On February 10th, 2018, artist Amoke Kubat (YO MAMA!) led a storytelling space at Water Bar & Public Studio that she called YO MAMA'S Very VERY Snowy Day.

This drop-in program invited participants to share their snowy day stories about a recent blizzard in Minnesota, and to discuss what they know and feel about climate change and resilience in our communities. This was one of four experimental workshops designed and led by Amoke Kubat and partners, in conjunction with the City of Minneapolis Climate Preparedness program.

This 30-minute clip documents a conversation led by Amoke with a group of visitors, including student volunteers from the University of Minnesota Water Resource Sciences Center.

Artist Amoke Kubat leads conversation at Water Bar on Climate Change Preparedness in Minneapolis

Here on 7th Street, between Nicollet and Hennepin Avenues, once sat possibly the most influential restaurant in Minneapolis history: the Nankin Café, which spawned dozens of imitators and helped give birth to American Chinese cuisine. The large restaurant existed here in downtown beginning in 1919 and lasted to around 1990, just a few doors down from Nicollet Avenue.

The café was a huge place, and had 36 waiters on staff for a typical lunch rush. It was a two-story room, with tables lining the outside walls, and an elegant curving staircase painted in blue, red and gold curving through the middle. Under the grand stairs, there was a pool and fountain lit by Chinese glass lanterns, and inside the fountain lived a turtle who would delight patrons of all ages.

Probably Nankin’s most famous invention was a drink they called the wanderer’s punch -- almost sometimes mistakenly referred to as the “wondrous punch” -- that was a mix of potent rums and liquors. Served in a giant goblet, the punch was a powerful concoction.

According to one remembrance, “it was called the wanderer because when you try to get up from your bar stool you would commonly find yourself unable to walk a straight line.”

Today the punch recipe has also wandered through the city, and can be found in various forms at nearby bars and restaurants.

Photo: MNHS Archival Collection

Minneapolis Weird Nicollet Tour: The Nankin Café

In the 1870s, before it was full of railroads, the eastern bluffs of the Mississippi River were believed by European settlers to have natural healing powers. In those early years of Minneapolis, when today’s metropolis was but a gleam in a speculator’s squinting eye, the Upper Mississippi valley was the American frontier and the Falls of Saint Anthony took on a legendary status.

In the 1870s, there was a health resort along the bluffs near the waterfall. It was named the Chalybeate Resort — the name refers to natural mineral springs — and people with chronic diseases made pilgrimages to Minneapolis to recuperate. A noteworthy amenity of the resort: it offered boat rides into caves in the river bluffs. The proprietor of the resort, a speculative huckster named Mannasseh P. Pettingill, invited patrons to descend the river bluffs, surround themselves with nature, and enjoy ice cream, cigars, and a bottled tonic he called Petingill’s Wonderful Water.

The resort went bankrupt in 1880 when the healing water was revealed to come from a nearby swamp.

That was then, but even today, some believe that Minneapolis still holds mysterious energies. There are well known maps that show a large ley line running right through Minneapolis, from the Missouri River due through Minneapolis, Chippewa Falls Wisconsin, northern Michigan and ending in western Massachusetts. These lines are believed to connect important geographical sites and carry earth energy, and according to one local healer, Minneapolis sits on site of the Earth’s throat chakra, releasing creative force energy into the world.

Whether or not Minneapolis has spiritual energy or natural healing powers is debated to this day. If it does, Nicollet Avenue is at the heart of it all.

Minneapolis Weird Nicollet Tour: Introduction and the Mystical Mississippi

Sound of Minneapolis Public Library

The Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District (DID) is a business-led, 501(c)6 non-profit with a mission to make downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, a vibrant and attractive place for recruiting and retaining businesses, employees, residents, shoppers, students and visitors. This is accomplished by providing services that make over 120 blocks of downtown cleaner, greener and safer. DID also serves as a catalyst, facilitator, convener and promoter of public-private partnerships, collaborations and services that enhance the downtown experience.

Minneapolis Weird Nicollet Tour: The Nankin Café

Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District

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