You might remember a while back I noted the appearance of a Northstar Cafeteria sign. I got a piece out of it for the paper - the golden age of cafeterias, the return of an old favorite, etc. Well: Tuesday I got a tour from the developer.
It is sublime.
They’ve leaned heavily into a JFK-era aesthetic. Terrazzo floors. Smoked-glass mirrors in the elevators. It’s all a dream.
Beef stronganoff!
They gave me a tray.
Sometimes it tries a bit too much.
But I’ll allow it.
I asked about the bank vault, a remnant of the Northstar East’s original purpose. It’s still there, with gun ports. Sounds like what you’d say of you’re excited. I’ll be there will bells on! Great, I’ll be there with gun ports!By the big door, an artifact of another time:
The skyway, once home to a coin shop, a jewelers, and restaurants, has been widened. No more retail: they moved all the food downstairs to street level, and built dioramas of the Olden Times.
It’s like a 1920s office building getting rehabbed in the 70s and reviving the Jazz Age aesthetics - including a model living room and kitchen. It wouldn’t happen. They’d shave off everything interesting and paint it mod. Showing the 1920s look would seem quaint and ancient, and cause for a smile. Oh look at that primitive fridge. Can you believe that beaded lampshade. But now we look back on this as Peak America.
Let us move through it:
Any argument you make about the solidity of the culture, or its prosperity, or its strengths in the face of discontents, will not only be immediately shut down but conclusively so. The pro-progress people, among whom I number myself, will point out how fridges have gotten larger and perhaps cheaper, and more sophisticated. Yes, I like my ice machine, and would not want to chip a metal dish out of the minuscule freezer compartment and break the spine of the ice tray. No, the beer in beer in those old fridges wasn’t colder. Yes, they lasted longer. No, the food in that cookbook wasn’t as varied and, er, diverse as current offerings. No, the politics and issues weren’t simpler and better and less divisive - just look at the paper on the table.
Bad times.
It looks like a happy scene but the President was just shot.
Mom has a glass of wine on the table; maybe she’s shot from the last few difficult days.
A couple things:
Yes, I had to point out that those were not period-accurate, being the matches used for the late 70s Luckies relaunch. As for the TV: it's a MurdleVision.
I’m going to give him a copy of the Gallery of Regrettable Food for the bookshelf. He said he’d put it in. That will be my lasting gift to downtown Minneapolis. I can leave now.
It’s 1833. (!)
BREAKING: man invents machine 40 years ago
BREAKING: pigs do things
I’m sparing you the long, long story, which is this: kid got lost, some Indians said they’d seen him, but didn’t know where, and after five days he was found. He had survived on berries.
The others weren't, so nbd?
Youthful high spirits.
Perhaps some cider was involved.
Temperance, part 15: (deep breath)
It goes on like this forever.
I’m always fascinated by these. Routes, prices, posted times. It’s all there. When did it begin to be so regular and dependable?
You do wonder if the drivers were indeed attentive and obliging, and whther the coaches were commodious. Easy, who knows.
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That'll do. Next for you: 1957 gas!
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