BY ED FELIEN The corner at Lake and Minnehaha is changing dramatically. On the surface it looks calm and much the same, but there aren’t nearly as many cars in the parking lot as there were last fall, and if you go inside Target or Rainbow the most dramatic thing…

Continue reading

BY ED FELIEN A 15-month-old baby boy is recovering in critical but stable condition at Hennepin County Medical Center where doctors are calling him the Miracle Baby. Musa Dayib probably crawled through the stiles (the railings) on the balcony in his family’s 11th floor apartment at Riverside Plaza. Miraculously, after…

Continue reading

BY ED FELIEN If you’ve ever driven through a small town in almost every section of the country, the main street will lead to a downtown and a small, one-block- square park in the center of town, and it almost always has a bandstand in the center for band concerts…

Continue reading

BY PETER BROWN, MINNESOTA TENANTS UNION Bedbug infestation is widespread in Minneapolis rental property. Bedbugs lead to renter instability/forced relocation as tenants flee infested buildings. Bedbugs also cause great distress and property damage to tenants who can ill-afford to throw out and replace the mattresses, box-springs, and furniture that become…

Continue reading

BY CHARLEY UNDERWOOD When I told my wife I wanted to write about Detroit this month, she objected. “It’s spring,” she said. “Why don’t you write about something happier this time, like gardening classes?” I frowned and muttered something about needing to warn people. Detroit, you see, is an urban…

Continue reading

BY CARLA WALDEMAR Travail 4124 W. Broadway, Robbinsdale 763-535-1131 No sign on the façade. The entrance—when you finally find it—is through an industrial refrigerator door. Rock music blares, competing with a sports bar TV. The kitchen crew (who double as servers) are dolled up with piercings, tattoos, T-shirts and bandannas.…

Continue reading

BY TONY BOUZA Movies are America’s pre-eminent art form. I love them. As I lay reading, Erica was watching a movie we’d seen, and enjoyed, years ago—“Good Will Hunting.” I vaguely looked. A romantic comedy about a genius at Harvard whose math mentor is frustrated by the hero’s reluctance or…

Continue reading

• The Field Regina Northrop Neighbor-hood Group will be celebrating its 25th Silver Anniversary with a colorful parade of VIPs, decorated cars and bikes, and lots more that will travel from 42nd Street to the McRae Park grounds on Saturday, June 7, starting at 10 a.m. The Celebration at McRae…

Continue reading

BY ED FELIEN Rhonda Dean started teaching math at the Benjamin Banneker school in the Powderhorn neighborhood, and now, after six years as principal of Andover High School in Anoka, has been named the new principal at Washburn High School. Ms. Dean grew up in Fridley and is a 1979…

Continue reading

A new roadway is scheduled for the Parkway this summer. Council Member Andrew Johnson: “Residents have enjoyed a smoother ride on East Minnehaha Parkway from Cedar Avenue to 27th Avenue South/Woodlawn Avenue thanks to upgrades last year. That repaving project will be continued this year from 27th Avenue South/Woodlawn Avenue…

Continue reading

If you love wheels, motors (and maybe beer), come out to Chicago and 48th on June 8 for the Fifth Annual Classic Car Show, put on by the national organization Street Kings Car Club together with the neighborhood’s South Chicago Avenue Business Alliance. You can show your car, truck or…

Continue reading

BY ED FELIEN The crossroads of 50th Street and 34th Avenue are clouded in my imagination by ancient memories. I remember the Leola Theatre and double features for 35 cents, Sadoff Drugstore with its soda fountain, and fast cars with fins. And I remember bowling at the Skylane Bowling alley.…

Continue reading

BY ED FELIEN What H. Rap Brown actually said in that speech in Washington, D.C., in 1967 was: “I say violence is necessary. Violence is a part of America’s culture. It is as American as cherry pie. Americans taught the black people to be violent. We will use that violence…

Continue reading