Parkway Theater

Brought Athena to the vet today which is down by the Parkway Theater.  Had to take a snapshot. I believe I was first in this theater in 1982 to see Maggie Smith in Evil Under the Sun.

Beard's Plaisance

Lake Harriet is my favorite Minneapolis lake. I've loved it since I was a young child and the times I've biked around it are too numerous to count.  On the lake is a place called Beard's Plaisance.  It's on the top of a steep hill. I've always wondered what a plaisance is. I've always assumed it was some kind of gather space since the park has benches, picnic tables, grills, a picnic table shelter, tennis courts, a playground, and such. As a teenager I was invited to a picnic there. Our church had reserved the picnic shelter for an event and  neighborhood family we knew from the parishasked if I wanted to come and help out with their kids in exchange for feeding me. Due to another commitment I wasn't able to drive over with them but said I would be able to bike over and meet them about an hour after they got there.  It turned out to be such a gorgeous day and the plaisance was so crowded that I couldn't even find them. They perfectly understood and were very nice about it. I point this out only because it's an example from my own personal experience of how utilized the lakes are by the people of this city in the summer during nice weather. The above photo was taken at the top of the hill and looks over on to the Lake. The photo was taken April 28.  The trees were just barely starting to bud.

More Light Rail

Dale returned from Madeline yesterday. He returned his rental car at the airport and then took light rail to the Hiawatha and 46th Street stop which is where I picked him up. I only waited for about 10 minutes for his train to arrive.  It was a pleasant evening with a summery feel - perfect for sitting outside.  These photos were taken at around 8:15 p.m. I remember as far back as 1980 reading in the old Minneapolis Star about the possibility of light rail transit coming to Minneapolis.  I can't believe is took as long as it did to become a reality. Minneapolis once had an intricate trolley system that was the envy of the nation but I believe it was dismantled in the 1960s to make way for the freeway system. It's a shame that a new system had to be started from scratch when there was once such a functional network.

The Minneapolis Tribune from 38 Years Ago Today

I found this old edition of the Minneapolis Tribune from 38 years ago (today!) at an antique store near Stillwater. Pretty historic stuff, huh?! Our family got the Minneapolis Star which came out in the afternoon. The Tribune was the morning paper. Dad liked to read the news after work so we subscribed to the afternoon paper which, obviously, had slightly more current info. Hard to believe in this era of 24-hour news that the news was updated at only certain points of the day. I liked getting the Star because it ran the Peanuts comic strip. The Tribune did not. The Star and Tribune merged in the 1980s and adopted the slogan "Newspaper of the Twin Cities." The top photo is of the Star and Tribune building in downtown Minneapolis and, I'm guessing, from the 1960s.

Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day Fire

I remember seeing this on t.v. while we were visiting my Grandmother for Thanksgiving in Two Harbors. 1982 - hard to believe it happened almost 30 years ago.

The following is from Wikipedia:

"The Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day fire destroyed an entire block of Downtown Minneapolis on November 25-26, 1982 including the 16-story headquarters of Northwestern National Bank (now Wells Fargo) and the vacant, partially demolished location formerly occupied by Donaldson's department store, which had recently moved across the street to the new City Center mall. Nobody was injured or killed as a result of the fire."

"The Minneapolis Fire Department quickly determined the cause of the fire as arson. Shortly thereafter, two juveniles were arrested and later convicted of setting the fire, using an acetylene torch found at the partially demolished Donaldson's site."

"In 1988, Northwestern National Bank (then called Norwest Corporation_ constructed a 57-story Cesar Pelli-designed headquarters on the site of the Bank building. The new headquarters is now known as the Wells Fargo Center, after Norwest merged with Wells Fargo. The Donaldson's half of the block is occupied by the Saks Fifth Avenue wing of Gaviidae Common, and upscale shopping mall."

Dale was living in Washington D.C. at this time but was in Minneapolis when this happened to scout out an apartment for his impending move here.

The Minneapolis Tribune/The Minneapolis Star

Dale and I went to St. Paul today to visit the Minnesota Historical Society and see the 1968 exhibit. Although I was quite young in 1968 I do have memories that I can trace back to that year. The first national event that I have a memory of was the moon landing in 1969. Reprints of the December 24, 1968 edition of the Minneapolis Tribune were being handed out at the Historical Society to go along with the exhibit. When I was little, the morning paper was the Minneapolis Tribune and the evening edition of the paper was the Minneapolis Star. We always got the Minneapolis Star because Dad liked to read the paper when he got home from work in the afternoon. I remember the final edition of the Minneapolis Star in 1982 or 1983. Around this time the two papers merged to become the Star Tribune which we still subscribe to today. My friend Paul and his family lived up the street from our family when I was growing up and his family got the Tribune in the morning while ours got the Star in the afternoon. I used to love reading the Dear Abby advice column and the Peanuts comic strips that were featured in the Star. I was surprised to find out from Paul that the advice columnist in the Tribune was not Abby but Ann Landers and that the Tribune did not carry Peanuts. I couldn't imagine not being able to read about Charlie Brown and Snoopy! Oh well, Paul grew up to be a happy and productive member of society regardless. I especially loved reading the Variety section in the Star. That's were the comics, t.v. listings, Dear Abby, entertainment and special interest stories were.

The above photo is of the December 24, 1968 edition of the Minneapolis Tribune and was taken by me.

St. Anthony Main

I remember when St. Anthony Main opened as a shopping and entertainment complex. It was the early 1980's and it was quite a novelty. It was a hopping place in it's time and has become rather deserted as of late.  Photo taken 2011.

The IDS Center - Another Rainy Day Photo

This photo of the IDS Center was taken in 1980 on the same day I took The Nicollet Mall on a Rainy Day. Rather gloomy I'd say.

The Nicollet Mall on a Rainy Day Part 2

Here's another I photoshopped version of my 1980 photo The Nicollet Mall on a Rainy Day that I tried to make look like a painting. My inspiration was Rainy Evening on Hennepin Avenue, 1902, by Robert Koehler which hangs in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. You should be able to click on it to enlarge it.

The Nicollet Mall on a Rainy Day Part 1

I took the above photo in 1980 and titled it The Nicollet Mall on a Rainy Day. As a kid I had a bubble umbrella just like the woman in the foreground to the left.

One of my favorite paintings from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts has always been Rainy Evening on Hennepin Avenue. I think I've loved this painting by Robert Koehler since childhood because it really captures a mood and also because it's a window into the past of Minneapolis. Hennepin Avenue looks nothing like this and hasn't for quite a long time. I like how the people are walking toward you in the painting. In my photo the people are walking away.

I recently photoshopped the photo I took more than 30 years ago to make it look a bit more like a painting. You should be able to click on it to enlarge it.

Return in the Rain

Just got back from a trip to Colorado today. We ran into a huge storm just south of the city and it was still raining when we pulled in the driveway. I like this photo I took in 1980 of the Nicollet Mall on a rainy day. Wow. Thirty-one years ago.

Minneapolis City Hall

Another old photo I found recently. The shot is of Minneapolis City Hall and was taken from the Hennepin County Government Center which is just next door. I love how the Government Center windows frame City Hall. Too bad it was such a dark rainy day.

Minneapolis 1981 Part 3

Yet another shot of the yellow ribbon around the Foshay Tower in January of 1981. This shot was taken near the stage door of Orchestra Hall just off 11th and Marquette.

Minneapolis 1981 Part 2

Another shot of the yellow ribbon around the Foshay Tower in January of 1981.

Minneapolis 1981 Part 1

Found this old photo recently. The yellow ribbon tied around the Foshay Tower was to welcome home the 52 American hostages that had been held in Iran. I took the photo in January of 1981.

Minneapolis 1986 Part 2

Another photo I took from the roof of the Nicollet Center. The building in the middle of the photograph is the Rand Tower (formerly Dain Tower).

Minneapolis 1986

In the summer of 1986 I was working as a security guard at a building called The Nicollet Center. I don't believe it's there anymore. Anyway, because I was the guard I could get up on the roof of the building. Here's a photo I took from the roof. I like it because of the clouds reflected on the IDS Tower (now the American Express Tower). You can see the top of the Foshay Tower, for a number of years the tallest building in Minneapolis, peeking up from behind one of the other buildings that's part of the IDS complex at the left of the photo.

The Boulevard Theater Part 3

During my time growing up in the Tangletown (formerly Fuller) neighborhood in Minneapolis the Boulevard Theater was was a second-run theater known for it's cheap seats. Because it only charged 99 cents to see film that had already been in wide release, many neighborhood folks called it the "99 cent-er". I remember seeing a lot of movies there including A Christmas Story, Star Wars, Reds, The Verdict, The Breakfast Club, Peggy Sue Got Married, Moonstruck, and more.

Dad took me to see Paul Newman in The Verdict in 1982. I remember it was the first movie that just the two of us went to alone since a re-release of Disney's The Jungle Book in the early 1970's. I remember a couple of women sitting behind us going nuts over Paul Newman's blue eyes during a close-up of him.

Sam, Pete and I went to see Star Wars when it was re-released in the late 1970's and Sam and I hiked over to see A Christmas Story during Christmas break of 1982/83.

I have early memories of seeing Saturday matinees for kids in the early 1970's. The Pippi Longstocking films from Scandanavia were my favorites although I also had a good time seeing those Disney nature movies as well.

The above photo is my own that I took on July 17, 2011. Although the theater is no longer there, the marquee remains.

Bridgeman's Ice Cream and Restaurants

In the warmer months Mom and Dad would bring Sam, Pete and me to Bridge-

man's for ice cream cones. We loved the soft serve stuff at Dairy Queen but we loved Bridgeman's too because they had many more flavors. My favorite was peppermint bon bon. Mom's was cherry nut and I think Dad got rocky road. We'd usually go to the Bridgeman's in Richfield which is a suburb just south of where we lived in Minneapolis. The building is located on 66th Street just west of Lyndale Avenue. I took the photo you see here with my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app that I recently purchased. This app ages the photo taken and makes it look like a snapshot taken with an old camera in the 1950s or 1960s. The counter where we got ice cream cones was just behind the set of windows you see in the photo. The rest of the store was a restuarant with counters and booths. I remember in 1981 I was in the chorus of the play The Music Man by Meredith Wilson at Washburn High School. After one of the performances Mom and Dad took us to Bridgeman's for sundaes and EVERYONE (well it seemed like everyone) in the play was there with their families too.

Washburn High School Part 1

I atten-

ded Wash-

burn High School from 1980-1984. The following is from Wikipedia:

"Washburn High School was built in 1925 to meet the demands of the growing south Minneapolis neighborhood. Construction for the new three-story building began in 1924 after the Minneapolis Board of Education purchased unused land in Washburn Park. Land next to the school was occupied by the Washburn Memorial Orphan Asylum, now torn down and replaced with what is now Ramsey International Fine Arts Center. Washburn is located in the Tangletown neighborhood of southern Minneapolis at 201 west 49th Street."