The old two-story wooden Lynnhurst Park Building that was located on the north side of W. 50th Street across from where it is today. It was painted that ever-popular light green as I recall and I think it was where the kiddie pool is now. That was before they built the new one that's attached to Burroughs Elementary school permanently blocking Humboldt Avenue. (Kind of like a mini K-Mart at Nicollet situation) We could really use more access onto and off of that stretch of 50th these days! There was a beautiful wide boulevard between the old First Universalist Church (now Shir Tikvah Synagogue) and the school with Humboldt and Girard/M'haha Pkwy running parallel. Maybe traffic there can be improved now that they will be razing and rebuilding Burroughs, which is a much needed project, speaking from the perspective of a nostalgic alumnus as well as a current Burroughs parent.
Crayfish in Minnehaha Creek. School newspaper drives before there was curb recycling - a major competitive event. Each classroom would have a designated place along the curb on Logan Avenue across from Mount Olivet Church and parents and other donators would drive up and drop off bundles of newspapers tied with twine. By mid-afternoon there would be huge piles of newspapers along Logan and it would be pretty clear which classroom was champion of the world. There must have been quite a volume of newspapers since both the Minneapolis Star and the Minneapolis Tribune were being published at the time. The Baskin Robbins at 50th and Penn Ave. S. Officer McLeod from the Minneapolis Police Department who would visit schools and talk to kids. The big docks with diving boards at Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun. Spending a day at a Minneapolis beach was a real event in summers of the past. As a kid it was a thrill to swim out to the dock and hang out with the teens and grown-ups and muster up enough courage to dive from the board. In contrast, my kids are bored at the very same beaches from which I have such great memories. There's no diving boards, no docks at all and in order to go beyond the rope, which in recent years is in water that only comes up to their ribs, they are required to take a lame "swimming test" which they opt out of because they're on the shy side when it comes to public display of their swimming abilities. So they splash around inside the rope area and dive for rocks. Sad or what? Today you can't even throw a Frisbee or beachball in the water at a Minneapolis beach without getting busted by the lifeguards - with full whistle and megaphone! I know all of this must have come about because of the fear of being sued after some tragic Frisbee water accident but the overabundance of safety measures have just killed the experience for our kids. The swamp at W. 54th Street and Irving where the church now stands. The people in the newer housing over there need not wonder why they have wet basements. Home milk delivery from Ewald Brothers! Karen Larson Tangletown, 11-2 _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
