(says the librarian, since Fatty Kitty is lording over his domain in Whitefish - his servant emailed saying he enjoyed writhing on the sidewalk the other day - "yoga" he calls it)
is in the Linden Hills neighborhood in Minneapolis.
44th and Abbott Ave South to be exact. As you look up Abbott Avenue, you see trees. In my childhood they were giant elms that formed a canopy across the entire street. Dutch Elm disease took its toll and the city planted a variety of trees to take the elms' places.
The Linden Hills library hasn't changed much on the outside since I used to go there and get my Beverly Cleary books. It's on the National Register of Historic Places, so they've restored it rather than tearing it down.
The roof is made of slate slabs in various colors and is my favorite part of the building - besides the spiral staircase inside that only librarians could use. Imagine my surprise to find out that patrons can now go up the magic stairs. Ooooo, I just had to do it. I found a comfy reading room up there, and my brother-in-law was reading the newspaper! Who knew?
In my day, the neighborhood was partially defined by St. Thomas Catholic Church and school - that's one reason every block was crawling with kids. We had five, and had neighbors with six, six, ten, and four children, respectively. The tiny families on the block only had two or three kids, and they were always shyer and less rambunctious children by dint of never having to fight over the mashed potatoes, I guess.
Back then, this violin shop was a corner store called Branson's with a tiny soda fountain.
And this bakery located two short blocks away was Langer's grocery store where I used to buy candy bars for a nickel. It was conveniently located on the way to and from school, but closed early, unlike the corner store.
And the school, Audubon Elementary (Go Orioles!) is back in business after being closed for a decade or two - but it's now known as the "lower campus" of Lake Harriet Community School,
Younger children went in doors to the left - the "new" part of the school in the sixties. In third grade, you went to the old building on the right. I wonder if the halls still smell the same? There was a carnival every year put on the by the PTA with a house of horror (aka Mrs. Pascoe's first grade classroom), a fishing booth, and a cakewalk. I won a cake at the cakewalk. My big brother Jon offered to take it home for me and the cake was never seen again...unless you count the crumbs around his mouth.
posted by the librarian
The Linden Hills library hasn't changed much on the outside since I used to go there and get my Beverly Cleary books. It's on the National Register of Historic Places, so they've restored it rather than tearing it down.
The roof is made of slate slabs in various colors and is my favorite part of the building - besides the spiral staircase inside that only librarians could use. Imagine my surprise to find out that patrons can now go up the magic stairs. Ooooo, I just had to do it. I found a comfy reading room up there, and my brother-in-law was reading the newspaper! Who knew?
In my day, the neighborhood was partially defined by St. Thomas Catholic Church and school - that's one reason every block was crawling with kids. We had five, and had neighbors with six, six, ten, and four children, respectively. The tiny families on the block only had two or three kids, and they were always shyer and less rambunctious children by dint of never having to fight over the mashed potatoes, I guess.
Back then, this violin shop was a corner store called Branson's with a tiny soda fountain.
And this bakery located two short blocks away was Langer's grocery store where I used to buy candy bars for a nickel. It was conveniently located on the way to and from school, but closed early, unlike the corner store.
And the school, Audubon Elementary (Go Orioles!) is back in business after being closed for a decade or two - but it's now known as the "lower campus" of Lake Harriet Community School,
Younger children went in doors to the left - the "new" part of the school in the sixties. In third grade, you went to the old building on the right. I wonder if the halls still smell the same? There was a carnival every year put on the by the PTA with a house of horror (aka Mrs. Pascoe's first grade classroom), a fishing booth, and a cakewalk. I won a cake at the cakewalk. My big brother Jon offered to take it home for me and the cake was never seen again...unless you count the crumbs around his mouth.posted by the librarian
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