Archive for November, 2015
CALL TO RAVE and (maybe) SAVE Burma-Shave
By Steve Sandberg Thanks to The Alley Newspaper for its willingness to highlight a rare opportunity; the opportunity to save the Burma Shave building, a building loaded with history that has been on the corner of 21st Avenue and East Lake Street since the year 1900. Many if not most of you have passed that building, now covered with white vinyl siding, unaware of its history. (See excellent accompanying article by historian Shari Albers) It was early October when friend and Corcoran resident Tom Manley noted that asbestos had been removed, utilities cut off, and that the building was slated for demolition. Since then, a handful of heritage-preservation minded local historians and myself have been working hard to demonstrate that this would be a waste of a unique historic opportunity and resource. Forestalling demolition does not in any way impede the planning for the site. The new owner of the building is the Minneapolis Public Schools who will eventually develop the site to [...]
“I Didn”'t Know That!” Don”'t be misled/by white vinyl siding/a lot of history/ in these walls is hiding
BY SHARI ALBERS Burma-Shave and its iconic signage was at 2019 East Lake Street Remember when highway speed limits were 55 miles per hour and billboards were not common sights? Many of us who grew up in the 40s and 50s may recall the sequenced red and white signs that once dotted the roadway landscape. Positioned one hundred paces apart, each sign displayed one line of verse. Together, the signs created a whole poem. The last sign, like a well-placed exclamation mark, sported the familiar Burma-Shave logo. She eyed/his beard/and said no dice/the wedding”'s off/I”'ll cook the rice/Burma-Shave Use this cream/a day/or two/then don”'t call her””/she”'ll call you/Burma-Shave Past/schoolhouses/take it slow/let the little shavers grow/Burma-Shave (1940s) Clinton M. Odell”'s father developed a recipe for a pain soothing liniment. The product, called Burma-Vita, never sold well. Young Clinton, a successful insurance salesman with a law degree from the [...]
