When I put this site up a million years ago, I wrote:

The Gateway district was destroyed to renew the city, bring new commercial life to the decayed heart of downtown. The Sheraton-Ritz was the crown jewel, the first big hotel built downtown since the 20s. It had all the modern wonders, including a sunken plaza, an International Style concourse, acres of pure bright marble.

It opened in the mid 60s, had a nice run, and was demolished in 1990. I'd originally intended to put this site in the Mpls Hotels section, but it was too modern. Ditto for the Gateway section. It never fit anywhere, and few remember it today.

True. I can’t believe it’s been so many years since it went down, and I can’t believe I feel any nostalgia for it. Look at that thing. The interior, however, was a different matter: pure 1962. Early in 2014 I found some images from a half-century ago, pictures of the interior they didn’t intend to be the sole remaining documentary. We’ll get to those in a moment.

But first . . .