Last Call at Al's Bar in St. Louis Park

As you may have read earlier, Al's Bar in St. Louis Park has a special place in my heart. Therefore, when my uncle called me to regale me with stories of his youth on time spent in that bar, and spent with his father (my grandfather - a man that I never met), well it just made Al's closing all that more melancholy. As my uncle admitted that his first bar drink likely occurred there as well, and over a cribbage board across the table from his dad, I knew I'd be letting the family down if I didn't say goodbye to the bar in person.

So with my wife up for an adventure we headed out for their last Friday night happy hour, and needless to say, we weren't the only ones that showed up to bid farewell to this institution. The place was packed wall to wall, and spilled out of the back door and into the parking lot.

The wait for service at the bar was a long one, but I got myself a Budweiser (to bookend the one I had there 27 years earlier - dear God, 27 years!) and got my lovely bride a Bud Light, and we made our way for the back door. Along the way, we ran into these two - it is nice to see that cribbage is still being played in this bar.

We finally made it outside. It took us a while, and my wife was propositioned and prodded the entire way despite my thinking that I was leading her safely through the crowd. Memo to self: Don't take a hot chick through a crammed bar full of men that have been drinking all day and assume she's just fine behind you. Idiot.

We had just one beer - wading through the animals again to get another from the bar inside seemed far too high a price to pay - and we prepared to go. As we turned our backs on this little space in family history, with its brick facade, burned out neon sign, and overflowing revelers, for just a second there I thought I caught the faintest sound of a old piano playing the 12th Street Rag.

Goodbye, Al's. And thanks.

Rest in Peace, Al's Bar

Jon Tevlin of the StarTribune reports today that a Minneapolis institution, Al's Bar off of Excelsior Boulevard in St. Louis Park, will close on Saturday after an 83 year run.

Al's was on the route to my Grandma's house in Uptown, and it was always there, right on the border before you got to Minneapolis.

It was also the site of my first ever bar drink. I was a junior in high school, and was working in the Labelle's warehouse in Minnetonka (site of the current Best Buy store). I was working with a guy that happened to be a bouncer there, and we made quick friends. Soon, I got an invite to stop over for my first ever bar drink.

A Budweiser never tasted so good.

Al's was dark but warm; a working man's bar. It was your dad's bar, or more likely, your grand dad's bar. The kind of bars that they just don't make anymore.

Goodbye, Al's. You'll be missed.