Block E

I've been asked about my profile photo. Wikipedia has this to say about Block E.

After 1950… lower Hennepin Avenue became known as a place for drunks, crime, and prostitution. Block E was the center of the squalor. The 620 Club in 1971 gave way to Moby Dick's, and became known as one of the city's most seedy bars. Unsavory establishments, including rough bars, flophouses, and an adult movie theater settled in on Block E in the 1970s and 1980s…

By the 1980s, the block was one of the choice places in Minneapolis for punks to hang out and it became a creative breeding ground for the local punk music scene. Block E was also known for its cheap rent, drawing such establishments as Rifle Sport Gallery. From the mid-1980s forward, the Minneapolis police had a constant presence in the area; it was normal to see squad cars or a police van parked between the northbound traffic lanes and contraflow bus lane.

Block E looked pretty much like this when I started college in Minneapolis in 1980. The owner-operator of the McDonald's was my wife's first boss, she worked at the City Center location across the street.

Block E was demolished in 1988 and became a parking lot.