Transporting A Lawnmower "Northside Style"

Contributed photo, blog post by John Hoff

My house in NoMi--purchased for a mere $17,900--has a big yard to mow. I used to have a lawnmower, which I bought off a professional used lawnmower salesman for a mere $50--but my friend Peter Teachout is the only guy who can make that lawnmower start. So more than a year ago I "borrowed" Peter the lawnmower, but the truth is I hope I never see it again, and Peter can have it.

Now when I need to mow my lawn I have to borrow a lawnmower, usually from Megan Goodmundson or Connie Nompelis. This means transporting the lawnmower, somehow. The day before yesterday, Megan helped me move the lawnmower in the usual way: Northside style.

It's always funny, the looks you get while sitting in a car trunk, hanging on to a lawnmower rolling behind the car, like a human ball hitch. But if you wave to anybody with one hand, the lawnmower will start "fishtailing." So smile and nod, do not wave like a beauty queen on a parade float. The driver knows enough to avoid the busy streets like 26th Ave. N. and Lyndale Ave. N.

I should mention that once, just for variety, I pulled a grill this way behind Megan's car.

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Progress On The $7,900 House--The Chicken Blood Is Gone From The Vinyl Siding!

First photo by Brian Finstad with a cell phone, second photo and blog post by John Hoff

It's just a minor flaw in Connie's famous 'n' fabulous $7,900 house, click here to read more, but among a certain crowd of high profile movers and shakers in NoMi, the "chicken blood stain" has taken on a kind of legendary status. The mysterious stain--very clearly some kind of blood, smeared on the vinyl near the door in a seemingly deliberate fashion--was presumably blood from (we figured) some kind of blessing ritual.

Connie once told me, off-handedly, she was going to get rid of the vinyl siding one day and go with classic clapboard siding. Telling me that once was, as it turned out, one too many times. While doing some "pro bono yard work" for Connie I took some...

...yellow spraypaint and spritzed it on the blood stain after trying to scrub it off didn't work. Really, I figured it was just like the "vigilante graffiti abatement" I sometimes perform, though heaven knows I can't even compete in the same league with Ed Kohler who runs the popular blog The Deets.

When Connie saw my handywork, she was all, like, AAAAHHHHHHHHH! And I was all, like, Wah? Wah? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM with what I did?

Thank god she got over it. But now Brian and his partner Raymel are spiffing up Connie's house, the house formerly known as the Hawthorne Princess. Word reached me recently that Brian and Raymel found some kind of agent which got off the spray paint and the mystery blood underneath. Like the saga of the Atlas Pillar, click here, it's yet another small milestone at the $7,900 house.

Do bargains like this still exist in North Minneapolis? You bet. But there's only one Hawthorne Princess with a mysterious ritualistic blood stain.

Celebrating New Homeowners in NoMi!

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman unless noted otherwise.

NoMi Realtor extraordinaire Connie Nompelis organized a happy hour at Good Sports Bar and Grill this weekend to welcome new NoMi homeowners, (renters were welcome too!) and it was a resounding success. I arrived early, as the first order of business was to set up the Dinosaur. Or, as Bryan Thao Worra has coined it, the DiNoMisaur. We can even take it one step further and give it a second name depending on the neighborhood it's in. Since Good Sports is in my neck of the woods, on Sunday this was the DiNoMisaurus Hawthoraptor.

But the DiNoMisaur wasn't the only thing I was asked to help out with. I also brought along...

...this.



Astute JNS readers will recognize this rope as belonging to the post that tells the story about a swinger's bed. It turns out that we were able to hang signs inside and on the dinosaur without this rope. My repeated assurances that I washed the rope after each use strangely did nothing to encourage people to employ it for this event.

The owners of Good Sports know I can cook, and consider me one of their top food critics. So they brought out an item that wasn't even on the menu; the Rueben. Let me tell you something folks. This sandwich is phenomenal, and what you see below is only half. Pretty much everything at Good Sports is top notch, but I can't think of a single thing you could add or take away from this sandwich to make it any better. Five stars. It should be on the menu within the week, so make sure to look for it the next time you stop by.



Things got hopping pretty quickly, and a good mix of new residents (some of whom haven't even closed on their homes yet!) from a variety of neighborhoods, longer-term residents, and even some dedicated activists showed up. I even met people from Hawthorne that I hadn't known before. Like so many NoMi parties, there was a common refrain of, "Oh yeah! We're already facebook friends! It's so nice to meet you in person!"

I also got the occasional shout-out when I would tell people that I was the Hawthorne Hawkman on Johnny Northside. It's so nice to have an alter ego but NOT a secret identity.



After a while, a bunch of us went outside for impromptu pictures with the DiNoMisaur. First up is its creator, artist Ken Farkash.



Next up, I posed with Emily, a new Hawthorne resident, as we imitated the dinosaur's hands. This picture was taken, I believe by one of the Levey brothers, owners of Good Sports.



Finally, we decided to put baby Alex, another new NoMi resident, in one of the hands. These pictures are just so cute that they put those Anne Geddes abominations to shame. Frankly, I always found those pictures to be rather disturbing for some reason anyway.






And then it was time to go back inside for more happy hour specials (for this event only!) and plenty of great socializing with the wonderful NoMi folk. Thanks Connie for putting this together, thanks to Good Sports for hosting, and thanks to all the people who make our community so much fun!

Celebrating Earth Day At Connie's $7,900 House In NoMi...

Photos and blog post by John Hoff

Recently, I was lucky enough to have my son Alex over for a weekend visitation on Earth Day. We went to Farview Park and saw a science demonstration about groundwater. Woo hoo.

I certainly hope as Earth Day continues to develop we will have traditions that are a lot more fun. For example, recycled and re-purposed presents for friends and family. Heck, just take the old leftover Christmas stuff you don't want and give it to somebody else.

But, anyway, after Farview Park we needed a ride--my new vehicle named "Lefty" was getting fixed out of town--so we walked over to Connie Nompelis' house near Farview Park, figuring Jeff would be there hula-hooping and we could bum a ride. Sure enough...

There was Jeff doing a new hula move, click here for more details.

South Minneapolis (SoMi) activist Brian Finstad was there, and gave Alex a tour of the house so Alex could see the amazing transformation. Alex hadn't been inside the house since the night of the housewarming, so he found the changes truly notable.

Finstad kindly made a point of telling Alex how "your dad" managed to figure out a way to get the nasty, smelly fridge out the back door like an oversized Chinese puzzle; opening the fridge door and putting it outside door first, making it wheel around like a frumpy ballerina and then repeatedly kicking it to force it through, somehow doing this WITHOUT breaking the door frame. Good times.

Outside, a friend of Brian was patching up the foundation. All in all, it was a low-key but fun earth day with THE COOLEST SON EVER in a rapidly revitalizing neighborhood which has made frequent and good quality visitation possible. NoMi might be "Divorced Daddyville" but it sure beats "Lives Too Far Away From His Kid In The Twin Cities To Spend Meaningful Time Together Daddyville."

(Blogging from Frankford, Kentucky)

Party! Woo hoo! PARTY AT CONNIE'S $7,900 House In Hawthorne!

Photos and blog post by John Hoff

With improvements happening at Connie Nompelis' $7,900 house almost every day, neighbors are starting to sit up and take notice. In fact, word is the house next door--which has an identical layout and, for the past several years, has been beautifully painted--will soon be listed on the real estate market. Improvements include a brand new boiler just installed days ago.

Yay! New boiler.

No, seriously, things like that get me excited.

Clearly, the presence of good neighbors instead of 1.) a vacant house, 2.) a vacant lot, or 3.) yet another slumlord rental right next door has played a positive role in allowing the "house next door owners" to ask for a decent price instead of a "just give the damn thing away" price.

A couple nights ago, friends gathered in the backyard of Connie's house to have a barbeque and bonfire. The pictures and captions which follow are from that event...



Here is the house next door. Soon, the paint job on Connie's $7,900 house will look just as good, and the two classic homes will compliment each other and the neighborhood. Which will make MORE people move in and be good, revitalizing neighbors. It's like a positive domino effect.

Above, some of the guests at the party arrived in a limo, in the middle of a bachelorette party. This is usually a family friendly blog, so nobody look closely at the little tan objects in the young woman's veil. Every day, Connie's $7,900 house accumulates new layers of revitalization history. The bachelorette party was one of those new layers.

Here is the front porch of Connie's house, paint removal in progress.

So, a couple days ago, I was in my small semi-rural home town, visiting relatives, and I did something I hadn't done for a number of years: visited my father's grave. I cleaned the gravesite, including removing these weathered pieces of wood which once held Memorial Day flowers.

Wanting to do something special with the old wooden pieces instead of just tossing them away, I brought them to North Minneapolis to be part of a bonfire. This turned out to be the bonfire.

My father was a taxi driver in Minneapolis, often plying his trade here in North Minneapolis. It was that last cab robbery in North which made him quit, the one where he nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning, locked in the trunk of his cab by three, possibly four armed robbers who punched and pistol whipped him for a small amount of money.

The Minneapolis Police Department saved my dad's life that day, and though it was probably a relatively routine incident, perhaps even forgotten by the officers that participated, I have never forgotten the debt I owe MPD.

Well, anyway, the wood was very dry and blazed up nicely.

I'm hoping the "No Copper" sign will soon disappear from the house next door. For the record, the reason it has "No Copper" is because the pipes are plastic Pex. Also, note how the letters themselves are copper-colored. I love that thoughtful little touch. You don't see slumlord Keith Reitman doing anything that creative with his Sharpie marker.

Cooking up chicken at the barbeque, Raymel was styling with his zipper pockets. Jordan Neighborhood super citizen Megan Goodmundson is the hand model.

It seems like when you go to a party in NoMi, there's always some new and different food or beverage. This is Dutch chocolate wine, which I'd never seen before. I could have consumed the whole bottle. It reminded me of Bailey's, only not as potent so I could drink a lot more.

Every weekend is a party here in NoMi for those who are hooked in tight with their neighborhood association and neighborhood activism. We work hard to make this place better, and then we party hard, celebrating our success.

Strong, Brave Atlas Pillar Gets A Much Deserved Makeover!

Cell phone photo by Brian Finstad, blog post by John Hoff

Regular readers of JNS blog have heard about the "Atlas Pillar," which was holding up the front porch of the house Connie Nompelis (Realtor, historic preservationist) bought for $7,900.

Tonight, word comes from...

...Brian Finstad that the Atlas Pillar--which has since been joined by reinforcements--got a "revitalization makeover" in the past few days. We in NoMi know revitalization is bustin' out all over, but highly-visible outward signs like this really give a boost to troop morale. Thanks for the great photo, Brian.

Connie Nompelis Starts Online Historic Preservation Forum...

In the photo above, North Minneapolis Realtor Connie Nompelis (No-bell-iss, it's Greek) watches the destruction of the home of Pauline Fjelde, a dark day and a rallying cry for historic preservationists in the Twin Cities. Now--probably as one of the direct results of that tragic event--Connie has started a new online forum about historic preservation issues in Minneapolis.

http://preservationforum.org/forum/index.php


Saving, renovating and enjoying houses is something near and dear to Connie's heart, though I know she likes old commercial buildings quite a bit, too. Because Connie cares about the issue so much, I expect this forum to be a success and make an important contribution toward preservation issues.

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More Photos And Details: Good Sports Bar And Grill Hosts Jim Wentzell Day...

Sing along with me!

It's Jim Wentzell Day/
Super Jim Wentzell Day/
Happy Jim Wentzell Day/
A state and federal holiday/
Have a steak on Broadway Day/
Drink up a Manhattan, HEY!/
AND THIS IS THE happy drinking song!

YES! The night of our collective hopes, dreams and vision arrived last night at Good Sports Bar and Grill. It was the simple, elegant, solid-proof-we've-turned-the-corner-in-NoMi vision of longtime Hawthorne neighborhood contributor Jim Wentzell: a good restaurant on West Broadway Avenue, where you can order a steak and Manhattan.

Jim Wentzell gave us that dream, the way tribes in ancient times might receive a prophesy from their oldest, wisest elders and the prophesy takes root in every mind: we can leave this hard and rocky place, pass through difficulty but arrive on the other side of obstacles. And on that other side there is a happy, safe, productive place with meat and drink for all. If we work hard, if we all pull together, we can get to that place.

We believed in it, gravitated toward it, worked at it. And last night...

...the vision became a reality.

In the photo above, former Hawthorne Board Chair Peter Teachout poses with his youngest child and Jim Wentzell.

Here are more pictures and stories from last night...

Social gatherings like Jim Wentzell day inevitably turn into opportunities for NoMi movers and shakers to socialize. Above, Sarita Turner (the Executive Director of West Broadway Coalition) and Council Member Don Samuels have an impromptu confab. What are they chatting about? I sure hope it's the problems at Hawthorn (sic) Crossings strip mall, where there is open drug dealing day after day. I'm just saying. 

Realtor and historic home preservationist Connie Nompelis chats with Pat Carney. Pat took a bunch of great pictures which are probably already online. (Nompelis is prounounced No-bell-is, it's Greek) 

Jim's almost-his-birthday-cake was provided by Cub Foods. A VIP at Cub named Ed Anderson probably had a lot to do with it. 

Council Member Diane Hofstede made an appearance, sharply dressed as always. Above, she poses with "ladies man" Jim Wentzell and his lady friend. I hear they've been together for, like, 17 years or something? Jim has great taste. 

The guy above standing next to Council Member Diane Hofstede is a real estate developer named "Swami." He has been the quiet man behind the scenes responsible for so much progress on this part of West Broadway. As far as I know, this is the first time his picture is being published or his name is being associated with all the wonderful work he's accomplished in the Hawthorne Neighborhood. Swami doesn't appear to seek the limelight at all. But this guy deserves our thanks and praise. 

Mike Christiansen of CPED picked up the tab for Jim Wentzell. In the photo above, Mike continues to prove the ongoing Johnny Northside hypothesis that there's no family friendly way to prose with a Polish sausage. The sausage came from Pam Patrek, but was made by the husband of the person known on this blog as "the Polish woman." This sausage frequently shows up at various celebrations of revitalization progress in the Hawthorne Neighborhood, whether planned or impromptu. 

As is usually the case at "revitalizer" events in NoMi, the smallest members of the neighborhood were passed from hand-to-hand so lots of folks could enjoy "baby face time." One of the owners of Good Sports bar commented that it had probably been a long time since the establishment was so family friendly that a baby was present. To which I replied, "Well, you mean a baby present that wasn't dropped off for Child Protective Services?" 

Two former neighborhood board chairs--Peter Teachout of Hawthorne and Kip Browne of Jordan--introduce their babies to each other.

Sherman Patterson--an aide to Mayor Rybak--poses with a friend. When progress is being made in North Minneapolis, Patterson often has his fingers in it behind the scenes. 

The Teachout family loved the family friendly atmosphere at Good Sports. They had pizza with their kids, and then some virgin pina coladas; proving that "fun" is the first word in "fundamentalist." 

JoyAnne Teachout thought she'd lost her purse and called the bar after leaving. Then she called back to say the purse had turned up. While the purse seemed to be missing, everybody looked for it, even City Council Member Don Samuels. 
Peter Teachout had a conversation with U.S. Bank Branch Manager Mohammed Agoubi about criminal activity at Hawthorn (sic) Crossings strip mall, and what can be done about it. Agoubi also sits on the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council Board of Directors. 
One of the great guys who runs Good Sports. 
Another great guy from Good Sports. Here, I was trying to get the secret 12-spice chicken wing recipe out of him. I couldn't get the recipe itself, but I learned it was invented in about 1992 at "All Sports" bar and offers had been made of up to $5,000 for the recipe, but all the offers have been refused. Incredibly, there is no catchy, distinctive name for the chicken wings. 

Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?

"Atlas Pillar" Gets Reinforcements...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Some months ago, I wrote about Connie Nompelis' house in the Farview Park Historic District (the one she bought or more accurately STOLE for a mere $7,900) and how the lone, brave "Atlas Pillar" on the porch was getting reinforcements. Well, last night was one of those neighbors-helping-neighbors kinda nights, where snow got shoveled and...

Folks hung out drinking wine. I noticed the "Atlas Pillar" did indeed have its reinforcements in place and the porch no longer appeared to be defying gravity. Of course, the replacement posts don't exactly match but that's part of the quirky allure of the house. All kinds of repairs are taking place at the house--all with proper paid permits--and, best of all, this house is intended to end up as an owner-occupied structure, not yet another rental.

An Old Signature Found In The "Hawthorne Princess"

Contributed Photo

With numerous permits pulled and work proceeding forward quickly, the "Hawthorne Princess" house owned by Realtor Connie Nompelis is coming together. (No-bell-iss, it's Greek) 

Recently, a signature dated "April 18, 1940" was found beneath some old wall paper. These are the small treasures which make buying and rehabbing houses so addictive, and there's plenty of similar home ownership opportunities in NoMi.

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Blog Upgraded, Thanks For The PayPal Donation!

Stock Photo By John Hoff

So, this morning, I was trying to upload a photo of Local D'Lish store owner Ann Yinn posing with some used egg cartons--which she collects for local farmers markets--and the technical guts of my blog screamed something I'd never heard before. I WAS OUT OF PHOTO STORAGE SPACE.

Yes, this blog puts out so much image content that we've surpassed the "free space limits" of Blogspot! As you may have noticed...

I believe EVERY POST MUST HAVE A PICTURE, even if it's just a stock photo. Furthermore, this blog goes to tremendous lengths to get photographs, whether that means crawling across the surface of a not-quite-frozen lake, or purchasing cheap "gangster cams" to replace yet another low-cost, broken camera--or borrowing the cameras of friends like Megan Goodmundson, Jeff Skrenes (the Hawthorne Hawkman) or Connie Nompelis. (No-bell-iss, it's Greek)

Also, many readers have contributed photos, too many to list. Thank you, JNS blog readers. 

In any case, for a relatively low sum of money, I managed to purchase 20 gigabytes of data space for photos. (To give you some idea of how much that is, apparently this blog was already using 1 "gig" when we ran out of space this morning)

Thankfully, this blog recently received a $25 donation through PayPal, which I want to gratefully acknowledge.

Mysterious "Adult Swim" Mural Appears In NoMi...

Photo By John Hoff

For a couple weeks, I've been wondering about a cryptic and mysterious wall mural which appeared on the side of 2230 Washington Ave. N. Finally, a couple days ago, I examined the mural with my friend Connie Nompelis. (No-bell-iss, it's Greek)

Upon further examination, I saw...

The mural had the words "Adult Swim" on the side, click here for their website, which features cartoons for a grown-up sense of humor but isn't really "adult" humor in the more common sense of the term.

A little Googling revealed these murals have been popping up around the country, and at least one individual thought the murals were asking whether traditional Christmas is still relevant in the modern world. So there. Mystery solved.

While I was looking at the building, I noticed this cool star-shaped feature on the exterior. There are so many cool, historical buildings in NoMi and, for that matter, all over Minneapolis.

Too bad we have a Heritage Preservation Commission that is toothless, powerless and, at times, willfully blind and ignorant...not to mention a few of the commissioners who don't even bother to show up for a meeting.

But, oops, that's a different topic for a different post.

Researching The Farview Park Historic District...

Photos by John Hoff

Brian Finstad, a South Minneapolis (SoMi) neighborhood activist who has become increasingly involved in North Minneapolis (NoMi) affairs, was recently doing some research about the Farview Park Historic District. Brian found out that 621 26th Ave. N., pictured above, once had a tower. The tower was removed in 1920, according to old city records.

Brian and Connie Nompelis--who is totally into historic houses--believe the tower was Victorian in style and removed during the 1920s because, during that period of time, Victorian seemed old and icky kind of like a 1970s avocado fridge. However, as Connie put it so well, if you wait around long enough...avocado makes a come back.

Right next to 621 is 623 26th Ave. N., where slumlord Bashir Moghul caught a bullet recently, click here for that story.

Oh, the photo of Brian is taken inside my house on Bryant Ave. N. Brian is expressing how much he loves French glass doors.

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