Minneapolis, like any urban center, has its share of blight. These days, the North Side is considered the sketchy part of town. But a few decades ago, Minneapolis’ skid row was located near downtown, only a few blocks from my home. A locally produced documentary that aired on public television ten or twenty years ago includes amazingly candid footage of Washington Avenue’s denizens circa 1960. Back then, Washington Avenue was a much different place–bars and flophouses lined the street and drunken railroad workers horsed around on the sidewalk and in the alleys. The film’s narrator, a former bar owner who calls himself Johnny Rex, expresses a great deal of affection for these skid row inhabitants and doesn’t dwell much on the part he played in feeding their habits.
The forces of gentrification and time have erased most signs that these places ever existed. Washington Avenue is now lined with condos and coffehouses. And it will probably be completely transformed again in another fifty years’ time.
Thanks to BoingBoing for the tip.
