E
City Planners have given the area of downtown Minneapolis between Hennepin and First Avenues and 6th and 7th streets the name "block E." It was redeveloped about ten years ago into sort of a "Vegas-style" entertainment district, but without a casino. In the late sixties and early seventies it was a funky collection of scruffy businesses- steak houses, Moby Dick's bar, pool halls and porno shops. None of them could beat E Floyd's Paranoid Art Gallery for downright weirdness. Located in a half-basement right on the corner of 7th and Hennepin, his gallery stayed open for a couple of years with no apparent means of support. It was said that E scrounged stuff from the dumpsters of MCAD (a local art college) for his gallery ("found art"?) but if you went down and acted interested, E would talk about "his" art with you. E was more of a beatnik/hipster than an artist, even sporting shades and a goatee. E was about ten years ahead of the curve. Soon there would be lofts and galleries throughout the nearby warehouse district while E had disappeared without a trace. I like to think that the city planners named the block after him:
Photo by Denny Schwartz, circa 1969
UPDATE: After he left Minnesota, E (given name: Floyd Edward Nachtwey) moved to Hawaii, settling in Hilo. He married, added his wife’s last name (Bernier) and started a family. He made his living as a graphic designer and ran for U.S. Senate in 1982, receiving 2.9% of the vote. He died in 2014. Many thanks to Barbara Lodermeier for her information on E as well as information on the music scene in Minneapolis in the late 60s. Much more about E. here.
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I wish I could have seen Minneapolis back then. I avoid downtown as much as possible. Block E is a disgusting mecca for suburbanites going to crappy clubs, Gameworks, and over-priced corporate restaurants.
Just the way I remember it... turn north, past the bus station, past the projects, north to the Blue Note, sitting outside in an old Chevy listening to that big Hammond, sax, guitar, base and drums... oh yeah!
Nicole~ It had a charm, but it was a sleazy charm.
Anon~ You and me both. I lived a block from the Blue Note for a short time before they tore it down.
E was a friend & neighbor....I opened a ahead shop @ 7th & Hennepin in 1968-69 & had already known E for some time when I worked @ Music City there. May have photos of him @ his girlfriend....somewhere. He was a wonderfully weird monkey....I loved his found art. His 'bathroom' was the cleanout hole in the sewer if an adjacent space. You had 2 balance on the pipe.....which gave new meaning 2 French toilets. He always seemed in a somewhat distant fog....
Jay Hamburger, of 'What's Up'
Veggieburger@jayhamburger.com
I was in awe of E and the Paranoid Gallery. Didn't E also run Psychedelia at Lake & Nicollet?
Everyone ~ Thanks for your comments! I don't know anything more about E than what I've posted here. I think Jay has more info.
Friends encountered Floyd,about 1967,as a bunch of drove to minneapolis.He invited us into Paranoia his gallery showing us he pictorial book of his entrance to the newly evolving Underground scene,being my first initiation to it.He showed up at Dania Hall one night.
I met E several times around 1968-69..I had an art class with his girlfriend Zadie at West High School. I remember him being a very bright guy, always challenging authority. A lot of us talked about it, but he had the balls to actually do it.
What an interesting guy. I had a girlfriend (Robin S.) who graduated from West in '67, was that your era?
I saw E. Floyd's basement gallery in about 1968 or 1969. I remember a lot of (fake? dead?) tarantulas in plastic bubbles, lit from behind. I also recall his impressive collection of record albums, which included (I think) "Freak Out!" by The Mothers of Invention. I thought it was pretty exciting in its weirdness.
The Mother of Inventions played at the Guthrie Theater in the summer of 1969, I had front row seats.
I lived at the Paranoid Gallery of Arts, it wasin the basement, below Shinders Bookstore and Coney Island greasy spoon, and The Venice Cafe. Block E had two Shinders--Both had magazines, but the one at the 7th Street corner had comic books while the one at 6th Street also had books.
There also were two Musicland Stores, within 1/2 block of each other. The Great Northern grocery store was down the street. The Nankin Restaurant was across the street. Dennis Sandahl and I lived there, and Sean Jones (who would later be a guitarist with the Pyschedelic Litter) and Doug Paulson were in E. Floyd's band F.O.A.M. (they were terrible). We were told to charge a quarter admission to let people in.
 Anonymous said...
I lived at the Paranoid Gallery of Arts, it was in the basement, below Shinders Bookstore and Coney Island greasy spoon, and The Venice Cafe. Block E had two Shinders--Both had magazines, but the one at the 7th Street corner had comic books while the one at 6th Street also had books.
There also were two Musicland Stores, within 1/2 block of each other. The Great Northern grocery store was down the street. The Nankin Restaurant was across the street. Dennis Sandahl and I lived there, and Sean Jones (who would later be a guitarist with the Pyschedelic Litter) and Doug Paulson were in E. Floyd's band F.O.A.M. (they were terrible). We were told to charge a quarter admission to let people in. And I also saw the Mothers of Invention at the Guthrie Theater, the support band was Alice Cooper
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