Comings and goings on Lake Street

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE

It’s been a busy year on Lake Street since our last focus article. It’s like the title of one of my favorite SF novels, “Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town,” by Cory Doctorow, but with somewhat less violence.
At the offices of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, on the third floor of the art deco Avalon Theatre, it has been a year of change. Last April, the theater was under the direction of an excellent interim director, Catherine Jordan, who was tasked with overcoming the serious financial straits that had led to slashing staff numbers and hours and nearly to the demise of the organization. Space was tight and operations were sometimes chaotic, as key staff had left the organization taking their knowledge with them, and the hard times had forced HOBT to give up its rented extra space at next-door Plaza Verde. Jordan, in her last job before retirement, did turn HOBT around in a major way, and now the financials are much more favorable.
A new permanent executive director, Corrie Zoll, was hired in August just as the fiscal year closed. While all that was happening, major technology changes were occurring too. The organization changed its telephone and internet provider, acquired a new and simpler server, received donations of new computers, and changed its donor-management software and associated email newsletter format. Some of the staff positions lost to the fiscal crisis were replaced with new hires, and there are a few more hirings in the near future as HOBT gets back to full strength.
The build of the 42nd MayDay, HOBT’s main annual event, is underway now at the Avalon. This year, HOBT had a different kind of fundraiser for MayDay. A sneak preview showing of “40 Years of MayDay in 3 Short Films” at the Riverview Theater in South Minneapolis brought in more than the ambitious fundraising goal of $10,000.00 and was attended by over 400 people in a celebratory, early-MayDay mood. The film is, as the title suggests, actually three films by three different local filmmakers: Daniel Polsfuss, Will Hommeyer and Mike Rivard. Preceded by a VIP reception at the Riverview Wine Bar, introduced by music from the Brass Messengers, and wrapped up with an afterparty at the Blue Door Pub, this was a rousing success and a great kickoff to this year’s MayDay Festival.
There were changes elsewhere on the same block. NDC (Neighborhood Development Center)—which owns, along with business partners, several other “business incubators” including Midtown Global Market just to the west, Frogtown Square and Frogtown Entrepreneur Center in Saint Paul, and across Lake Street, Mercado Central—sold Plaza Verde to a private owner a few months ago. It is uncertain what future developments lie ahead.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Avalon Theatre, the old Kaplan’s retail site, which has sat empty since 2013 and at one time was being considered as an expansion site for HOBT as well, finally got a new owner and a new purpose. Early in 2016 a new, and now the flagship, location of Quruxlow (spellings vary in English; it means “handsome” or “beautiful” in Somali) Restaurant, a Somali eatery and cafe, opened, replacing two smaller locations along Lake Street that closed. The restaurant owner is now the building owner and not a tenant as in his former establishments, and Quruxlow looks set to become the needed stable anchor business at the corner of 15th and Lake. Of his former three restaurants, the ones at Cedar and Lake and at 3rd and Lake have closed, and the third continues in a rented space at the Karmel Mall near Lake and Pillsbury.
Another business node along East Lake is also experiencing some transformations. At Minnehaha-Lake-27th Avenue, the business dynamic was changed by the closing of Rainbow Foods, the supermarket that seemed to have been there forever. The small businesses along the little strip mall on either side of Rainbow have also suffered from the large vacant space, with at least one of them closing in the subsequent year, and others likely to follow. The area is still dominated by Target, Cub, the cop shop and just to the west, the Light Rail Station. But looking at the more cultural, less corporate inhabitants of that node, the shift is well underway from chain fast-food restaurants (the oddly out-of-place Denny’s notwithstanding) to places such as Gandhi Mahal and Le Town Talk Diner —two undeniable success stories. Sadly (I quite liked it!) the Mosaic Diner became perhaps the third or fourth casualty of what must be an unlucky space for a cafe, and it looks like that space is now being converted to offices.
Also in this hub, for nearly a decade, Patrick’s Cabaret has flourished in its quirkily-refurbished digs in a repurposed historic fire station. But just this month has come news that the Cabaret has lost its lease and will be moving out of its erstwhile home to find its fortune somewhere else, or maybe become a stateless entity. The future of Patrick’s Cabaret and the firehouse building are both unknown at this time. Patrick’s had been the main organizing force behind the wildly popular Roots, Rock and Deep Blues Festival, which had its fifth year in the summer of 2015. Despite the Cabaret’s imminent departure, it looks like the RRDBF will go on, with all the other partners intact.
The Fifth RRDBF featured for a food component an “international food court” with prominent participants Gandhi Mahal, Le Town Talk Diner, El Nuevo Rodeo and Midori’s Floating World. These four restaurants, along with Addis Ababa Ethiopian Restaurant and Harriet Brewery and DuNord Craft Spirits Distillery, went on to form a new partnership in an attempt to launch a new commercial district branding: “Downtown Longfellow.” Their biggest event so far was a little over a month ago, when they hosted “Taste the World,” along with the League of Longfellow Artists (LoLA) and some neighboring businesses. On Feb. 28, each restaurant and the brewery hosted artists in their space and offered low-cost tastings and small plates. DuNord Craft Spirits offered tasting samples at one of the restaurants, and all of the participants offered prizes for drawings as guests collected “stamps” in a “passport” at each venue. Stay alert for future events in Downtown Longfellow.
A bit farther east on Lake Street, at 4020 E Lake, the Hi-Lo Diner was opening to standing-room crowds just as I was finishing up this article. At 6:30 a.m., they opened the doors to a long line and did a brisk business all day. With Dogwood Coffee across the road, and many other new arrivals nearby (the Himalayan made a move from Seward to 29th and Lake in December 2014, for one), the dining options along East Lake Street are becoming ever more cosmopolitan, yet still remaining quite affordable.