December 2011
28 posts
9 tags
Dec 31st
92 notes
7 tags
Dec 30th
78 notes
Minnesota History e-Books, Cheap!
Minnesota Historical Society Press has slashed the price on ten of its most popular e-book titles (including Twin Cities Picture Show by Yours Truly). $4.99. Such a deal.
Dec 30th
9 tags
Rudy In, Wendy Out
It was an event that marked the beginning of one of the worst political miscalculations in Minnesota history. On December 29, 1976, Rudy Perpich, the state’s relatively unknown lieutenant governor, essentially promoted himself to the governorship. Earlier that day, Governor Wendell Anderson had stepped down so that he could assume the open U.S. Senate seat that had recently been vacated by...
Dec 29th
2 notes
8 tags
Dec 28th
16 notes
6 tags
Dec 24th
5 notes
8 tags
Dec 23rd
4 notes
Dec 21st
185 notes
10 tags
Dec 21st
51 notes
9 tags
Burger King Saves the Day
This full-page ad ran in the Minneapolis Tribune on December 20, 1974, the day before the Vikings-Cardinals match-up. As Minnesota Vikings fans sat down in front of their televisions to watch their favorite team take on the St. Louis Cardinals in a first-round playoff game on December 21, 1974, many of them were blissfully unaware of how close the game came to being blacked out. Earlier in the...
Dec 20th
5 notes
9 tags
Dec 19th
21 notes
9 tags
Dec 17th
3 notes
7 tags
Dec 16th
Dec 16th
7 tags
Dec 15th
7 notes
10 tags
Dec 14th
46 notes
10 tags
Dec 12th
9 tags
Scrooge Starts His Epic Minneapolis Run
Love it or loath it, the Guthrie Theater’s traditional holiday production of A Christmas Carol has legs. Scene from this season’s production of A Christmas Carol, via Guthrie Theater This is the 37th consecutive year that the Guthrie has sucked in audiences with its adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic tale. Its first production of A Christmas Carol premiered on December...
Dec 10th
12 notes
8 tags
Allan Spear Comes Out
In an article that appeared on the front page of the December 9, 1974, edition of the Minneapolis Star, State Senator Allan Spear revealed that he was gay. Never before had an American male legislator at any level—or in any state—come out publicly. (A Massachusetts state representative had recently announced that she was a lesbian.) Spear’s revelation created a sensation, both locally and...
Dec 9th
6 notes
6 tags
Dec 8th
10 notes
7 tags
Dec 8th
3 notes
8 tags
Dec 7th
4 notes
8 tags
Remembering the Cooper
A private plane sits outside the Cooper Theater before the local premiere of Airport, 1970. Photo via Minnesota Historical Society. The old Cooper Theater in St. Louis Park is one of the vanished landmarks featured in TPT’s “Lost Twin Cities III,” which debuts Wednesday (12/7/11) at 7 p.m. Yours truly, the curator of useless disco-era Minnesota history, makes a cameo...
Dec 6th
8 notes
5 tags
Dec 5th
11 notes
9 tags
Dec 4th
5 notes
11 tags
Dec 3rd
15 notes
9 tags
Dec 2nd
9 notes
9 tags
Dome Goes "Here"
Conceptual design by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1978 See if this sounds familiar… Minnesotans from all parts of the state take sides in a frequently acrimonious debate over a new sports stadium in the Twin Cities area. There are deep divisions over how the stadium should be funded, where it should be built, and whether it’s even needed. Rumors spread that the state’s...
Dec 1st
5 notes