The 49 Club was located at Highway 49 and County Road J at the border of Lino Lakes.  The ashtray below says New Brighton, but Ryan Kelzenberg wrote to explain that “At that time the area wasn’t well known and oftentimes the Post Office that covered the area was used as the closest large city.”

The club was founded in 1962, according to documents from 1993, and was considered one of the “doors” into Lino Lakes.

The ashtray below says that the club had live music on Fridays and Saturdays.

 

 

A June 1966 article gives the owners as Ralph L. and Anthony Nathe.  Ralph Nathe died in Bemidji on November 28, 1992, at the age of 68.  In 1993, Dave Nathe petitioned for improvements on behalf of the club.

Below is an ad from a 1969 desk blotter put together and distributed by Pat Richie, late owner of Richie’s Razor Repair.

 

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TROUBLE AT THE 49 CLUB

In December 1989, Brian David Patterson killed a U of M researcher from Nigeria and his three children after having 9 or 10 drinks at the 49 Club and driving drunk.  He was offered rides home from friends and from staff at the bar but insisted on driving home himself.  He plead guilty and was sentenced to 63 months in prison.  The family’s crumpled car was attached to a billboard in St. Paul erected by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.  The widow and mother of those killed filed a lawsuit against Patterson and the bar.

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1993 UPGRADE

In November 1993, Dave Nathe, on behalf of the 49 Club Bar/Restaurant, requested permission to replace the front wall with 42 feet of glass to provide additional seating and “brighten up the interior, which presently contains no windows.”  The proposed upgrade, “while not a complete answer to improving the exterior image of the club, is a substantial improvement over the current facade,” wrote the Lino Lakes Economic Development.  The statement of need stated that the interior would be “transformed from a dark and dreary area with no windows into a very bright and open space with over five hundred square feet of glass.”

Highway 49 no longer exists.  It originally followed Rice Street from downtown St. Paul into the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, shifting a northern termini between Interstate 35W and also the Lino Lakes Correctional Facility. In the late 1990s, the route was cut back to end at Interstate 694 in Shoreview and then fully removed shortly after. Guide signs at the County Road 23 exit from Interstate 35W in Lino Lakes were marked as “OLD 49” for five years after the removal; these signs were removed around 2003.  (Wikipedia)

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THE END OF THE 49

On November 16, 1996, a rainstorm caused water and ice accumulations on the flat roof over the banquet hall of the 49 Club, which damaged the roof and caused flooding in the banquet hall.  The Nathe Brothers (owners) claimed that the roof actually collapsed from accumulations of water and ice, but their insurance company contended that the roof merely sagged.  The matter was taken to court.

The building was vacant since approximately 2003.  It had become a blighted location with illegal dumping and vandalism instances occurring on a regular basis.  (Quad City Press, October 2016)

 

 

The building was deemed “structurally substandard” by the City Council on April 11, 2016.  It was demolished in October 2016.

 

See a memoir of that includes the 49 Club on YouTube.

Thanks to Tom Lauducci for helping with this venue!