Downtown Destinations

The establishment pictured below is the only remaining business in what once was the Dayton's block (12 floors!) in downtown Minneapolis. I spent a couple of years toiling in the sub-basement of that complex and I will admit to buying some caramel corn from Candyland. The Yardbirds (with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page) played their first U.S. concert 8 floors above this shop:

This downtown Masonic Temple had been converted to an arts center in the late 1970s: The Hennepin Center for the Arts. I did sound for a gig with Willie and the Bees and The Wallets in its 8th floor auditorium in 1981:

This nondescript commercial building housed the basement studio of The Explodo Boys in the late 1970s. I spent many an hour there, rehearsing and recording. Now surrounded by new condos, its present use is unknown. There was a now defunct Pontiac dealership next to it, as is the car brand: