Public Hearing Set for Former Fuji-Ya Site

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

The former site of the Fuji-Ya restaurant could become a new downtown riverside park, and a public hearing to begin that process is scheduled for December 15, 6-8 p.m. at the Mill City Museum.  The Park Board press release is already renaming the site the "Water Works Site" in recognition that the city's first water supply and fire pumping station were located there.  That's a neat tidbit of history I wasn't aware of, but I still bristle at how quickly we are distancing ourselves from the contributions of Reiko Weston and the Fuji-Ya restaurant.

Especially in that area, the Mississippi riverfront is full of sites, structures, and features that pay homage to the period that "Water Works" also references:  the Stone Arch Bridge, the Mill City Museum, the Mill Ruins Park, the Water Power Park, the Pillsbury A Mill--heck, an entire district is named the Mill district.  What do we have as a place name anywhere in the city of Minneapolis that is a tip of the hat to the contributions of Asian Americans?  If there's something out there, please enlighten me.

I understand that the way the site was forcefully acquired from Weston could be a sore spot.  And I would also be understanding if local Asian Americans weren't overly interested in this site as a place or forum for their cultural heritage.  Weston and the architect were Japanese and much of our Asian population hails from southeast Asia instead.  It could be seen in a similar way as (hypothetically) using historical references from Brazil or French Guyana to pay tribute to the contributions of a Mexican.  Technically it's all Latin America, but the cultures, locations, and languages are all quite distinct.

But has anyone even asked an Asian American cultural group here in the Twin Cities if they would like to participate in the process?

Reiko Weston wasn't just a pioneering minority businesswoman in a time where race and gender stacked the deck against her from the start.  She was also a visionary who saw the appeal of the riverfront when the rest of the city had turned its back on the area.  She preserved the history of the site while incorporating styles from a minority architect who would become well known in his own right.  Whatever form the new development at the Fuji-Ya site takes, those contributions must be recognized, valued, and preserved to the fullest extent possible.  I would hope that we do so by preserving the structure, reaching out to minority populations, and pursuing a site name that reflects the full history that transpired here.

Saving "Fat City" - Comparing Preservation in San Diego and Minneapolis

Post and above photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.  Other photos/images from www.dsoderblog.com, used with permission.


Part 4 of 4 housing policy/wonkish posts.  Click on the links for part 1, part 2, part 3.

I spent a week this summer helping Bryan Thao Worra become a former Hawthornite.  He moved out to the LA area, and we drove across country in a moving van, sampling ghost peppers along the way.  Once we hit the ocean, we bombed around Los Angeles, San Diego, and whatever other cities there are along the sprawling coastal metropolis area.  In San Diego, I came across this sign and snapped a photo to remind me to go back and research what they were doing to save a potential historic site from demolition.  What could Minneapolis learn from other areas?

It almost seemed I was destined to look into this more.  "Fat City" is a nightclub located along the historic Pacific Highway, with Hawthorn Street as the nearest intersection.  Like Fuji-Ya here in Minneapolis, Fat City was the beneficiary of a pioneering Asian-American businessperson, Tom Fat.

The nightclub was originally called Top's Nightclub, and was owned by a Russian immigrant, Yale Khan.  Top's became a central point for the San Diego nightlife, drawing star performers such as Nat King Cole, Shelley Winters, Nelson Eddy, Van Johnson, Don Ameche, Susan Hayward, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.  In 1977, Tom Fat took over the property, restoring and improving the site.  The crown jewel of his addition was...

A Pioneering Business, an Abandoned Riverfront Property, and Sushi

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.


Part 2 of "More Ways to Find the River"


Did you fill out the survey yet?  Friday the 19th is the last day to tell MRDI to keep the Farview land bridge.

 As you bike from NoMi down the River to downtown, there is a nondescript, gray and brown building near the Mill Ruins Park.  Many people know it already, and probably some don't.  One of my neighbors called it to my attention as we were discussing opportunities for development along the Mississippi.  He was so specific in his description of the building that he had me convinced I knew which one it was.  Eventually I had to admit I had no clue what he was referring to.

So I went out for some sushi.

The Fuji-Ya site along the river is now owned by the Park Board.  It's been sitting vacant for decades, we (as in our local government) have site control, and it sits on a key part of the riverfront.  Being north of the Stone Arch Bridge, it was within the geographic area set out by the Mississippi Riverfront Design Initiative.  So why wasn't it included in the lead proposal?  Surely something must be afoot, we thought.

In conversations with some of the planners, we found we were only half right.  The Fuji-Ya site was left out of the design because there have already been some plans in the works for it, and because the group wanted to focus on areas of the Mississippi farther north and outside of downtown.

A brief history of Fuji-Ya is in order, but first, about that order of sushi...