There's a Snoopy Museum Hidden in This Metro Detroit Restaurant

Saint Clair Shores – Mike LeFevre’s love for Snoopy has raised over $40,000 for various charities since he opened his museum in 2023, but the museum isn’t even the main attraction on his property.

Mike’s On The Water has been located in the heart of Nautical Mile in Saint Clair Shores since 2011. Whether coming by road or water, Metro Detroit residents from all over congregate at one of the area’s most popular restaurants on the water during the summertime.

LeFevre’s love for the famous cartoon character was born long before the restaurant was even imagined.

“The first snoopy came home in 1965 when my sister was born.” LeFevre said. “My dad was carrying my sister home from the hospital in one hand, and a Snoopy plush doll in the other hand, and that’s how it all started. As you get older you start realizing it’s always fun to go for a hunt. I don’t care if you’re in a different country or you’re in the antique mall down the road, you’re always looking for that rare find.”

LeFevre’s collection of over 16,000 pieces of Snoopy memorabilia is packed into one big room in the back room of the restaurant. To enter, you must make a $5 charity donation to whichever charity is selected for that month. The charities are selected at a luncheon at the beginning of each year, where each charity can pick the month that they would like to be represented.

“We’ll put ping pong balls in a hat and draw them, and obviously if you get drawn first you want to pick June, July, or August when the action is, and then the other months tend to follow.” LeFevre said, “The first year I picked them all myself, and they were all charities that I am active in locally in the Grosse Pointe and Metro Detroit areas like Racing for Kids, Maggie’s Wigs for Kids, and some others.”

Behind the museum is 6,000 square feet that Lefevre wanted to include in the museum before Covid-19 happened, but still plans to expand one day into that space.

“In 2019, the whole space was approved to be an 18-hole miniature golf course, an 100-seat banquet center, as well as the museum. The museum was going to wind through the golf course, but then Covid hit so I backed off a bit and got this room going in 2023.”

Snoopy memorabilia isn’t the only highlight of the museum. LeFevre has visited over 160 countries, and at each one he finds a chef or cook figurine which goes directly into the “Owners Collection of Chefs and Cooks” section of the museum.

The entire museum is dedicated to Lefevre’s sister Susan, who died from breast cancer in 2012.

“She saw me open this restaurant in 2011, and she passed in December of 2012, so she got to see two whole years here, and she was very proud. And I always said I’m going to build this museum to honor her. She called me Snoop and I called her Snoop. We were inseparable, we were truly the best of friends.”

For Lefevre, the 1,000 square feet currently open is just the beginning.

“I think it’s a Michigan destination. I think the restaurant combined with the museum, with the food truck we have on the roof of the place, and the ice cream truck out front. Just the quirkiness of the place and it being on the water, it’ll become a true Michigan destination. I just know it’ll put smiles on faces and it’ll tickle your heart.”