516 HENNEPIN AVE.

The Frolics Stage Bar was first at 516 Hennepin. There is an ad for the Frolics in the Republican Register in December 1944 promising Continuous Entertainment from 2 to Closing. Stebbins says that it featured out of town acts. An undated and unsigned memo (probably from the mid 1940s) says that the owner of record was Walter Benz but suspects that Tommy Banks may have held the deed. There was a fire at the Frolics on December 14, 1943, as shown below courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.

March 1944 ad from Our Town, courtesy Alan Freed

314 HENNEPIN AVE.

In 1957 the Frolics moved to 314 Hennepin and began to feature strip acts accompanied by jazz groups. A 1963 article cited Nick Colich Jr. as the license holder and noted that the bar would be torn down that February as part of the Gateway redevelopment project. Although the Housing Authority bought the building in March 1960, it continued to operate until December 31, 1962. The Frolics was on the police’s list of the city’s six most troublesome night clubs, based on arrest reports covering a five year period, primarily involving morals violations.