Ads from the Past: Swede’s 1311 Club

I was digitizing my research and came across this ad on a photocopy of an article that was undated. Swede’s 1311 Club was located at 1311 West Lake Street, which is on the south side of Lake Street between Fremont and Girard Avenue. My files indicate that Swede’s 1311 Club opened in the space between 1950 and 1955 as a tavern, after replacing William Anderson who had operated there previously. Between 1960 and 1965, the business was listed in the phone book as “Thirteen Eleven Klub.”

An ad for Swede’s 1311 Club in Uptown Minneapolis, ad likely from the 1950s

Now the ad above states that Jackie Gleason was the proprietor, but I’m assuming it’s not the famous Jackie Gleason. Nothing popped up in searches but perhaps someone out there knows more about this bar.

The bar closed in the 1970s and the space became home to Fotomat, a chain photography store.

Thatcher Imboden

How cities work and change, how they are the product of their inhabitants and outside forces, and the resulting livability keep me thinking and dreaming about the future. I work in urban real estate development, am Past President of an Uptown business organization, grew up in Uptown, was on an Uptown neighborhood association Board, and am an Uptown and Lyn-Lake historian.

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