Nokohaha

• 

  Saint Paul’s Municipal Menagerie

    In 1873 the city of Saint Paul acquired 300 acres of land around Lake Como for use as a public park. Saint Paul’s experiment with a municipal menagerie began in 1897 when the city fenced pasture in the park to hold a gift of three deer. Como’s Art Deco zoological building was designed in [...]

• 

  Calhoun Boulevard and 36th

  Originally called by the Dakota “Mde Maka Ska”, which meant White Earth Lake, settlers later named it with the Dakota name “Medoza” or Loon Lake. The United States Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, sent the Army to survey the area that would surround Fort Snelling in 1817. Calhoun had also authorized the construction of [...]

• 

  At the Edge of the Richest Shopping District

      The Sheridan was built around the corner from the old Minneapolis Auditorium and Lyceum Theater in 1926. The hotel was one of at least six brick courts at the southern edge of downtown. In 1938 one could get a single with a bath of $2.00. Many of these old places became residential in the [...]

• 

  The SteppingStone Theatre Then and Now

    Designed by Thori, Alban and Fischer the corner stone for the the First Methodist Episcopal Church was laid on  October 15, 1907 and the building was completed in 1910.  A dedication booklet noted that the church faced Holly Avenue in a “situation ideal to show its classic and simple architecture, the massive columns of the portico [...]

• 

  A Hotel of Rare Charm

    The Hampshire Arms Hotel spent the better part of the last century standing on the corner of 4th street and 9th. The hotel was popular for its lovely courtyard. Famous doorman. George Route greeted guests at the Hampshire Arms for fifty years. When he passed away in 1953, Jet magazine ran an obituary for [...]

• 

  Night in Minneapolis

    These Night in Minneapolis Postcards were printed in the 1920′s by the V.O. Hammon Publishing Company of  Chicago. Oh Gosh, Lena! Look at all those electrical lights!

• 

  The Youngest Old Building in Minneapolis

    The Young Quinlan Building was designed by Magney and Tusler with Frederick Ackerman. Miss Quinlan spared no expense when building her elegant five-story building at the corner of Nicollet Mall and Ninth Street. She sought out an architect that would design her “home” with an Old World atmosphere. The building’s dedication ceremony and open [...]

• 

  Back When Minneapolis Was A Big City

    Minneapolis was a bigger place when these postcards came out. The population of Minnesota’s largest city has declined by almost 140,000 souls since climbing to a  peak of 521,718 in 1950. In the middle of the last century, approximately 70.0% of the metropolitan area’s population was concentrated in the city limits of St. Paul [...]

• 

  The Loeb Arcade

      The four story Loeb Building  at 7 5th street was built by Samuel Loeb in 1915. The building was designed by Chicago architect Henry Ottenhiemer. The Loeb’s three story shopping arcade arcade had room for 90 shops inside a curving skylit gallery clad in gleaming terra-cotta tiles. In 1920 the building was remodeled [...]

Dining & Drinking

Fika: Sweets for the Swedes

  My family hails from mixed marriages- between Swedes and Norwegians. My grandfathers were of Swedish heritage and my grandmothers were of Norwegian. Don’t laugh- it’s far more contentious than you might imagine. They have all passed now- but while living there was a gently simmering disagreement about which nationality was superior. The culture and customs [...]

Read More

Travail: a labor of love or whatever

Last week Noko and I went to Travail for dinner. Travail’s tasting menus are iconic for local food obsessed and trend diners. Long wait times often sour reviews.  Seems people either love the place or can’t figure what the fuss is about.  On a cold January tuesday after 7pm we were seated immediately at the [...]

Read More

Afro Deli on the West bank

The Afro Deli on Riverside is so cheap and so delicious that I considered not writing about it. Sometimes when you let everyone in on a secret, it gets spoiled. But I’m going to risk it. Mainly because plenty people know about it already and it’s just a matter of time before the line from [...]

Read More