Triangle Bar, 1822 Riverside Avenue S., Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Revision as of 21:52, January 8, 2012

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Triangle Bar Building
Triangle Bar ca. 1972
Address:	1822 Riverside Avenue S
City/locality- State/province	Minneapolis, Minnesota
County- State/province:	Hennepin County, Minnesota
State/province:	Minnesota
Country:	United States
Historic Function:	Saloon/Bar
Other Historic Function:	Saloon/Bar
Current Function:	Office

History

While it was operating as a saloon as far as back as the late 1800s, the bar didn’t officially become recorded as the Triangle Bar until 1946.

By the early 1960s, the West Bank area of Minneapolis became a center of a burgeoning music scene, centered on the Triangle Bar. The West Bank was accessible to the University of Minnesota, alcohol was cheap, and at the time the Triangle didn’t card, so students flocked there. The Triangle began hosting live music in 1964 and continued to do so through the late 1960s, becoming a center for the West Bank blues scene. It was one of the first Minneapolis bars to host musicians who weren't top 40 cover bands.

Some of the local musical talent that the Triangle regularly hosted:

• Spider John Koerner
• Lazy Bill Lucas
• John Kolstad
• Steve Trosberg
• Dave Ray
• Willie Murphy and the Bees

Over the years, the Triangle Bar Building has traded hands and been the Ole Piper Inn and Oscar B. Lykes restaurant-tavern. Currently it is an office and commercial building owned by the Triangle Building Partnership.

Memories and stories

Badges

This place is part of the 1968 tour of the Twin Cities

Photo Gallery

Triangle Bar ad MN Daily Jan. 5, 1968

Triangle Bar ad Mn Daily Feb. 16, 1968

Notes

1. http://www.gtcbms.org/A%20History%20of%20the%20Triangle%20Bar%20Building.pdf
2. collections.mnhs.org/visualresouces
3. Collins, Cyn. West Bank Boogie: forty years of music, mayhem and memories. Minneapolis: Triangle Park Creative, 2006. Print.
4. http://www.mndaily.com