Responding to Susan Maricle's question about Nan's Restaurant: As noted in the Northeaster in a letter from the business' owners, "The restaurant ached for many changes and improvements. We couldn't see spending that much on a rented space that we had long outgrown." The decision was nonetheless emotional. Their landlord, by the way, was the very successful bakery next door, another neighborhood fixture and not one to villify.
I remember when Northeast Hardware, another ideal local business in another part of the same building, closed. Many pinned it on the demon Home Depot. But the real story, in short, was this: The wholesaler who supplied such small stores was ill-suited to do so but there were no viable alternatives; combine that with the owner's desire to do something else, and the answer is hang it up. The loss of each store was huge to the community nonetheless.
Such stories have been the case forever...I've written many histories on commercial corridors and have seen how businesses come and go, even the viable ones, at about the same rate as is happening now. We as neighbors should work with the landlords to get new viable uses in these spots; community development corporations and other assistance groups can always do a better job of anticipating when these things are going to happen, and try to arrange for smooth transitions.
On another somewhat related topic:
For an eye-opening history of part of North Minneapolis starting in the 1920s, and even more, the history of civil rights in Minneapolis, read "Overcoming," the autobiography of W. Harry Davis, edited by Lori Sturdevant. It's available for $28 from Afton Historical Society Press (www.aftonpress.com) and it's making its way into the libraries (there was a reading and book-signing last week at Sumner Library, which will close for remodeling in April).
I just finished reading Overcoming, and I think each person who's in some part of "the trenches" in community work will find something historically enlightening and some new ways of thinking about present-day problems and opportunities.
Margo Ashmore
Northeast & North Minneapolis
