Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
RIP to Northeast’s Sheridan Room
When it opened in 2015, the Sheridan Room had big culinary shoes to fill at 337 13th Ave. NE, the longtime home of Modern Cafe. The American bistro from Jon Oulman (Amsterdam Bar & Hall, 331 Club, Cafe Lilla) would thrive early on, slug it out through a long pandemic, and, as we learned Tuesday, eventually close at the end of the month. “We have both personal reasons and business reasons for closing,” reads the Sheridan Room website. “Mostly, we wanted to give a Big Ass thank you to every person who helped make this place a special one. You are our friends and our family.” The neighborhood bar and restaurant is known for its craft cocktails, 100-plus beer list, and its locally sourced, made-from-scratch menu, which includes a fabulous brunch.
Brooklyn Center Named a Lot of Things After a Local Racist
Earle Brown was an early resident of Brooklyn Center, where he had a farm. He served two terms as Hennepin County Sheriff, was one of the founders of the Minnesota State Patrol, and ran for governor (and lost) in 1932. He was also a KKK member and VP of the Minnesota Eugenics Society, which advocated sterilization for Black people. Unfortunately, his name is on a lot of things in Brooklyn Center, including community buildings, schools, an apartment complex, and a festival. Now, they’re going about the expensive process of renaming things. First Earle Brown Elementary School was changed to Brooklyn Center Elementary. Next the Earle Brown Days fest became Brooklyn Center Days. And, now, Earle Brown Heritage Center is getting a rebrand; it’s going to cost the city $165,800, including costs to repaint a water tower and change out the building’s signage. "As a human being he may have done things we don't agree with, and yet he did things our community can be proud of,” said city council’s Kris Lawrence-Anderson at a meeting. “Let's not forget the past but learn from it and move forward." Honestly, we prefer to forget this garbage human ever existed. You can read more about the renaming process over at the Strib.
Two Harbors Mayoral Drama Takes Dark Turn
At first it was kinda funny: Two Harbors’ small-time-grifting, blowhard crypto-bro mayor getting duped into an underwater hotel fantasy by Mr. O, an alleged billionaire who was quickly outed as a criminal grifter himself. Numerous low-rent corruption allegations would soon swarm. (Scroll down here for a primer.) The Chris Swanson saga has since taken a much darker turn. In a special meeting Monday, the Two Harbors City Council voted unanimously to encourage the mayor to resign; he was not in attendance. Over the past week or so, the local group Resign & Recall began platforming the family of a woman who was reportedly repeatedly sexually assaulted by Swanson when he was 15. At the time, the woman was just five years old. The family elected to have Swanson charged as a juvenile, the woman's mother, Nancy Christenson, said during a heartbreaking public statement last week from downtown Two Harbors. Swanson’s allegedly horrific past has been an open secret along the North Shore ever since, Christenson said. Swanson can’t be fired, the Star Tribune reports, though voters could oust him later this summer in a recall election. The mayor has stopped attending council meetings and responding to the press.
Red, White, and Boom Canceled for a Third Year
Each summer, Minneapolis Parks and Rec throws the biggest Fourth of July fireworks show in town over the Mississippi. For the past two years, the event has been canceled due to the pandemic. This year, however, the event is canceled due to construction and staffing shortages. Instead, they will be hosting four smaller daytime events at Lake Harriet, Lake Nokomis, Logan Park, and Victory Park. Sorry, America. Locals are going to have to shoot (probably illegal?) fireworks off in their back alleys or rooftops like they do every summer instead.
