Lawyers from the Law School. Politicians from the Ford School. Economists from the Ross School. There’s a pipeline from these three University of Michigan departments to the Washington, D.C. area.
The proof is in the numbers. There are 20,000 University of Michigan alumni in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area, according to the university’s alumni association.
That means a lot of thirsty Wolverines on a football Saturday. For this weekend’s road game in College Park, Maryland, visiting Michigan fans have a whopping five local bars devoted to their football team.
Ivy & Coney, 1537 7th St. NW; Midlands Beer Garden, 3333 Georgia Ave. NW; and Johnny Pistolas, 2333 18th St. NW are in Washington D.C.
Solace Outpost is about an hour drive away, while the others are 30-40 minutes from University of Maryland’s College Park campus
Read more: State College isn’t for Wolverine football fans. Philly, Pittsburgh bars are nearest safe havens
The large alumni base in the area forced the University of Michigan Alumni Club of DC to expand its bar options the last few years, said group president Natasha Dabrowski, who’s also a communications director in the U.S. Senate.
Ivy & Coney and Midlands get packed the most with Wolverine fans, Dabrowski said. The fact that the owners of both bars are all also Michigan alumni makes it a great partnership, she said.
“You can definitely catch every Michigan football game, probably basketball, even perhaps a Lions one, too,” she said, noting that the bars cater to Detroit and Chicago natives. “There are lots of Midwest ties to both of them, which is really fun.”
Ivy & Coney is co-owned by alums Chris Powers, Josh Saltzman and Adam Fry. The bar’s goal is to feel like you are coming to your local neighborhood bar in the Detroit or Chicago area, Powers said.
“There’s nothing fancy here,” he said. “We don’t do cocktails. Our food menu is staples from Detroit and Chicago like Detroit-style pizza or Coney dogs and Italian beef…
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