Photo and blog post by John Hoff
Yesterday I was in the West Bank neighborhood, and I happened to go past the "400 Bar," a popular nightspot which has a constant lineup of live bands. Their building isn't much to look at--in fact, a year or two ago part of a brick facade just TUMBLED RIGHT OFF to the sidewalk, which my son Alex thought was pretty exciting at the time, as we were about 50 yards away--but since the facade incident the 400 Bar has fixed up their exterior about as nice as they can, with really bright and decent trim.
The 400 Bar shows that even a nondescript, drab painted building doesn't have to be BUTT UGLY.
If only North Minneapolis slumlord Keith Reitman would take this lesson to heart and do something about his "ugly ass chocolate brown building" on West Broadway.
Being the amazing, true-to-life adventures and (very likely) misadventures of a writer who seeks to take his education, activism and seemingly boundless energy to North Minneapolis, (NoMi) to help with a process of turning a rapidly revitalizing neighborhood into something approaching Urban Utopia. I am here to be near my child. From 02/08 to 06/15 this blog pushed free speech to the envelope, so others could take heart and speak unafraid. Email me at hoffjohnw@gmail.com
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11 comments:
But that would mean Keith Reitman would have to spend money!
my favorite part is your reflection. i haven't seen the 400 bar in a while - i definitely think they did a good job with what they have..
I don't think anything that sits in the shadow of the crack stacks looks nice.
I'd like to see JNS get that monstrosity torn down.
Garbage in garbage out
This whole post is garbage as usual.
Trolling for college girls down their at the U?
Are you trying to get your masters truck driving degree down at the U of MN to hang in the truck in lieu of fuzzy dice?
That would be down THERE at the U.
Note spelling. Maybe hanging around school a little more would be helpful for you, as well.
I've driven down Broadway hundreds of times and I didn't realize until today that the choco brown bldg is a residential building.
I always assumed it was some forgotten warehouse or industrial space that nobody cared about.
It wouldn't take much more than a coat of paint to spruce up this section of broadway... it must be that keith is offering such a great deal on housing that he can't afford to make it look like housing.
Right, I'm sure good ol' Keith lets folks live in there almost for FREE.
(Sarcasm font)
Uh, rent is not cheap here, Anon. Thanks for playing.
I'm going to give the anonymous commenter the benefit of the doubt and assume their remark may have been sarcasm, too.
See, this kind of confusion and doubt is why the SARCASM FONT was created in the first place. When being sarcastic in writing on the internet, always say "SARCASM FONT."
sorry 'bout that. My rent comment was definitely sarcastic.
That place looks about as nice as autozone (more sarcasm).
[sarcasm]I wonder if Keith lives in a building as beautiful as that one.[/sarcasm]
seriously now... I feel for anyone who's self esteem is affected by Keith's lack of concern. That building actually has potential... the brick isn't ugly, but the mash of browns underneath just screams "I don't care!"
It's actually a pretty big apartment, and it's not terrible or "ugly chocolate brown/whatever" on the inside. My only wish is that we had a tub/shower instead of just a tub, but you make due with what you have. I'm just glad that water comes out of the faucet as opposed to sewage (my mother-in-law's house had a problem with that).
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