Dining Out in Dinkytown

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Published on Tuesday, 18 November 2014 23:44

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1057 .... November 19, 2014
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Dining Out in Dinkytown:
Remembering the Minneapolis Truckers’ Strikes of 1934

Bryan D. Palmer

If you are in Minneapolis, after a hard day's night, the place to go for a morning pick-me-up is Al's Breakfast. Or so I was informed. Being in the Twin Cities in mid-July, I made my way to the legendary AM eatery, located in the heart of Dinkytown, the neighborhood adjacent to the University of Minnesota where Al's is located.

Mind you, no one had told me anything about the place. My heart sank as I rounded the 14th Avenue corner and took in the line that had formed outside of an establishment half way down the block. As I shuffled into place at the end of the queue and... glanced inside my spirits nose-dived even further.

The place wasn't so much a restaurant as a refurbished alleyway. Indeed, its origins, I later ascertained, were just that. The space was once a converted corridor separating two stores, first used to stockpile sheet metal and plumbing parts by a hardware outlet. It was ‘made-over’ into a restaurant in 1950. At ten feet wide, with a mere fourteen stools, its mid-century clientele consisted largely of railroad workers.

Over the years Al's has become renowned for its waffles, blueberry pancakes, and ingenious egg concoctions, its quick-paced pack-‘em-in bravado, and the banter of its wait staff and cooks. No time is wasted on the pseudo-niceties of sycophantic service. Placards on the wall set the tone: "Not Responsible for Alienated Affections"; "Beware of Waitress With An Attitude." But the place wins national awards, attracts the cognoscenti, and clearly has strong advocates.

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