Avenue Eatery, Opens

About a week ago my pops came to town. We needed breakfast so we headed over to the Avenue Eatery. We walked there.

My dad grew up in Cudahy, WI, a working class suburb of Milwaukee, with a long period of living in the Bay View neighborhood in the city proper. The Cream City (nicknamed for it's uniquely colored brick) is the most segregated city in America; but there is/was poverty both North and South.

Bay View is the prime example of a working class neighborhood that struggled through decades of decline. Now, when I return, there's always a new brew pub, artists studio or, what do you know, services that real people can use. When I was a kid, that was unthinkable.

If you know anything about the recent history on West Broadway and NoMi, you know what a struggle it can be to revitalize a major corridor. Bean Scene Too was the second coming of Linda Baker's dream. The business struggled--the economy had tanked--and Catalyst has taken it over with the help of Shericka Teague, an experienced personal chef and a great person. What Linda Baker says in the video below, is the reality on the ground. We do have amazing housing, we don't have commerce; but neither did Bay View 10 years ago. Let's do something about that.

This video was a part of a multi-part examination of North Minneapolis produced by Andrew Mannix, Karlee Weinmann and me, Scottie B. Tuska, in 2008 for MinnPost.com.

For more photos from the Avenue Eatery grand opening, checkout An Owl's Nest, she's awesome and has a really cute baby.

Comments

Katrina said…

Wonderful photos of the restaurant's opening.

1:13 PM, April 23, 2011

Amanda said…

You must have done some interesting stories for the paper Scott. I'd like to hear more sometime. Is this in the area that you two live right now?

8:19 PM, April 29, 2011

Yardwork, Ikea and Pumpkins

My new parents-in-law got us a dehydrator for the wedding. Knowing we were going to be cleaning up the garden and going to farmer's market, we took a gander at our millionth kitchen device during breakfast. Scott added granola to his oatmeal. The oatmeal was rather bland, just the way Brooke likes it. Scott was actually cleaning up so I had to take a quick photo of him as proof. Scott told me he was, "putting a blanket down for Peanut," while singing. During the winter months peanut needs a warm place to peer through the window. Seeing as it was nearly November, I setup his blanket for him. Seeing as the farmers market season is dwindling down, we headed to the market...once again. The close proximity to the cities central farmer's market has to be one of the best assets of living in NoMi. We were both amazed by the bounty of produce still on sale. We quickly filled up our first bag and took it back to the car....

Honeymoon: Duluth, Minnesota is Not Flooded. Long Live Long-Pong.

When the waitress asked for Blake's ID and he told her he was underage we were kicked out of the Thirsty Pagan. To not miss out on our favorite pizza and beer (and we had a coupon to use up) we ordered food to go. While waiting for our food we walked around the great, but sad city of Superior, Wisc. Heading directly out the door and towards the industrial waterfront this Charlie Brown block was plopped amongst the former industry.

Work Trip: Winston-Salem, North Carolina

It's already October, which ususally means work is starting to slow down for me. Well, not this year. My first October shoot was taking me to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After spending the day photographing the circa-1772 woman's only boarding school, Salem Academy, I went for a little walk around Old Salem. Winston might be the more urbane half of the North Carolina Twin City, but Salem was settled during the colonial era by Morovians. They were, and still are, a protestant sect that settled here via the modern Czechia (Czech Republic). The neighborhood is a living museum with restaurants and residences intermingled with homes-turned-museum spaces.

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