Mattie’s Barbecue had two locations:  1925 Fifth Ave. So., and 2934-36 Nicollet Ave.

MATTIE JOHNSON

According to an entry on Ancestry.com (thank you, Melinda Russell!) Mattie was born in Jeffersonville, Georgia.  She and her two children moved to Minneapolis in 1950. After a brief stint at Minneapolis Honeywell, she became the first black salesperson at Donaldson’s Department Store.  Her granddaughter Audra Russell (nee Hence) tells us that Mattie quit her job at Donaldson’s because, despite having the highest sales, she was denied a raise because she was Black.

 

Mattie was also a well-known leader in community service. She was one of the first counselors at Twin Cities Opportunities Industrialization Center, and she was a founding board member of Sabathani Community Center.

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MATTIE’S BARBEQUE

1955

Putting pieces of various sources together, it appears that Mattie began her barbeque business in her house at 1925 Fifth Ave. So. (at Franklin Ave.) in Minneapolis in 1955.

1958

In August 1958, Mattie opened her second location at 2936 Nicollet Ave.  The rare ad below appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune.  At this point it appears that both venues were just restaurants, although the Nicollet location had a bar- Mattie was the first black woman in Minneapolis to hold a liquor license.   2936 Nicollet was a tenement building that went back to 1892.

 

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CEDRIC APPROVES

Cedric Adams, entertainment columnist for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, was a big fan of Mattie’s.  He wrote the following in his column in the Star, dated September 26, 1958:

Success is always so gratifying.  Months ago I discovered a little barbeque place located in the home of its owner, Mattie Hence, 1925 S. Fifth Av.  Mattie started on pennies actually, but she had one premise – serve good food.  Word came last week that Mattie has opened her No. 2 spot at 2936 Nicollet with improved facilities, larger quarters, but the same premise.  In Mattie’s leanest days her benevolences were amazing.  She fed the destitute, gave work or money to the indigent, had a helping hand for anyone in need.  I hope she goes great guns in her new branch.

Cedric’s back on November 7, 1958, with this advice:

Paste these next few lines on your kitchen or amusement room cupboard door for handy reference:  If you’re ever caught with a group of guests who linger late into the evening, call Mattie’s, 2936 Nicollet Av., TA 3-0902.  She’ll have a pick-up order of fried shrimp, barbecued ribs, or fried chicken ready for you by the time you can get there.  And this gal’s southern cooking is un-rivaled in town.

On December 2, 1958, buried in the classifieds under Category 74, Good Things To Eat, was an 8-line ad for Mattie’s that gave the 2936 Nicollet address and the menu of fried shrimp, pan fried chicken, and barbequed ribs.  Apparently you could eat in or carry out.

 

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1959

 

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1960

From March to June, 1960, there were small ads on the movie page for food from the Nicollet location.

 

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The tenant next door in 2934 Nicollet moved out in July 1960 and Mattie took it over to expand her space.  Cedric explains:

Tomorrow’s [September 17, 1960] a great night in the life of Mattie, the barbecue girl.  Mattie decided to close her barbecue place on Fifth Av. off Franklin after many  long years of successful operation and will concentrate all her activities in her refurbished spot at 2934-36 Nicollet.  As Mattie says, “Just think, we’re gonna have paneled walls and ceilings and draperies and Venetian blinds at the windows.  I’m really gonna go classy.”  Good luck, Mattie, you’re a gem.

But…

Another Adams Goof:  I thought after Mattie moved from her place at 1925 5th Av. to her new location on 29th and Nicollet that the old place was to be closed.  It ain’t so.  Gloria has taken it over as a chicken and steak place.  Sorry Gloria.

The house on 5th Ave. So. went back to at least 1897 and was torn down in 1965.

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MUSIC HITS MATTIE’S

Good Old Cedric gives us critical information here!

Mattie, the hostess-owner of a chicken and rib spot at 2934 Nicollet, has expanded once again.  She began with the lower floor of a house on 19th and S. 5th Av., then moved to her present spot on Nicollet.  She not only gobbled up the store space there next door to her, but now has put in music for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  Sandy and his Melody Boys play weekends.  And this type of success couldn’t happen to a more deserving woman.  Her chicken and rib take-out business is booming as well.  (October 19, 1960)

It appears that the kind of music played at Mattie’s was eclectic to say the least.  Sandy and his Melody Boys, the combo mentioned above, sound like a country band.

1961

A web page by Lyle Lofgren and Elizabeth Lofgren shows folk/country singers performing at Mattie’s in 1961.  Performers include the Brandy Snifters, the Meeker County Boys, and Tony Glover.  They certainly weren’t playing Calypso music!

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And then Rhythm & Blues came to Nicollet Ave.  Surely Howard Brown and his Rhythm Five weren’t from Mower County?

 

 

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1962

The Little Sandy Review reported that there were folk sessions on Friday nights in January 1962.

Cyril Paul was the Calypso King of the ‘Cities.  Although the ad below is from February 1962, Vic Burton was still talking about Paul’s act in his Night Beat column that July.  The limbo was big at Mattie’s on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.  The record for this back-breaking dance was 16 inches – how low can you go?  (Minneapolis Daily Herald, July 9, 1962)

 

 

 

Jesse Fuller could do it all!

 

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“COURTROOM ROCKS TO BOOGIE BEAT”

This was the actual headline reporting a copyright case involving Mattie’s Barbeque.  It seems that investigators from ASCAP, representing the publishers of a nifty tune called “Guitar Boogie,” claimed they heard a “music combo” playing the song on December 9, 1961, at Mattie’s, in violation of copyright laws.  Mattie claimed she did not know what was being played.  The defense attorney got permission from the judge to play a record to see whether the ASCAP stiffs could be sure what song they had heard.  “The courtroom was jumping to the strains of popular music for a few minutes” that Monday.  One investigator identified the record as “Guitar Boogie,” although it was really “Guitar Boogie Stomp.”  (Shouldn’t that be “Guitar Boogie Shuffle?”)  The judge said it was close enough and made Mattie pay a $250 fine.   (Minneapolis Tribune, November 6, 1962)

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Mojo Buford (billed as Blues Boy Buford in the ad below) played his “Tough Chicago Blues” at Mattie’s in 1962.

 

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1963

In May 1963 Mattie called Will Jones to tell him that she had started a “3.2 circuit Blue Monday session featuring Blue Boy Buford and his rhythm-and-blues harmonica” that started at 11 am and lasted to 3 or 4 pm.  (Minneapolis Tribune, May 7, 1963)

Not quite sure what to make of this, but while Mojo Buford was working at Mattie’s, he also advertised for work in the classifieds in July 1963.

 

 

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1964

THE DANCE HALL DEBATE

Mattie had had a license for the performance of live music, but in 1964 she decided to apply for a tavern license as well so that people could dance.

In applications of this type, in addition to approvals from the building inspector, health department, police department, etc., applications must be approved by the Alderman in whose Ward the venue is in.  There is no criteria for this – an Alderman can deny an application for any reason or for no reason, and the rest of the the City council goes along with it.  This is called “Aldermanic Courtesy.”

In this case the Alderman for the Eighth Ward was Elsa Johnson, and she just did not want Mattie’s to have a tavern license.  She brought up every reason she could think of, until it began to look like a racial discrimination issue – in 1964, it would have been one of the earliest touchpoints in Minneapolis.

One of Alderman Johnson’s objections was that Mattie’s was a wood framed, two story building, that went against the building code for a dance hall.  But on the advice of the City attorney, the City council applied a broad interpretation to rule, saying that the code was meant for large dance halls, not small operations like Mattie’s, where the dancing was incidental to the use of the place as a restaurant.

On April 24, 1964, the Minneapolis City Council approved Mattie’s dance hall permit without a dissenting vote.  Alderman Johnson was at a ground-breaking ceremony when the vote was taken.  The vote broke a long precedent of Aldermanic Courtesy, although that practice did not go away.  (Minneapolis Star, April 24, 1964)

The Alderman was not done yet.  Even a later brawl that took place outside the bar between an off-duty policeman working as a bouncer and an unruly customer who got shot in the head was enough for Alderman Johnson to cry foul and demand the license be revoked.  The cop wasn’t charged, the drunk lived, and Mattie kept her license.

 

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JET MAGAZINE

The May 7, 1964, issue of Jet magazine did a feature story on this issue, taking the Council to task for not wanting dancing in an interracial venue such as Mattie’s.  Fortunately, the magazine provided a photo of the inside of Mattie’s, showing the mix of the clientele.  The name of the band was the Ambassadors.

 

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Now that they could legally dance, the Calypso was back!

 

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MINNEAPOLIS LOSES AN ICON

Mattie’s on Nicollet went out of business and her beer license was transferred to La Pizzeria Restaurant, 33 W. Lake Street, on April 7, 1965.  (Minneapolis Tribune, April 8, 1965)  2934-36 Nicollet Ave. was demolished in August 1974.  In its place is that odious K-Mart that is blocking Nicollet Ave.

In the mid-’60s Mattie moved to Crosby, Minnesota, and established the area’ s first antique shop, Bits of Yesteryear Antiques. Crosby is now a major antique hub in the Crosby/Ironton area.

Mattie Hence Broden, 92, passed away Saturday, July 21, 2007. She had two children by husband Robbie Hence, one of which was Arnold Timothy Hence, and the other the aforementioned Audra Hence Russell.  Her third husband was Phillip T. Broden.

 

The photo below was sent in by Robb Henry, who played guitar in Mojo Buford’s band (much later).  One of his friends sent him the photo without much explanation.  Audra Russell wrote in to clarify that this is actually Mattie’s third husband Philip T. Broden, Audra’s step-grandfather.  That cash register is a work of art!

 

Thank you to Audra Russell for her corrections and clarifications!  Audra also sent a photo of herself in 1992, with her grandmothers.  Mattie is on the left.