OurUptown Minneapolis News & Opinion

FLOR opens store in Uptown

Thatcher Imboden — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:21:31 +0000

Hip carpet tile store, FLOR, opened in Uptown May 17, 2013, at 1426 West Lake Street. FLOR sells carpet tiles with a huge range of designs that the customer chooses (staff designers can help come up with designs) and then assembles themselves in their home or office.

The carpet tiles are placed on the floor and are interconnected to one another, rather than affixed to the floor. This allows easy installation and allows the customer to change its design on a whim. Each carpet tile is approximately 20″x20″ and costs range from about $8 to $16 per tile.

FLOR has 20 locations in the US and Canada.

A display of a carpet tile rug in FLOR’s Uptown Minneapolis store

Midtown Corridor Transit Open Houses 5/21 & 5/23

Thatcher Imboden — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Metro Transit is hosting two open houses in May to gather input from community members about potential transit improvements in the Midtown Corridor in South Minneapolis. The Midtown Corridor includes Lake Street and the Midtown Greenway trench as possible routes for a potential streetcar (in the trench) and/or bus improvements on Lake Street.

Tuesday, May 21, 6-8 p.m.
Colin Powell Center, 3rd Floor
2924 4th Avenue S., Minneapolis

Thursday, May 23, 6-8 p.m.
Whittier Clinic
2810 Nicollet Avenue S., Minneapolis

Learn more about the open houses and the study.

Historic Photo of the Week: Top of the Mall

Thatcher Imboden — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:10:55 +0000

This undated photo is looking at the top of the Mall just to the west of Hennepin Avenue. For many years, the Mall’s roadway connected with Hennepin Avenue. The apartment buildings in the background are still there today but the commercial buildings are today home to the Walker Library (well, the under construction Walker Library today).

Looking south across the rail trench at 29th Street (not pictured), this photograph shows the Mall just west of Hennepin Avenue. Source: City of Minneapolis.

Ads from the Past: Orr Books

Thatcher Imboden — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:10:35 +0000

This 1975 ad was in the Calhoun Elementary School’s student paper.

Historic Photo of the Week: Street Paving

Thatcher Imboden — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:10:29 +0000

The caption to this photo in a 1928 Lake District Advocate issue was “Where Paving Was Begun at Hennepin and Lake Street.” The source of the photo listed was Minneapolis Journal. The photo is looking at the north side of Lake Street towards Hennepin Avenue.

Ads from the Past: South of the Border

Thatcher Imboden — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:10:22 +0000

The Mexican restaurant, South of the Border, was located at 1414 West Lake Street in 1975. The ad came out of the last issue of a publication put out by Calhoun Elementary School.

Historic Photo of the Week: 1400 West Lake

Thatcher Imboden — Mon, 06 May 2013 11:10:37 +0000

This likely mid-1990s photo is of 1400 West Lake Street, which today is home to Stella’s Fish Cafe. The building, located at 1400 West Lake Street, was home to the Lakeland Medical Dental Academy in this photo, an institute that had been there since the 1970s. Prior to Lakeland, a variety of training institutes/schools were located in the building dating back to the late 1940s. Before that, a ballroom/auditorium and an auto garage.

After Lakeland moved out, the building received a major overhaul and became Tonic of Uptown, which operated illegally as a nightclub before ultimately shutting down under a lot of alleged pressure from the city for liquor license violations.

Ads from the Past: Meyer’s Fruit & Vegetable Store

Thatcher Imboden — Wed, 01 May 2013 11:08:59 +0000

The Lake District Advocate had the following ad in its March 16, 1923 edition:

Meyer’s Fruit and Vegetable Store
1320 W. Lake
grapefruit 5 for 49c
large size 4 for 49c
celery, 2 bunches 25c
head lettuce 2 and 3 for 25c
seedless and seeded raisins 2 pkgs 30c
dates 2 lbs 25c

Historic Photo of the Week: 28th & Lyndale Gas Station

Thatcher Imboden — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:10:10 +0000

On the northeast corner of 28th Street and Lyndale Avenue, where today the Greenleaf Lofts is located, there once was a gas station. This early 1960s (probably 1962) photograph, shows demolition of an existing gas station and auto garage on the corner. The demolition allowed for the construction of an addition to the Salem English Lutheran Church.

The gas station on the northeast corner of 28th Street and Lyndale Avenue, approximately 1962. Photo courtesy of Salem English Lutheran Church.

The contractor used for demolition appears to be Carl Bolander & Sons Company, which has been around since 1924.

Ads from the Past: Pickerings

Thatcher Imboden — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:04:18 +0000

This ad from March 16, 1923 in the Lake District Advocate was for Pickerings, located at 2927 Hennepin Avenue:

Tissue Ginghams – In just the prettiest designs you ever saw. Tangerine-Blue-Brown-Yellow in new plaid designs. You’ll have to get some of these. Yard 65c and 69c