and president of Paxahau
Performed here
Paxahau's debut party, Take This, was held here in 2000.
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 ↗Keep exploring
Nightlife ↗
Temporary city photo — not this venue
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