1910

Lake of the Isles covers 102 acres, with 2.86 miles of shoreline. The deepest part of the lake is just over 50 feet. Originally a large wetland, the city spent 12  years dredging it out to create the lake. The access to Lake Calhoun was created in 1911.  A week long celebration followed the “Linking of the Lakes”. I’m guessing the smoke at the center of the picture is from one of the lazy excursion boats that once to plied the waters between the lakes. It may even be from the one pictured below. Then again maybe it’s from one of the dredges. Too bad the park board didn’t bring in Gondolas. Minneapolis had some pretty grandiose ideas about building a canals. Park commissioners speculated that linking Isles and Calhoun by a navigable waterway, followed by links to Cedar Lake and Brownie Lake, would make Minneapolis the “Venice of the North.”

1912

Queen of the Lakes Joanne Melberg Fredsall – Miss Robbinsdale, 1954

The Aquatenial has used the Queen of the Lakes crown to build relationships with other cities and organizations all over the the state. Every year, 50 young women from around Minnesota are chosen by their respective communities to compete for the Queen of the Lakes and two Princess titles. These three young women then travel around the state, country, and globe to participate in festivals in San Antonio, Texas, Macon, Georgia, and Osaka, Japan.

Meeting friends for lunch at Peter’s Grill the other day, I commented that this is the kind of place my boss eats. My boss wears a bowtie. In the ten years I’ve worked with him I’ve heard him called a true gentleman and a modern day Atticus Finch. He reads Tolstoy. You get the picture. He is a generous, thoughtful man who honors tradition, quality and kindness.

If you’ve never been to Peter’s Grill , it’s got a great nostalgic vibe. A gorgeous deco-style sign covers the back wall. The perimeter of the restaurant is lined with big wooden booths against huge picture windows along 8th and Marquette. An actual lunch counter winds through the middle where a few older men dined solo. My friends and I agreed that next time we’ll grab a corner and eat at the counter.

Peter's Grill when it was located at 85 South 9th back in 1957

The food is exactly what you’d expect with the happy inclusion of a salad bar. We are talking iceberg and romaine, cubed ham, cherry tomatoes, cottage cheese, garbanzo beans, shredded cheddar, croutons, and thousand island dressing. The one thing I thought missing was chopped egg, which I mentioned to our server. When I got back to our table, there was a small bowl with a hardboiled egg in it, gratis. We each ordered a bowl of soup for $1.75 extra. The vegetable soup was an exact homemade copy of Campbell’s Vegetarian Vegetable with celery, potatoes, carrots, lima beans and bits of corn in a light tomato broth. I would say this tastes like my grandma’s soup but, it’s not because she could never get her head around making broth without meat. This soup is someone’s hip grandma’s who figured it out. And yes, the apple pie is as good as they say it is. Get it a la mode and share.

The owner and his son are omnipresent in the dining room- greeting regulars and ringing up tickets. An elderly neighbor of mine works on the sandwich line at lunch and as I was paying I asked if she was working that day. They said “Oh, she’s worked here for years but she has the day off today.” Later that evening I saw her and mentioned I’d asked after her at the restaurant. She said she only works a few days a week now since they’re not as busy as they used to be.

My neighbor is a cheerful woman and was the sole caregiver for many years to her mother and husband before their deaths. She’d never say anything but I know she’s dirt poor. After so many years she’s undoubtedly good at her job. Yet, I can’t help but think maybe Peter’s is helping take care of her, too.

As we were leaving I spotted a coworker, waved, and sitting next to him, over the top of the booth, I could see the distinctive balding pate of my bosses head. Tradition, quality, and kindness- it’s a good place this Peter’s Grill.

“Bubbles Darlene” was an exotic dancer and strip tease artist back in the 1950′s. Her real name was Virginia Lachimia. She was originally from Minneapolis where she studied toe, tap and ballet dancing. Virginia said she had no notion that when she was hired to dance at the Rialto in Chicago she would be entering into the world of Burlesque. It didn’t take Virginia long to figure out strip teasing and “Art Modeling” paid better than ballet. After adopting the stage name, Darlene Bubbles she took her act down to Havana where she worked with a twenty piece orchestra. She managed to get arrested when she decided to advertise her show by walking down a main thoroughfare dressed only in panties a transparent raincoat and a smile. Havana was shocked and police promptly hauled her in.

A tablet from my father's desk drawer.

“In 1949 GEORGE MIKAN of the Minneapolis Lakers, basketball’s greatest player, set an all time professional scoring record with 1698 points in a 60-game schedule, breaking Joe Fulk’s record of 1398. Yet in the last three games, MIKAN played with a broken wrist! IT’S ODD BUT TRUE!”

1919

The University Club’s Summit Avenue Clubhouse was completed and opened for member use in 1913.  The building was designed by Reed and Stem, designers of Grand Central Station in New York City, The Saint Paul Hotel, the Downtown Saint Paul Athletic Club and quite a few Summit Avenue homes.  The clubhouse was modeled after London’s great turn-of-the-century city clubs, both in architecture and purpose. In the 1930′s a  pool was added and after the second world war the University Club was the first of the three clubs to open its membership to women. In recent years the club has been restored and updated with a modern fitness center.

2012

 

1920 Postcard

The Excelsior Streetcar Line began operation in 1999.  Excelsior is located about fifteen miles west of downtown Minneapolis. The restored line  runs between Water Street and Old Excelsior Road on the former Minneapolis and Saint Louis Railway right-of-way now used by the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority as a bicycle trail.

Featured in this video is Twin City Rapid Transit streetcar #1239. Built at the 31st Street Shops in Minneapolis the old streetcar has been restored to the configuration it had when it was constructed in 1907 with a private door to the motorman’s cab in the front and double stream wire gates for passenger access in the back. This set up required a motorman in front who operated the streetcar, including opening and closing the gates, and a conductor at the rear who collected fares and helped with backing up.

Proud Motorman and Streetcar in Excelsior, 1928

Many TCRT streetcars were converted to one-man operation in the 1930s by adding double-stream folding front doors and replacing the rear gates with similar doors. This gave TCRT the option to operate the car with a motorman only or on busier routes, with a conductor and a motorman. Because streetcar ridership remained high on many routes until the end of service, many “gate cars” with single-stream front folding doors remained in service until the end. TCRT No. 1239 returned to service in September 2004.

My old boss loves to tell a story about his grandfather’s childhood in Excelsior. Grandpa was a little bit naughty and he used to chase the street car with a giant stick that he used to knock down the trolley pole and stop the car. The motorman or conductor would have to get out and climb up to to re attach the pole. Meanwhile the Grandpa and his buddies would run a little further down the track so they could knock it off again.

 

The video also features Duluth Street Railway No. 78. It was one of twenty streetcars delivered by the LaClede Car Company of St. Louis, Missouri in October of 1893. It served Duluth until it was retired and its car body was given to Mrs. Florence Lee of Duluth on September 11, 1911. No. 78 is the oldest streetcar in the Museum. It is a first-generation electric car that resembles the horse-drawn streetcars that it replaced. It has been operating on the Excelsior Streetcar Line since 1999.

 

Streetcar waiting station at Excelsior Amusement Park in the late 1920's or early 30's

The streetcars are made possible by all-volunteer service of the Minnesota Streetcar Museum
http://www.trolleyride.org/

Tunnel to Streetcar Waiting Station from Excelsior Amusement Park