Another old Minneapolis West Bank bar is closing

Another sign that Minneapolis’ long-flowing West Bank bar scene is drying up, the Corner Bar is shutting down this month, and one of the city’s oldest comedy clubs likely will close with it.

The building that houses the Corner Bar and its adjoining Comedy Corner Underground — staples of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood for more than 20 years — was sold in July to a nonprofit humanitarian organization, and the operators of the bar are not being offered a new lease.

Staff at the Corner Bar were told Monday that the final day of business will be Aug. 24. Another popular West Bank bar, Palmer’s, also recently announced it will be closing in mid-September after its owners also sold to the building to a community organization.

A post on the Corner Bar’s Facebook page reads, “It’s not the post we wanted to make, but it looks like the Corner Bar is coming to the end of its long run in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.”

On the north end of the Cedar-Riverside district in a once-thriving nightlife hub known as Seven Corners, the Corner Bar opened in 2003 in a space that had housed numerous other bars over the decades as well as a drug store a century ago. It made its mark with a hot menu item, the Joey Wings, and with a regular joe sports-bar personality.

For stand-up comedy fans, that unfussy charm took on a deeper meaning in 2005 when Corner Bar owners Marc Dickhut and Bill Murray (not the famous one) agreed to convert their downstairs storage space into a 60-person venue for open mic nights.

Some of the untested comedians to get their start at Comedy Corner Underground went on to the national touring circuit, including Chloe Radcliffe and Jeff Pfoser. Long-established stand-up stars like Nick Swardson and “SNL” cast member Michael Che also performed underplay gigs there.

Bob Edwards, who runs the festival as well as the Comedy Corner Underground, is holding out hope that the upcoming 13th installment of the 10K Laughs fest and other comedy events can still be held in the original space come October.

“The club never really had a lease anyway,” Edwards wryly noted, but more seriously added, “I owe it to myself and every comedian in Minnesota to try to keep that place alive.”

Edwards said he has yet to hear back from the new owners of the building on his efforts. The new owners also did not return an email and phone call from the Star Tribune.

As is the case at Palmer’s — which Dar Al-Hijrah mosque is taking over to become a community center — the Corner Bar’s historic building was bought by a Muslim American organization not interested in keeping it a bar.

The organization buying the three-story building, at 1501 Washington Av. S., is the Human Development Fund (HDF), founded 24 years ago in Michigan to send humanitarian aid overseas. Recent efforts include supporting food initiatives and other relief in Gaza. HDF operates a Minneapolis office in Bloomington near the Mall of America.