Although most people remember the Cozy Bar on Plymouth Ave. in Minneapolis, there was another Cozy Bar at 202 Concord (now Cesar Chavez Street) on the West Side of St. Paul (but not in the City of West St. Paul).  I don’t know if it had live music.

By 1969 the proprietor was Herbert Howe.  According to tales on Facebook, it was a fun but increasingly dangerous place; one report was that a body was found in a dumpster and a metal detector was installed to find guns and knives.

In 1978 there was a particularly upsetting incident when a customer got into an argument with two other patrons, left and came back with gun, shooting them and then pointing the gun at the bartender, who was the son of the owner.  Young Howe killed the assailant with a rifle.  The Ramsey County Grand Jury voted not to indict Howe.  The patrons who were shot survived.

COZY CANTINA

In 1994 the bar, which had been renamed the Cozy Cantina, was owned by Herbert Howe, Jr.  That January the bar’s license was suspended for two weeks when it was discovered that the bartender, a convicted felon, had access to two guns that were kept behind the bar.  The gun accidentally discharged and wounded the unruly patron.  The suspension was appealed and overturned.  Herbie Howe was still the owner in 2002.

2014