The Reef was a teen club located at Howie’s Bar, 2119 W. Broadway in North Minneapolis.

The 67′ by 88′  building was built in 1914 and originally held a hardware store on the first floor and the Crystal Commercial Club on the second floor.  Dances were held by the Club.  Sometime between 1927 and 1930, the second floor became the clubrooms of the West Broadway Commercial Club.

HOWIE’S

It appears that the first floor became a “beer parlor” in 1936; it was definitely Howie’s by 1938.  A 1979 article describes Howie’s:

This is a North Side institution, the premier drinking place on the long and winding road that is Broadway.  A job in the street creates a uniquely shaped, big building that is a warehouse of memories.  The walls are festooned with hundreds of artifacts:  tinted picture postcards, stuffed buck’s heads, large household implements, soldiers’ helmets, tin mess kits, World War II posters (a dead GI lying on a beat, waves lapping at his pant leg, with the caption “A Careless Word, A Needless Death”), and dozens (to us) unidentifiable objects.  (Mpls. St.Paul, July 1979)

THE REEF

In December 1963, Howie’s became a dance hall and was given the additional name of The Reef, specifically set up with a tropical atmosphere to provide a warm and fun place to to during the winter months.  One of the bands that appeared there was the Treblemen, a surf band with Dennis Libby, Randy Resnick, Bob Cohen, and Mike Mock.

Photo courtesy Dennis L. Libby

Howie’s never really stopped being Howie’s, and in 1979 there was a reference to Howie’s dance hall.

In about 1985 the first floor became the DeLisi’s restaurant, and the second floor was DeLisi’s banquet room.