James Eli Shiffer, author of The King of Skid Row: John Bacich and the Twilight Years of Old Minneapolis, will visually take us to visit the nucleus of the old Gateway at Hennepin, Nicollet, and Washington Avenues. Though office towers, upscale hotels, and condos abound here, imagine this intersection 60 years earlier where you are surrounded by seedy nightclubs, bars, and flophouses in such filthy, decaying structures that the resident vermin left scathing reviews on Yelp; by individuals sprawled on the grass at Gateway Park; or on corners gossiping, fighting, and passing around a communal bottle of booze. Now imagine yourself at the Sourdough Bar, ordering around for your buddies while chatting with barkeep John “Johnny Rex” Bacich, the subject of our October program and of James Eli Shiffer’s book The King of Skid Row. Join us for a look back at the seamy side of the city!