Friends Pack Four Green Fields for its Last Call

As Jennifer Bloom, 34, waited in line Saturday night to get into Four Green Fields one last time, she turned to her friend and asked, "Where will all the lonely people go now?"

After 31 years of business, Four Green Fields is closing its doors for good.

The Southfield resident met her fiance at the Irish pub in the Northwood Shopping Center at Woodward and 13 Mile in Royal Oak eight years ago. They also enjoyed their first kiss and got engaged there, too.

"He was sitting at the end of the bar eating a salad and I walked up to him.  I picked him up," she said.

It's customers like Bloom that made the evening bittersweet for longtime manager Cris Frisone, who could be found outside the bar hugging patrons as they waited to get in. The bar, which can hold 160 people, was at capacity by 8:30 p.m. 

Frisone has worked at the bar since she was a student in college. She said the bar's closing is the result of "a perfect storm."

"The smoking ban hurt us, and so did the economy. Then Facebook yanked our page when a Florida bar that hasn't been around as long as us claimed they were entitled to the name. It's just a bunch of things," she said.

Frisone said Four Green Fields owner Rick Griswold, her longtime boyfriend, made the decision to close the bar a couple of months ago, but they told employees just Monday.

"It was a hard decision," Frisone said. "This place is so much more than four walls."

Frisone described the night as "surreal" and described Saturday's crowd as a combination of regulars and people she hadn't seen in a while.

Jennifer Zardus and Ann Adams, both 45, consider Four Green Fields their home bar. The pair, both from Royal Oak, attended Shrine High School, which, as Zardus pointed out, "is just across the street." They have been going to Four Green Fields to have a beer since they turned 21.

Zardus said the pub is a great place to meet people, especially "hot Irish rugby players." (Four Green Fields was considered the place to be to watch Six-Nations Rugby on satellite television.)

Adams recalled going to many engagement parties and even a wedding reception at the Irish pub.

Ray Dubin, 54 of Farmington Hills, was there to see Cliff Erickson's final show at the pub, where he has been a crowd pleaser.

Dubin and his wife Debbie found out about the closing in an email blast from Erickson.

"We were saddened by the news, but not surprised. We understand, given the nature of the economy," Dubin said.

For Derrick McKissic, described by the crowd as "the world's nicest bouncer," the closing comes with a lot of uncertainty. McKissic started checking IDs for the management six years ago after he got laid off. " I started working here part time, and then it turned into a full-time job," he said.

McKissic learned earlier in the week that the bar was closing. He is not sure what he'll do next, but didn't have time to worry Saturday night. As the line to get in the bar grew longer and longer, he had a lot of customers to be nice to.