Laughter, Falling Water and Time
Southtown Shopping Center opened at 79th and Penn with Monkey Wards as an anchor back in 1960. The Southtown Theatre was built in 1964 and that created one of the first shopping center theater combinations in the area. The modern style theater’s auditorium sat over 1100. When it opened the marquee was one of the … Read more
In the 1920s, the “Skyscraper Church ” became a popular strategy for downtown churches all over America. The 12 story Wesley Temple Building was associated Wesley United Methodist Church which still stands just to the west at the southeast corner of East Grant Street and 1st Avenue South.The cornerstone was laid November 4, 1928 and … Read more
Sleizer’s Club once served man sized drinks in a distinctively different Atmosphere. If you walked in on a weekend nights you could dine and dance to the swell sounds of Rollie Anderson’s Hammond Organ and the “Sleizer Family” dance band. On August 3rd, 1946 Billboard Magazine reported a $10,000 damage suit was instituted by Sleizer’s … Read more
Remind me not to be a detective. I was in Boston last week on a business trip and was determined to try a lobster roll. As a fan of our own Smack Shack, I wanted to see how the original compares. So leaving the National Park tour of the Boston Harbor Islands (highly recommended) I … Read more
Built in 1961, the elegant Ambassador Resort Motor Hotel was located just 5 minutes from downtown Minneapolis at Highways 12 and 100. For almost thirty years, the Ambassador was Minnesota’s island in the Sun. Under that big bubbling dome, they controlled the weather so we could have fun and relaxation. The hotel’s King’s Courtyard had … Read more
The folks from the Minnesota Boat Club have been rowing on the river since 1870. Located under the Wabasha Bridge on the west end of Raspberry Island, the original boathouse was a wooden structure. It was replaced in the early 1900′s by the existing boathouse shown in the postcard below. In 1949, the United States … Read more
City of Minneapolis. Two large picture windows facing north near the top of the Wells Fargo tower with no buildings to obstruct my view of the Mississippi rambling northward. Peregrine falcons nest across the street and animate the scenery gorgeously swooping and diving. The only downside is there are no buildings to stop the bracing … Read more
The new campus of the St. Paul Bible College is located just off U.S. Highway 7, 27 miles Southwest of downtown Minneapolis and less then 7 miles from the suburban community of Mound, Minnesota.
East Lake was one of 13 library branches established by the first female head librarian at the Minneapolis Public Library. Gratia Countryman made it her mission to bring people closer to books. She served in the position from 1904 to 1936. The East Lake Library was designed by Jerome Paul Jackson. The modest building was … Read more