Memories of gritty '70's & '80's downtown Minneapolis (Duluth: wood floors, apartments)

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by knurly

I was waiting for the #2 bus after work one day around 1984 when a pile of squad cars and ambulance converge on the building across the street. It was an insurance building? Turns out some lady went into the offices there and pulled out a big French knife and buried it into the back of her cheating husband.

what, American knives weren't good enough for her?

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by jmgg

As a Catholic from Sioux Falls, I have visited it several times. It's gorgeous and very inspiring. Worth the visit.

Not only worth a visit, it's worth attending on Sunday. I've got family in Minneapolis, and they're Catholic, so if I get a chance to travel up there, I might stop by the Cathedral. And hopefully my chance will come, as I graduate from college in a few days, which should leave me free.

[asitshouldbe]

I remember this hotel on 9th and Hennepin in 1980, it was crazy, it was turned into room for rent type of place where they shared a bath in the hallway. Everyone grew weed and it was very odd. Prostitutes walked up and down in front, it was a unique place to see. My friends older sister lived there and we took the bus from the suburbs to visit, I was 14, the people were really nice but I got a strange feeling about some, one guy who was in his mid 30s to 40s ?...felt like he needed to watch over us, when we to visit, he wouldn't let us leave without walking us to the bus stop and watching us get on. Now, as an adult I understand why.

[green_mariner]

The only "gritty" representation of Minneapolis I can think of comes from the movie Purple Rain.

[Mason3000]

Loved Purple Rain but that was Mpls sexy. The Replacements represent Mpls gritty.

Originally Posted by green_mariner

The only "gritty" representation of Minneapolis I can think of comes from the movie Purple Rain.

[Drewcifer]

When I moved here in the mid 80s I was really surprised by how sleazy Minneapolis was - all the massage parlors and "health clubs", old E Block, weirdos all over the place, University Ave in St Paul. Other cities I had been to had their underbelly too but here it seemed like it was way more out in the open. Obviously it isn't like that anymore, I kind of miss it.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Drewcifer

When I moved here in the mid 80s I was really surprised by how sleazy Minneapolis was - all the massage parlors and "health clubs", old E Block, weirdos all over the place, University Ave in St Paul. Other cities I had been to had their underbelly too but here it seemed like it was way more out in the open. Obviously it isn't like that anymore, I kind of miss it.

I guess for me, it's still too hard to imagine Minneapolis having those things. I could expect it in New Orleans, San Francisco, or Portland. It's kind of shocking for me to hear about this in Minneapolis.

[flakeranger]

Oh how I long for the days of pre-Block E. In the early 80's, my-not-yet husband and I would come to the "cities" from Bemidji University to catch a Prince concert or more generally, to hang out. Because we did not have a major credit card at the time, the only hotel that would rent a room was the St. Andrews Hotel. It was full of creepy, down on their luck types, and I was a naive child from the suburbs. Nonetheless, bolstered by alcohol and other substances, we stayed for a night. The walls were paper thin, the mattresses were in tatters, and the shower was a room with a drain and a curtain. OMG if my kids could see us then!
.
There was always so much to do and see. Moby's for constant entertainment and enjoyed by those from all walks of life. It was gritty but the city was exciting. On a much smaller scale, the Turf Club in St. Paul has some of the features of Moby's, but it isn't central to the life of the city.

[Beenhere4ever]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

what, American knives weren't good enough for her?

No, she probably used this knife to make fancy meals for the SOB only to find out some floozy was making a "meal" of him. So she grabbed something handy.

[QuietBlue]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

I guess for me, it's still too hard to imagine Minneapolis having those things. I could expect it in New Orleans, San Francisco, or Portland. It's kind of shocking for me to hear about this in Minneapolis.

I still remember having my high school Prom in the Bravo Center on Hennepin (it's the building that is now Solera) in the late 90's. Granted, it wasn't as seedy by then (Block E was long gone and was just an empty lot at the time). But there was still some of that old atmosphere, what with an adult bookstore across the street and the old Fairmont Hotel (now Le Meridien Chambers, ironically) nearby too.

I kind of wish I was old enough to have seen more of grittier Minneapolis, strange though it may sound.