num_pages: 240
description: In 1838 a rum trader named Pig's Eye Parrant built a small shack in a Mississippi bluff that became the first business in the city of St. Paul: a saloon. Since then bars taverns saloons and speakeasies have been part of the cultural social and physical landscape of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Serving as neighborhood landmarks sites of political engagement welcoming centers for immigrants hotbeds of criminal activity targets of ire from church and state alike and of course a place to get a drink the story of the taverns and saloons of the Twin Cities is the story of the cities themselves. In Closing Time Bill Lindeke and Andy Sturdevant dive into tales from famous and infamous drinking establishments from throughout Twin Cities history. Readers are led on a multigenerational pub crawl through speakeasies tied houses rathskellers cocktail lounges gin mills fern bars social clubs singles bars gastropubs and dives. Featuring beloved bars like Matt's Palmer's the Payne Reliever and Moby Dick's the book also resurrects memories of long-forgotten establishments cherished in their day. Lindeke and Sturdevant highlight neighborhood dives downtown nightspots and out-of-the-way hideaways many of which continue to thrive today. Closing Time brings together stories of these spaces and the people who frequented them.
language: English
title: Closing Time: Saloons, Taverns, Dives, and Watering Holes of the Twin Cities
publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press