Prince Items And Prince Theme New MPLS Hard Rock Cafe
Star Tribune

http://www.startribune.co...26585.html

Published Sep 12, 2002

Linda Mack

Block E roared to life Wednesday as employees at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Minneapolis' long-awaited entertainment complex readied for today's official opening.

Waiters and waitresses in signature black outfits screamed and applauded as a half-dozen Minneapolis police officers filed in to try out the staff's last practice lunch. Music -- hard rock , of course -- blared. Workers filled shelves with Hard Rock shirts, glasses and games. Prince's purple shirt and high-heeled shoes gleamed from a second-floor display case.

In addition to the restaurant, which will be the first business to open its doors in Block E, new skyways linking the development to Target Center and City Center will open today.

There has been parking, drug dealing, Ribfest events and Smashing Pumpkins concerts on the block in recent years, but no ongoing legitimate business has operated on the block since October 1988, when it was leveled.

"I'm glad something finally got built," said Bernie Miller, an engineer at the nearby Marriott Hotel who had been recruited as a lunchtime guinea pig.

The wide skyways across Hennepin and 1st Avs. N. will be open between 6 a.m. and 2 a.m., said Block E's General Manager Sue Bonin. Escalators will move pedestrians between the skyway level and the Hennepin Avenue sidewalk and elevators will give access to the underground parking, which opened last month.

The rest of the complex is in varying states of readiness. The first truckload of merchandise is being unloaded at the two-level Borders Books and Music, which is to welcome customers Sept. 28. Other tenants, including the 15-screen Crown Theatre cineplex on the third floor, the two-level Gameworks, and smaller tenants such as Starbucks and Coldstone Creamery will roll up their shutters this fall.

Jamba Juice and Improv Comedy Club, previously announced as tenants, are no longer part of the tenant mix, Bonin said.

The Le Meridien Hotel on 1st Avenue N. won't be ready for guests until next year, Bonin said. But the perennial gardens and fountain facing Target Center should be complete by month's end. And the Minneapolis City Planning Department has approved a design for a stairway linking the sidewalk and the skyway level on the 1st Avenue side, where a disagreement over a planned outdoor escalator caused a last-minute design fracas. The Minneapolis City Council is expected to approve the stairway design Friday.

Lee Bailey, general manager of the Minneapolis Hard Rock, said he is eager to open the two-story theme restaurant, the first Hard Rock in the Twin Cities.

"Could you get a better location in Minneapolis?" he asked, noting that Target Center and First Avenue nightclub, both across the street, together can draw 20,000 people a night.

He said corporate trainers had been introducing the almost 200 employees to "the Hard Rock way" -- the culture and fun-loving atmosphere of the 31-year-old, London-based company. Unlike most chain restaurants, Hard Rock gears its theme to its location: "Here, we're more Prince."

Retail Manager Tom Docken encouraged people to walk through the place and use the stairway that links the first-floor restaurant with the skyway level.

Mayor R. T. Rybak, who criticized the city's $39 million subsidy of Block E in his campaign, said it's now time to celebrate the return of entertainment and "the skyway highway." He'll christen the Hard Rock Cafe at 11 a.m. with a ritual guitar-smashing ceremony.

Unfortunately, for some fucked up reason, they put the Michael Jackson display right next to Prince's.

It will be cool for Prince fans coming into town though since Hard Rock is directly across the street from First Avenue club.

I was at First Avenue a few weeks ago and was wondering why there was no big ass guitar on the building. But it turned out that they finally put one up last week.

I'm going to a show at First Ave. tonight so I think I'll stop in at the Hard Rock for a beer and to check out the Prince displays before I hit the Ave. I'll let you know what its like.

http://www.prince.org/msg...&tid=21958

u a day late on this one.

sonicfreak said:

it's funny--i've lived here in mpls 4 nearly a year, and i still haven't been 2 first ave. 4 a show.

Across the street from the target center.