Weeks of online murmurings were confirmed Tuesday: Part Wolf, the popular bar/venue/bocce court on Minneapolis's West Bank, will close for good at the end of the month.
"We want to thank everyone who has contributed to this amazing community and space," reads a farewell post on Part Wolf's Facebook page. "You have made us a better version of ourselves than we ever imagined. To the staff who are the soul of this building. We wouldn't have made it this far without all of you. Thank you Twin Cities. Thank you West Bank. We are beyond grateful for being a part of your history."
Dance night Bimbogate, with its roster of "hardcore femme DJs," will shut things down on January 28. Rumor has it the building at 501 Cedar Ave. will become a pharmacy, one of society's most essential yet least fun businesses.
Part Wolf owners Josh Mandelman, Lyssa Washington, and Kevin Raheja acquired the former Nomad World Pub in 2019 for $917,000, according to county records. They rebranded the bar, but kept the emphasis on live music, bocce ball, and soccer viewing.
Former owner Todd Smith ran the Nomad for 14 years, and the stage became a key player in the history-rich West Bank music scene. (I have fond college memories of the Nomad's "Prix Fixe" special—a Hamm's tallboy, shot of whiskey, and loose cig.)
In recent years, the neighborhood's concert ecosystem has taken several hits: Two years before an ill-fated comeback attempt inside MOA, the 400 Bar shut down in 2012; Triple Rock Social Club, a beloved punk dive, closed in 2017; the reborn Viking Bar messily went fishin' yet again in 2018. Thankfully, Cedar Cultural Center, Palmer's (Don Draper's favorite spot!), Red Sea, and Acadia remain.
We'll update this post if we hear back from Mandelman. In the meantime, click here to read a fascinating 2015 story from MPR's Jon Collins on Minneapolis's "tied houses"; Collins believes Part Wolf may have been the last operating example.
