I wondered why was I so upset when I found out Nye's was closing. It's not like I had been there in years. I don't know anyone that works there anymore. The drinks were always so-so. The food was almost laughable.
Nye's was a Minneapolis institution for however many decades it was open, and I think it's a damn shame they are tearing it down to build condos.
smoking outside the bar.
I was sitting in my car around the corner after taking these photos trying to figure it out.
Nyes last week in business.
I felt like I had steel bands around my chest and was feeling like I was about to start crying. WHAT THE FUCK!!! I haven't had a drink in years. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Diane.
Diane and I at my grandmother's house.
It was recently the 15 year anniversary of my stepmother Diane's death. As with all things, time makes it easier and memories start to fade. I've known Diane since I was 4 years old. She was one of the amazing women to raise me. The person who taught me manners.
My very short stint as a hockey player. What I lacked in skill, I made up for in enthusiasm.
Diane was the woman who loved and nurtured me after my mother's death when I was 6. The woman who still loved me when I would tell her she wasn't my real Mom and that I hated her.
Mom, me and Diane.
Every year for the last 7 or so years that Diane was alive, we had dinner at Nye's for my birthday. We would make a big deal out of it and get dressed up: Diane in her leftover fancy clothes from the 80's, me in my fedora and silk bowling shirt with martini glasses on it. We would split the surf and turf dinner. We'd eat the whole pickle tray in one of those huge gold glitter booths, singing along with the piano bar.
Photo by redwingdigital.com
photo by startribune.com
Then we we would go next door to the bar to dance and drink the night away to the world's most dangerous polka band.
photo by newcastic.com
I can remember dancing with her to New York, New York three times in one night. There were always way too many martinis and vodka sodas. And laughter. I remember my cousin Adeana and her boyfriend at the time Dan having to carry me out of there.
Now Nye's is closed forever.
All set to auction off my memories.
already a ghost.
I feel guilty that I don't think about Diane very often anymore. I feel like it's an affront to everything she did for me. I feel terrible about the fact that I wasn't able to be there for her in the last couple of years of her life when she needed me.
At least I have these wonderful memories from all of those birthdays.
That's why I'm so upset Nye's is closed.