Jun 4
Metro Transit light rail tracks with Cedar-Riverside's Riverside Plaza buildings in the background.
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from Germany
seen from Netherlands
seen from Singapore
seen from France
seen from Malaysia
seen from France
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seen from Malaysia
seen from Italy
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seen from United States
seen from Russia
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seen from Malaysia
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seen from United States
Metro Transit light rail tracks with Cedar-Riverside's Riverside Plaza buildings in the background.
Digitizing Thousands of City of Minneapolis Photographs
The Library recently received a CLIR Grant (Council on Library and Information Resources) from the Mellon Foundation, "Digitizing Hidden Special Collections." Two project workers - Mary Lodu and Stephen Taylor - have been hired to digitize a large collection of photographs the Library received from the City of Minneapolis over the past few years. This collection consists of tens of thousands of images of the City's buildings, houses, streets, bridges, and other infrastructure, construction and redevelopment projects, public officials, City personnel and citizens, spanning the 20th century. Mary and Stephen are creating digital versions of images from a variety of formats, including photo prints, acetate negatives, glass plate negatives, and slide transparencies. They are also creating the descriptive metadata for each image. These images and their metadata are being loaded to the City of Minneapolis Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.
Mary most recently was working with the University of Minnesota's Umbra Search project. Stephen comes to us from the Google Books Project at the University of Michigan and Ancestry at DePauw University. The CLIR grant project started this past April and will continue through March, 2021.
Photos from the City of Minneapolis Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.
Up Next: Triple Play Live Music in Minneapolis!
Once a year, I get an extended rotational assignment in the wonderful metropolis called The Twin Cities. Outside of my hometown of Chicago, there is no better Midwestern locale for a rockin’ music scene. So on my first weekend here, I am going for a trifecta of live music. The trilogy will start Thursday night at Schooner Tavern in Longfellow for an open jam Blues night. Friday will be at the Triple Rock Social Club in Cedar-Riverside for Waxahatchee, Cayetana and Snail Mail. I’ll round out the triad on Saturday in Downtown West at First Avenue/7th Street Entry for a CD release party with local Punk band The 99ers and guests The Silverteens, Ripper, Rudegirl, DJ Barb Abney and host Anthony Shore, a.k.a., The Minnesota Elvis. It will be a rockin’ good time in Minnesota!
A large Jack Daniels mural on the Whiskey Junction building on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis. The bar has been closed since at least 2020
Minneapolis Live Music Triple Play - 2nd Night
Waxahatchee and Cayetana at Triple Rock Social Club - The second night of my live music triad in Minneapolis was at the Triple Rock Social Club for Waxahatchee and Cayetana. The original bar was apparently established in the early 20th century as the black-and-white photo is from 1915. (see http://hclib.tumblr.com). Located in the diverse Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, the current club was established in 1998 and is owned by Punk rock guitarist Erik Funk (Dillinger Four) and his wife Gretchen. I had dinner in the bar/restaurant which is in the original building. The music venue is in a newer building next door. While I am familiar with Waxhatchee, what really drew me to this show was Cayetana. I saw them at Riot Fest in 2015 and enjoyed them enough that I knew I wanted to see them again. A power trio, they mix Indie, Emo and Punk/Pop Punk. They rocked hard and sounded great. Waxahatchee is probably one of the most popular Indie bands around right now. The name Waxahatchee started as a pseudonym for Katie Crutchfield when she released her first Indie/Folk solo album while still a member of P.S. Eliot, a Pop Punk band she started with twin Allison. Adding Allison to Waxahatchee, they have evolved into a full-blown Rock band, and like Cayetana, combine Emo and Pop Punk. They also sprinkle in a few ballads during the show. Seeing these two bands and hanging out in Cedar-Riverside was a fabulous way to enjoy a warm upper Mid-west summer evening.
Cedar-Riverside: From Snoose Boulevard to Little Somalia
Andy Wilhide, a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota, has recently finished creating an online tour of a number of historic sites in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. The tour, presented through Augsburg College's "DigiTours", gives historical background accompanied by several photographs for fifteen sites in the neighborhood. These range from the early Swedish immigrants and the creation of Augsburg Seminary up to today's Somali community. Please spend some time on this fascinating and informative tour.
Some of the content and photographs in Andy’s tour, including those picture above, were drawn from the Minneapolis Collection in the James K. Hosmer Special Collections Department, Hennepin County Library. View more photos in the HCL Digital Collections.
Soma Grill & Deli Somali Cuisine in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis in December 2025.
Metro Transit Cedar–Riverside station in South Minneapolis in August 2023.