Laughter, Falling Water and Time
To Anoka Same as Run No. 14, as far as Osseo. The road goes straight through that place and cannot be lost. Outside of town it runs straight north for about two miles, thereafter to the northwest for another couple of miles, and lastly straight north again until Champlain is reached. Several cross roads are … Read more
To Robbinsdale You follow Washington avenue N to Twentieth avenue, and this to Crystal Lake avenue. Just outside the city limits, a road fork is encountered. The road to the left, which is much poorer, leads to the small settlement known as Kenmore Park. On the other side of the main road, right opposite Kenmore, … Read more
Smoky Point began somewhere in up in old Nordeast, probably on East Hennepin. The owner, Aleck “Smoky” Ellis immigrated to Minnesota from Greece in 1915. I suspect another branch of the family opened a restaurant near Robbinsdale called the Log Cabin. Eventually Ellis moved his operations away to the south where he built the iconic … Read more
What I like to think of as the Crystal set has got a swinging thing going at the Chalet, which recently started live music for dancing in its upstairs Alpine Room. The action isn’t necessarily confined to Crystalers (Chrystalipolitans? Crystalites? Crystallines?), of course, but the Chalet. at N. 36th Av. and the Beltline, is situated … Read more
The good old Bungalow Inn, brightened the corner of Bass Lake Road and Highway Fifty-Two for over 40 years. Elmer C. Hartig was running a gas station when he took over a small neighborhood bar at 6221 56th Avenue North. He grew the bushiness and expanded into a popular restaurant and lounge. In the 1960’s … Read more
Robbinsdale, incorporated as a city in 1938, has a long and varied background, but not always under the name of Robbinsdale.In 1860 the area was organized as the Township of Crystal Lake with a total vote of 55. The city of Minneapolis in 1886 made an effort to annex all townships bordering on its limits, … Read more
Isabelle Jackson was born in St. Paul back in 1902. Her family moved to Minneapolis when she was just two years old. After she graduated fro the University of Minnesota she Married Rollin Jackson. In 1956 the couple built the Suburban Hotel just up the road in Crystal. Rollin and Isabelle operated the motel until … Read more
The Uptown opened as the Lagoon Theater in 1913. After new sound equipment was installed, the theater’s name was changed on April 11, 1929. The Uptown was rebuilt and redesigned by the architectural firm of Liebenberg and Kaplan after a fire tore through the building in 1939. The theater was closed briefly in 1975 but … Read more
Some folks say the estimated number of motels in America tripled between 1940 and 1960. People on the move with money to spend found modern motels with well-appointed rooms out on the edges of just about every metropolitan area. Air conditioning, television, radios, tiled bathrooms, easy chairs, coin operated vibrating beds, swimming pools and movie … Read more