Secrets of the City

Sad that the pre-renovated 331 Club (now a Drinking Liberally hangout) didn’t make the cut of locations for the movie. It would have been perfect.

Sounds watchable. I’ll look for it in February.

My friend’s car is in the Movie! It’s Matt Dillon’s Characters car.

I think Mayslack’s still has that old-time patina that you just can’t fake.

in south minneapolis, Westrum’s is truly horrifying contemporary ugly, lots of TVs and bad wallpaper and blonde veneer tables. it would take guts to make a film there. literally no charm at all.

similar would be all those high-volume downtown joints with no real character at all, Loon, Urban Wildlife, Donovan’s– these places are just designed to move as many drunk people in and out as possible. Places where you just can’t get comfortable for the long haul. i think cuzzy’s is just about perfect, but Bunkers down the street works pretty good too.

didn;t Grumpy Old Men shoot inside Mayslack’s? I thought I remebered that.. and what was the bar in Feeling Minnesota? i thought that was a nordeast bar. Hey, what other bars have beein in Minnesota-based films?

The King of Clubs was in Fargo, of course.

No, Hick, I think it was the 331 Club that was used for GOM. I defer to Alexis, our lovely Girl Friday, for confirmation. You are right about Mayslacks, it DOES have an honest dive patina.

Huh, I really don’t know. 1993 was 3 years before I moved to Northeast. I did some searching, but came up with nothing. Oh, except this little fact on IMDb:

“After filming this movie in Minnesota in freezing temperatures, Walter Mattheau was hospitalized with double pneumonia.”

I was living across from Nye’s when they were filming. All I ever saw was Matt Dillon’s canvas chair. I was just happy it didn’t say Matt Damon.

So,

Speaking of dive bars and Mayslack’s… I heard they are going to remove the garlic roast beef from the menu. Girl Friday Alexis was saying similiar on the chowhounds show. What is the story behind all this?

-shogunmoon

There was a bar called Spanky’s on St. Paul’s east side near where I grew up. They filmed a scene from “That Was Then This Is Now” with my next door neighbor in a cameo with no speaking lines. The pub has since been torn down.

Also – from what I’ve heard, a lot of Grumpy Old Men was also filmed on the east side of St. Paul, so the bar could’ve been one of the ones over there, too.

sh-moon… you can’t be serious.

Isn’t that the only thing anyone orders there? That’s the only thing I order there aside from booze. No offense to the rest of their menu but I’d sleep in a bed of that roast beef.

There’s some menu tweaking going on over at Mayslack’s. As I said on Chowhounds, I don’t think the new kitchen manager is going to eliminate the roast beef sandwich altogether, but he is bringing in a flavor-of-the-week pot roast. This may occasionally replace the garlic beef, or it may be a choice in addition to it.

He also says his new breakfast menu — which includes traditional huevos rancheros and Grand Marnier french toast — will be the best in Minneapolis. Hey, I’ll try anything once.

Henry Hormann, was Spanky’s the bar that Charlie (Morgan Freeman) owned in “That Was Then …. This Is Now”? I’ve always wondered where that bar (and the druggie flophouse) were located.

For those of you who haven’t seen that movie, it’s far from spectacular but it makes great use of the Twin Cities. There are some great scenes in East Saint Paul, Uptown, beneath the Washington Avenue Bridge, around the old Historical Society (now the MN Judicial Center), and so on.

GOM was filmed in the Half Time on Front Street in St Paul. They have the pictures up still, 12 years later. + a few good live shows every Tuesday

Mike S – yes, you are correct. I agree with you, too, not a brilliant movie but decent enough (I think it’s based on an S.E. Hinton book, the author of “The Outsiders.” It does make great use of the Cities’. I remember being all excited to see it when it came out, my buddies and I went to the theater and saw it on the big screen. It was when I was 17, so I thought every movie ruled.

Re mayslacks:

Ah, cool. So, panic will probably not ensue.

That is interesting to hear. I am certainly willing to try the Mayslack’s breakfast… maybe the new kitchen manager is a decent chef as well. Deserved or not, that roast beef is known the world over.

Flavor of the week pot roast? Interesting. Maybe they can duke it out with the Modern over who has the best in NE.

-shogunmoon

He was one of the creators of the original Sample Room menu, so judge for yourself as to whether he’s got skills or not. I’m definitely willing to drag my hangover a few blocks over to Mayslack’s to check out the weekend breakfast.

Hmmm yea. Now that I think if it, NE doesn’t really have a good breakfast hotspot, outside of the modern. Nothing like Hell’s Kitchen, Victor’s, or the Sunnyside up. The one exception is the Modern.

I am really liking where that 13th and University area is going. Moderen, 331, Erte, the revamped theatre, and now, around the corner, ’slacks is ramping up a little.

My next question is this: What happens when the 22nd Avenue gets a chef?

Don’t forget about Erte’s Peacock Lounge. A great little bar that provides a nice escape when you find yourself not so into the band playing over at the 331.

Actually, the movie “The Wrestler” had scenes shot at Mayslack’s in 1972 or 1973. They closed the place down for a couple of weeks and replaced all of the booths with balsa wood booths so when they had the “destroy the bar” scene it could really be affective.

I think Ed Asner was the star of the movie and Verna Gagne at that time of champion of the AWA.

I have a copy of that movie. Ed Asner and Verne Gagne, yes. Also, The Crusher.

It’s funny, that bar scene is set in Texas.