Ted's Bar: The prize of the Larpenteur/Lexington intersection

So, does Ted's Bar have the coolest looking frontage or what? There it lies up on Larpenteur at Lexington. You just don't see enough chrome and neon these days. The terrific Turf Club does, of course, have a beautiful neon sign (I must go get a photograph of it for the blog) but Ted's has something all of its own. I think that it's the incongruity of the bar and the immediate environment. With the exception of Patrick's Bar down the road (which for me, always evokes the house made of confectionary in Hansel and Gretel--look out for a picture here soon), there are no other bars close by. The rest of the Larpenteur/Lexington intersection is a pretty drab strip mall dystopia. I think that it's the chrome that I like particularly like on Ted's frontage. Against the brown bricks that make up the building the chrome resonates with a vaguely futuristic feel. Inside is okay too. I've only made it in the afternoon and there's usually been a fairly decent crowd. I must go down in the evening. Does anyone have stories about the bar's history?

On the subject of bars, when I moved to my neighborhood (Como/Snelling) I was struck by their general absence. Only upon getting into a conversation with the guy at the hardware store on Como at St. Anthony Park (next door to the post office near Dunn Brothers Coffee) did I find out that this is all to do with an old bylaw that stipulates that no bars (or liquor stores) can be opened within a certain distance from the U of M's St. Paul campus. All about discouraging keg parties and the havoc that they'd supposedly bring. Jeez. Apparently, this bylaw gets renewed every year or two. I guess the University has a lot of power in this regard. A recent anomaly is the little wine shop opposite Dunn Brothers'. The owner there told me that they had to fight pretty hard for permission to open. No beer of course. I guess the University doesn't mind wine drinkers. Anyway, we still have Ted’s and Patrick’s.

cycling is green: it's official

So, on the subject of odd little things in and around the neighborhood, I came across this the other day. I guess that someone must have left these two bicycles out behind their garage years ago. The weeds have grown through and around them so that now they're mostly covered in green. Like the fire truck that I discussed in a previous post (suburban-firetruck-decay) I like the general sense of decay here (a rusted piece of transportation that's been abandoned to the elements) and the subsequent emergence of something that's aesthetically arresting over time. The technology/nature theme is also interesting, of course. I see these little displays (I see them as displays even though that wasn't in all likelihood the initial intent here) as an unintentional suburban art form. I'd love to see other examples of this (that is, if and when folk start looking at my blog). I must go back later in the summer and see what the green bicycles look like then. But damn, we need some rain if those weeds are going to grow.