On Colfax Then and Now
Colfax Avenue was named for Schuyler Colfax. Born in March of 1823, Schuyler became a United States Representative from Indiana, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 17th Vice President of the United States under Ulysses S. Grant in 1869. After leaving office, Colfax embarked on a successful career as a lecturer. A [...]
The Anatomic Bomb
Lili St. Cyr came into the world as Willis Marie Van Schaack in Minneapolis. Her parents moved to Pasadena, California when she was 7 years old. The entertainer’s early life is somewhat of a mystery. She had a sister, Rosemary Van Schaack Minsky. Her grandparents, the Klarquists, reared her and her show business siblings, Dardy [...]
Cinerama at the Century
The Century Theater opened as a vaudeville house called the Miles in 1908. In 1915, the place was rebuilt, and reopened as the Garrick Theater. In 1929 the Garrick was gutted and The Century Theatre was created in the old theater’s shell. The Century proclaimed the most modern movie house west of Chicago. The new [...]
Beverly Bayne
Pearl Beverly Bayne was born in Minneapolis in 1884. Her family moved to Chicago when she was only six. Little Pearl was told she had a camera face and began began work at Essanay Studios making salary of $35 a week when she was 16 years old. Beverly Baynes made her first two movies, [...]
Find out Augie’s Secrets at the Calhoun Village Barnes & Noble May 18th, 1-3pm
A treasury of family secrets exposes the seamy underbelly of Minneapolis—gangsters, gambling, brothels, and the social life of organized crime. Augie Ratner, the proprietor of Augie’s Theater Lounge & Bar on Hennepin Avenue, was the unofficial mayor of Minneapolis’s downtown strip in the 1940s and ’50s. In a few blocks between the swanky clubs and [...]
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 [...]
Saint Mary Romanian Orthodox Church Then and Now
The cornerstone for Saint Mary Romanian Orthodox Church was laid on June 14th, 1914. The congregation all pitched in to build this replica of the Church in SanNicolau Mare, a small village in western Romania, in less than six months. In 1926 the little Church on Woodbridge Avenue was visited by Her Majesty [...]
A KSTP QSL
Back in the old days, you could listen to the AM radio band at night and hear stations from all over the country. If you sent the station a letter telling them where you heard them, what time and what they were playing, they would send you a souvenir QSL card, usually signed by [...]
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 [...]
Holly Flats Then and Now
The Jewish Educational Center in Holly and Grotto was the precursor to the St. Paul JCC. The building served as a recreation and education facility for over 100 community groups, including Boy and Girl Scouts, a theater company, and two orchestras. Today the building houses Holly Flats apartments and the nationally known Twin Cities [...]
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 Free-Way
When Detroit told America they really couldn’t do much better than 25 miles per gallon, David Edmonson built his own car, small and light. In 1977 his Free-Way vehicle won mileage contests achieving 80.3 miles per gallon. In 1978 with his scored 88.3 MPG in a contest based on actual road driving conditions. the [...]
The Grand State Bank Then and Now
This two story commercial building at Grand and Victoria has become my every other Wednesday morning destination as Cafe Latte’s Bread and Chocolate Shop. The Grand State Bank moved down a couple blocks. Their old drive-thru at 1071 Grand is still in use as a U.S. Bank branch.
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 [...]
Don’t Cross the Street in the Middle of the Block!
The first crossing walk signal was set up on Bridge Street in Westminster, London in December 1868. The signal consisted of semaphore arms raised and lowered manually by a police constable rotating a handle on the side of a pole. The arms were augmented by green and red gas lights. In January 1869, [...]
