The King of Skid Row: John Bacich and the Twilight Years of Old Minneapolis

by James Eli Shiffer

City blue laws drove the liquor trade and its customers—hard-drinking lumberjacks, pensioners, farmhands, and railroad workers—into the oldest quarter of Minneapolis. In the fifty-cent-a-night flophouses of the city’s Gateway District, they slept in cubicles with ceilings of chicken wire. In rescue missions, preachers and nuns tried to save their souls. Sociology researchers posing as vagrants studied them. And in their midst John Bacich, aka Johnny Rex, who owned a bar, a liquor store, and a cage hotel, documented the gritty neighborhood’s last days through photographs and film of his clientele. The King of Skid Row follows Johnny Rex into this vanished world that once thrived in the heart of Minneapolis. Drawing on hours of interviews conducted in the three years before Bacich’s death in 2012, James Eli Shiffer brings to life the eccentric characters and strange events of an American skid row. Supplemented with archival and newspaper research and his own photographs, Bacich’s stories re-create the violent, alcohol-soaked history of a city best known for its clean, progressive self-image. His life captures the seamy, richly colorful side of the city swept away by a massive urban renewal project in the early 1960s and gives us, in a glimpse of those bygone days, one of Minneapolis’s most intriguing figures—spinning some of its most enduring and enthralling tales.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography

200 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Mike Brubaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Bacich owned and operated a bar, liquor store and "cage hotel" in the Gateway District (Washington Ave.) of Minneapolis. A "cage hotel" is a gentle phrase to describe a flop house. The King of Skid Row is a biography and memoir of Bacich's life on Skid Row. James Eli Shiffer relied heavily on interviews of Bachich to document the history of this area.

This book is an interesting bit of social history. it documents life of a portion of the underclass of Minneapolis in the 1950s and 1960s. An interesting book, it tends to gloss over, or make light, the violence and hardship experienced on Skid Row. In order to fully appreciate this work read carefully. This is not a book to skim. You need to think about what you have read to fully appreciate this work

[Kate Parry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a seamy corner of Minneapolis history that few know much about. Shiffer is a wonderful writer and the photos in the book are astonishing. It would certainly be interesting to anyone who likes to read about Minneapolis history. But there would also be an appeal for anyone who lives in a city that once had a skid row that's been redeveloped into oblivion.

[Icknay Abbecray · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I enjoyed most about this book is how what can be viewed from an outside perspective as the seeming underbelly of society does not disappear with 'urban renewal' as was attempted with the tear down of Minneapolis Skid Row in the early 1960s.

It does not romanticize the lives these men lived. Alcohol plays a centerpiece in their lives, but they seemed content in having that network available to them. Johnny Rex owned flophouses, liquor stores, and bars, so he could situate those who were content on drinking their sorrows away with a cheap place to stay. One could argue that he was little more than an enabler, but the way he talks about the different folks in the book and what he does to help out...it paints him as a man who recognizes them as people, despite their addictions.

To me, some of what is discussed here mirrors what we see now with harm reduction, addiction, and homelessness. I'd be in support of a flophouse type of setup that offered affordable places to sleep to those who have basically nothing otherwise.

[Charlie Quimby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining read for someone interested in Minneapolis history or the way cities evolve. As someone who landed in Minneapolis and worked in the Gateway area not many years after urban renewal cleared it, I can't say I learned much new. But that means Shiffer gives a reasonably accurate overview of the area and provides a real service by drilling down using the viewpoint of John Bacich.

The photos are also a plus.

[Sara Jordahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much I want to cry that it's done. The author did an amazing job of telling Johnny's life story I felt like I was part of it. The pictures were a great bonus as well. I almost cried at the end too when he wasn't telling us the day that Johnny died. What a wild time that was, I can even imagine some of these buildings they mention. I'll be reading this book again in the future.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look into the dark days of Minneapolis in the 20th century... but only focuses on a singular part of John Bacich's life - as noted by the biographer in the first paragraph he was not allowed to inquire about his children or his first marriage and those items definitely shaped the King of Skid Row.

[Richard Bahr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I work in homeless ministry and wanted to know more about the history of homelessness in the Twin Cities. This book was a useful guide. The author took a balanced and non-judgmental approach to the folks that were the subject of the book. I also found the film referred to in the book on YouTube.

[Diane Thayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely a book with a specific target audience but, if you're in that target - history and sociology of 1950's Minneapolis, then you will love this book! Highly recommend. Makes me want to learn more.

[B Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating and sad look at a part of Minneapolis gone by the time I moved here.

[Greg Giles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breezy read about the seedy underbelly of post-war Minneapolis.

[Chris Montbriand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad story, but fascinating history of Minneapolis. Great read.

[Robert Jersak · Rating 5 out of 5]

For years, John Bacich's mesmerizing 30 minute documentary film, SKID ROW, has built an audience of urban nostalgics and rubbernecks of seedy city histories. But who was the man behind the camera, and in what ways did men like Bacich (aka "Johnny Rex") shape the landscape for the railroad workers and the dispossessed of Minneapolis' once-notorious Gateway district? James Shiffer uses his keen journalistic skills to provide some answers. We get the backstory on Bacich as well as the broader context of the area that some saw as a plague on an up-and-coming city and others saw as a sort of paradise. Through historical society photos and interviews with Bacich himself, as well as with sociologists who immersed themselves in skid row, we get a good hard look at a place now lost to the demands of what city leaders saw as "progress."

Thankfully, we don't get all of the answers, though. Shiffer does an excellent job of preserving the tensions between the real affinity we feel for the characters who filled the flophouses and alleys and the realities of the very dangerous lives they lived. Handsome soldiers drank themselves to early graves, widowers burned themselves up in cage-room cigarette fires, gandy dancers were fleeced naked by pals and police alike. At the end, Bacich himself emerges as the complex man he must have been in skid row: a truly hospitable host of the bums, but also a man who made a living off of their desperation. Are we better off without The Sourdough? Without skid row? It's a question that Shiffer wisely refuses to answer.

I live near Minneapolis, and I've made my way through the city as a visitor many times. The city is still trying hard to be respectable for the suburban class. There are gaudy professional stadiums at both ends of downtown, and though the city sees its share of sports fans, it seems otherwise to be short of life and character. No one can blame city planners for trying to reshape an area that was filled with broken bottles, tunneled with rats and served as a stage of sorts for countless tipsy comedies and cold-blooded tragedies. But, after reading this book, you might wonder what else has been lost in the process.

The poem on pages 43-44, entitled "THE TRAMP" is not to be missed. The first stanza:

My itchen feet have carried me over mountaintop and hill
They are always taking off some where they are never standing stll
I just gotta keep amoven or I know I'm gonna bust
I have contracted that disease of tramps they call the wanderlust.

[Alnotatwork · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and documented - easy read but still a good story about the residents and the commerce found in the lower downtown area of Minneapolis along Washington Avenue before "redevelopment" in the early 60's. Slumlords and sleazy aldermen ran the city like pretty much every large city in the country at the time. The residents of the area were what we'd call the "takers" today. I remember the area as one I was cautioned to stay away from in my youth. I do recall driving through there with my grandparents and seeing the "residents" lined up for soup at the numerous missions found in the area. For those of us willing to take a trip down memory lane or those who might want to learn about what city life was like 50 - 60 years ago - it's worth the read.

[Conner Breard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway.

James Eli Shiffer has done a superb job of capturing the essence of a neighborhood that society eventually eradicated. But for the men who called Skid Row home (such as John Bacich) it was much more than a few run down blocks, to those men it was a place to live their chosen lives with minimal interaction with the outside world. While the topic of gandy dancers is not likely to draw the masses, Shiffer's interviews with Bacich presented stories that are not only insightful, emotional and entertaining, but they uncover a forgotten world. Bacich's work with his camera provided a heartbeat to the memories of Skid Row, and now Shiffer's way with words has further strengthened that heartbeat. I look forward to any further works Shiffer may produce in the future.

[Hayley Shaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got an ARC of this book free. This book documents Minneapolis' skid row, and includes many stories and pictures from John Bacich, an owner of many businesses in skid row before the place got demolished in the '50's. I was very interested in the photos found in the book. I liked them about as much as the stories included, which is a change for me. Usually the books with pictures have more interesting stories included. This is a good book to read.

[Joe Gaspard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone with an interest in the history Of Minneapolis will likely enjoy this. I remember the tail end of the skid row era. Lots of familiar locations, colorful characters, and confirmation that not all city planning works as intended (including modern era efforts with Block E). A fun crooked pol or two thrown in for good measure.

[Michelle Farley · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like Minneapolis history, you will love this book. This is going right next to my copies of Augie's Secrets, Minneapolis Madams, and Down and Out.

[Chris Knutson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is How the Other Half Lives for Minneapolis. Fascinating history but it's the pictures that stay with you.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening

This is a very good overview of an important chapter on Minneapolis history. Brings the Gateway community back to life.