Memories of gritty '70's & '80's downtown Minneapolis (St. Paul: home, neighborhood)

[Blue Earth]

Not being from Minneapolis and not knowing the history, I would never have known that the corner of Nicollet and Washington was once the center of the city's skid row district, replete with 4-5 story flophouses, bars, theaters, etc. There is no historic architecture that would indicate that there was once anything special there, just a couple of bland-looking office buildings and a lot of concrete.

Thanks to Explorer John for posting the link to the documentary, it was an interesting glimpse into Minneapolis' history.

[Blue Earth]

What is the view in Minneapolis about the removal of these historic buildings? The documentary said that 180 buildings were removed. Looking back, do residents consider this to be a good thing or a bad thing for the city that these historic structures were removed? I know about the Lumber Exchange building and City Hall, and I think that those buildings are great examples of historic Minneapolis architecture that has been preserved. Before I knew much about Minneapolis, I thought that the downtown was all modern glass skyscrapers, because that is all you see in the skyline. Now I realize that there are still quite a few older brick buildings on the edges of the downtown area. But is it correct to say that Minneapolis has been quite active in their redevelopment of downtown over the years, and that this has included the demolishing of a lot of the city's historic architecture? What do local residents think about this?

[Astron1000]

To be frank, most of those buildings - with some notable exceptions - were "historical" only for being dumps. Yes, a lot of vibrant street life may have been lost, but when you consider what kind of street life it was (bars, prostitutes, flop houses, etc) it doesn't seem like much of a loss. The idea of gentrification was a couple of decades in the future and it is questionable whether that area would have ever gotten any better had it been preserved.

[crazynip]

Every "major city" downtown was like that in the 60's and 70's, became ghost towns by '85, and were rebuilt or "cleaned up" between 85 and say 1991. I can name dozens of them including NYC. Look at Times Square in NYC now. You wouldnt recognize it if you lived there in the 70's or even as late as say, 88.

Why did this happen? For the most part, working people and families moved en-masse out of the cities and into the suburbs. Trash, degenerates, minorities and the poor moved in, destroyed it, and by the time they were done were forced out when the area was demolished.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

To be frank, most of those buildings - with some notable exceptions - were "historical" only for being dumps. Yes, a lot of vibrant street life may have been lost, but when you consider what kind of street life it was (bars, prostitutes, flop houses, etc) it doesn't seem like much of a loss. The idea of gentrification was a couple of decades in the future and it is questionable whether that area would have ever gotten any better had it been preserved.

For some reason, I could never imagine Minneapolis with flop houses or prostitution.

[Blue Earth]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

To be frank, most of those buildings - with some notable exceptions - were "historical" only for being dumps. Yes, a lot of vibrant street life may have been lost, but when you consider what kind of street life it was (bars, prostitutes, flop houses, etc) it doesn't seem like much of a loss. The idea of gentrification was a couple of decades in the future and it is questionable whether that area would have ever gotten any better had it been preserved.

That may be true, but there are buildings like the Metropolitan Building that apparently had no reason to be torn down except that it was close to the Gateway district:

Link: Metropolitan Building (Minneapolis) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This beautiful, 12-story Romanesque building that stood at 3rd Street and 2nd Avenue would have definitely enhanced the character of downtown Minneapolis if it still existed today. Look at what the Brown Palace Hotel does for downtown Denver. Those old buildings add a lot of character.

[Laggard]

Originally Posted by FreeStater

That may be true, but there are buildings like the Metropolitan Building that apparently had no reason to be torn down except that it was close to the Gateway district:

Link: Metropolitan Building (Minneapolis) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This beautiful, 12-story Romanesque building that stood at 3rd Street and 2nd Avenue would have definitely enhanced the character of downtown Minneapolis if it still existed today. Look at what the Brown Palace Hotel does for downtown Denver. Those old buildings add a lot of character.

Yep. That one hurts. I cry a bit inside every time i think that I will never see that gorgeous gorgeous building.

Can't remember who said it but to paraphrase "the destruction of the Metropolitan was the most blatant act of civic vandalism ever committed in Minneapolis."

[Drewcifer]

Originally Posted by yoyoma02

I moved to Minneapolis in 1991 and it wasn't dirty at all. I'm assuming all of the "grittyiness" was more in the late 70s/early 80s?

In fact, I remember my parents being really impressed by how clean it was.

I think the change happend when they tore down the old E block in the fall of 1988. Before that Hennepin Ave was a smaller version of the old Times Square in NY, it was full of drug dealers, prostitutes, street hustlers, adult bookstores, etc. In 1987 my roommate lost $20 at 3 card monte to a guy on the corner of 7th and Hennepin, I can't imagine that happening in today's Minneapolis.

I miss the old E block, it was anarchic, it was fascinating, anything could happen.

[warrconn]

Originally Posted by audadvnc

Of course, in the 1950's through 70's that "active commercial/residential" area of Washington east of Hennepin was considered a wasteland. It was Skid Row, where old bums went to shuffle off this mortal coil.

I witnessed the last bit of it at the Andrews Hotel - a charming old grande dame of the city, reduced to slum housing for dying, syphilis-riddled alkies. Have you ever seen somebody with tertiary syphilis? It's a sight we don't get to experience much nowadays.

I believe the Andrews is a parking lot next to the Library now.

I forgot about the Andrews Hotel. The Saddle Bar next door. There were a lot of bars that were more dive-like than Moby's on Hennepin. Mousey's, Brady's, The Brass Rail, The Pink Poodle, The Carousel, The Gay 90s, The Copper Squirrel, The Roaring 20s, The Blitz Bar, The 5 Bar, The Cascade 9, The Longhorn...and these are just off the top of my head. All of these dumps were between about 4th and 11th and Hennepin.

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

I didn't mean more restaurants (I didn't word that well) -- just more places that had been around for decades. Many of those places have closed, and today's newer options don't have a long history yet. That will come with time, of course, but some of those other places had been there for many decades. I agree that the overall food scene is better (and more robust) now than anytime in my lifetime, anyway.

When I moved here in the late 70s, the were only three upscale restaurants in Minneapolis: Murray's, Jax Cafe, and Charlie's Cafe Exceptionale. There were a few others in St Paul. This was definitely not a fine dining area. Of course, the country did not have the food fetish that it does now and these three places seemed to be enough for us.