Scooter's Bar Journal » North Side

Johnny A’s 200 Club

scooterj — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 17:19:00 +0000

(North Side, Minneapolis, MN)

Closed, but a new bar has opened in the same location.
Several drugs busts and a liquor license violation led to be being shut down in early 2008.

Re-opened in February 2010 as “Good Sports Bar and Grill”.

Scooter’s 167th bar, first visited in 2006.

They were definitely right. In the morning Gary was almost the only black person we saw in this neighborhood Now we were the only white people anywhere in sight. As we approached the rear entrance of Johnny A’s a guy tossed a crumpled napkin out of his car window. As we walked by Brandon pointed to the “No Littering” sign in front of him and said “Hey! The sign says ‘No Littering’!” “What the f%@$ did you say?” said the stunned driver. “I’m just messin’ with ya, man,” said Brandon and the two exchanged a laugh.

Johnny A’s was packed but we managed to get a couple of seats at the bar. Just like outside, we were the only whites in the place. Our bartender was pretty cool but we didn’t catch his name. After a while we walked over to watch some people play Silver Strike Bowling.

As we were sitting in front of Johnny A’s taking pictures I heard a woman say “Excuse me!”. I turned to look to find 7 angry people next to us. “Why did you just take a picture of my license plate?!?” Uhhh… uh…. “I didn’t,” I said, “We were taking a pictures of B.J.’s and Irv’s”. “No, I saw you, and you BOTH had cameras, you had them pointed straight ahead. “Only to see what we had taken pictures of. I swear, we were not taking pictures of license plates.” “Come on,” they said, “what in the world would you be taking pictures of bars for?” “We’re on a road trip,” I said, “and taking pictures of every bar we go to.” They apparently accepted this answer because they walked away. Brandon was pretty ticked about being singled out and scrutinized but I pointed out that they probably experience that every day.

Exclusive: Johnny A’s Busted

Johnny A’s owner talks about shutdown

When a bar becomes a nuisance

200 W Broadway
Minneapolis, MN 55411
US
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(612) 522-0894
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Stand-Up Frank’s

scooterj — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 17:11:00 +0000

(North Side, Minneapolis, MN)

Closed, but a new bar has opened in the same location.
Painted lime green, redecorated with a zombie theme, shows horror movies, and now called “Donny Dirks Zombie Den”.

Scooter’s 159th bar, first visited in 2006.

This was a classic old building with a great age-worn bar that ran the length of the building. It featured a dark, ornate ceiling, antique cash registers, and the first coin-operated bumper pool table we’d ever seen. Brandon wanted to get a picture of the pool table but two people were using it as a table to read the paper. So Brandon went over to ask them if he could get a shot, and that’s how we met Gary and Laura. They were incredibly nice and told us about the neighborhood we were in and places we should check out later, including the stop were we would get lunch that we would have completely missed if not for them. They explained that these bars open early to serve third-shift blue-collar workers, and that by evening it would be an entirely different kind of crowd here. Gary bought us a shot of chilled Vodka that was really good but we could not finish — but apparently when you buy a shot here it comes with a refill.

2027 2nd St N
Minneapolis, MN 55411
US
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Irv’s Bar

scooterj — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 17:10:00 +0000

(North Side, Minneapolis, MN)

OUT OF BUSINESS
Killed by the smoking ban. All contents auctioned off May 14, 2007, the bar has since been converted into office space.

Scooter’s 158th bar, first visited in 2006.

This place has taps but they never use them — bottles only. The crowd was surprisingly good-looking for this time of day, we later learned from an overheard phone call that several had been out drinking until the bars closed, then gone to an all-night diner, then come here for the 8am-10am 3-for-1 early bird drink special. This was a square shaped bar and behind us was a small dining area and an enclosed outdoor patio. The kitchen offered a limited menu of inexpensive bar food including 3 burgers for a buck, but the kitchen didn’t open until noon and we didn’t have time to wait that long. The men’s room sported the classic ice-filled urinal trough.

201 W Broadway Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55411
US
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