When a bar becomes a nuisance
Posted on April 21st, 2008 – 6:07 PMBy James Shiffer
The good times are coming to an end at Johnny A’s. Johnny Alexander’s gritty bar in the scrap metal district north of downtown Minneapolis got its liquor license yanked by the City Council, Star Tribune staff writer Steve Brandt reported Friday (read down for relevant paragraphs).
The 94-page report on the troubles with Johnny A’s ends with a “Notice of Nuisance” from Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Diane M. Krenz that summarizes the main evidence: no fewer than 419 visits by police to 200 West Broadway between February 2007 and February 2008, none of them for the purposes of knocking back a cold one. The parking lot, it seems, was a regular bazaar: drugs, bootleg DVDs, sex, all were on sale - much of it offered to undercover cops. Inside, the authorities once raided a Texas Hold’em tournament with a $1,000 cash prize. A patron was once seen going inside after tucking a handgun in his waistband. In November, police found someone hiding in a car in the parking lot. Under a seat was a two-foot sword. The next day, someone was shot outside the bar’s door. In February, an undercover officer bought drugs from a bar employee.
Not only that, but an inspection in December found “critical health violations” in the kitchen - they couldn’t get the dishwasher to start, among other problems, and owner Johnny Alexander’s explanation that he was leasing the kitchen to Billy just didn’t pass muster with the health inspector.
A bar where patrons feel the need to pack swords and guns certainly meets most people’s definition of a nuisance. But this part of Minneapolis isn’t much of a neighborhood, either. It’s a place old cars come to get ripped apart and rusting heaps of twisted steel loom over corrugated fences. One North Side business owner spoke up in favor of saving Johnny A’s: the city report includes a letter from Dean Rose, owner of the Bean Scene coffee shop on West Broadway. Rose described Alexander as someone trying to fight crime, not give it a home, and credited him with “remodeling a once shabby, run-down business into a clean, refreshing establishment with a comfortable atmosphere to drink and dine on the north side.”
Cities have wrangled with troublesome saloons since time immemorial, making me wonder if there’s a permanent cast of questionable characters in every city who, upon being evicted from one dive bar, will merely find another to inhabit. And Minneapolis, once home to the Upper Midwest’s most infamous Skid Row, probably won’t ever be free of such places.
UPDATE: This afternoon I had a conversation with Matt Alexander, son of Johnny A.’s owner who also worked in the bar. He takes issue with many aspects of the city’s report. The troubles were almost all associated with what happened in the parking lot, not inside the bar, he said, and his father was constantly working with police, not against them. But he couldn’t be responsible for the characters he threw off his property who inevitably wandered back, his son said. Many of the 419 police visits had to do with traffic violations in front of the club, Alexander said. He suspects the city wants the property for redevelopment, and this was the easiest way to get it. Matt Alexander said he’s disappointed that something his father invested so much work and money into was now wasted. “It’s a shame,” he said.
22 Responses to “When a bar becomes a nuisance”
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April 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Johnny A’s is the second bar on the block to be shut down. Irv’s closed last year. BJ’s is next. The city wants to rehab the area, maybe get rid of one of the scrap yards. Master Development, which is across the street from Irv’s, will take over the land and build on it. It sucks that Minneapolis is over-regulated, but that corner is a blight. I live just across the bridge in Northeast, and driving through the Washington/1st Ave area would scare most people. Irv’s, BJ’s, Johnny A’s, Stand Up Frank’s…they all have problems with illegal activity (some inside, most outside) Move the bars down Washington just a bit, and make the city pay part of the cost of a good surveillance system. It’ll never be a good neighborhood, but it doesn’t have to be this dangerous.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Go point, Go Twins!!. Now, the elite patrons of Johnny A’s will have to find a new venue. Erv’s (across from Johnny A’s) is now closed as well. The only place within walking distance is the infamous BJ’s. They must do a good job of keeping people out.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I drive past this place every day on my way home from work. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen some very suspicious behavior, along with people face down of the sidewalk with police on top of them. And this is at 5:00 in the afternoon. I would often wonder what kind of excitement I would see when driving by. I see the bar across the street is closed, the old, hole-in-the-wall liquor store is gone and now if they could just get the strip club closed, there may be hope for this neighborhood to flourish.
By the way, I’d be pretty nervous about health issues if I had eaten there, knowing they had a non-functional dishwasher.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I have worked for John for 5 years. I really wish there was some way this could be fixed. It seems we are just the next target in the city’s sights. Shark’s, Gabbie’s now us. Irv’s has been closed for over a year and is still for sale and vacant. Hate to say it but it seems like the new trend is going after the bars with a greater amount of black patronage. To all my friends at the 2, I’ll see you soon let’s meet up for drinks over Northeast, then over south, then wherever we can. Let’s just be honest about what is really going on. If you have never been in Johnny A’s I suggest you get there fast. I promise you will be shocked when you see how nice it is and not the dive you thought you had to lock your doors to drive past. PS That was an idiotic comment by the way.
PEACE
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 am
I read the 95 page evidence packet. More than once, Mr. A was caught selling liquor without a licence and admitted to the police that he purchased it at a liquor store. More than once, his bouncer was busted for selling drugs. And he’s innocent? He’s an honest businessman investing his life savings to clean up the neighborhood? He saw a golden opportunity to do serve people with pockets full of cash — hookers, pimps and dealers! Pure greed. He had no desire to clean up the community or he would have eliminated the bar from the equasion and made it simply a fine dining establishment. However, closing Johnny A’s does nothing for the community crime problem other than move it around. Mr. A is the only criminal being held accountable for his crimes here … his drug-dealing, gun toting patrons are simply relocating.
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
man leave that joint alone.. a bar is a bar… if you go there then you know the rep the place has.. i miss irvs 3 tacos for a buck on sundays
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
The 2oo Club, Johnny A’s.. the name has changed but the problem is still the same. I have been there and yes there are a few illegal activities that happen in the parking lot.. but lets be for real things like that happen all over the place. Mary Jo’s is for helping families and those in need and she faces the same problems with drug activity and other ungodly things. Most of the troubles that happen in the vicinity of the bar merely comes from residents who don’t even live in that area so it is a rest haven for their illegal dealings. Shutting down the bar will not solve the problem it will continue in the vacant lots. I say keep the bar and remove the crime spend some time outside on a hot summer night the police stroll by but they never really do much and well most of them out there on the “Block” are undercover sellers or informants looking to bust the lowest factors on the crime chart.
April 24th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Taking away the liqour license or closing down the bar isn’t going to stop the problem (drug dealing, prostitution, etc) it’s only going to relocate it. Do you think the City knows where these people are going to perform their illegal activities at? I’d like to know so I can avoid that place too…
April 28th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I feel sorry for all the drug dealers and thugs. Where are they supposed to go now?
April 29th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Isn’t this the bar that was shot in the opening scene in the movie Fargo? I know the bar has had a face lift since the movie was filmed, but shouldn’t that staring role make this place a city landmark and not a blighted property ripe for development?