Longhorn Bar

Although the first permit card for this building is missing, the original address was 14-16 So. 5th Street, and the original structure was the Russell Building.  It appears that it was a five-story building that was demolished in January 1963.

 

In November 1966, the seven-story Midtown parking ramp was built in its place, next to Northern States Power’s headquarters.  It was announced that a Sveden House Smorgasbord would open in 1967.  (Minneapolis Tribune, November 28, 1966)  The Sveden House chain was a new concept that was started in 1963.  Restaurants had Swedish decor but American food.  The Downtown restaurant opened in December 1967.  to April 1968.

Nino’s Steak Round-Up opened in November 1970.  It was also a chain.

 

The Longhorn was opened by owner Jay Berine on June 1, 1977, with help from general manager-artist director-musician/songwriter Al Wodtke. The room held 400 people.  Its first headliner was local band Flamingo, and the first national act to be booked was New York rock group Mink DeVille.

The Music Room was a jazz spot that was part of the Longhorn – it opened on August 1, 1974.  It was home base for the progressive jazz group Natural Life and brought with it many national and international jazz acts.

 

The Longhorn became a notable punk rock and hardcore punk venue, booking national bands such as the Buzzcocks, The Police, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, Iggy Pop, the Jets, the Ramones, Pere Ubu, Blondie, the B-52’s, the Plasmatics,  and Elvis Costello.

 

Local bands thrived at the Longhorn as well, including the Flamin’ Oh’s, the Suburbs, the Suicide Commandos, the Hypstrz, the Wallets, Fingerprints, and the Replacements.

Chris Osgood of the Suicide Commandos described the Longhorn as “like CBGB in that it was a long bar with a low ceiling and the band was up on a riser at one end of the room. It had been a Nino’s Steakhouse before it turned into a bar, so it was not a dump.”

Jay Berine left in 1978, and the Longhorn was taken over by his cousin, Hartley Frank, who ran the club for several more years before running into competition from Duffy’s, which opened in 1979, and the 7th St. Entry, which opened in March 1980. The Longhorn soon began to lose its prominence as a nightclub and musicians frustrated with dealing with Frank moved on to other locations. Frank changed the club’s name to Zoogies, a pizzeria and nightclub, in 1982 and it soon closed for good.

 

The location later became a storage facility for Xcel Energy.