The high-profile, tiki-themed restaurant across the street from the Xcel Energy Center, which opened in 2022, is the latest in a string of restaurant closures in downtown St. Paul. Co-owner Brian Ingram said the reasons for closing are many, including high crime rates, multiple break-ins and overdoses on the restaurant’s patio and in its bathroom.
“We are walking away from a $4 million buildout,” Ingram said. “It’s not something we’re doing lightly. It was a lifelong dream to build that style and that restaurant, but we can’t sustain it.”
Ingram said the busy patio season is coming up, and he’ll be able to offer jobs to all Apostle employees at his other restaurants, which include Hope Breakfast Bar locations all around the metro area, including one opening soon in Blaine, and The Gnome on Selby Avenue in St. Paul.
Ingram said office workers not returning to downtown and other businesses closing since the pandemic have transformed downtown from a “once vibrant” neighborhood into a quiet core “in crisis.”
While upwards of 90 percent of downtown residences are occupied, one-third of downtown St. Paul’s commercial office space is vacant, according to the mayor’s office.
In recent months, Saint Dinette and Dark Horse Bar in Lowertown have closed. Wrestaurant at the Palace closed due to some water damage a few months ago and has not reopened. All of the Madison Hospitality Group restaurants — including several on Mears Park in Lowertown and Gray Duck Tavern in downtown proper — remain shuttered since the death of owner Jim Crockarell last year.
Ingram and other restaurant owners, including Steve Lott of Big River Pizza in Lowertown, have talked about concern for their safety and that of staff members.
“The thought of something happening to one of our staff members when we close really weighs on me,” Ingram said. “It’s gotten pretty bad.”
St. Paul Police said they’re investigating the case of the latest Apostle break-in, which took place on April 21, as criminal damage to property.
Overall, though, crime reports in downtown St. Paul have been trending down this year. As of Monday, according to St. Paul Police Department statistics:
• There were 128 crimes against people reported vs. 179 in the same time period last year.
• There were 316 crimes against property reported vs. 376 in the same period last year.
• There were 144 quality-of-life crimes reported vs. 166 in the same timeframe last year.
Still, Ingram said, the city can and should do better. In his social media post about the closure, he said the following:
“This isn’t giving up. It’s taking a painful, honest look at what’s working — and what’s not. Right now, downtown St. Paul simply is not a viable place for small, independent restaurants to thrive.”
Mara H. Gottfried and Frederick Melo contributed to this report.
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The default facial expression for Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman is deadly serious. Through his rapidly-growing playoff beard, you rarely see even a hint of a smile.
Since returning from an eight-game suspension that cost him most of February, Hartman has been on his best behavior, all business on the ice, and has proven to be a valuable postseason asset with his hard-nosed play.
So, it was quite a sight, with 75 seconds left in Game 5 of this entertaining first-round series with the Vegas Golden Knights, to see Hartman flashing a broad grin and doing a strut in the offensive zone. It came after he scored what briefly appeared to be the goal that would have given Minnesota a 3-2 series lead with the series headed back to St. Paul.
The goal was disallowed when reviews showed Gustav Nyquist’s skate an inch offside entering the zone. And by the time reporters talked to Hartman in the quiet postgame locker room after the Knights’ 3-2 overtime win, he was back to his default “all business” face and admitted that “no goal” was the right call.
“It’s offsides. It happens 50 times a game. Just happened to be it was on a goal,” Hartman said. “You feel bad, but (nothing Nyquist) should feel down about. It’s offsides. That thing happens throughout the game.”
And like everyone else packing up green and red socks and jerseys for a trip back to Minnesota, and a must-win Game 6, there was a laser-like focus on the next 60 minutes of hockey, and not back to the outrageous fortune that had just befallen the team and its legion of fans.
“That’s all it is. We go home and we play one hockey game at our home ice and get a win,” Hartman said. “There’s nothing else to look at. There’s nothing else to look forward to. Just one game. Go get a win.”
That was the consensus by the time the Wild were back in Minnesota on Wednesday afternoon. Forget a pair of overtime losses to a confident Vegas team that trailed in the series, 2-1, when this week began. Forget the fact that with two bounces, Minnesota would already be on to the second round, waiting to face either Edmonton or Los Angeles.
Forget everything except Thursday night, and the need to score one more than the Golden Knights and force one more trip to the desert.
“We live the life of a competitor. We didn’t win the game last night. Regardless, no matter what the circumstances were behind it … it’s behind us. We’ve got to get ready for the next one,” Wild coach John Hynes said while meeting with reporters at MSP Airport Wednesday afternoon.
As a few players did on Tuesday, Hynes offered some simple math, noting that Vegas has had six chances to win four games, and has not done so yet, winning the last two by the slimmest of margins. The Golden Knights come to Minnesota with a winning streak, but Hynes thinks that is irrelevant.
“I don’t believe in momentum. Momentum doesn’t carry game to game. Belief carries game to game,” Hynes said. “We have belief. We know we can win. We know we’re playing a good series. We know we’ve got to come out and win a hockey game tomorrow.”
To that end, the Wild are hopeful that starting goalie Filip Gustavsson can return from the illness that kept him off the ice for the third period and overtime in Game 5. And they vow to have a short memory, putting the near misses of the past two games behind them long before the puck drops with 18,000 full-throated Wild fans offering them encouragement in Game 6.
“The only thing that matters is Thursday night, and we’re gonna be ready to compete and play our ‘A’ game, and it’s gonna be loud, and that’s everything right now is the next one,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “They still have to beat us, so we’re confident and we’re gonna be ready to go.”
Fans who keep an eye on Hartman during warmups Thursday will certainly see that deadly serious game face, as the veteran and his teammates attempt to use that invisible belief Hynes talks about to counteract the invisible momentum Vegas has grabbed over the past 11 periods of hockey.
And if all goes according to the Wild’s plans, if the final horn blows and there is a Game 7 to be played, look closely and one might even see Hartman offer a hint of a smile.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Fashion icons like Dapper Dan, Janelle Monáe and the late André Leon Talley are known for their distinctive approaches to sartorial style — bold splashes of color, luxurious fabrics, playful construction, capes — but fashion savants and historians agree that a common thread weaves their tailored looks together: dandyism.
The history-laden style movement will be front and center as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute spring exhibit, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” kicking off with the biggest night in fashion, Monday’s Met Gala.
FILE – Designer Dapper Dan attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” exhibition on Monday, May 6, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – Dapper Dan attends the world premiere of the Starz television series “Power” final season on Aug. 20, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – Dapper Dan attends a special screening of “Godfather of Harlem” at the Apollo Theater on Monday, Sept. 16, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – Andre Leon Talley arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala benefit, celebrating the ‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty’ exhibition, Monday, May 2, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)
FILE – Andre Leon Talley seen at the The Daily Front Row Second Annual Fashion Media Awards at the Park Hyatt New York on Sept. 5, 2014, in New York. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP, File)
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FILE – Designer Dapper Dan attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” exhibition on Monday, May 6, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
Inspired by Monica Miller’s book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity,” the exhibit focuses on Black style and specifically menswear from the 18th century to present day, with dandyism as a unifying theme.
What is dandyism?
Once used to describe the aristocratic style and leisurely pursuits of figures like Regency England’s Beau Brummell, dandyism has been recontextualized over the years to embody liberation and resistance through exuberant self-expression.
This evolution of the term began with the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Miller, guest curator of the Met exhibit, writes how, in the 18th century, young, dandified Black servants in England were forced to wear gold, brass or silver collars with padlocks and fine livery — uniforms for slaves and servants — that signaled their owners’ wealth.
“They wanted the enslaved person to stand out almost as if they were a luxury item,” said Jonathan Square, Parsons School of Design assistant professor and one of the advisers on the Met exhibit.
Slaves arrived in America with few or no belongings. What they had left, they treasured, be it beads or small precious objects, Miller writes.
“This is as true for those who were deliberately dressed in silks and turbans, whose challenge was to inhabit the clothing in their own way, as for those who were more humbly attired, who used clothing as a process of remembrance and mode of distinction (and symbolic and sometimes actual escape from bondage) in their new environment,” Miller explains in her book.
Stripped of their identities, enslaved people often added their own flair to their tailored Sunday best looks for church or on holidays.
Post-Emancipation, Black Americans had the chance to reclaim their autonomy and carve out new lives for themselves, paving the way for the Harlem Renaissance.
Dandyism enters a new era with the Harlem Renaissance
Black Americans fled the South for cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York in a period dubbed the Great Migration. From the 1920s to the 1930s, New York’s Harlem neighborhood became an influential and fertile landscape for Black cultural expression. From Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston to Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, its prominent minds reshaped the fabric of American culture and challenged prejudiced beliefs.
The Harlem Renaissance gave fashion a soul, said Brandice Daniel, founder of Harlem’s Fashion Row, an agency that connects designers of color with retailers and brand opportunities.
“It was this birthplace of this visual identity that spoke to what we now call Black excellence,” she said.
The renaissance meant living and dressing boldly for Black Americans, pushing past societal confines and making themselves visible. Adding their own twist on mainstream looks, women donned furs and beaded dresses while men experimented with tailored fabrics, pristine fedora hats, two-toned oxfords and billowing silhouettes.
“Many of us have a photo of our grandfather decked out with the suiting, but it’s also the stance and the kind of posture and the assertion of presence,” said Tara Donaldson, co-author of “Black In Fashion: 100 Years Of Style, Influence, and Culture.”
W.E.B. Du Bois, a pivotal figure of the era who often appeared in a three-piece suit, a frock coat and top hat, understood the power of self-fashioning, said Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. At the 1900 Paris Exposition, Du Bois mounted a photographic exhibit centered on showcasing Black Americans’ economic, social and cultural contributions to combat stereotypes.
“That kind of self-fashioning is very much a way of reclaiming a sense of self-respect that had been denied by a society that aggressively was saying, ‘No, no you can’t have that,’” Steele said.
A key, enduring look: the zoot suit
One style that arose out of the Harlem Renaissance, directly linked to dandyism, was the zoot suit. The suit, defined by high-waisted draped pants and oversized jackets with exaggerated shoulders and large lapels, was subversive simply by taking up space. Because of fabric rations during World War II, owning a zoot suit, with its excessive use of fabric, was an act of protest, Square said.
“It’s meant to be a provocation,” Square said. “But also, it’s a form of protection, covering a part of your body, sort of saying, ‘You don’t have access to this.’”
The style was quickly adopted by Mexican American and Filipino American men in Los Angeles. In 1943, servicemen and police officers attacked Black, Mexican and Filipino men in what was labeled the Zoot Suit Riots. The zoot suit lives on today in the gender-fluid designs of Willy Chavarria.
Dandyism transcends gender
Dandyism was not limited to men. Following World War I, women began breaking down fashion’s gender norms. With her tuxedo and top hat, blues singer and entertainer Gladys Bentley epitomized how women in the Harlem Renaissance blurred gender lines and adopted more masculine styles of dress.
Singer and actor Monáe, who sits on this year’s Met Gala’s host committee, is not shy about standing out on a red carpet in her tailored, playful looks. Monáe’s distinct style and flourishes with oversized hats, whimsically tailored suits and ornate bow ties personify the dandy style.
As Monáe and the rest of the starry guest list arrive in their glamorous “Tailored for You” looks, Monday will be a night to remember all the dandies who styled out before.
“Black people, Black men are finally getting their flowers for being true style icons,” said designer Ev Bravado, co-founder of Who Decides War. “It is amazing to see the ancestral work being put on display.”
The University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy has named the remaining members of the steering committee for its Vaccine Integrity Project.
The project is an initiative to examine how non-governmental entities can help protect vaccine policy, information and utilization in the U.S. The initiative was announced by CIDRAP Thursday. The committee is gathering feedback from professionals across the country through several sessions this month and continuing into early August.
In addition to co-chairs Dr. Margaret Hamburg and Dr. Harvey Fineberg, the eight-person committee includes Jeff Duchin, Asa Hutchinson, Mark Feinberg, Fred Upton and Anne Zink. Dr. Michael Osterholm, regents professor and director of CIDRAP, also is a member.
The initiative is supported by a $240,000 gift from iAlumbra, a foundation established by philanthropist Christy Walton.
