[Winnipeg, MB.]
[Winnipeg, MB.]
[Winnipeg, MB.]
[Duluth?]
[Downtown, Saint Paul.]
[Downtown, Minneapolis.]
[Seattle, WA.]
[Seattle, WA.]
2018-05-03
Another Dive Goes Down as Hot Rod's Runs Out of Gas
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| [Via Fred Melo's Twitter.] |
When I was working on my Noteworthy Dive Bars of the Midway guide booklet, I mentioned the place to my barber, an old-time Saint Paulite who remembers nearly every bar in the city going back 60 years.
"Oh Hot Rods," he said, excitedly. "They used to have the front half of a 1961 Oldsmobile in the window that would rotate around."
Wait, what?
Well it was a long decline for this old place, that had a very Happy Days vibe to me. Only like if the show had been cancelled, but all the actors had had to stick around on set for another decade, trapped in syndication limbo.
Anyway, RIP Hot Rods. I hope someone buys this place and opens up another bar there. It'd be nice to keep the fragile Midway booze reef intact.
[Below are my notes on Hot Rods from the rapidly-going-out-of-date Noteworthy Dive Bars of the Midway guide booklet.]
Not every dive bar is worthy of laud. In fact, many are plain bores, and a select few downright depress. This is the case at Hot Rod’s, much of the time, a bland half-empty relic of a 1980s remodel that, today, sits in the midst of Saint Paul’s Midway dive row like a hyphen. I’m sure it wasn’t always this way. Dives wax and wane, pulled by currents of taste and grubby twenties.
Hot Rod’s seem temporally disjointed. It offers the uncanny feeling of escape and capture, like watching Back to the Future II for the first time in 2015.
The room opens up wide as a White Castle drive-thru. Pool tables and booths bracket a central bar area while a rudimentary stage lingers near the entrance. The walls, lighting, and thematic decor mirror the vacancy and longing. The automobile theme, 60’s hot rods and NASCAR, feel dubious as a used PT Cruiser. There was once the entire front end of a 60s Oldsmobile placed in the large front window, and I am told that it rotated for all to see.
This name “Hot Rod’s” is at least 20 years old, and it’s had the same owner the whole time. There’s sometimes an inverse relationship between desolation and welcome. Just as nobody is happier to see you than a man on a desert island, and the same holds for Hot Rod’s, where you can make fast friends with the lonely.
University Avenue during the heyday of car culture was something else. Down the street about a mile to the West was Porky’s, a classic 50s drive-in diner with greasy pork sandwiches, chrome drool, and servers in skirts and roller skates. The place beat with the pulse of hot rod culture, a cruising Omega whose parking lot had more hoods raised than not. When the light rail was built, the old owner, a former waitress herself, decided to sell out to the old folks home next door, and a sea change took hold of the street. Out with the chrome cars, the parked cruisers, the lawn chairs and coolers and men in hats watching traffic from parking lots. Hot Rod’s seems the last hold out, though you’ll find no parking lot here.
There’s a sense of self-loathing that pervades some dives on certain days and nights, where both patrons and employees seem to hate their plight, despite the responsible fun to be had. At this point, the social life of a dive dons an almost Sartrean aura, the certitude and meaninglessness of existence coming together like a cocktail of human being. It’s difficult to make sense of this feeling, the deep paradox of independence and dependency, and many dives must come to terms. How to thrive and survive in the despair of the everyday? How to reconcile the joy and depression that together mark the cure of alcohol? How to relive one’s past? Into this breach the dive must tread. There is no elegant escape.
Kitschy, utilitarian, inelegant, almost nothing about Hot Rod’s is artful, which makes it as good a place as any to start.
\
2018-05-02
Saint Paul Flags in Stock at New Low Price!
I've tweaked the colors a bit to try and make them "pop" a bit more, and match the fun coloring you see in this version (at right). I'm not sure if it's better or if it's not, but if you get a flag you can find out.
Best of all, they're on sale now for only $14!
Little, yellow, different, and fun. Get yours today and join the hundred or so people who like Saint Paul enough to fly an 80-year-old flag.
Get a flag or move to the 'burbs!
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| [Flags in the West End, near Mayor Carter, and over Can Can Wonderland.] |
2018-05-01
Reading the Highland Villager #207
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| [Men enjoying fresh Villagers on the patio at Dunns.] |
Headline: Ward 4 hopefuls seek DFL's nod at Apr. 28 convention; Mayor plies his influence with Nelson endorsement
Author: Kevin Driscoll
Short short version: [Mitra won the endorsement on the 2nd ballot; Shirley Erstad will remain in the race.] Article has pics and bios of the candidates. Mayor Carter endorsed Nelson and according to a guy in Hamline, it is "the first big political test." [I guess they both passed.]
Headline: Merriam Park development moratorium nixed; Survey of historic homes will proceed without protection
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: The City Council, following the leadership of CM Henningson, has decided not to enact a nine-month moratorium on historic properties in a neighborhood. The study will continue. Article describes the lead-up to the discussion. CM Henningson is quoted as saying the preferred to "put people before buildings." An elderly couple really wanted to sell their old house for new construction of two houses. Neighbors are concerned about "losing homes to multifamily developments." [I thought most of these new buildings were going to be single-family homes, but larger?] Article includes some history of the neighborhood, which dates to the 1880s. People are doing research on the provenance of different homes. The homes in the area have "a wealth of architecture styles that were popular form the mid 1880s to the 1930s." [As one would expect from homes built in those years.] There was a "contentious" public hearing that everyone is still talking about.
Headline: Snelling-Carrol housing project get variance
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: A neighborhood group likes a variance for an apartment building where a parking lot and one-story bunker-type building used to be on Snelling Avenue by the freeway. The variance is for balconies. Article includes some history of the building's proposals. The building will be U-shaped.
Headline: St. Paul may drop off-street parking requirements on Snelling
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: The city is studying whether to continue to force developers to build expensive parking spaces along Snelling Avenue. A neighborhood group is pondering the proposal. They would just get rid of minimums. [About time. Not that it changes all that much in Saint Paul. They got rid of minimums on University, and I don't think anyone has built housing without parking there yet.] There was a recent Dunkin Donuts project that will be one-story because building underground parking is too expensive. Neighbors have "mixed" feelings. [This is a good idea, as it increases flexibility for housing especially the potential of making it more affordable if possible.]
Headline: BZA OKs variance for modular home on old Mac-Grove farmhouse site
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: An old house is being toln down to make a new house, according to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). The house is from 1900 and was moved in the 50s. Neighbors are concerned about the size of the new home.
Headline: Winter leaves a pothole in Public Works Dept. budget; Weather wreaked havoc with city water mains too
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: Winter happened. It is expensive to push snow out of the way for cars to drive around. There were 134 water main breaks. Neighbors complain about potholes. Ayd Mill Road is mentioned. [For more on this, click here.] Article includes some details about planned construction projects. [Oh well, at least there weren't any major landslides.]
Headline: With its building slated for demolition, Big Top Liquors plans move
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: An old strip mall building that houses a [good] liquor store is going to be torn down. The liquor store will move [into an abandoned Perkins!] and they will eventually open up a new store that will be much nicer. Neighbors say that the store has been a "responsible business." Article mentions the "late Sid Applebaum." The site of the old store will become a parking lot. [Hopefully only for the "short term" but given that this is Saint Paul, it might stay a parking lot for a decade.]
Headline: UST steer students away from wine-soaked Tour de Franzia
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: Tommies drink terrible box wine just because it's funny. [See below for more details about this aspect of the study.]
Headline: City OKs supportive housing for women on Robyln Avenue
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: A fourplex will become space for women in transition. Neighbors are concerned but it does not say what about.
Headline: BZA clears way for new duplex on vacant Dayton Avenue lot
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: A vacant lot that is a bit too small for the zoning code will still become a new duplex. Neighbor is concerned about density.
Headline: Variance granted for two large signs on new Grand Ave. hotel
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: A new hotel by West 7th Street can have signs that are too large. They will be "internally illuminated."
Headline: City amends requirements for short-term rental hosts
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: Even if a host loses a license they can still have their homes on air BNB or whatever without the website getting fined.
Headline: City OKs expansion of liquor, patio service at Grand eatery
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: A new restaurant [in a semi-cursed location] can serve beer and have people sit outside. Neighbors are concerned about parking and people sitting outside at night.
Headline: Starbucks drive-thru giving traffic the jitters
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: [Looks like the Villager discovered #carbucks.] People want coffee but don't want to get out of their cars. Thus a coffee drive-thru is causing traffic jams and illegal driver behavior. There are many plastic bollards involved. A neighborhood group wants the city to issue an "ultimatum." [Possible film adaptation title: "The Carbucks Ultimatum".] Article includes extended description of a bollard. [I told you so.]
Headline: Contested seats, bylaws change mark HDC annual meeting
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: In a very unusual move, more than one person wanted to run for seats on the Highland District Council and they had to have an election. The election districts were re-drawn to reflect equal population. Some people won, but others lost. Article has lots of information about "engagement."
Headline: Seek and ye shall find; St. Thomas gets updated look at where some 2,156 students are renting space off-campus
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: [The new groundbreaking research study at UST to fit all college students with radio trackers is going well, and the researchers at the University have released a first draft of a habitat map to the public. The research team is looking at dwelling behavior, dietary habits, movement patterns, and reproduction of the population, which is growing at rates that are alarming to some.] "The number is higher than I thought it'd be," said one UST administrator. [According to the methodology section, researchers tranquilize the students with Franzia before fitting the collar trackers around the necks of the population. Interesting!] Article includes large full-color map. Quote: "the mapping will tie into a 'neighborhood livability index' that WSNAC members and other neighbors have been working on." [Livability is defined as "the absence of students." Q: Are students people? Did this study go through IRB approval?]
2018-04-30
Saint Paul's Enduring #flagcolorgate Mystery Explained
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| [From my big Strib article on the flag.] |
Setting aside the justifiable hand-wringing over proper flag design principles (aka. vexilology), I believe the Saint Paul flag is above average. What's more, the Saint Paul flag has a lovely historical pedigree filled with intrigue, mystery*, and changing sensibilities.
* more on this in a moment!
Buy yours today!
For more details about the flag's mysterious history, continue reading...
The #flagcolorgate conspiracy
And yet, the Saint Paul flag remains chock full of mystery. For example, who was Gladys Milttle and what became of her? Why are there so many versions of the flag? What happened to the original one? Why is there a stripe-less version on a pole in city hall? Who added the text and when? What font should it be?
But no mystery lurks greater within the pantheon of Saint Paul flag mysteries than the great conundrum that is #flagcolorgate.
I’ll let the tweets speak for themselves.
Joe Alton, Saint Paul flag skeptic and pillar of the community, gave the first pull on the dangling thread that became #flagcolorgate. And little by little, the sense of ease and certainty that had surrounded the Saint Paul flag for so many months began to unravel.
Witness some of unanswered questions
The unsolved mysteries:
- Was the original star blue or gold?
- If the original star was gold, did that mean that the rest of the flag’s colors might have been different as well?
- If the star was gold, as Alton perhaps alleges, who changed the color and why?
- And what did Gladys Mittle have to do with it?
- And most importantly, what side should the dome be on?
The mystery was dark and it sucked in people from all over Saint Paul. Nobody was spared, not even executive directors of regional energy nonprofits. The mystery of #flagcolorgate knew no bottom.
So what was to be done? The only clue was one grainy photo of Gladys Mittle and an unknown accomplice (Who was the second woman?) holding the original flag.
The photo quality is poor, and much like the “white and gold vs. blue and black dress” internet meme of 2015, the more you stared at the photograph of the original flag, the harder it seemed to discern its true colors.
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| [Yellow on gold flag or blue on black flag?] |
Where could any Saint Paulite go from here?
I'd quickly reached my sleuthing limits. The Minnesota Historical Society did not seem to be much help and, like the sealed-up caves underneath the abandoned Highland Park Ford factory, I felt empty inside.
It was into that breach that our first hero emerged.
The first break in the case
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| [Grainy photographs of allegedly existing flags from historical archives.] |
On his own accord, and following the train of #flagcolorgate, Spence delved into the various historical achieves that Saint Paul has to offer. First he went to the Historical Society, perched on its marble’d hill between the twin domes of the Cathedral and the Capitol, and unearthed flags from the archives.
Then Spence went likewise to the Ramsey County Historical Society and found more information on the flag and its murky origins.
Here’s what was uncovered:
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| [The only known copy of Spence's barely discernable notes.] |
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| [The original 1931 minutes of the Retail Department of the Association of Commerce, ratifying the flag contest.] |
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| [The 1932 minutes of the same association, approving the winer of the flag contest.] |
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| [A 1965 article with the last known photograph of (ONE OF????) the "original" flag(s). It has SINCE DISAPPEARED!] |
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| [The infamous 1972 "Claybourne Memo".] |
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| [Flag history summary document from 1997.] |
Key points: the oldest remaining version flag dates to the late 1940s, over ten years after the original. Furthermore, the last remnant copy is made of wool bunting, NOT SILK, meaning that it is not the original Mittle flag.
But even that flag has been lost!
Mysteries remaining:
- When was the text added to the flag?
- Who is Richard Cady of Inver Grove Heights, and is he really a kilt maker?
- And what font was on the ’65 flag “consigned to history”? When did the font change to Windsor?
- If the flag was “consigned to history”, where is it?
- And last but definitely not least, what became of the Mittle flag?
- What color was the star?
Lost in the chamber of secrets
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| [What font is that? What became of the so-called "second flag"?] |
Alas, the "Chamber of secrets" had moved locations a few years ago, and carefully gone through all of their archival material. There was not giant warehouse like in the end of the Raiders of the Lost Ark. There was no flag to be found amongst the boxes of pamphlets.
The mystery seemed to reach an impasse.
 |
| [It me.] |
But like any good investigator, I rose again to think over the facts before me. I took out my notes and re-tooled my mind.
Joe Alton's tweet kept ringing in my ears:
the "gold star" is my grassy knoll— ᴊᴏᴇ ᴀʟᴛᴏɴ (@JoeAlton) October 14, 2017
One key question kept nagging at me. Where had the description of the “gold star” come from?
It was right there from the beginning, on the flyer in the mayor’s office where I’d first discovered the basic facts about the Saint Paul flag, oh so many years ago.
I dug out my old photograph and looked again. and then it hit me. Right in front of my nose, there was a name.
Of course! The central library!
Gingerly, I picked up the phone and dialed the number. I asked for Ron Paulson. I had no idea if he was dead or alive, or if he had ever existed. I was betting that nobody at the library would even know is name.
“Ron Paulson? Sure. He’s away today, but he’ll be back at the desk tomorrow,” said the cheerful librarian. “Just call again in the afternoon.”
What luck! The man who might have all the answers existed after all!
The next day couldn’t come fast enough, and I spent the afternoon at the Rice / Arlington Batting Cage trying to smash my softball-sized #flagcolorgate anxieties into the netting of the cages.
Finally, the dreaded day arrived and I again rang the Latimer Library. Ronald Paulson picked up. He was helpful, cheerful, and right away started filling in the historical blanks. I asked him all kinds of questions, and then he offered me the gold mine. Within an hour of the call, Paulson forwarded me a pair of .tiff files full of a repository of Saint Paul flag knowledge.
Here’s what I found out...
First, the 1931 articles about the initial flag contest. These don't have any details about the gold or red star, but do firmly document the flag's historical provenance:
Second, here are the articles about Mittle's flag. While these do not firmly clear up the gold star / grassy knoll, they do clarify the mystery of the colors:
And there are some more mentions of the flag in the subsequent years:
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| [A version of the Saint Paul flag in 1961, with a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SANS SERIF FONT!] |
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| [The mystery of the Saint Paul flag dates at least to this 1963 Oliver Towne article...] |
The conclusion?
Well, I dare say that the mystery of #flagcolorgate is not yet closed. There are things we've learned about the flag, answers that have only raised more questions.At last, we know more about Gladys Mittle, for example, how she was so greatly influenced by Sister Theresa, or that she enjoyed posing with the flag.
One thing is clear today that wasn't clear a month ago. It seems that blue-on-yellow was always the original flag's color. It's stated clearly in the 1932 article that there were "three equal sized stripes, the two outer ones a yellowish gold and the center one blue."
And yet the other details remain murky. The star continues to elude me, as do the ever-changing fonts -- a cardinal sin of flag design, no less! -- that appeared insecurely on the flag and have not yet gone away.
Just like the grassy knoll, I fear we may never know the true color of Mittle's star. Was it "gold on yellow"?
It does not appear to be red, that's for sure, as the photograph at right clearly shows... It might be blue, but what shade of blue?
Then, as now, Gladys Mittle remains cloaked in mystery.
In short, no matter what color the star originally was, today it's a lovely blueish hue that contrasts perfectly with the yellow background.
So get your Saint Paul flag today! Share your love of Saint Paul and your respect for #flagcolorgate and all its profound mystery.
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