twin city sidewalks

2024-11-22

Support Your Local Refuge

[Hard Times Café on Riverside Avenue, open until midnight.]

Since the dire presidential election, I’ve made a new habit of stopping into the Hard Times Café in the mornings whenever I have time. It’s close to my office on the West Bank and it’s a spot that means a lot to me, one of the few remaining pillars of the West Bank counter-culture.

Of course the crusty punk co-op café has radical politics, which are needed now more than ever, but it’s also the fact that I’ve been going there for twenty years. I remember hanging out there (for example) in 2004 during the Iraq War protest and George W. Bush re-election years. The days after the election, walking into the place, ordering a $1 cup of strong coffee in a brown mug, and singing into the country or metal music is the only real balm I’ve found.

It’s too easy post-COVID to retreat into our domesticity, to focus on our families and turtle up in our homes. With a three-year-old, I find that especially appealing. But we also need to get out and keep our community centers thriving, whatever they might be. Seek out the places in the city that mean a lot to you, and keep them alive.

2024-10-18

Art Gallery Blab about Bars with Andy Sturdevant and Mary Gibney this Sunday

[A Mary Gibney painting from the Are You With Me? show.]

I was privileged to be invited to give a talk at brilliant local painter Mary Gibney's art opening this Sunday. She's a longtime West Bank denizen and gumbo chef who has a great eye for local culture and a paintbrush to match. She graciously invited my Closing Time co-author, Andy Sturdevant, and I to come chat about bar history this weekend at the Rosalux Gallery in South Minneapolis.

We'll likely go from 1:30 - 2:30, come down if you can! I can promise great art and above-average conversation.

[link is here]

2024-10-11

19th Bloggaversary Post

[Dumb coffee delivery robot on an East Bank sidewalk.]

I started this blog 19 years ago yesterday, and I'm still plugging away about once a week. Writing regularly about the city on my own platform is still the best career move I've made. Even though the blog itself hasn't rewarded me with direct income, pretty much everything I do professionally these days stemmed from it. I'm pretty grateful to have this legacy and trove of information available at my fingertips.

Of course, things online are different in 2024 than they were in 2005. Nobody blogs any more (or do they?), the Highland Villager is online now (or is it?), and there are lots of local news sources on the internet in ways that just weren't true back then.

One of the best things about having been doing this so long is that you start to really get a sense for long-term trends and storylines. Take for example the CVS store on the corner of Snelling and University. I wrote about it during the construction, criticizing the design of the building and the use of land. Little did I know than that 19 years later I would still be writing about it, now an abandoned post-apocalyptic chain retail carcass draining the life from the Hamline-Midway commercial corridor. It's this kind of perspective that forms the root of wisdom.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I've slowed down a lot here since acquiring a full-time job and a real-life child, but it's still something I dearly enjoy.