It was the Academy from 1957 to 1983. The interiors were smothered with curtains or ripped out entirely, and the lower floor modernized with tile and stone.
The Academy showed the big shows – Todd-AO productions intended to crowbar people off their sofas and away from the televisions. This shot comes from 1958, when South Pacific came to town.
As the shot on the left suggests: everything in this picture is gone, with the exception of the Greyhound station, now First Avenue, the low commercial building at Hennepin and 7th, Dayton’s (Now Macy’s) and the gas company building in the distance. Other buildings have gone up in their place, of course, but they brought a different city with them. |