Had a meeting today about this summer's 1960 Minneapolis Survey project; it's going to be awesome. So many photos, and shown in proper sizes, too. For our previews we'll have to stick with this blog's constraints. Today: Lower Hennepin between 2nd and 3rd, c. February 1960.
Wonder if the word "Fireproof fooled anyone. This thing would go up like the Reichstag.
Fleabag hotel, billiards room on the ground floor, and a tantalizing ghost ad:
The Grand: I don't know anything about it. My reference books say nothing. The true Grand was down the street, but it changed its name to the Gopher, after which the name was applied to this dump. Which was anything but.
Lili St. Cyr was a famous burlesquestripper. Rather odd to see her on the same bill as Debbie Reynolds. "Susan Slept Here" was directed by former Warner Bros. cartoon director Frank Tashlin, and also starred Dick Powell - his last movie role, I believe. The film, "Lili's Wedding Night," had been released 8 years earlier, and like the rest of her films, wasn't a great success. But she must have smiled to know she was appearing on Hennepin; she was, after all, born in Minneapolis.
It's possible her parents took her to this theater when it was a nice place. When this was a nice street.
