One thing’s certain about a bar that’s 137 years old and counting: It has got stories. True stories. Tall tales. Wild nights. Ghosts and spirits — both kinds. Nick Fink’s isn’t just the oldest bar in Grand Rapids; it’s a living Midwest legend. Since opening in 1888, Nick Fink’s has stood the test of time — including the COVID-19 pandemic – and then some. Its biggest claims to fame are that its corner booth once warmed the seat of reputed Midwest mob boss Al Capone, and that its long bar — worn smooth from years of leaning elbows nursing pints — once held the noted tippler and literary giant Ernest Hemingway.
There may not be proof of those stories, but Grand Rapids, known as “Mini Chicago,” and a charming alternative to the Windy City, could have been a hideout for Capone when on the lam. Hemingway, who famously loved his bars, could plausibly have stopped while traveling from Oak Park, Illinois, to his family’s lake house in Petoskey, Michigan. Some even say his “Nick Adams” short-story characters are tied to Nick Fink’s…