4th Avenue South - A Lost Commercial/Streetcar Corridor

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EOst
Capella Tower
Posts: 2424
Joined: March 19th, 2014, 8:05 pm
Location: Saint Paul

4th Avenue South - A Lost Commercial/Streetcar Corridor

Postby EOst » May 26th, 2015, 5:24 pm

From internet cruising today, this wonderful reminder of an area now easily forgotten:
She also describes Fourth Avenue, an entertainment district which catered to Stevens Square, Phillips, and Elliot Park communities.
There were a lot of beer joints along Fourth Avenue, as many as four in one block. That street was mostly commercial with only a few residences. There were two beer joints between 19th and Franklin called Dee’s and Eddy’s. Between 18th and 19th, there was one called the Bottle House. From 18th to 17th, you had the Scenic, the Tap Room, Red’s, the Jailhouse, and the Bop-Inn. They were mostly neighborhood hangouts where everybody knew each other and with few problems. Mostly, people would go to them on weekend nights for pleasure. Some had music and dancing. It was a cheap form of entertainment. My family went there regularly. (source)
More than a few of the old commercial buildings on 4th are still there, but between the dead-end at the north and the sound wall along the east side, Electric Fetus is the only one consistently occupied.

NEeaster
Metrodome
Posts: 50
Joined: January 4th, 2016, 6:42 pm

Re: 4th Avenue South - A Lost Commercial/Streetcar Corridor

Postby NEeaster » January 23rd, 2016, 8:01 pm

Does anyone know what's up with that building across Franklin from Electric Fetus? Seems like a great old building for a refit.

seanrichardryan
IDS Center
Posts: 4092
Joined: June 3rd, 2012, 9:33 pm
Location: Merriam Park, St. Paul

Re: 4th Avenue South - A Lost Commercial/Streetcar Corridor

Postby seanrichardryan » January 23rd, 2016, 11:28 pm

There's a dude that runs a store out of there, who should really sell that building and buy a warehouse : http://pastpresentfuture.net/index.html

Potential indeed!
Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
Posts: 7752
Joined: June 19th, 2012, 2:04 pm
Location: NORI: NOrth of RIchfield

Re: 4th Avenue South - A Lost Commercial/Streetcar Corridor

Postby mattaudio » January 24th, 2016, 8:59 pm

My desk is literally where the Fourth Avenue streetcar used to run.
My favorite building near 4th: https://goo.gl/maps/eWZWpPA4C4B2 It's on 5th rather than 4th, but I assume it was connected to this corridor.

Question: I've seen those early redlining maps, and the 4th Ave corridor was a redlined area south to about 42nd St long before the freeway ever cut through. I figure the redlines followed the racial makeup of the area at the time, but I've always wondered what contributed to this corridor's heavy African-American presence (and subsequent redlining) even as a half mile to the east and west was not redlined.


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