This 3.2 bar was located at 12660 Central Ave. NE in Blaine.

CLUB 65

The first ad seen for Club 65 is in November 1962, featuring the Rum River Ramblers and Western nights. The tavern was owned by Pete Guzy, Jr., and by all indications it was always a 3.2 spot.  Guzy got in trouble for selling to minors in ’67 and ’68 – the latter resulting in having his license suspended for 30 days.

For help with this intriguing new venue, I joined a Blaine Facebook page and posted the ad for the Inn-to-It Lounge below.  Mr. Frank John Sharpe was SO helpful, and recognized it as the old Club 65, which sat on the Highway 65 (Central Ave. NE) service road in an area once known as Johnsville.  He had access to a series of Vintage Aerials, probably from the 1960s, and I have included part of one below, which Mr. Sharpe has helpfully labeled for us.

Vintage Aerial courtesy Frank John Sharpe

INN-TO-IT LOUNGE

By January 1971,  it was the Inn-To-It Lounge, owned by Doug Driggs.  Below is the one and only ad found for the place in the Minneapolis papers.  Thanks to Steve Laboe for finding it!  Note that the address is nonexistent.

Minneapolis Star, January 23, 1971

A LITTLE TOO IN TO IT

On December 19, 1972, Driggs and an employee engaged in something “really vulgar” and were charged with indecent exposure and lewd behavior. At first the city council refused to renew his license; he hadn’t been convicted of anything, but had broken his promise to phase out “go-go entertainment.” But he reapplied when two council members were missing and got his renewal in February 1973.

There were no hits in the newspaper database after that, and presumably the place was bulldozed as a public nuisance – it was remembered as an empty field for quite a while until the Emberwood Apartments were built on the site.