WALK

January 7, 2012 7:39 PM

WALK .. is a trippy 1983 journey from one part of Minneapolis to another. It begins with a guy who can hardly move. He slowly gains stuttered motion and utters basic letter sounds, then begins a real and imaginary walk. His journey is from his view - floating. At the end of this walk, he meets a friend. Walk's film surface is hand worked and street noise is composed as music-concrete. 16mm B/W SLYT
posted by louche mustachio (13 comments total)

Hey look it's my city!
posted by sanka at 8:35 PM on January 7

Thats really cool as a fellow Minneapolian, its cool to see what it was like almost thirty years ago
posted by wheelieman at 8:36 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]

As an older Minneapolitan, it's nice to re-visit old haunts. Schinder's especially, both of them at opposite ends of the same block, owned by feuding family members. Although, I can't remember if they were both still there in 1983. And I remember that bongo player too. He used to play all over the city. I think his first name was Del. Can't remember his last name. And the big hole in the ground in downtown Mpls was where the old Donaldson's dept store and Norwest bank stood before they burned down, in 1981, I think. And Oarfolkjokeopus, a used record store, just down the block from the long gone and much missed Mud Pie veggie restaurant. And the fantastic assortment of art galleries in the old Wyman building in the warehouse district, including the Oulman, a combination art gallery and hair salon. Ok, I'll stop now.
posted by marsha56 at 8:46 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

I arrived in the mid-late 90s, though, so many of those things had already changed or were gone entirely. It's cool to see what Mipples looked like before the utter stripmallification of downtown culminating in the hulking puketower abomination that is Block E.

For some reason, the shots of Teener's made me extra sad. That place was so neat and strange. I did find myself looking for Shinder's, too (I just found out one of my current co-workers worked there for 20 years. He has some great stories.)
posted by louche mustachio at 9:09 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

It starts at the White Castle across the street from where I lived until a couple years ago. Weird.

Here's the same location in Google Street View, in case anyone's interested.
posted by jiawen at 9:52 PM on January 7

Part of this was filmed within four blocks of my house, but today it looks almost unrecognizable. Maybe the most amusing thing is discovering that the 6 bus is still the 6 bus, all these years later. What a great find.
posted by Sfving at 10:10 PM on January 7

Okay, my notes:


Starts at Lake and Blaisdell, White Castle. Still there.

Bosa Donuts! Not named after then police chief Tony Bouza, although it sounded like it should have been.

Skips westward on Lake. Passes SuperValu parking lot, currently Rainbow Foods.

Snyder's Drugstore across from the Uptown Theater. Uptown McDonald's still looks like a McDonald's.

Northeast corner of Hennepin & Lagoon is a dead, white painted building. Southwest corner of Hennepin and Lake is the original building on that corner that later burnt down, spot is currently the Gap.

USA Today boxes would have been almost new--they couldn't have been there more than a year or so.

Skips backwards to Lyndale. Oarfolk!

Then skips to Nicollet and 18th. Red Owl! Marker's Liquor! Savitt Paints at 15th and Nicollet! I lived a block from there at the time.

Some apartment/condo buildings were really new at that time, others not yet built.

Skips up Nicollet to the Mall.

Peavey Plaza basically unchanged, Orchestra Hall upgraded since then.

WCCO building was really new.

Twin Cities Reader!

Dayton's, of course.

IDS mostly unchanged. Midwest Federal not yet closed down in S&L scandals.

Woolworth in the IDS! Donaldson's in City Center. City Center complex is only about 2 years old. Empty hole between 6th and 7th where Norwest Bank/old Donaldson's burnt down. No USBank/Capella tower yet.

Shinders! Best Steak House! Northern Lights Music! Fantasy House!

Moby Dicks - a whale of a drink!

On into the Warehouse District. Kickernick and Wyman buildings. End.
posted by gimonca at 11:21 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]

Some of the masks and window displays that repeat do look like Teener's, others look like they might have been from the American Army/Navy Surplus store, then still on 4th and Hennepin I think, now a block away on 1st Avenue.

Also, Route 6 basically follows the path of the original Como-Harriet streetcars, the same ones that run the little surviving track between Calhoun and Harriet. There's a spot at about 31st and Humboldt or Irving where you can see a building that has an odd corner setback on the south side of the street, that's because the streetcar tracks had to make a curve there. At one time, there were still tracks under 31st, not sure if there still are. (The buses continue down Hennepin to 36th today, before rejoining the original route at Lake Calhoun.)
posted by gimonca at 11:27 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]

Bosa Donuts!


Donuts? In Minneapolis? I don't believe it.
posted by louche mustachio at 6:40 AM on January 8

Wow! I never thought I'd see the infamous punk hangout that was McDonalds outdoor seating in Uptown. I could watch this again and again, a Minneapolis of my youth that no longer exists :(
posted by kuppajava at 9:30 AM on January 8

Lake Street White Castle. Now that's haute cuisine.
posted by Twang at 9:35 AM on January 8

Here is another indie film from Minneapolis: Waiting For The Fare. It was made in 1990 and also has shots of Minneapolis scenes that aren't there anymore, such as the infamous Block E of Hennepin Avenue. Filmmaker Keith Froelich made a few other shorts that capture the indie/underground/punk scene in Minneapolis in the 1980s and early 1990s. For example I'm Otto Your Mind features Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü!!!
posted by kuppajava at 9:45 AM on January 8

Now I am going to spend the rest of the day trying to figure out if that was Grant Hart's butt.


*coff* Anyway, so much has changed, but Seekins is eternal.
posted by louche mustachio at 1:19 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]