A continuation of ‘Cedar-Riverside: A Sketch of Displacement and Resistance’ from August ’23
By JESSIE MERRIAM
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Open in new tab This collage shows just some of the places and people of the neighborhood: can you spot…. the high rise development schemes of the early 1970s and their sabotagers (from the worker-run New Riverside Cafe), a man in a Palmer’s booth 1936, Bohemian Flats woman cutting driftwood in the early 1900s, a crowd at a community sing at Riverside Park in the ‘20s, Bedlam Theatre’s “West Bank Story” collab with East African teens, the beloved futon store and Cafe Extemp, Edna (of Edna’s cafe, pre-Wienery), Anne Charlotte-Harvey the Swedish singer of Snoose Fest 1972-1977, cross-dressers in the 1930s, May Day Books sign to the basement (go see them!), Kwan of Keefer Court holding pastries in the ‘90s, the Skol liquor and beef sign on the old St. James AME church (first Black Minnesota church) after they moved out for the approach of the highway…
Images courtesy Hennepin County Library, Keefer Court, Augsburg archives, and Palmer’s.
Last month there was a short article on the rich history of Cedar-Riverside/West Bank: the landing place of Minneapolis and a place where people have been holding their ground and welcoming weirdos and wanderers for 150+ years.
The article shared some of the research from the “Concrete River” mobile museum that debuted at Open Streets Cedar on Sunday, August 20th, across from Palmer’s beer garden and up the street from the Southside Battletrain (featuring a large hamster wheel, sand box, slide, and skateboard car). The music on the stage in front of Riverside Plaza was awesome. Many in the neighborhood were out and about tabling or enjoying the food and festivities. The museum and supplemental zine were a collaboration between Our Streets Mpls and the Public History department at the University of Minnesota, featuring interviews with many locals. The zine is available at Hard Times Cafe and Modern Times–it’s an ongoing project if anyone has more stories to share! The museum will also be up at Open Streets Broadway on September 16, and Open Streets Lyndale October 8th, from 11-5. The history and Our Streets information about highway impacts on this neighborhood and other can be found here: https://arcg.is/1L8GTX.
Cedar Riverside until I-35 plans removed them. 1920-1958 (on 15th Avenue across from Mixed Blood
Theatre).
