Hidden Minneapolis: Roundup Bar and Grill

[barondave]

Roundup Bar and Grill, Mpls, 6/9/08
The Roundup Bar and Grill is on the corner of 2nd Ave. and Lake Street. That's 35W in the background. Across the street is a McDonald's, and down the street is an emerging Latino set of storefronts. I've never been to the Roundup, even though it's two blocks from where I live. Maybe it's that they don't have Buffalo Burgers or Ostrich Burgers like the old place did.

What old place, you may ask? Many on my FList have been in the establishment, some as performers. It used to be known as the Irish Too Pub, a grungy bar that occasionally had live music. That place is long gone, closed by the health department and/or the police or something. But memories survive, as does the sign in the parking lot in the back.


Irish Too Pub sign, in back, Mpls 6/9/08
If you turned 90 degrees to the right, you would see the mural who's picture I posted Friday.

Comments

[radparker.livejournal.com]

Ishhhhhhh. I remember that place. My friend's mom used to warm a barstool there when I was a kid. We used to ride out bikes there so she could get money from her mom. It really was a disgusting dive.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Lake Street was one of the areas zoned for bars circa the Depression, and a number of legacy places hang on for reasons I don't really understand. Local bars are great -- I don't want to drink and drive, so I go to the closest place -- but there's not much around Lake & 2nd except some seedy neighborhoods just South.

But the Irish Too Pub were a venue for some of the fannish bands in the 80s, so I popped in now and again.

[radparker.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean. We do the same thing here in Chicago. We often go to a dive bar called "Oasis" that's literally around the corner, on our block. I imagine some other people would say "ish, why would you go THERE?"

I knew that area by the Roundup quite well, not sure why. Just drove through there on the way to everywhere else, I guess.

[radparker.livejournal.com]

Oasis (http://www.yelp.com/biz/oasis-chicago)