The Schooner Tavern is located at 2901 27th Ave. So. in Minneapolis.

According to Hennepin County tax records the building was built in 1901, but permit records show that William E. Tuttle was the contractor and perhaps the owner who took out a building permit to build a hotel and stores on August 9, 1905.  The projected cost was $7,500, and the original footprint was 36 x 90.  Wendy Kremer, present owner of the Schooner, says that in the early 1900s the business operated as a railroad hotel for workers, and that she found a reference to the Tuttle and Rens Hotel.

In 1912 another permit was pulled to build a 36 x 95 addition to the hotel for $5,000.  The permits only give the name of the contractors – in this case, it was J.A. Benson.

In 1919 a permit was pulled for a restaurant.  Wendy:

We suspect that the bar was operated as a speakeasy prior to the end of Prohibition, as evidenced by several hundred bottles we discovered buried upside down under a basement floor.

 

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THE CONNORS

The obituary of Patrick J. Connor says that his father, Robert had started the tavern in 1934, although it appears from the ads below that it opened in or before August 1933.  (Beer became legal on April 7, 1933, and taverns sprang up all over pretty much immediately before cities began to license them.) This is consistent with permit records, which show references to a dining room and beer garden on August 27, 1933.  There was a lot of electrical work done in December 1933, which may have been the installation of beer lights once a 3.2 permit was obtained.

 

The first ad found in a search of the Strib database was this:

 

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And this bit of poetry advertises the place as an elite night club!

 

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Home Cooking!

 

 

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The on-sale license granted to Harry Walton McNamara on March 14, 1934, listed his location as the Schooner Hotel.  I can’t be 100 percent sure whether this was the address of his establishment, or where he lived.

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On August 9, 1935, a building permit was approved for a $1,000 addition on the south side.

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The photo below comes from archives of the Minneapolis Musicians’ Union.  Pictured are:

• Benny Ryan, drums
• Einar Brustad, piano
• Hugo Bursch, violin, trombone, and saxophone
• Barney Bakula, trumpet

 

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A permit for $1,000 in alterations was pulled in December of 1938, and a lot of improvements were made in 1939.

 

 

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A classified ad in the Minneapolis Tribune, January 29, 1939, read:

Visit the coziest night club in the northwest.  Floor shows and dancing every night except Sunday.  THE SCHOONER TAVERN

 

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In 1942 the male musicians must have been in the military, so the women took over the entertainment duties.  The photo below is from the archives of the Minneapolis Musicians’ Union.  The handwriting is difficult to read, but it looks like Laura Sliarn and Her Orchids.  Pictured are:

• Laura Sliarn, piano
• Lillian Brenner, vocalist
• Jackie Peterson, drums
• Alice Larson, violin
• Myrtle Winslow, Saxophone

 

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“South Minneapolis’s Best Night Club,” so said the Republican Register in 1943 to 1944. “Choice liquors – 6% beer – Dine and Dance.”

 

Photos above and below courtesy Wendy Kremer, Schooner Tavern

 

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Owner Robert Connor died on January 10, 1961, and Robert’s wife Vienna operated the business until her son Patrick became of age.  Patrick graduated from the U of M and earned his law degree from William Mitchell College of Law.  He worked for Hennepin County for several years before opening a solo law office above the Schooner.  He had a full-time manager to run the bar.  Patrick died in August 1992 at the age of 39, and was listed as a co-owner of the bar, perhaps with his mother.

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December 3, 1977, was advertised as Sailor’s Day, with special prices.

Wendy sent along a description of the Tavern from Mpls. St. Paul Magazine, July 1979, which is cute:

Never mind that south Minneapolis is a thousand miles from the ocean. The Schooner sails with a full cargo of nautical themes: ship’s wheel, a mural, framed paintings, hawsers coiled ’round mast-like pillars, lanterns and a ship’s rail that sets off the bank of pinball machines. You enter past a long, huge bar, into a large room filled with dozens of tables. In proper tavern fashion, locals can cash checks on payday. The clientele is a mixed bag of white and blue collars, old and young, and students. Behave yourself – the 3rd precinct police station is across the street. But if the floor pitches and seas are rough, the bar owns a hotel on the two floors above $17 weekly; the manageress, however, tolerates no hanky panky). Anchors aweigh!

 

 

 

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TRAGEDY AT THE SCHOONER

On October 16, 1986, James F. Nelson, celebrating his 39th birthday, was killed during a robbery at the Tavern.  One of the robbers stood in the doorway wearing a ski mask and another demanded money from the bartender.  Nelson, standing by the doorway, turned to the robber and said “Not in here, you can’t do this,” and tried to shove him out the door, but he was shot in the chest.  He died two hours later at HCMC.  Nelson was awarded the Medal of Valor by the Minneapolis Police, awarded to his 13-year-old son.  On November 23, a benefit was held, raising $15,000 for the son’s education. In attendance was heavyweight boxer Scott LeDoux.

The men responsible, Gerald Wayne Norris and Jerry DeWayne Clark, were also accused of  robberies at 10-12 other bars and restaurants.  Clark testified that Norris pulled the trigger, and Norris got life plus 25 years.  Clark also got life in prison.

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On November 6, 2004, Audrey Lynn Starr died – her obituary stated that she co-owned the Schooner with her husband Joe.

 

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2020 RIOTS DAMAGE THE SCHOONER

During the riots following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, the Schooner Tavern suffered significant damage from fire and water.  Twenty tenants living above the tavern had to be evacuated.   Looting began literally minutes after previously planned renovations had been completed. Though the building still stood, the losses were extensive.  A gofundme page was set up with a goal of raising $60,000 to fund repairs and renovations to the building.

I personally love this place and I urge  you to donate to keep it alive as a a venue for live music (and dancing) in the Minneapolis community.