DAYTON’S DEPARTMENT STORE

A true icon in Minneapolis history, Dayton’s was the premiere department store, anchoring the Downtown shopping district.  I won’t go into the history of Dayton’s here, but focus on the music that the store brought to the people of the Twin Cities over its many decades.  This is by no means a complete list – just… Highlights.

Also see Twin Cities Fashions, when it get it done…

DAYTON’S TEAROOM

In the 1920s, Dayton’s Tearoom had a three-piece band led by Dick Long.

DAYTON’S TOP 10 CLUB

From 1962 to 1966, Dayton’s sponsored a teen dance in their 1,500-seat 8th Floor auditorium, emceed by WDGY disc jockey Bill Diehl. T.J. Skinner attended every Saturday, and said it was extremely popular because it featured live bands instead of records.

By 1964 the dances had gotten to be too popular – one show drew 5,000 kids and got out of control.  To regain order the store formed a “Top Ten Teen Club,” limiting dance attendance to 1,500.  Billboard Magazine announced that the 1964 shows would be simulcast on WDGY starting on April 4 as “Dayton’s Top 10 Club.”

Mark Riley remembers:

It required a “membership card;” it definitely existed in Spring 1964 (height of Beatlemania); it was a Saturday event held in the Dayton’s auditorium; it probably offered record-purchase discounts for “members;” it may have had a WDGY disk jockey on-site during the show; it definitely distributed “current chart” information, possibly the ‘DGY chart of the week.

An aircheck from www.radiotapes.com in 1964 tells us that there was indeed a simulcast, and that admittance was by club card only, which was free at the teen department at Dayton’s.

At an 8th Floor teen dance at Dayton’s on January 22, 1966, a 14-year-old boy was beaten and kicked as he and three friends were leaving the dance.  The same day a store security officer was attacked while trying to control a crowd of about 100 kids on the fifth floor.  Minneapolis police pressed Dayton’s to shut down the events, and none were scheduled through February.  But they were resumed on March 1 and national acts would be brought in for some of them.

1966

LOU CHRISTIE

On Saturday, May 7th, 1966 (1:30-2 & 3:30-4pm)  Lou Christie was one of the performers of that series, backed by the Marvelous Marauders.  Marauder Jerry Cadwell reports that it was the first time he ever saw a man put on makeup (the dressing room was in the employee’s men’s room) and it kind of freaked him out! The Seeds and the Electric Prunes also played at Dayton’s that year.

DAYTON’S SUPER YOUTHQUAKE

In May 1966,  Stuart Wells, Vice President of Merchandising and Publicity for Dayton’s, visited London and observed the fashions the young people were wearing on Carnaby Street.  On his return he immediately sent Dolores DeFore, buyer of junior dresses, to London to tour the showrooms and boutiques of Mary Quant, Angela Cash, and Gerald McCann.  She observed the shorter skirts, unique fabrics, and fun feeling of the clothes. She signed Cash, Quant, and McCann to come to Minnesota.  DeFore asserted that the other major department stores, in the other major markets, didn’t come out with their London collections until September.

To show off the new collection, Dayton’s launched a “Super Youthquake” campaign in August 1966.  Super Youthquake was a series of fashion shows, a back to school event, a series of rock concerts/dances, and an actual person.  Will Jones described Super Youthquake the guy as follows:

This cat is wearing a red vinyl cape with white vinyl jacket, red and white vinyl pants and scarf, vinyl gloves, vinyl cap and goggles.  He rides a red Honda with a vinyl fin.

A Calendar of Events in the Strib dated July 31, 1966, described these “Soopah” goings-on:

• Monday, August 1, 1966:  Dayton’s Varsity Board and Teen Board arrive.  Teen Board members are in brick and heather brown military-look outfits.  Super!

• Tuesday, August 2, 1966,  2 pm:  Brookdale’s “Soopah” Fashion Show” modeled by the Teen Board and Varsity Board.  Music by the Hot 1/2 Dozen.

• Wednesday, August 3, 1966:  Southdale’s “Soopah Fashion Show” with stars and time same as Brookdale.  Dayton’s Southdale Auditorium, Second Floor.  Complimentary Tickets.

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL

Thursday, August 4, 1966:  Simon and Garfunkel star at Elite Jr’s fashion show, Kaleidoscope III.  Meet Luba, the designer!  Hear the Herb Schoenbohm Trio.  Shows at 5:30 and 8:00.  Paul and Art were spotted at the Triangle Bar that night.

THE YARDBIRDS

Friday, August 5, 1966:  “Soopah” Teen Board-Varsity Board show Downtown.  Starring THE YARDBIRDS!  And the Hot 1/2 Dozen.  8th Floor Auditorium, Downtown  Shows at 1 and 3 pm.  Although the band had made two other tours in the U.S.,  this was their first appearance in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis Star

A review in the Minneapolis Star dated August 8, 1966 said that the band lineup at that time was Chris Dreja, Jimmy Page, Keith Relf, Jim McCarty and Jeff Beck.  It also said that the members had known each other since grade school, and the word “Yardbirds” was British vernacular for “tramps or hoboes who hitch rides on trains.”  Only Jimmy Page could read music; he was the arranger for the group.

Jimmy Page:

The photo below of Jimmy Page of the Yardbirds was taken by John Morris and posted to the Old Minneapolis Facebook page.  He is pictured just outside the auditorium on top of the parking ramp between 7th and 8th Streets, just east of Hennepin.  The Lumber Exchange Building is over his left shoulder.

Page was quoted as saying:

This was the first date of any American tour for me, and on this day I played with the Yardbirds on bass.  In fact, although having had two visits to the States prior to this, this was the first time I ever played a show there.  The first date here in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the 5th of August was at Dayton’s Department Store, 8th Floor Auditorium and the surroundings felt quite surreal.

From Jimmy Page’s Web site

Kevin Odegard

This show was extremely influential to many future musicians, including Kevin Odegard, who provided this memoir:

It was a muggy, buggy summer morning at Camp Ajawah, near Wyoming, Minnesota. Little Bobby Rivkin and I rested in our tent following a ritual 20-mile hike the previous day. “There are no shortcuts” was our motto then and now. My mom was on the phone to the camp office to request a visit, which they granted.

Around ten o’clock her familiar green Ford Fairlane pulled in. “Hop in; We’re going to Dayton’s for lunch.” I knew something special was up and we were off to the city. “You like the Yardbirds, right?” “Well yeah; I love that band.” “I got two tickets in the mail from my Oval Room club. Would you like to go?” I gulped at my good fortune and settled in for one more memorable day with my music-loving mom.

Once there, she opted out for retail therapy and I entered the cavernous auditorium alone to the unmistakable sound of of Tom Nystrom doing his very best “Why” in full falsetto. Accents? By the time the Yardbirds hit the stage I was ecstatic having heard most of my local favorites again. I was from small-town rural Minnesota and these “city” bands and the Gestures from Mankato were my own personal Beatles. I even got to know some of them along the way as they passed through my town and the nearby Spectacle Lake Ballroom. In just two weeks I’d see the Liverpool lads themselves at Met Stadium (that’s another story) not to mention the Dave Clark Five in November ‘64 at the Armory.

The first song out of the gate from the newly revamped Yardbirds shook plaster off the walls as bits of acoustic tile rained down on me from the ceiling. “Ain’t Got You” is centered around a shockingly loud bomp! — bomp! kick drum figure. Years later I got a belly laugh out of drummer Jim McCarty when describing that watershed moment in my youth. “Yes. We played loud; indeed we did! Still do; how else you going to get their attention?” Jeff Beck’s ‘diddly diddly doo’ riffs answered the bomps and the show just got better from there; and louder. I noticed there was no Paul Samwell-Smith, so exactly who was that new bass player? Exactly Jimmy Page, that’s who.

I floated out of there on cloud nine to meet mom at the Oak Grill. After lunch we adjourned to the Northbriar Room, newly updated to closely mimic Carnaby Street. The bright flower print shirt and wide-wale corduroys I left with live on in yearbook photos from a class trip.

Back on earth, mom dropped me off at camp with a big smile and bid me farewell with four words I’ve never forgotten. “You’re an expensive date.”

Robb Henry:

Image courtesy George Ostrushko

Image courtesy George Ostrushko

 

---

Photo courtesy Robert J. Eveslage of the Uglies

The next night they were down in Iowa at the Roof Garden Ballroom, Arnold’s Park, Lake Okoboji, August 9, 1966.

• Saturday, August 6, 1966:  Top Ten radio show broadcast from Dayton’s Downtown Auditorium, 1 to 2 pm.  Dance to the Xpressmen!  (Bad Omens listed in later ad) from 2 til 3 pm.  Complimentary Tickets from Downtown Ticket Office.

• Monday, August 8, 1966:  Dayton’s Junior Teen Board is here today.  Look for the super JTB in pow plaid hacking jackets and hipster skirts.  The THE message for fall.

• Tuesday, August 9, 1966:  At Brookdale:  “Sound in ’66” … Jr. Teen Teen Board Fashion Show with … The Underbeats!  Brookdale Auditorium 2 pm.

• Wednesday, August 10, 1966:  At Southdale:  “Sound in ’66” Jr. Teen Board Show with the Underbeats.  Dayton’s Southdale Auditorium, 2 pm.

• Thursday, August 11, 1966:  Roger Nelson arrives with his super London designs.  The Xpressmen set the beat.  In Grandmother’s Attic, 4th Floor Downtown,12:00 and 2:00

• Friday, August 12, 1966:  Downtown:  “Sound in ’66  Teen Board Fashion Show.  TC Atlantic, the Del Counts, AND Suzie Q and the Originals!  1:30 – 3:30 in Dayton’s Downtown Auditorium, 8th Floor.  At Southdale:  meet and talk with Roger Nelson in Grandmother’s Attic, 10:30 – 11:30.

• Saturday, August 13, 1966:  Top Ten radio show broadcast from the Auditorium Downtown.  Fashions, fun dancing, too.  The Accents 1:00 to 3:00.  Complimentary Tickets from Downtown Ticket Office.

• Monday, August 15, 1966:  Seventeen-McCall’s show in Fabrics, 5th Floor Downtown.  Mademoiselle back-to-college Beauty Beat!  Two hours of fall beauty tricks.  Meet Dona Guimaraes, Mlle’s fashion marketing editor; six great looks, super hairdos, the new Miss Ritz cosmetics.

• Tuesday, August 16, 1966:  Seventeen-McCall’s fashion show moves on!  Dayton’s Fabric department at Southdale and Brookdale.

CHAD MITCHELL TRIO

• Thursday, August 18, 1966: The [Chad] Mitchell Trio, Herb Schoenbohm Trio, and Denise, the California designer!  It’s Super ”66 College Board Show time at 5:30 and 8.

• Friday, August 19, 1966:  Dayton’s Southdale presents with the Herb Schoenbohm Trio at Dayton’s Southdale Auditorium, no charge.

• Saturday, August 20, 1966:  Top Ten features the Chancellors!  Super fashions, super sounds.  1 to 3 in Dayton’s Downtown Auditorium.  Complimentary Tickets from Downtown Ticket Office.

Dayton’s put on six shows like Youthquake a year, costing $30,000 to $50,000 each.  In the August 22, 1966 issue of Newsweek, Dayton’s was named the “swingingest spot in Minneapolis”

1967

On March 4, 1967, Steven Cohen and Peter Nevard, both 24, known collectively as Fantasy Unlimited, produced a “happening” at Dayton’s with the goal of reproducing an LSD trip with lights and music and sounds.  Integrated into the show were 20 rolls of photos of images from inside the store.  They stood on top of two towers with about 15 slide projectors each and a couple dozen light switches.  A rock band played below.  The pair were graduates of Carnegie Tech and came from New York where they had done similar shows for fashion shows.  The dream was to build a walk-in psychedelic kaleidoscope nine feet tall, completely lined with mirrors.  The 12,000 sq. ft. auditorium was transformed into an “environmental envelope” where dancers were “showered with 1,000 shattered images of light.”  In her column explaining all of this, Barbara Flanagan commented “I wondered if all of the sights, sounds and possibly smells might not make one nauseated.  Should teens with tipsy stomachs stoke up on Dramamine before showing up tomorrow?”  “It could happen, of course, said Cohen.  “But it never has,” said Nevard.  Similar shows were planned for May 20 and June 17, 1967.

TWIGGY

Twiggy made a trip to the U.S. in 1967, making only three stops:  New York, Hollywood, and our own Dayton’s on April 23.  When she arrived at the airport she was met with about 300 teenage girls and eight Minneapolis girls made up to look like emaciated fashion models, holding silver “Welcome Twiggy” signs.

Photo copyright Mike Barich

1,500 teenage girls came to the 8th floor auditorium to see her; one fan who attended the show reports that the girls got free Yardley lipsticks.

Press Conference. Photo copyright Mike Barich

Twiggy’s outfit. Photo copyright Mike Barich

The Hot Half Dozen played at the event. Photo copyright Mike Barich.

Relaxing after the appearance? Photo copyright Mike Barich

PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND

On May 20, 1967, Dayton’s Department Store sponsored a second “Sensations ’67 – Trip II” show. Local heroes the High Spirits appeared with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (which included Elvin Bishop on guitar and Mark Naftalin – son of Mpls. Mayor Naftalin – on keyboards). Music Scene promised that the psychedelic show would transform Dayton’s 8th Floor Auditorium into an “‘environmental envelope’ of another time, space, and place” – all for $1.50!  Shows were at 12, 2, and 4.  The radio commercial urged the kids to get their tickets soon, as “Last time thousands were turned away!”   A third Sensations was scheduled for June 17, 1967.  (Did that happen?).

In August 1967, Dayton’s initiated an experimental film series in its 8th Floor Auditorium, some with what Will Jones described as “rock-and-light overtones.”  Jordan Belson’s “Allures” was described in the program notes as “a hallucinogenic voyage into the distance of outer space [that] suggests an emotional significance like that of music, the subliminal rhythms of the inner cosmos.”  It reminded Jones of the time he was given ether for a tonsillectomy.

THE ASSOCIATION, SPANKY AND OUR GANG

Dayton’s 8th Floor Auditorium hosted the Association and Spanky and Our Gang on August 17, 1967.

On October 23, 1967, KDWB and Dayton’s sponsored a High School pep fest at the bandstand at Lake Harriet.  Ron Block was the emcee for the event that attracted 2,000 students, cheerleaders, football players and homecoming queens from 30 schools.  The Dayton’s Teen Council put on a fashion show.  Robbinsdale won $100 for having the biggest turnout, which was earmarked for their American Field Service fund.

DIONNE WARWICK

Dionne Warwick appeared at the Dayton’s Skyroom for two shows on November 20, 1967.  Rollie Anderson remembers:

For some reason in November of 1967, Dayton’s sponsored an intimate performance by Dionne Warwick in their Sky Room restaurant area. It really didn’t hold that many people, so we felt pretty special and lucky to get tickets. The performance was announced and the tickets went on sale just five days before the show. I called Dayton’s over 20 times with continuous busy signals before I finally got through. There’s really not that much to my story but here it goes:  (from his diary:)

Dionne Warwick performance at Dayton’s is tremendous!

11.22.1967

As planned tonight, Mom, Marilyn, Shari & I all left for downtown at 8:00 for the Dionne Warwick show at Dayton’s Sky Room. When at Dayton’s, Mom felt sort of out of place because it was almost all young people, but she loved the show. Dionne was tremendous. She sang all her greats – Don’t Make Me Over, Walk on By, Reach Out for Me, Anyone Who had a Heart, You’ll Never Get to Heaven, etc.. etc.