Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Lee’s Is For Sale!
It was a dark day for the Twin Cities music scene when the folks at Lee’s Liquor Lounge announced it would be closing in 2019. For 62 years, the bar and concert venue, located on the outskirts of downtown Minneapolis, was known for its throwback wrap-around bar, taxidermied wall art, and humble concert stage, which hosted country, Americana, and rockabilly acts both big and small. It was a frequent haunt of Stray Cat Brian Setzer, and Wayne "The Train" Hancock stopped by at least once a year for an epic, caffeine-fueled, three-plus hour set.
So when Racket spotted this listing for Lee’s on commercial real estate website LoopNet for $950K, we were excited for what could be. The listing exclaims that the property is a “great renovation opportunity," even though the HVAC system "needs updating" and the roof “needs work.” Curiously, the photo tour shows no interior shots but includes a really nice Lego build of Lee's.
The parking lot in the back comes with the 10,800-square-foot property (but not the one across the street, that's owned by the city), and it’s worth noting that 101 Glenwood Ave. is about a 10-minute walk to the light rail, Target Field, and the beige freaks over in the North Loop. Somebody do the right thing: Reopen Lee's and change nothing about it... except for those HVAC and roof issues.
Lee's longtime owner, Louis "Louie" Sirian, owned and operated the bar for decades before selling the spot in 2015. He died this past February at 88.
WeDo's Obscene Legacy
In 2015, to great fanfare, the city of Minneapolis, Hennepin Theatre Trust, and the Walker Art Center rolled out a ridiculous civic rebranding effort that was met with the laughter it deserved: WeDo, aka the West Downtown Cultural District. "Hey bro, let's meet up along WeDo!" said nobody ever when referring to the stretch along Hennepin Avenue between the Walker and the Mississippi River. (Actually, the author of this blurb may have said it ironically.)
By 2018, the Simpsons-evoking name had sputtered out, with MinnPost noting that, "WeDo didn’t catch on beyond the creative team from which it originated, and the groups stopped promoting it... the initiative’s website, wedompls.org, doesn’t even work anymore."
Now, there's a massive NSFW reason we removed the hyperlink from that URL. The WeDo website has indeed returned, as sniffed out by the obscenity hounds at Wedge Live!, and these days it features... hardcore pornography! (Click at your own risk.) Reads the header text atop WeDoMpls.org...
Pretty dark-skinned babe jerked off at home, sitting on the washing machine. And then a white neighbor unexpectedly dropped by. The babe was scared at first, but then thought that she had a great chance to finish the fun not to dry. She called the guy to her and offered him to fuck, and he could not refuse such a beauty.
Compelling stuff. With an emphatic NSFW!!! disclaimer, yesterday we asked the city's PR team: a) Are you aware of the lapsed URL and where it directs now?; b) Any comment about "its strange new life"? We've yet to hear back.
Craving some meatier (phrasing...) semi-related content? Revisit our exploration of the Eastern European cybersquatter who erected (phrasing...) a zombie AI version of Southwest Journal.
What Is Flavor World?
Well, it’s not Flavortown, we know that much. And it’s opening in Loring Park this weekend, at Minneapolis's long-vacant Fast Print building at 1218 Harmon Place. But, as Brianna Kelly tells us in her rundown at Downtown Voices, Drew Kinkaid’s expansive project is much-encompassing and ever-shifting. Flavor World already publishes a magazine and puts on events; now, thanks to financial support from the city's Arts & Culture Vibrant Storefronts program, it will have a physical home. According to Kelly, the physical space will include “areas for screenprinting, photo and video shoots, playing and recording music, coworking, purchasing art, and gathering, in general.” Featuring live music and art, Friday's grand-opening party will run from 6-10 p.m.
It's Drive-In Season!
The Starlite Drive-In Theater's 2025 season kicks off tonight, with a more kid-friendly double-feature on screen one (The Minecraft Movie, Paddington in Peru) and a pair of adult-friendly flicks (The Accountant 2, A Working Man) showing on screen two. Gates open at 7 p.m., and they're encouraging moviegoers to bring a sweatshirt or perhaps a blanket. The Starlite (which is located at 28264 Hwy. 22, Litchfield) got a new owner last year in Michael Maher, who also owns an indoor movie theater in River Falls, Wisconsin, with his wife Michelle. Vali-Hi Drive-In in Lake Elmo, perhaps the metro's most popular drive-in, remains closed for the third consecutive year as summer approaches. This ain't the 1950s—your Twin Cities drive-in pickins are slim.
