Thank you to Alan Slacter, Buzzy Bohn, Alan Freed, and all the folks on Facebook who have contributed photos and comments to this page!

 

Mixer’s was located at 221 Cedar Ave. So. at Washington Ave., Seven Corners, West Bank.

The building, considered as 221 – 225 Cedar Ave. So. by the City, was constructed in the spring of 1889.  It was a four story, 66′ by 76′ brick block of three storefronts with dwellings up above.  Decorated with a tall, delicate tower on the corner, the building came to be known as the Tower Hotel Building.

---

 

The photo below gives another address of 1811 Washington Ave. So., which runs along the side of the building. According to the permit cards, this was a frame addition to a hotel, but perhaps not our hotel, since it was built in 1886, three years before the Tower Hotel was built.  In the early 1920s there are references to the Twin City Creamery Co.  The whole thing was demolished at the end of 1962 – it was described as a 36′ x 85′ x 20′ frame building.

The photo below is undated, but because it holds the Minnesota Candy Kitchen, one could assume that it was taken in or after 1920.

 

 

---

 

SALOON

As early as 1891, and perhaps right away, a saloon was located here.  From a newspaper report, we know that in April 1894, Saloonkeeper Ole Anderson was in trouble for staying open on Sunday – part of a Citywide crackdown.   It is likely that the saloon lasted until Prohibition started at the beginning of 1920.

 

---

 

Since there were three addresses, it is a bit difficult to tell what was where when.  Hints come from the city’s permit cards, but they seldom give the various addresses.  Here are some activities in the building:

Barber Shop:  One was in the building as early as 1895, and there was evidence in 1912.  There was also a notation for a beauty parlor in 1934.

The building held a meeting hall/lodge room, as noted on the permit card in 1906.  A newspaper article dated March 1916 mentioned the  Grant IOOF (Odd Fellows) Lodge.  I found a few other references to the Grant IOOF, but no address.  The notes on the photo above say the IOOF Hall was on the third floor over the chiropractor’s office overlooking Cedar Ave.

A puzzlement is a notation on the permit card that $6,000 in repairs had to be made after a fire (permit pulled March 13, 1911), but I found no sign of what would have been a big fire on or near that day

Melia Music Store:  An obituary said that this store was here (at 223 Cedar) from 1913 to 1917.

A bowling alley/pool room couldn’t have coexisted with a music store, but the permit card indicated that one was at 223 in 1913, and in 1915, the equipment was up for sale.

 

---

 

MINNESOTA CANDY KITCHEN

Once Prohibition came upon us, the saloon on the corner had to pack it in (or at least go underground).  Notations on the permit cards indicate that it was some kind of restaurant or “store” in 1924 and 1930.

But we know that by at least June 1928, the corner spot was the location of the Minnesota Candy Kitchen.  This is entirely consistent with most saloons, which turned into “confectioneries” or candy stores during Prohibition.

An ad in the South Side News in October 1934 clinches the deal. They didn’t even bother to change their name after Prohibition made whatever they had been doing under the guise of being a candy shop legal. Anyway, their ad touts wines, liquors, 6% beer, Fried Chicken and Steak. Dine and Dance!

In May 1935, there was the New Candy Kitchen, perhaps with new owners.

---

 

MINNESOTA GRILL

By June 1936, the place was the Minnesota Grill.  A newspaper search found absolutely nothing extraordinary about it – no ads, no dining, no dancing.  Just a bowling team, wantads for waitresses, and a few burglaries.  The Minnesota Grill held the spot on the corner until at least May 11, 1959.

---

 

TOWER HOTEL BUILDING FIRE

At 12:30 pm on November 26, 1950, fire broke out in a lower floor of the Tower Hotel Building and swept up the air shaft to mushroom and trap residents on the fourth floor.  The 27-degree weather and brisk winds whirled smoke over the area turned Seven Corners into a scene of confusion, reported the Minneapolis Star.  More than 75 residents groped their way to safety, many rescued by firemen on ladders.  Water poured into the structure quickly turned to ice.   The fire was brought under control by 3 pm, after most of the city’s equipment had been called to fight it.

Four residents of the hotel died in the fire, all trapped on the fourth floor.  Their ages ranged from 45 to 70.  Another woman’s hands were severely burned, two firemen were overcome by smoke, and five people were treated for minor injuries, including the building manager and his wife.  (Minneapolis Star, November 27, 1950)

 

 

 

 

---

 

Permits for the demolition of the top of the tower and the fourth floor were pulled on December 1 and 4, 1950.

 

---

 

MIXER’S

Ernest B. Fairbanks and Charles A. Beckman moved into the corner space in March 1962 and got a liquor license that August.  Mixer’s became a Beatnik/Hippie venue 1960s, as the University of Minnesota expanded west over the Mississippi River (the first U of M building appeared on the West Bank in 1961 and the new Washington Ave. bridge was completed in 1965). Mixer’s was referred to in detail in Erik Fraser Storlie’s book Go Deep and Take Plenty of Root (2013).

 

 

 

In 1974, Fairbanks moved Mixers to 1201 Washington Ave. So., where it was still called Mixer’s until at least 1984.  He sold it in 1988; when he died in 1991, the relocated Mixer’s was known as Maxwell’s.

 

---

 

SERGEANT PRESTON’S OF THE NORTH

By April 1976, Mixers had become Sgt. Preston’s. An article from 1978 said that it offered no entertainment.

In 1987, Steve Mularky bought a $60,000 half-interest in the bar with $40,000 he borrowed from a drug dealer.  The dealer’s brother sold Mularky cocaine, which Mularky then sold to pay off his debt.  The Feds allowed Mularky to plead guilty to covering up money laundering, but they also allowed him to keep the bar in order to pay off $150,000 in debt.  (Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 17, 1993)

 

---

 

PRESTON’S URBAN PUB

New owners reopened the renamed restaurant in February 2008.

---

 

REPUBLIC

In June 2011 it became Republic, opened by Matty O’Reilly and Rick Guntzel.  In 2020 the website says that Matty O’Reilly is now the sole owner.