Catch For Us the Foxes: Harris Machus

It is just not fair that the life and work of Harris Machus gets overshadowed by the disappearance of a certain Teamster from the parking lot of his restaurant. This is us putting some respect back on Machus’ name by exploring his exciting life and business savvy that changed dining in Birmingham forever. This is the fourth episode in a limited series with the Birmingham Shopping District where we explore the evolution of Birmingham’s retail environment.
To access a full episode transcript as well as to access additional material, check out our website. To learn more about the Birmingham Shopping District and to see upcoming events, check out their website. 

For questions, concerns, corrections or episode suggestions please reach out to us at museum@bhamgov.org.

Special thanks to the Birmingham Area Cable Board for PEG grant funding that made this podcast possible. Also thanks to past and present staff of the Birmingham Museum, and our amazing volunteers.

Transcript

  Sometimes in history people doing good and cool stuff get overshadowed by some not-cool or great stuff. Take our second podcast episode subject Elijah Fish, for years he was a footnote in the story of the Utter murders. This happened with this episode’s subject too. Harris Machus was a war hero who revolutionized dining both in Birmingham and nationally and would have probably liked to be known for that, but then a certain teamster had to disappear from the parking lot of one of his restaurants. So while the FBI investigates yet another lead that will probably come up empty, let us show Birmingham’s own Harris Machus a little bit of love.

                This is Birmingham Uncovered, a podcast by the Birmingham Museum, where we are exploring the diverse and compelling lives that built Birmingham Michigan into the community that it is today. First, some background on Birmingham: we are a city of approx. 20,000 people over 4.73 square miles, approximately halfway between Detroit and Pontiac in Oakland County. This area was occupied by members of the Three Fires Confederacy of Indigenous People before white settlement in the area started in the late 1810s. Birmingham became a city in 1933 and today is known as a prosperous and multi-faceted community with a thriving cultural scene.

                This is our fourth and final episode in our series with the Birmingham Shopping District highlighting stories from the evolution of Birmingham’s retail scene. Today, we are focusing on how restaurants and dining evolved in Birmingham in the 20th century. In 2024, Birmingham boasts a thriving downtown restaurant scene, but this wasn’t always the case. 

                Like several other folks that we’ve highlighted in this series so far, Harris Machus was the child of immigrants. His father, Hans, immigrated from Bremen, Germany in 1898. On the ship’s manifest he gave his destination as Wisconsin but being a cheesehead was not for him. By 1906, Hans was working as a pastry chef at Henrici’s in Chicago, Illinois. Sometime before the 1910 census Hans and his wife Katherine had moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where Harris Otto Machus was born on July 10th, 1908. The Machus family then moved to East Lansing and Hans opened his own bakery in 1911, calling it the Machus Bakery & Pastry Shop. Harris grew up in East Lansing, and attended Michigan State University. 

                At Michigan State he met his future wife, Elaine Skimin. Elaine was studying education and Harris was majoring in economics because he wanted to become a banker. Harris also joined the ROTC, because he was a horse girl and wanted to ride a horse.

                And let’s get one thing clear: Horse girlery is a state of being that knows no race, ethnicity, biological sex, gender expression, age, religion, national boundaries or sexuality. To paraphrase the philosopher Kel Mitchell in the arthouse film Good Burger: I’m a horsegirl, he’s a horsegirl, she’s a horsegirl, we’re all horsegirls. 

                In 1932 Harris and Elaine graduated with bachelors degrees but a little thing called the Great Depression meant that bankers weren’t exactly in demand. Check out our previous episode on Jacobson’s for how the Great Depression impacted the national and international economies. Harris got a job with a grocery supply company called Standard Brands and in 1934 Harris and Elaine married.

                While Harris was working at Standard Brands, Harris’ parents, Katherine and Hans, moved to Birmingham and opened up a bakery at 105 W Maple in 1933. We don’t know exactly why they moved to Birmingham, but a clue can be found in the 1930 Birmingham directory- which lists only one other bakery in the village. It looks like there was a market with not a whole lot of competition in Birmingham-unlike the larger East Lansing that had more bakeries competing for fewer dollars during the Great Depression. But while one might assume that the Great Depression would put bakeries out of business due to folks cutting back on non-essential expenditures, the data suggests that there was a place for them, even when money was tight.

                The Depression forced many cooks to get creative in the kitchen and innovations like frozen foods, convenience foods and refrigerators helped usher in a whole new way of thinking about meals and food preparation. At the same time, consolidation of National broadcasting chains in radio and the emergence of movies featuring technicolor and sound created a true mass culture. For the average American during the 1930s, movies were relatively inexpensive and offered a respite from real world anxieties and insecurities for a few hours. Opulent musicals, screwball comedies and characters indulging themselves with sweets (or just singing about them, like Shirley Temple does with “Good Ship Lollipop” from the 1934 movie “Bright Eyes”) were a comfort to Americans looking forward to better times.

                And in the face of economic instability, a sweet-whether it be a scoop of ice cream or a small cake, can be an affordable indulgence that can give you the strength to keep on looking forward. Biochemical processes in the brain translate the experience of eating sugar to increased levels of dopamine that dulls discomfort and induces euphoria. For all of us non-science-y folks out there: Sweets taste like happy.

                Bak to Harris Machus though. In 1942, after years of working with Standard Brands, Harris and Elaine moved to Birmingham to help with the Machus Bakery and Pastry Shop. But the wide world of baking, at least for Harris, would have to wait because of WWII.

                The United States entered WWII on Dec 7, 1941 after Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan had been expanding it’s Pacific empire throughout the 1930s and officially entered the war in September of 1940 with the invasion of French Indochina, a French colony which included the modern day nations of Laos, Cambodia, parts of China, and Vietnam, and allied themselves with Germany and Italy, who had already started the war in Europe. 

                The war had officially started in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Earlier that year, the UK and France had guaranteed that they would protect Poland from a Germany that was expanding it’s borders. At the same time, Germany’s ally, Italy controlled by fascist leader Benito Mussolini, was also on the warpath, invading Ethiopia. 

                The causes of WWII could be it’s own podcast episode, so I’ll try to keep it brief. After all, we aren’t one of those WWII documentaries your grandpa is always watching. WWI had taken a toll on the participating countries. Many European countries had lost almost an entire generation of it’s young men, infrastructures were decimated, and economies hobbled. Additionally, three long standing empires-the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires- were gone. The Axis powers, and at this point it’s mostly just Germany, were responsible for heavy reparations which took a huge toll on its economy. And then, the late 1920s and ‘30s saw a global Great Depression that came at the worst possible time.

                The chaos and instability of the age propelled two opposing governmental systems to greater prominence than ever before. The first, Communism, is a left wing philosophical and political ideology whose goal is a socioeconomic order centered around common ownership and the means of production, distribution and exchange. Simplified: this means that everyone owns a bit of everything.  To achieve this in an ideal world this entails the absence of private property and social classes where products are allocated across society based on need. Communism is within the wider socialist movement, which was having a big moment in the 1920s, as workers increasingly unionized and the gap between the rich and poor widened. Many nations had communist parties but the Soviet Union was the most powerful Communist state at the outset of WWII.

                The second political ideology was Fascism, a far right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology that is characterized by a dictatorial leader as well as centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race and strong regimentation of society and the economy. This was exemplified during this period by Italy’s Benito Mussolini and Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

                But WWII wasn’t the first time that democracy, communism and fascism would bloodily duke it out. The Spanish Civil War was fought between 1936 and 1939 and pitted Socialist, Communist, Separatist, anarchist and republican (and in this context, this refers to those that wished to establish a Republic-form of government, not to be confused with any nation’s Republican political party) against Nationalist, traditionalist and monarchist groups-of which future Spanish dictator Francisco Franco came to lead.

                Although no other nations were officially involved, different nations funneled money and supplies to various sides of the conflict and people from many nations joined the fight. Around 3,000 Americans fought on the Republican side (again, not to be confused with the political party) including every high school senior’s favorite American writer-Ernest Hemingway. The Spanish Civil War has been called WWII’s “dress rehearsal”.

                [break]

                Back to Harris Machus, he was drafted in 1942 and due to his experience in the ROTC was made a lieutenant in the Cavalry. So, did our boy finally get to ride a horse?

                Although the origin of the English word “cavalry” comes from the French “cheval” for horse, by the time WWII came around, horses were being quickly replaced by tanks and jeeps. In WWI, horses proved to be just as susceptible to new weapons like nerve gas and machine guns, as the humans who rode them. Horses also must be desensitized to the sounds and smells of battle. Tanks and Jeeps can carry more weight, can be heavily armored and aren’t going to break down because they were exposed to mustard gas or need to sleep. Tanks and guns mounted on jeeps are much more efficient killing machines as well.

                That doesn’t mean that the horsegirls of the cavalry were happy about it though. Most of the career soldiers of the cavalry were accomplished horsemen and I cannot overemphasize how everybody on both sides during WWII were horsegirls. If you need an example of this, look no further than how much out of their way the 2nd Cavalry group went to rescue a group of horses in 1945. Go look it up. Peak horsegirl behavior. 

                But interestingly enough, the US cavalry’s last horse unit wasn’t retired until 1942 and the last cavalry charge was against Japanese forces in the Philippines. In 1950, the army was reorganized and the cavalry was absorbed into the armor branch, although the name “cavalry” is still in use and there is a ceremonial mounted division. 

                So much to Machus’ disappointment when he was drafted, no horses. Harris Machus was sent to North Africa. His three years of service were, if I had to really under-sell it, very eventful. If you though that John Allen Bigelow’s antics (see our previous episode titled “How to Steal a Train”) during wartime was crazy then strap in, because Machus’ experience was wild. To quote from the April 25, 1945 issue of the Birmingham Eccentric:

                “Fighting the wars would not be so bad, he says, but getting it in the neck with a piece of enemy shell; being captured while still unconscious from wounds; wandering for months in the wild wooded and mountain country of Italy and through the deep snows in 30 below weather in Poland just do not make one anxious to repeat the performance.

                “Captain Machus went through all this and much more during his 3 years of army service. For two years he was a prisoner of war of the Italians and then the Germans; first in Africa, then in Italy and finally in the bitter cold of a Polish winter.”

                Remember that at this time, North Africa was a major theater of the war, as a) many European powers had North African colonies and b) it was a route to the Middle East and oil. 

                Harris Machus’ battlefield experience only lasted a few months. He was injured in Tunisia by the sixth shell that went through his tank. He woke up in a field hospital behind German lines. He was then taken via hospital ship to Italy where he found himself in a prisoner of war camp for British and American officers, called P.G 21, an old convent that could hold about 1300 prisoners. In September 1943, Italy had had enough and signed an armistice with the UK and US government, and the prisoners in the camp were allowed to go. A senior British officer, following orders that commanded the prisoners to stay until the arrival of allied forces, prevented anybody from leaving. Unfortunately, the Germans, still in the war, got there first and recaptured everybody.

                From there, Machus and his fellow officers were put on a train headed toward Germany. Harris Machus and a companion escaped and roughed it for six months in the Alps, an area he and his companion were unfamiliar with, having been prepped and trained for the North African campaign. At one point, they were about ten miles from Allied lines. Again, he was recaptured by the Germans and Machus’ companion was killed.

                He was then taken to Moorsburg, near Munich before being sent to a camp known as “Olflag 64” in Poland, a prison for American ground officers. And don’t worry if your geography knowledge needs a little help with tracking all of this, we have a map on our website with Machus’ route through North Africa and Europe, check out the link in the shownotes. 

                But the Russians, allied with the US and UK, were closing in on Poland from the east, and the Germans rounded up the 2,000 men in the camp and moved them west towards Germany in the dead of winter. Machus recounted that it was 30 below zero the first night and 20 below the second. The second night was when he escaped along with several other officers who decided to head east to find the Russian front. They were fed and sheltered by several Polish families along the way. Once they reached the Russian front, they were taken to Warsaw and then on to Odessa, and then by ship first to Italy and then to the United States.

                Two out of Machus’ three years in the army was spent as either a prisoner of war or escaping from POW camps.  The whole time, Machus didn’t have word from his family nor did they know anything about where he was or if he was alive. In 1944 a Birmingham directory even listed his wife Elaine as a widow. So, it must have been extremely exciting for his family to learn that he was indeed alive.

                Fast forward, and I hope this isn’t going to be a spoiler for anyone: but the allies won WWII and that’s where we’ll leave global politics because I do not have the energy to describe the stupid posturing that was the Cold War. I know I’ll have to do it someday, but that’s not today.

                 Harris Machus retuned to Birmingham and took over the family bakery. In 1947, he moved the bakery to a location at 160 W Maple. In 1950, he sensed a business opportunity when Jacobson’s Department Store opened down the street and a new kind of customer was passing by the bakery doors. These new shoppers wanted light fair on their way to and from shopping and Machus began serving coffee, soda and sandwiches. It was a rousing success that lead to an expansion of the bakery into a full restaurant in 1957 named Machus West Maple (later 160 by Machus). But there was much more expansion in the future for Harris O. Machus Enterprises.

                In 1965, the second restaurant, Machus Adams Square opened with Machus Red Fox following close behind. In 1969 a second Red Fox opened in Lansing. In 1973 Machus Sly Fox opened in Birmingham, Machus Plaza One opened in Rochester and Mr Mac’s Stable and the Paddock in Fairlane in Dearborn. And, in a bit of a full circle movement, he opened up the Hungry Fox in Jacobson’s Department Store in Saginaw.  1971 saw the first Foxys restaurant opening in Troy and 1981 another opened in Rochester.

                The man really, really liked Foxes, I guess. In the 1960s, fast food restaurants were expanding their hold across the nation as more Americans flocked to suburbs and drive throughs made it even easier for busy suburbanites to grab a bite. Less common were casual or fine dining empires, which made it a niche market ripe for Harris Machus to move into. 

                “Mr. Machus taught me that, in the restaurant business, you’re only as good as your last meal. The guest is the reason we’re in business,” one of Machus’ mentees was quoted as saying. In 1987, Harris retired and turned over his business to his son, Robert, who would further expand the empire, expanding into Ann Arbor with A-Squared restaurant and feeding hungry Detroit Pistons fans with the Palace Grill at the Palace of Auburn Hills. 

                Great food and guest service wasn’t Machus’ only goal. He brought a degree of professionalism into the industry as the president and director of the National Restaurants Association from 1984-1985, urging consistent service, cleanliness and food quality. Diners all over the country benefitted from Harris Machus.  Machus also was president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, and received the First Citizen of Birmingham award.

                And now, it’s time to talk about Jimmy Hoffa. And don’t worry, this isn’t going to take 3.5 hours. Among my many claims to fame is that I am not Martin Scorsese. 

                July 30, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa, a labor union leader with ties to organized crime, was last seen in the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox Restaurant on Woodward in Bloomfield Township. The restaurant was well known to Hoffa and most residents of the area.

                Hoffa was president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1957 to 1971, Teamsters represent a lot of trades but truck drivers are one of the main demographics. Throughout Hoffa’s career as a labor organizer and president of the teamsters, he was involved in organized crime. He was convicted of jury tampering, attempted bribery and wire and mail fraud. The man loved collective organizing and crime. We all need a side hustle. 

                After getting out of prison for the above stated charges, he wanted to resume leadership of the teamsters, but other teamster organizers with closer connections to the Mafia didn’t agree with this. On July 30, 1975, Hoffa was to meet with two such Mafia and Teamster connected individuals at the Red Fox. 

                The funny thing is, Hoffa didn’t even make it into the Machus Red Fox, he disappeared from the parking lot! Hoffa was never seen again and is presumed dead and every spring the FBI digs up another lot somewhere in Metro Detroit looking for him after receiving “reliable tips”. Generations of Metro Detroiters (myself included) grew up yelling “that’s Jimmy Hoffa” loudly from the backseat every time their parents went over a particularly large speedbump. 

                Machus hated the notoriety that Hoffa’s disappearance brought, worrying that people would think he ran restaurants for gangsters and that it would tank his reputation. Instead, it did the opposite, making him and his restaurant into household names all over the country and driving further business. Machus died in 2001 at the age of 92. At it’s height, the Machus empire included 16 restaurants and several bakeries. Today, all the restaurants are gone, but Machus Enterprises still exists, specializing in business services.

[break] 

                Dining wasn’t a big deal in Birmingham before Machus expanded the family bakery. There were a few places to eat, but there wasn’t a huge demand until Birmingham’s growing retail scene brought in more and more shoppers who worked up appetites after a little retail therapy. We chose to round-out our look at the development of Birmingham’s dynamic downtown retail scene with Harris Machus because today Birmingham is known for it’s eateries as much as for it’s shopping and the two go hand in hand in the city. Today, dining constitutes 12% of businesses in the city, with 56% of those restaurants being full service, sit-down establishments. 45% of those have a “luxury” price point, in line with the luxury price points for many retail establishments in the city. But, if you have a museum worker’s salary don’t despair, among the many plans the Birmingham Shopping District has is to attract more casual, lower price point eateries to the city. 

                To learn more about Birmingham’s Shopping District and to see upcoming events, including the next restaurant week, check out their website allinbirmingham.com. The link will be in our shownotes. We hope that you’ve enjoyed this special 4 episode look at the growth and development of Birmingham’s retail scene. 

                We are back to our regular shenanigans next episode with a look at Birmingham’s number one hater. Minnie Hunt Saltzer considered herself to be the foremost expert on early Birmingham, but she let her own prejudices and salacious gossip run rampant, which lead to a lot of folks in town calling for the Birmingham Eccentric newspaper to deplatform her decades before  “cancel culture” became a talking point.

                I’m Caitlin Donnelly and thank you for joining us for this episode of Birmingham Uncovered. To see photos and other documents related to Harris Machus’ life and restaurant empire check out our website, the link is in the shownotes. For questions, comments and episode suggestions, feel free to reach us at museum@bhamgov.org. Special thanks to the Birmingham Area Cable Board for PEG grant funding that made this podcast possible. Also thanks to past and present staff of the Birmingham Museum, and our amazing volunteers.