On the right, the Hotel Nicollet - the first version.

This was the properous part of town for a while, but as the decades passed the retail district would march down the street and leave it all behind.

The Google Street View on the left looks utterly barren, but -

- well, no buts. Barren it is. But the area is on the upswing, with projects sprouting all over the place. Still, that's what it was like for decades.