The Arcade Bar was located at 932 Arcade Street at Sims Avenue in St. Paul.  It was two blocks from the Whirlpool plant, and a popular place for workers until the plant shut down at the end of 1984.

It was just a bar, I’m told, but Mark Youngblood comes up with these great ashtrays, so I decided to put this up.

From the collection of Mark Youngblood

Then comes Henry Feist, who confirmed that it was just a bar.  But, writes Henry:

The only times they would have live music was to rid the bar of the motorcycle clubs (who wanted to make it their hangout), by playing music that was not to their liking (which was seldom).  I know this because my uncle(s) owned the place from the early ’70s up until about eight years ago.

Mr. Feist also tells us that the place was originally built as the Northwestern Hotel in the 1880s, and guided me to this photo:

Northwestern Hotel. Photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

In 1942, the proprietor of the Arcade Bar was identified as Hugo Wollney.  In July 1950, the owner was Frank C. Graves.  In August 1960 to December 1965, the proprietor was identified as Harold Hicks.

Michael Feist was identified as the owner in 1987 in a disciplinary hearing about gambling and being open before 8:00 am  (Minneapolis Tribune, July 15, 1988)  On July 19, 1988, the Bar received an 11-day suspension for those violations.