Driving Around the Northern Suburbs on the 4th of July by Myself
Yeah… Pop-up tents in parking lots selling minor explosives…That says summertime in Minnesota…
For July 4th, 2026, I chose to spend the morning driving around taking pictures. Which is something I used to do nearly every weekend, when I lived in Colorado. Of course I was getting off work between 5-6am, there, instead of 9-10pm, here. Can’t do a whole lot of outdoor photography when the sun is gone. And since I’m not keen on waking up at 6am ever, those drives pretty much don’t happen anymore.
After I wrote about the drive my dad and I took in 2018, last month, I really wanted to do it again. Great way to clear your mind of all the nagging yuck that tends to fill life these days… Decided that I was going to revisit some of my favorite locations that I either have written about (to update them), or plan on writing about (more gathering of material) someday. I finished the morning having taken almost 300 pictures, so here’s the ones I chose to write about.
This will end up serving as a sort of sequel to the last story. The subject matter is different, but it’s more driving around town, taking pictures, and then telling stories about those pictures. Stories like this take a lot of time to write, but they’re some of my favorites to put together.
Today’s starting point will be Main Street in Coon Rapids, bound for Anoka…
Either the Kiwanis Club or the Lions Club, or whomever is responsible for trimming the shrubbery around the Coon Rapids sign at Main and Wedgewood, needs to get back on the job. Pretty soon I’m going to forget what town I live in, without this reminder.
Trustone Credit Union used to be my bank. Which was close and convenient, until they closed a few years back. After sitting empty for a stretch, Trustone took over. Once they did, a pair of comically oversized chairs were placed in the lawn. Just to let you know that the folks at Trustone are nice and wacky.
Their building sits just inside the Anoka city limits.
And my first destination of the morning is in Anoka, so it’s nice and close.
Dollar General used to be a CVS, a few years ago.
Decades before that, a large SuperAmerica gas station sat on the northwest corner of Main and 7th Avenue.
Dunkin’, Papa Johns and Mike Orn occupy a new building, built where the old Anoka Hardees used to serve indigestion to go. Those same three businesses are using Hardees old sign pole. That mis-colored section was where Hardees message board was attached, telling you Frisco Burgers were on sale.
We’re not going to any of these places this morning, just waiting to take a left turn onto 7th.
To drive past the Anoka Aquatic Center… Used to go swimming here with my sister and the neighbors, when we were kids. It didn’t have elaborate waterslides back then. It was pretty much just the bare bones pool, with chairs around the deck. I’m certain it’s been at least 40 years since I was on the other side of that fence.
Making a right turn onto South Street, looking at the Aquatic Center from the south side. Overhead satellite views make me think the entire pool is new, from what I remember in the mid-1980’s. Back then, Coon Rapids had their own pool, to compete with Anoka. Upkeep proved to be more trouble that it was worth, and the pool was removed in the early 2000’s. Dug up and filled in with dirt. Just a sad grassy field (next to Minnesota’s lamest skate park) left behind.
Hans Bakery was my first destination. Unfortunately, the Hans’ rectangle part of the sign has already been removed.
I’d heard that it recently closed again, and was being completely renovated for another future re-opening. This time, it would be losing the long time Hans Bakery name. Which is probably a good thing at this point. While locals have lasting good memories of Hans Bakery, their reputation after multiple owners and refreshes over the last two decades, is rather shot.
Originally built in 1965 as a coffee shop. After it closed, Hans and Traudy Birkner remodeled and opened their bakery in 1973. More or less, Hans Bakery did well here, and was a local landmark. Hans Birkner died in 1997. Traudy ran it for a couple years, before selling the business. From there it was a 25+ year cycle of being sold several times, foreclosure, closed for several years (2010-2014) then reopened, then failure. Rince… Repeat… Hopefully you washed your hands…
I never ate at Hans Bakery, but I’d heard nothing but good things about it. That was back when Hans himself was running it. Reviews of the last 25 are less flattering. Oddly enough, the most notorious memory of Hans Bakery came in April 1982. A big food poisoning scare caused over 1000 illnesses, was traced back to Hans’ butter-cream icing. The bakery closed for a length of time that I can’t remember, after that. Once they reopened, I never heard of any more butter-cream issues.
According to the Googles, Hans will reopen as Uffda Donuts, in the fall of 2026.
Because the name Hans wasn’t nearly Minnesotan enough…
A block or so south of Hans Uffda, sits the former site of Marco’s Pizza and Family Video. I wrote about them last year. Family Video had become Mike’s Treasure Hunt. Which consisted of endless bins of random cheap merchandise. 90% garbage, but you may find some non-expired Ibuprofen tablets! Mike’s Treasure Hunt didn’t last for some strange reason. And now the space is for lease, yet again.
Happier times for the Marcos Pizza space… Earlier this year, El Tarasco Taqueria moved in. With a banner covering the old Marcos Pizza sign. Pictures of the food look good and it’s getting great reviews. It would be nice to see something succeed here, then move out to a better location. They opened up the back area of Marcos to seating, instead of its previous use for pizza supply storage.
This cluster of stores was built in 1971, which surprised me. I remember the Tom Thumb store being where Mike’s Discount Foods is, with gas pumps out front. For some reason I pictured the rest of the building being newer than Tom Thumb. Turns out, I’m newer than this place is…
Without making any more stops along next leg, except for a quick loop around for some wanted pictures, I set out east. I’m not going to bother with pictures of PDQ, the Anoka city-owned dispensary, the old Highway 10 Bowling Alley that’s something else now, Jerry’s Cycles, Fresenius Kidney, Nature’s Nursery UHaul, or Cheap Skate. They were all either blurry or bad, or nothing I felt like writing about.
I will be making a right turn onto Mississippi, because I haven’t yet taken a picture of Coon Rapids new Fire Station. Which was built on the property that used to have Cook Ice Arena using it. Much needed upgrade over the old station a few blocks away. (Across the street from Burger Time!) That one was demolished earlier this year. I got a few pictures sent to me, but was unable to make it there in time for myself.
Hmmm…. I see that Your Exchange has now closed.
According to Googles and hazy memories, it was built in 1976 as a bank. Pretty sure there were several fast food places here in the 1980’s. In 1993, it was renovated back into a bank, with weird extensions and round rooms added to the sides. It was still a bank when I moved out of Minnesota in 1996. When I returned in 2018, it had downgraded to Your Exchange. A check cashing place. Have no need for that, so it made my pay-no-mind list.
I see the property was just sold to a church, for $600,000.
So I can go right back to ignoring it!
The only time I cared about this place was around 1987, when d’angelo’s subs shared the building with Steve’s Ice Cream. “I don’t want hot fudge, I want cold fudge!” Food was fantastic, but they didn’t last long. d’angelo’s subs is still a thing, with 80 locations in the northeast, 55 in Massachusetts alone. Unfortunately, they changed the logo…
Carpet City has been vacant for going on a decade now. Inexplicably, the building was painted dark grey, from the dingy white it’s been for decades. No new tenant showed up after the exterior refresh, but it made me think something is planned for a building likely around 75 years old.
Nerdin Out’s semi-new Coon Rapids location. Been here a few times now. It’s a good job of a scaled-down version of their really cool store in Rochester.
A long time staple of Coon Rapids, is their annual 4th of July Carnival. Dating back to 1953, with various events (like a parade and 5k run and other things I have zero interest in participating in) building up to the fireworks display on the evening of the 4th. For the last 10-12 years or so, the events were moved to Boulevard Plaza Park. Which only came into existence about 10-12 years ago. The land used to be the home to one of the first fifty Targets stores in the nation, a grocery store, a couple of Dumpy Strip Malls and fast food restaurants. Which were demolished in 2010-2011, in favor of a new ice arena (operated by the city, left side of the photo) and a lame ass splash pad. Coon Rapids answer to getting rid of the pool a decade earlier.
The 2026 version of the 4th of July Carnival, is cut down to only 3 days.
In comparison to the 6 day event put on in years past.
Advertisement for the 1984 4th of July Carnival, from the Coon Rapids Herald. Before it moved to where Targets and Rainbow used to be, it was held at Sand Creek Park. That’s where all of my memories of it as a child were from. The whole deal was a fundraiser for the Fire Department and Lions Club. I don’t know if they’re still the main sponsors anymore. I’m sure I could look that up, but I’m really not at all interested in the 4th of July festivities. Especially right now. Regardless of anniversary significance.
If it were 33 years ago, I’d be booth rotting with my Doktor, at the Coon Rapids Perkins, later tonight. Which closed in 2002. I wrote about the old Coon Rapids Perkins, in a story about a closed up Perkins in Rochester. (Rochester just served as the backdrop for the story I wanted to write.) After a few years of sitting abandoned, the old Coon Rapids Perkins was demolished in favor of Club Car Wash. And the world’s been a lot less fun ever since. Perhaps my Doktor and I could meet up here and wash our cars someday?
Yeah… But it wouldn’t be as easy for us to co-draw a “Typical Radio Shack Employee”, from the vacuum area…
I worked a shift at the Coon Rapids Perkins, on July 4th, 1991. After the fireworks display ended, for the next 2 hours, the rush we had in the restaurant could only compare to the weekly Sunday morning church rush. That typically lasted non-stop from 7am to 1pm. Rude, entitled, obnoxious, hypocritical Christians. Acting in public the way they just pretended they were above, a few blocks away. If you take your necktie off and loosen your collar, Jesus is no longer watching… I hated working Sunday mornings.
Nothing worth noting until I’m approaching the eastern city limits of town…
Hmmmm… I drive through this part of Coon Rapids Blvd. all the time, and don’t recall watching this large townhome/condo/apartment building going up. One day, it just appeared behind Flintwood.
Now arriving in Blaine, Minnesota, directly east of Coon Rapids. I didn’t take any photos of Blaine’s former crown jewel, the ever-shrinking Northtown Shopping Mall. (Now in its 40th year of decline!) Didn’t take any photos as I drove by, but I did get a brief chuckle in seeing a Spirit Halloween operating out of the abandoned Hobby Lobby. That I didn’t even know closed.
Blurry photo I took of Northtown’s largest anchor, in May 2026.
Further down the mall, in the key anchor space, an Asian Market has now opened up. That large, multi-floor store was a Powers Dry Goods, when the mall opened in 1972. Then it became Donaldson’s, which became Carson Pirie Scott, which became Mervyn’s. After Mervyn’s went bankrupt, the large store was simply a giant mall entrance. With temporary walls blocking you from looking at what once was a large department store. The mall entrance gig lasted a few years, before Herbergers moved in. They were forced to vacate Apache Plaza Shopping Center, which was demolished in the spring of 2004. Though it could be argued that the presence of Herbergers added at least 10 years of life to the dying shopping mall. Herbergers then went bankrupt in August 2018, so Becker Furniture Outlet took over. They left a couple years ago, and it was vacant again.
I keep wondering when the plug will finally be pulled on the Northtown Mall. Haven’t been inside in years, but I think they are down to zero anchors, since Best Buy decided their store was better served as a Best Buy warehouse, now closed to the public. One way to cut down on all that rampant shoplifting!
FUN FACT!!! When Mervyn’s closed the Northtown store in 2001, my mom bought one of the tables used in the second floor Mervyn’s Cafe. It was then used as the kitchen table at their house until it was destroyed by fire, in May 2020.
The east end of Northtown used to feature a Walgreens (complete with a Walgreens restaurant, that closed in the late 1980’s), that opened to both the parking lot and mall inside. Tired of being used as a hallway, Walgreens moved out of the mall in early 2000. Sentimental favorite, Embers restaurant, was demolished so Walgreens could thrive. For about two decades… I was surprised last year when I saw this Walgreens had closed.
You could have just kept Embers, you know?
Distinctive Walgreens label scar left behind.
Looking inside the windows underneath that Walgreens label scar. Because the windows are higher up than my head, I had to reach up with my camera and hope I got a shot. I took a few, because I couldn’t see inside. This was the best of the west side window shots…
Same story, north side windows. Every abandoned Walgreens I’ve ever seen in person, has no store fixtures left behind. Typically when a retail store closes, the aisles of shelving are left behind. Not with Walgreens… They dismantle and take that stuff with them. Which has to be all sorts of not fun. I hated taking those shelves apart to clean them at the gas station. Heavy, large and awkward to move around. The coolers are removed as well, which can’t be cheap to do.
Guess when you’re constantly closing Walgreens and building new Walgreens, it makes sense to re-use the fixtures. Every Walgreens already looks the same, so they’re probably saving money by rotating the coolers and shelving around the country, than buying new….
Back to Embers and Northtown Mervyn’s for a moment…
On Sunday October 20, 1996, I saw Ween on the 12 Golden Country Greats tour, at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Jen, Trav and I bought our tickets from the TicketMaster outlet, on the second floor of Mervyn’s (opposite the Mervyn’s Cafe). They drove me to the show that night, because my car was jammed full of stuff that I’d be moving to Denver, a few hours after the concert. Which was amazing. A few of my friends were there, so I got to say goodbyes at a Ween show. Incredible send-off.
The audio (no video) isn’t perfect, but thanks to YouTube, you can also hear what my ears enjoyed on my last night in Minnesota.
Driving home, they suggested a late dinner at the Northtown Embers.
Absolutely!
My departure to Colorado was delayed further by an hour and a half, as we ate and talked in a mostly empty family restaurant. Just as we’d done many weekends for the last two years. They completely understood that I was sad to go, but ecstatic to leave. I needed to leave Minnesota, and the countdown had reached the end. I was on the road west bound by 3:30am. Didn’t even bother sleeping.
I stole the Embers Turkey Breast Sandwiches table tent card, as a souvenir of our last night of hanging.
Just wish it said Embers anywhere on it.
The Blaine Embers closed in 1999. Quickly demolished for Walgreens, who lasted almost exactly 25 years.
When I’m in charge, there will be no more new Walgreens (or CVS) built. Any new Walgreens (or CVS) will be obligated to re-use one of the abandoned Walgreens (or CVS) buildings that are littering the landscape nationwide.
Behind the abandoned Walgreens is the fairly empty Northcourt Commons shopping center. Built in 1988, the anchor on this end was originally an Office Depot Max. Which appealed to me as a teenager dabbling in pens and notebooks. When that chain downsized, it became a Big Lots. It’s been empty since Big Lots big left.
Northcourt Commons stretches for about two blocks. To the left of this picture would be Barnes & Noble. Still open from the mid 1990’s, and still useful. Green Goods sells weed. That used to be a Big & Tall clothing store, 30 years ago. State Farm used to be Shinders. Which was my long time happy place. Baseball cards… Extensive newsstand… The porn room… Comic books… I miss Shinders…. A few stores out of frame to the right was FuncoLand, pre-dating your Game Stop nonsense. Other stores in the commons back in the 1990’s, included the CD Exchange. Supplying nearly as many disks to me as Columbia House and BMG did. Who also ended up buying back some of those same Columbia House and BMG disks when they sent me absolute drek. There was also a Subway, back when that was still food.
The last time Laura and I stopped through here, there was a small pile of homeless person belongings on the sidewalk. Not another person in sight. Oddly appropriate for Northcourt Commons of 2026.
Taking a gander across County Road 10, there’s the very plain looking Mattress +. A few years back, this was an abandoned Mattress store, with a touch of vandalism. I took some pictures of it, even stopping the car to walk around, but they didn’t seem important enough to write about. Guess it’s good to see it’s back selling mattresses again. Looking rather sad though… Perhaps the vandalism stripped away its self esteem?
Site of where Jimbo’s Italian Restaurant used to stand, until it was demolished about 5 years ago now.
Got a decent set of pictures of that place, which will be written about at some point.
But for now, we’re going east, into Spring Lake Park!
If you’re searching for something representative of patriotism, look no further than the Spring Lake Park Water Tower. Now in its (at least) 5th decade of displaying an all American paint job. Something I remember seeing on every drive east on County Road -then Highway- 10, dating back as far as I can recall. Didn’t have all those cell phone antennas until more recently…
Hy-Way House Motel was built in 1959. It hasn’t been bright pink since the late 1980’s, so that’s a good thing! I know nothing about the quality of it, so I’ll assume the mixed bag of reviews average out to exactly what I’d expect.
From here, I took the winding business access road around to 81st Avenue, where it crosses Highway 65, looking west. Along the way, I passed several old and uninteresting buildings. Plus the somewhat new Hy-Vee grocery store and gas station. Those pictures were all blurry, and I really have nothing to say about Hy-Vee.
They sell food.
Cool.
The Spring Lake Park Pizza Hut is now a Pizza Hut Classic. Meaning the restaurant has been redone with a full retro look. Bringing this location back to what it looked like 40 years ago. When I actually did eat here. Which is pretty cool, and I briefly thought of some day coming here to eat, just because of the flashbackiness of the concept. But Pizza Hut’s food has been ass for going on 30 years now. I wouldn’t want to sit in a 1980’s atmosphere and taste their 2026 garbage pizza. Appreciate their effort in trying something new (old), but unless they’re serving actual 1980’s Pizza Hut pizza, this isn’t worth more than a mention…
Terrible photo, but I wanted to point out they even went as far as to replicate the classic stained glass hanging Pizza Hut light covers, above the tables. Awesome, but you can’t have a 1980’s Pizza Hut, without a Ms. Pac Man machine by the door. And from the collection of interior photos on the Googles, I didn’t see any stand-up arcade games.
So there’s still work to be done there…
Habibis Halal is here today. But in the last 20 years, this has been a taco shop and a coffee stand. Trying to remember back to what this was in the 1980’s and I’m drawing a complete blank.
I continued up the frontage road, wondering which building was at one time Mr. Steak. Site of numerous childhood family dinners out. Most likely location is the building now operating as Hopes Chinese Restaurant. Though it easily could have been demolished and rebuilt as something else.
Looking at you, Pain Solutions…
Further up the business access road, past several uninspiring buildings, the road just ends in front of this office building. Seriously though, I drove all the way to the end for this picture. Back in 2000-01, this office building was the home of a Preferred Computer Service franchise. Operated by my former roommate, Crazy Carl. One night while I was in town, we smoked pot and ate White Castle, while fixing my old laptop computer at his office. This took place in the lower level, first window from the left, around 2am. I don’t think his office was here long enough to be featured on the 10-way pole sign. However, the silver engraved Preferred Computer Service sign that was attached to his office door, hangs on the wall of my office today. Just as it has hung close by my computer since Crazy Carl’s Preferred Computer Service ceased being a thing.
POOF!
Back to Highway 65, now going south. Wanted to make note of the Pedestrian bridge crossing the road at 79th Avenue. This is so people living on the opposite side can cross over to the Spring Lake Park High School. Which would be on the right. This bridge hasn’t changed for as long as I can remember.
Central Bargain Lot today, but that’s a 1960’s era Phillips 66 “gull wing” gas station.
Nice to see one has survived in Spring Lake Park!
Today it’s Melt n’ Dip, but 21 years ago, this was known as Biff’s Billiards. A place that Tracy and I visited several times for drinks and pool. The last time we were there was probably January of 2005, and I won a free pool cue and carrying case! I won it because the guy who was an absolute piece of shit to Tracy and I, left it behind when his friends hauled his drunk ass out of there. Tracy already had her own cue, so she said she was going to use her wood burning tools to create a custom Wasted Quarter pool cue for me.
Unfortunately, I moved back to Colorado before she finished it.
A few months ago, I learned she passed away in March 2024. That still really sucks.
And I’m probably not going to get my pool cue, that was never mine in the first place.
I wrote about the former Fridley Wendy’s, earlier this year. As noted in the story, Wendy’s was painted black when it reopened as Spice & Flames Mediterranean. But they’ve been “temporarily” closed for over a year now.
Friendly Chevrolet was known as Viking Chevrolet, back in the 1980’s. And Viking Chevrolet was known for one thing… Those loud obnoxious commercials with national pitchman, Dave Campo (1933-2011). Regardless of what channel you were watching, he appeared nearly every commercial break, standing in front of a green screen, disingenuously telling you: “Friends… Pick up the phone… Give us a call… Seven Eight Six… Sixty-One Hundred…”
You couldn’t live in Minneapolis in the 1980’s, without being completely sick of hearing Dave Campo shilling used cars.
Kurt Manufacturing’s die-cast division. My dad work for Kurt from the late 1970’s until the early 2000’s, when he physically broke down and couldn’t work any longer. He didn’t appear too often at this branch, as he spent most of his time at the Main Street plant, in northeast Minneapolis.
I love run-down looking gas stations, even if they’re still open. As I waited for the light to change so I could get back on Highway 65, I had to snap this obstructed shot of Kitty’s Corner.
Fridley Dispensary is the latest identity for this building, after stints as a check cashing place, auto repair and numerous other things. This is the nicest that building has ever looked!
Minnesota has been RIDICULOUSLY slow in rolling out their recreational marijuana program, but we’re finally seeing real progress over the last year. Unless you’re in Coon Rapids, then you have to go outside the city limits, for some reason that likely makes certain people feel righteous. I don’t need all of the suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul to look like Denver, in relation to the abundance of pot shops, but it’s 2026… Cut the bullshit already.
Heading south on Highway 65, approaching the Mississippi Avenue intersection. Nice old car in the left turn lane. That configuration of traffic lights has not changed since I was a little kid. Ample rust shows they’ve probably not been painted in decades either… Even as young as 4 years old, I’d memorize various intersections traffic light set ups, so I could draw them on the backs of placemats used by family restaurants. Like Perkins!
Roads like this are still a sort of timeline. As you drive them south, you are piercing the various rings of suburbs. Buildings (that have survived) are generally a lot older, the closer you get to Minneapolis. So you can see how the metro area has spread, in relation to the housing, retail and industrial setting up and filling in, as the metro area grew.
A couple thousand feet or so south of Mississippi St., is Moore Lake Park. As a little kid, the idea that Moore Lake is split in two by Highway 65 going right through it, intrigued me. I decided that I should stop and take a look, as I don’t think I’ve visited this park in about 45 years.
Doesn’t look like Moore Lake Park’s beach is used for swimming anymore. I do remember swimming here as a little kid, but our visits here ended for whatever reason. Highway 65 can be seen in the distance.
After getting back on Highway 65, which is more recognized as Central Avenue as you drive south, I didn’t see much of note until I was deep into Columbia Heights. Older retail and newer retail mixed together as property turnover allows demolishing and rebuilding. For example. I know there used to be a Kmart store on Central, somewhere around 50th Street. Every time I drive down Central, I look for the building (obviously it would no longer be open), but cannot see anything that looks like it was previously a Kmart.
So I finally broke down and did what I should have done years ago… Just look it up!
The Columbia Heights Kmart closed in the spring of 2002. It sat empty for a few years, and was demolished in 2006. As of July 2026, nothing has been built at the front of the site. The store used to sit on a hill, with a large parking lot in front of it. The parking lot is just a grassy field with some trees on it. Looks like there’s been some dirt redistribution to build up the hill. Which now has townhomes, and a re-routed street in front of them. However, a tiny reminder of the Columbia Heights Kmart still exists…
Googlesmobile drive by from July 2011.
Fronting Central Avenue is the Kmart parking lot entrance and exit turn off. It’s still there in 2026. The city has placed cement barricades blocking the turn off over the last couple years, but they never removed them. Likely because the land is still for sale, and this gives the new owner a head start on access. I chose the 2011 drive by picture because it included the old Kmart sign. Which has been repainted and covered to advertise the “Grand Central Lofts”, which I’d assume are the townhomes built on top of what was once Kmart.
The former Kmart sign had been taken down before the next Googlesmobile drive by, in September 2013.
While clearing out my parent’s house, after the May 2020 fire, I pulled an unassuming box of stuff out of a closet. My mom said to bring the box to my house so she could go through it later. When I flipped the box over, this label was still attached. Dated: January 8, 1974. Containing one dozen 16oz Touch of Sweden Hand Lotion w/Pump. Ship to the Kmart store at 4747 Central Avenue NE, Columbia Heights MN. From the S. S. Kresge Company, Lawrence Distribution Center. S. S. Kresge was the parent company of Kmart, you can see where the Kmart logo evolved from the S. S. Kresge logo.
The presence of this label will keep this box alive for my own storage needs. Saved from the recycle bin, where most of the boxes from the house fire ended up.
My parents rented an apartment in St. Anthony between 1970 and 1971, before the house in Coon Rapids was built. They frequented this Kmart as it was fairly close to where they lived, and on the way to where they were going to live. In the early 1970’s, the Kmarts in Blaine and Coon Rapids hadn’t opened yet. Coon Rapids had a Zayre’s Shopper City, and Blaine had Northtown, but retail options in the north metro weren’t what they’d become.
A few years ago, as I was writing about the Northeast Business Center demolition, I confused the Columbia Heights Kmart with the Columbia Heights Zayre’s Shopper City site… That story covered the business center, Heights Theater and the old Zayre site. So this next part will be a little update on that story.
That was actually about 4 blocks south of where Kmart was.
And I was absolutely shocked to see nothing had been built after the large abandoned retail store was demolished in July 2023.
Zayre site in September 2022, thanks to a Googlesmobile drive by. In the 1960’s and 70’s, that entire building was a Zayre’s Shopper City. By the early 1980’s, Zayre was done, and it was sectioned off into smaller retail. Rainbow Foods was on the far left side, until they were sold and closed in 2014. Slumberland Clearance Center had the largest store in the middle, but they left in 2015. Meineke Auto took over the Zayre auto shop space on the north end. Likely not continuously. Frattalones Ace Hardware and Dollar Tree, held out until closing at the end of 2022.
Definitely a place I wish I would have paid more attention to, a few years ago. Think on my way back, I’ll drive around the block, so I can see the perspective from the bottom of the hill. But for now, time to continue driving south on Central.
A boarded up house will always catch my eye…
Oh no… The Dairy Queen next door to the Heights Theater has closed… Not that I ever went there, I only went to the Heights Theater once, and we didn’t have ice cream after or before.
Roughly the same angle, June 30, 2018. The movie on the marquee is what Laura and I went to that night. I’d like to watch it again, really liked it eight years ago.
Railroad tracks crossing Central Avenue at roughly 36th. This is a branch off the main tracks running through Minneapolis, that reaches out to St. Anthony, New Brighton, Mounds View and Arden Hills. Though the tracks now end at Highway 10, with the decommission and demolition of the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant in Arden Hills. Which officially closed in 1976, but took decades to clean up. Now there’s an area I would have loved to photograph… Too bad it’s all gone now.
An old building being renovated at Central and 18 1/2 Avenue.
Which is apparently a good place to dump old mattresses.
This used to be a Burger King. It closed at some point between June 2007 and September 2008, and was converted into what appears to be a daycare or preschool, between July 2011 and September 2013. Hey Googles, how about driving by places I remember once every six months instead of every two years, so I can keep better track of them?
At least twice in May of 1994, I picked up food from this Burger King after my shift at Steven Fabrics, a couple blocks southwest of here. And the reason why I’m driving down here this morning.
Railroad bridge over Central. Another park of the network I crossed over a few pictures ago.
I’ll also be making a right turn onto 14th, just after the bridge, to start the loop I did daily for five weeks, 32 years ago.
For years, I thought my temp job from May of 1994, was inside some of the old buildings that had been demolished in favor of gentrification. Because nearly all of the buildings that surrounded it were gone. The massive six story Timber & Tie Urban Apartments took out everything on the south side of 14th, with newer single story buildings on the north side. After 32 years, I didn’t recognize this street at all.
There’s an old warehouse turned studio, at 14th and Van Buren, headlined by Fueled Collective. Whatever that is. An older Googles photo reveals the paint at the top of the building reads: “Process Displays”. Later, I read this building had been sold in 2007, then gutted and completely redone.
Yet something felt familiar about it…
I slowed down as I reached the part of 14th Avenue where the pavement ends and the original Cobblestone street is revealed. There are random parts of the streets in this neighborhood that still have exposed Cobblestone. Hard to imagine that laid stone has held up for probably 100 years of Minnesota winters. How do snowplows not rip them right out?
At this point, my car was at an entrance to a parking lot, with trees and overgrown bushes not allowing me to see into the lot. Another car was coming up behind me, so I continued on my planned route. Crossing the tracks (with a picture hopefully), then making a left onto Quincy St.
When I started writing this story, I went back to the last two pictures because I felt like I was missing something. I once again did the obvious and Googled it. Steven Fabrics operated at 1400 Van Buren St NE. That address is the Fueled Collective Process Displays building! I examined the satellite view closer, and the property was starting to match what I remembered. A bunch of old buildings that were connected, very close to the railroad tracks. I just thought it was further south.
To the Googlesmobile!
Yup… That’s the parking lot entrance. I went with a drive by from October 2016, because the shrubbery is trimmed enough that I can get a clear view of the parking lot. Seeing this image brings it all back…
I drove here every morning for five weeks. Doing a job of custmizing pre-assembled Venetian Blinds, inside of a really cool old warehouse. Which was part of a series of really old warehouses, with various businesses operating inside. The part of the building painted gray, is where I’d enter every morning, to punch in. Wind my back back to where it connected to the five story brick building behind it, and up to the second floor. The area I worked in being the row of windows starting with the orange square, going left to the stairs covered by the green awning. That entire floor was open, but lined with shelves full of “raw” Venetian Blinds, of various widths, lengths, material and colors. Multiple work stations were set up around the inventory, consisting of a table, with an adjustable rack to hang the blinds, various needed tools and a short stool to sit on. You spent a lot of time hunched over finish the blinds.
My job was to pull the raw blinds ordered, that were closest to the requested size. Then I’d trim off and inch or two of length on the bandsaw, if needed, then bring them to my work station. Hang them up on the pole and unrolll them to their factory set height. Then I’d have to cut out several inches worth of blinds in height, to what was ordered. Then tie the strings to the bottom bar, lock on the color appropriate clip, roll them back up, package them and put them in a cart where they’d go to shipping. It wasn’t bad, and I could listen to cassettes on my walkman. (Though batteries were a constant purchase…) Several times a day, I’d walk up to the 3rd floor creepy men’s room. Gave me chance to explore more of the warehousel building a little bit. Which I had a cellphone with camera then…
The foreman of Venetian Blinds was pretty cool, I had zero problems with him. There were a couple of guys in their mid to late 30’s, a fleet of Asian women of varying ages, and an old cunty woman that was really arrogant and no one liked. Her name was Marge, if my weird memory isn’t malfunctioning. When everyone was told to take the day off, she worked and scammed the extra Holliday pay on Memorial Day. Pissing off the men in the department, who didn’t take kindly to her antics. I didn’t care, would have rather been at home anyways. The joys of temp work… Which was a lot harder, duller and paid less than my cushy gas station gig…
But I will make something of my life!
Other than verifying the address, I found no indication that Steven Fabrics is still operating here. Or at all…. Googles lists a big buncha “New” Northeast Minneapolis style business operating here today, but nothing very warehousey. According to research, this is the Northrup King Building, which was built in 1917, for the Northrup King Seed Company. They left and sold the building to Jim Stanton of Shamrock Properties, in the late 1980’s. Which is a familiar name, because Jim Stanton was the developer behind the Oaks of Shenandoah housing development, which swallowed up hundreds of acres of property in northern Coon Rapids, in the early 1980’s. Including everything surrounding my parents house. I heard the name Jim Stanton many times growing up, and was semi-shocked to learn he had a hand in the renovation of this massive old building I used to work inside.
Surprised by my delayed discovery, let’s continue on the loop I normally took after my shift…
More railroad tracks cut through the area by 14th and Quincy. This part of northeast Minneapolis used to densely packed with warehouses and light industrial shops, given the proximity to rail. That all started to fade 50 plus years ago, and this area became very run down and kind of sketchy. (A perk of working down here, I love that kind of atmosphere.) Over the last 20 or so years, it’s become a trendy area for apartments, microbreweries, studios, restaurants and offices.
I couldn’t get nearly the full building into this shot.
Built in 1910, this is an interesting transformation from my memories of driving by, in 1994. They put a huge investment of time and money into converting this from a large 100,000 square foot industrial manufacturing plant, in 2019-2020. Looks nothing like the previous tenant…
Kurt Building, via Googlesmobile drive by, July 2019.
My dad worked at Kurt’s Quincy plant fairly often. When there was project that his welding skills fit, he would work there for several weeks, before going back to the Main St. plant. Kurt left this property in either 2017 or 2018. I chose this drive by because it showed Kurt closed and boarded up. However, if you advance the drive a bit to the right, the plywood covered front door is propped open. So work may have already begun on renovations.
Quincy ends at Broadway (unlike it crossing in Englewood, CO), with Uncle Franky’s Burgers operating from a small building at the end. Looking at their Googles page, I may have stopped in, had they been open. Food looks pretty good!
Taking Broadway a few blocks east to Central, then back north to the next leg of my mission.
Which I was pretty much making up as I went…
Crossing a bridge over the railroad tracks I photographed earlier. If you looked closely, you could see that bridge in the distance. The large (former) General Mills elevator, next to the tracks is now “Highlight Center”. Which I think is more a name for the area, than the old elevator. But I’m only going by what I can find quickly on the Googles. I’m not writing a biography.
Northeast Ice Arena was built in 1997, so it wasn’t around when I would have been driving by 32 years ago.
Heavily tagged fence lining Central Avenue, outside the NuWay addiction treatment center. Given the state of the neighborhood, I’m assuming the tagging was intentional, because baby, that’s art…
Okay… Enough of this area. Let’s get going back north. This part of the mission was a rousing success, even if it wasn’t at the time.
St. Andrews Cemetery was probably here before most of the stuff around it.
I’d love to see the area as in looked in 1857, when the cemetery was established.
How does a building promoting this address, NOT have a dispensary inside?
Waiting in the left turn lane, snapping a photo of Done Right Food… The right side of the picture shows the former parking lot of the demolished Zayre Shoppers City building in Columbia Heights, Yup, I’ve already made it back this far!
Coming down the hill on 43rd. The lot is starting to fill in with nature. Weeds are forcing their way through the cracked parking lot. Zayre’s building has been gone for three years now, and this some prime real estate, so where are the multiple apartment towers? No “Lifestyle Center” yet? Think of all the mixed-use residential/retail potential that is just being wasted by doing nothing with this land!
Longtime friend of Wasted Quarter, we’ll call him “Freelance” for the sake of anonymity, sent along a few pictures of the Zayre building being demolished, in July 2023. This one was taken at roughly 43rd Avenue and Quincy St. The same Quincy St. that the Kurt Building used to be on. Only not continuously.
North entrance to the parking lot, off 44th Avenue.
Cement barricade blocking people out, and that semi trailer trapped inside.
The Hilltop water tower behind the Starlight Motel. Which is on the opposite side of Central from the old Columbia Heights Kmart, I covered earlier. Hilltop is a tiny community of less than a thousand residents, and a lot of trailer homes stuffed into 16 city blocks, surrounded by Columbia Heights. Not sure why they’d bother staking out their own city inside of a city, but whatever works, I guess…
As far as the the Starlight Motel goes, it’s your typical old highway roadside motel. Looks like it’s a little cleaner than you’d typically find, but I’m sure it’s not all that different from what you’d expect. Their sign is top notch however!
A little further up the block is Tri City Auto, in a building that is in dire need of a paint job, Across the street is Flameburger. I’ve been intrigued by Flameburger since I saw the Little Canada restaurant in the mid 1990’s, on my way to play in a softball game. (One of the very rare times I’ve ever played softball. Little tolerance for the egos involved in amateur team sports…) Flameburger is more of a diner style restaurant than a fast food place. Both locations have great reviews and the food looks simple and basic and delicious. One of these days I’ll try it. Only been thinking about it for around 30 years now…
Columbia Heights has their own pedestrian bridge crossing Central, at around 49th Ave. About 30 blocks south of the pedestrian bridge crossing Central, in Spring Lake Park, that I drove under earlier.
Now back in Fridley, I have to grudgingly mention this fairly new Bank of America. In order for Bank of America to build on this spot, they had to remove that last restaurant in the Embers chain. Which was once 30 strong, over 65 years.
Ricky’s Embers closed in March 2021, when the owner sold the property and retired. Unfortunately, this is the best photo I took of their building, in June 2018. Would have cropped out the flag for a better image, but I’m leaving it in because of the holiday. Really doubt it’s the same flag and pole as the one outside the new Bank of America.
Was inside the building only once. Jen and Trav and I ate here once in the early 2000’s, when I was visiting from Colorado. While the food was good, the atmosphere was different compared to what was by Northtown, 5 years earlier.
The Emberger Royal was one of the better attempts at a restaurant staple, the Bacon Cheeseburger. “Signature” barbecue sauce being the key factor. I could go for one now…
When I’m writing these stories, if I’m somewhat hungry they’ll end up going off on unplanned food related subjects. I didn’t plan on looking at Googles for an extra 20 minutes, reading about Embers, and looking at pictures of their food. But I did the same with Uncle Franky’s Burgers and Flameburger, as well. Which takes stories like these al lot longer to write.
More fun for me though!
After crossing under Highway 694, I took advantage of a red light to snap this photo of the Holiday station on the corner. I stopped here earlier for restrooms, before going up to Moore Lake Park. (My photos at that time didn’t turn out very well.) Not this physical station, but a smilier gas station stood at Central and Hackmann Avenue, 45 years ago. The only thing I remember about that was our family stopping there for drinks and snacks, before crossing Central, over to the 100 Twin Drive-In Theater.
There isn’t much for Googles photos of the 100 Twin Drive-In Theater. The name 100 comes from Highway 100, directly south of the drive-in. Which pre-dated Highway 694, but followed the same basic route. Of the few available, I opted for Star Tribune, after the May 1965 tornado. The 100 Twin opened in 1950 with one screen, and a second screen was added in 1958. Until the early 1980’s, my parents would take us to drive-in on a semi-frequent basis. Either the 100 Twin, or the one in Coon Rapids, depending on what was showing where. I don’t recall us going to Blaine’s drive-in very often.
The 100 Twin closed at the end of September 1985 (same year the Coon Rapids Drive-In Theater closed). The land was soon snapped up and is now used for Medtronic’s world headquarters.
I continued on just past Moore Lake, then pulled off into one of the strip mall parkings lots along East Moore Lake Drive. My plan was to drive east to Silver Lake Road, but I didn’t want to go very far north to get there. Figured there was a nearby cross street that would put me where I wanted to be. Sure enough, Mississippi Street is just two blocks north of here!
Ahhh… Beautiful New Brighton, Minnesota!
Denny’s Service Center, on the corner of Mississippi and Silver Lake. Built in 1971 as a gas station, it’s been Denny’s for as long as I can remember.
Taco John’s has been vacant and boarded up, after closing in June, 2022.
Though I see the plywood has been removed from the windows. Problem being, I didn't see it until it was too late to pull into the lot. And I was too short-sighted to turn around and go back. Maybe I will...
Never ate there. According to real estate information, it was built in 1977. Couldn’t tell you if it’s been anything other than Taco John’s. It looks like one of their builds from that era, so it may have always been. Googles still list this as open, despite multiple people saying it’s been closed for years. And when it was open, the last year or so of reviews there (and on Yelp), paint an interesting picture of what it was like…
A little further down the Silver Lake Road is New Brighton Ford. Located off a business loop, behind the Highway 694 west entrance ramp.
Crossing over 694, looking west.
Leaving New Brighton briefly, to enter Saint Anthony Village. A small, neighborhood community, nestled in the first ring of northern suburbs.
Silver Lake Village is the heart of St. Anthony. A moderately sized “Lifestyle Center” established about 20 years ago, to replace the Apache Plaza Shopping Mall, which opened in 1961. Apache Plaza had been dying a long and sad death since the mid-1980’s. Never fully recovering after a 1984 tornado damaged the building, causing a six month closure re-build. Some stores never returned. Through the early 1990’s, the mall was still pretty full. By 1995, the writing was on the wall.
As I mentioned earlier, my parents used to rent an apartment not far from the mall itself. Because of that, there was a loyal to it, and it was visited often. From 1992 until its closing day in 2004, Ron Suppon (and for a while, Terry Leslie) operated Coaches Corner inside the mall. Spent a lot of money on baseball cards there. That card store was the reason to keep going, and keep watching the mall decline into sadness.
The mall was finally closed to the public in early February 2004. Demolition prep started immediately, but the mall was open to the public for one final day, on March 20, 2004. Called the Bulldozer Bash, it was a public meeting in the center of the doomed shopping mall, to promote the new Silver Lake Village that was replacing it.
No one wanted to hear any of that. We all just wanted to say goodbye to the mall in our own way.
Man… The part of this video where the 10 umbrella columns, holding up the center of the mall, all crumble down at the same time, really hits hard… I knew the demolition was going on, and I wasn’t living very far from it, but I couldn’t bring myself to drive down to watch Apache Plaza being demolished.
Jen and Trav and I spent about an hour walking around the mall for a final time. I took some crappy, grainy photos while we talked about the place, and stores we frequented. Jen knew little of the mall, other than it being run down and that no one shops here. Trav and I had many specific memories of our time here as a kids. This is the southeast corner wing, created out of what was once a Montgomery Wards store. Cost Cutters was the last open business on this end, and I’m pretty sure they closed by early 1996.
Trav, waiting for his haircut, outside the now open storefront. (Miss you, dood...) Workers had pulled out all of the mall’s fluorescent light tubes, so the fixtures were all hanging open. It was very dark inside the mall that night, temporary lights were set up in the center, but I’m pretty sure the electricity to parts of the building had already been cut. You can’t really see it in the picture, but there was a great deal of black mold growing along the base of the walls inside Cost Cutters. You could see it in the pictures I took of Apache in December, 1999. Mold was a problem in this part of the mall, as the roof had serious leaks for years.
I took more pictures with my crappy 35mm camera, but not nearly enough. Took a lot more in December 1999, with a much better 35mm camera (but again, not enough), on a focused mission with Crazy Carl. Those were for a Wasted Quarter story I was super excited about writing. Kind of look at it as the first story I wrote for this site, yet it has never appeared here. At some point, I need to write my definitive Apache Plaza story, and finally make use of those pictures.
The Bulldozer Bash was held on a Saturday night, and the mall started coming down a few days afterwards. Demolition was started on the Montgomery Wards end. So Cost Cutters was one of the first to go. Doubt anyone saved that sweet Cost Cutters family from the wall first… Demolition of Apache Plaza was complete by May 2004.
After it was demolished, clusters of shops and apartments lined new “city streets”, that were built on the mall’s property.
The apartment building behind is newer. Silver Lake Village was to be anchored by Cub Foods on the north, and WalMarts on the south (opening on March 23, 2005). WalMarts pulled their typical shitty business tactics and closed the store in April 2014. Less than 10 years after building a huge store that would likely never see a different tenant. They got a sweeter deal from Roseville, about two miles away, so cares about the investment into St. Anthony? The old new WalMarts sat empty from April 2014, to December, 2020, when it was demolished in favor of these apartments.
I wrote a story about it, several years ago.
Chase Bank is also new from the last time I drove down here (about 4 years ago).
Starbucks is inside an abandoned Wendy’s, which I wrote about years ago.
Going to check out some more of this area on my way back, as there’s a couple places in Roseville I want to check out first. I’ll be making a left turn onto County Road 93, to get there.
I think St. Anthony Cleaners was owned by the people who ran Apache Cleaners in the mall. As the remaining businesses closed in the early 2000’s, I’m pretty sure they moved to this building, a couple blocks away. I’m not positive about that by any means.
The New Brighton Perkins looks like it may be a boothrotting space.
Pretty far away for that, but nice to see it’s still open.
More driving later, and I’m on Cleveland Avenue, waiting for the light at County Road C, in Roseville. The new, traitorous WalMartier WalMarts was a few blocks behind me. Just to the right of this photo is a Burger King I ate at many times in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Still open too, which is nice to see.
India Palace had a previous life as the Roseville Happy Chef.
I wrote enough about Happy Chef, a month ago.
Since I last wrote about this place, Joe Senser’s Sports Grill has been converted into Community Medical Services. Not much has been done to exterior, the volleyball court and patio still appears as it was when Senser’s closed. Looking through the interior photos on the Googles, shows how extensive the renovation was. Doesn’t look anything like it did in 2021, when I took photos for this story.
The reason I came this far into Roseville was a build I saw when Laura, her nephew Luke and I were coming back from St. Paul Saints game in late May.
Wally McCarthy’s Cadillac & Hummer operated here for many years, with the building going up in 1973, with a major remodel in 2003. Not sure when the Luther family took it over, but they closed this location in 2024, and moved to a new building in Vandals Heights. According to the banner on the front of the building, this is set to become an indoor playground. Which is probably a good second life for it.
Should have gotten out of the car and taken some window pictures, but didn’t.
So it was a little bit of a waste to drive out here for just this…
Googles lists this as Lynch CEO Enterprise, but a little digging reveal it’s basically just a large warehouse. This is the front end, behind the railroad tracks at Fairview Avenue and County Road C. Built in 1965, the warehouse is actually long, over 60,000 square feet, extending far beyond what my picture shows. No reason, I just liked it as I waited for the light to turn.
Davis Lock & Key moved into this former gas station in 2020 or so. After sitting empty for nearly a decade, when Xpress Lube moved south, closer to Rosedale. I remember driving by this vacant oil change shop for years before seeing this new business operating here. The gas station dated back to 1954, while the Davis family has been in the Lock & Safe business since 1923.
Avis Car Rental is another newer business operating out of a gas station, that ceased being a gas station, decades ago. I do remember it as a Shell station in the 1980’s, but I don’t think it has sold any gasoline in at least 25 years. If not a lot longer. The mirror windows were always an oddity. You just don’t see that very often. The building itself has been here since 1963, but I wonder what year the mirror windows went in. Unless they’re original? Which I doubt.
Looking at the Googles, I found this gas station was built in 1963. Of the national chains that operated in Minnesota in 1963, this architecture most resembles that of a Clark station. As they were the only chain that commonly used large front windows that angled down.
Clark is my guess, and I’m sticking to it!
Continuing west on County Road D, I’m back in St. Anthony, just south of Silver Lake Village. As the Apache Plaza Shopping Mall fades further into memory, the Apache name has also faded away. When the mall was at its peak, many businesses in the area adopted the name as their own. Added benefit that it would be among the first in the phone books, Which were absolutely a thing in the 1970’s and 80’s!
Apache Animal Hospital is one of the last to use the name, still going today.
As you approach the railroad tracks a few blocks from here, a frontage road starts to merge. This is to allow access to this cluster of in-line retail was built in 1969, one block west of the Apache Plaza Shopping Mall. As long as I can remember, it always looked run down. I’m surprised it’s still near capacity (which it pretty much always has been), and does look better after a makeover, about 15 years ago.
Apache Watch & Jewelry was an original tenant of Apache Plaza, dating back to the mall’s opening in 1961. A couple years before the mall closed, they moved to a storefront in this center. Still open in 2011, but gone by 2017. I have have a picture of their empty mall store, which was next door to the Apache Wells bar. You will have to wait for those!
Those aforementioned railroad tracks on 37th, with frontage road merging behind them.
Fascinating stuff, but something behind that has caught me eye…
The long time SuperAmerica (Speedway) has closed! According to typical rumors and innuendo, this location called it quits in April 2024. The lot already had a decent amount of weeds popping through the cracks. Pumps, canopy and underground tanks are removed as well. So it’s been a while.
According to the most recent Googles drive by, in April 2026, there was a temporary security fence around the property. It was falling over in the picture, and it’s gone today, So I didn’t bat and eye when I pulled onto the lot for this photo. Unfortunately the windows were well papered over, so there wasn’t much to see. You people should know better!
Couldn’t find any information about when this station was was built, but it looks like a mid-1980’s model of SuperAmerica. Really faint and vague memories about an older gas station on this lot, pre-dating SuperAmerica. But could find nothing out. Either way, I was briefly saddened to see it gone. Never once went inside, but always remember it from the parking lot of the Apache 6 Theaters, across 37th.
Next door to the theater (which closed in 2003 and was demolished in 2007), is a large retail building. It was thrift store named Unique, a few years back, but has been closed since 2019. Recently, Bela Hall renovated it. Their sign is hiding behind the wood plywood sign that previously announced it was for lease. Much like the newer sign next to it is doing now.I’d assumed it was still closed, since my picture sucked. Only found out about Bela Hall when I looked it up to write about it.
Originally built in 1971 as a Poppin’ Fresh Pies restaurant, it converted in the early 1980’s to a Baker’s Square, when the whole chain changed its identity. This Baker’s Square closed in late 2007, then it spent a few years as an IHOP (2011-2014), which I never knew until today. After pancakes, it was The Unofficial Dive Bar, from December 2015 to September 2022. Now it’s the Five Hole Sports bar, and has been since January 2025.
None for me, thanks…
A couple blocks north is a long abandoned property that perplexes me… Small block of in-line retail, anchored by a gas station/convenience store. It was built in 1988, and appears to have been completely vacant since 2014. The property was last sold in 2014, for $455,000. From what I read online, it’s owned by the City of Saint Anthony Village. Funny it hasn’t been flipped, redeveloped or leased, in over 12 years now. When I wrote about Joe Senser’s Sports Grill, in October 2022, I added a few more notes about this property, after a walk around. Many of the windows have a sticker attached, reading: “No Trespassing by order of the United States Marshals.”
Still don’t know why they’d care about a vacant strip mall in St. Anthony…
But I’ll keep checking on this place until something happens.
It also happened to be the last location on my July 4th, 2026 Photo Tour plans. So I turned around and took 37th Avenue back to University Avenue. Back in Columbia Heights…
Driving north on University, there’s still a great amount of older buildings seeing use today. Some have been renovated to an updated version of themselves, like Lowell’s Auto…
And some look like it’s still 1978...
Columbia Market going hard sell on dry ice…
Which is part of the charm of these streets. Unlike the gentrified retail centers we seem to be stuck with everywhere today, this has character. Not a bunch of clusters of glass and concrete, with unnecessary rectangles of random colors. That likely can’t last five years in business before becoming something I would want to take pictures of.
Speaking of…
Aged and obsolete Moon Plaza in Fridley, was demolished in September 2023, then turned into these apartments. Now I’m in no way saying a strip mall full of vacancies and underwhelming service/retail, has any value compared to housing for hundreds of people. This is far better for the city than Moon Plaza could ever be again…
But if you’re judging by character alone, with no consideration towards usefulness, Moon Plaza’s urban decay was far more appealing than that bland, ugly, modern box of boxes. Very little character in this architecture.
Another example lies a mile or so north of here, still on University…
The new Fridley Fire and Police Station are a massive upgrade from their much smaller and older facilities, about 5 blocks south of here. I’m sure they are functional and great and state of the art and awesome. But god are they boring…
A decaying abandoned Columbia Ice Arena was a far more interesting structure to look at. Outdated? Yes, it was built in 1968. It was obsolete without major upgrades in 2007, so it was quietly closed and left to deteriorate. Until 2015, when the City of Fridley decided it needed to go, and tore it down. Honestly, a new city services center was the most logical use for the land.
I took a bunch of pictures of Columbia Ice Arena, in 2011 with a friend of mine. Overall I’m not happy with the pictures I took that late afternoon, but I’m very happy I took a decent amount of useful shots. Someday I’ll do something with them for this site.
Fridley Perkins is still open! And it has been a previous site of boothrotting....
Now I’m back in the southeast corner of Coon Rapids, making my way home.
Mr. Car Wash replaced the old Coon Rapids Burger King, which I wrote about a few years ago.
La Casita had people inside, removing stuff from the former restaurant, that closed over a year ago. First sign of activity I’ve seen there since it closed. A week later, I drove by again. Nothing much had changed, and this truck was still parked out front.
Lived in Crapids from 1975-1996, 2003-2005, and 2018 to now. And I learned this tiny trickle of water flowing under Coon Rapids Blvd., was named Pleasure Creek, last year when they put this sign up. No idea what sort of pleasure this creek serves. Maybe if you kick the empty paper cups, fast food wrappers and other assorted trash out of your way, you can get your feet wet? Hooray for Pleasure!
Trees around Atlas Staffing have reach full maturity, almost completely blocking off the building from site. Originally a gas station (the 610 Express) in the parking lot of the 420 Suites. They had a good had a 20 year run, before closing for good in 2013. The gas station sat empty until 2019, when Atlas Staffing opened up shop. A temp agency in the parking lot of a pay-by-the-week motel is some pretty high level planning.
My window of time where the 610 Express station had personal relevance is almost exclusively the window of October to December, 2003. When it was a handy stop for both Crazy Carl’s stint at the 420 Suites, and my Doktor's office on Flintwood. When I’m in the mood to write the story of that brief period, the 610 Express will come back to life.
Coon Rapids just had to join other northern suburbs like Spring Lake Park and Columbia Heights, and built their own pedestrian bridge. Trying to keep up with the cooler kids in Columbia Heights and Spring Lake Park, is it? Well, It’s still not open (oh wait, now it is…) and has been under construction for about six decades. It’s been an irritant for years on my commute to work and back. And it’s only cost like $4 million too, so were doing well here…
We also have our very own abandoned CVS (at Crapids and Hanson Blvd.). At the moment, all 3 of Coon Rapids Walgreens store are still open, but we’re down to just one CVS. Things are getting dire here, folks. We may just have to trade our brand new Pedestrian Bridge to bring more drugs in…
This town of nearly 65,000 doesn’t even have one dispensary within its city limits.
But you can now comfortably walk across Crapids Blvd!
YAY!
Now waiting for the light to turn at an intersection I’ve spent many hours of my life, looking at… (What was previously) Mobil is on the southwest corner. Which went from a tiny, two garage bay and a cash register gas station, 35 years ago, to this today.
Then you look at the northeast corner of Hanson and Robinson…
Expedition Credit Union…
Congratulations Jerry, you won.
Still find myself daydreaming about all those nights “working” at the old 99 Spillihp, quite often…
Life will never be that simple again…
Since I’ve spent a chunk of this story talking about the former Kmart and Zayre Shoper’s City stores in Columbia Heights, I should probably show the Coon Rapids building that previously housed both of those dead superstores. Life Time Fitness runs the building today, but Zayre was first. The exterior brick work matches the random colored brick used on the Columbia Heights store. Zayre opened in 1971 and lasted until 1979. Kmart took over and made it to 1995, before closing up shop. After an extensive remodel, Life Time Fitness opened up in late 1995.
Across the street is the Silver Star Car Wash. The long closed Khan’s Mongolian BBQ was sacrificed for car cleanliness. When it opened it helped address the severe lack of Car Washes in town. Now we have like 30 of them. No dispensaries.
Abundance of car washes.
And a Pedestrian Bridge.
Now I’m back living in the area where I unfortunately have to see Coon Rapids High School often. After all the years in Colorado, where I never saw it, that school is back to a several times per week, drive by…
Guess this is as logical place as any to stop. From here, I met my mom for lunch and went to the grocery store, then back home. None of that was particularly interesting or notable, so there’s no need to go any further with that.
The rest of July 4th was nice and low key. Neither of us were feeling at all patriotic, to celebrate this nation’s milestone birthday. Of course that has everything to do with the state of the nation we are supposed to be celebrating.
Besides, we can just stand outside and hear the war zone of minor explosions all around us.
No need to leave the house!
And I still think our national anthem should be changed to this.
Says more about our country today, than what the old anthem waxes poetic about.
Later in the night, we made frozen pizzas for the 4th. DiGiorno rising crust pepperoni with green olives and pineapple for her. I tried the Screaming Sicilian Detroit Style Pizza for the first time, and it was a game changer. This is the new frozen pizza of choice for me.
(The traditional 4th of July grilled burgers and hot dogs was last weekend…)
We both avoided the chaos of the holiday in public, and stayed home for the night.
No fireworks this year.
Happy birfday ‘Murica.
Now PLEASE… Grow the fuck up.
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