September 2, 1943 – November 24, 2015
Born in Pontiac, Randell “Randy” French served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, worked at the GM V-8 Engine Plant in Flint, and belonged to the Masonic Lodge in Ortonville. For a time, he also tended bar at the Interchange and other Detroit gay nightspots.
Randy the One Eyed bartender. Unforgettable. I used to live in the Milwood Apartments behind the Woodward and I would ride my bike to the Eagle where Randy worked part time in the 90s. We would put on a show at the Eagle – he would pour diet coke into a dirty ash tray for me and set it on the floor and tell me it was my dog bowl and I would say yessir and we would do verbal role play in front of the customers. Great times. Randy was the best Eagle Dinner host – quiet, low lights, the model train rolling around above our heads while we watched classics on the TV from Hitchcock to John Waters around the bar eating Ron’s excellent food. I had his number when I moved away and found it in September 2015 and called him. We chatted briefly, he still remembered our bar times and said he had a new cub he was banging but I was still welcome to assume the position. He was like the Clark Gable of dad bears – a combination of his words and mine. He died a month later.
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