Minneapolis Eagle

515 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN

Eagle advertisement shortly after the bar opened in 1998. Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection.

The Minneapolis Eagle is an interesting result of Minneapolis’ industrial past—in a strange way, the bar is the last working man’s bar near the Mississippi River. It occupies the same part of Minneapolis that includes the former Gateway District, and it serves a masculine clientele. In this respect, one can consider the establishment as a successor of The Dugout Bar, which operated 50 years before “the Eagle” opened just three blocks down Washington Avenue in 1998.(1) The Eagle interestingly invokes familiar industrial themes in a completely unfamiliar and hyper-sexualized atmosphere. This atmosphere certainly follows in the footsteps of earlier masculine bars—such as the Dugout and Kirmser's Bar in St. Paul—yet it involves outright displays of sex that would have utterly shocked men from the WWII-era. Donning leather harnesses, chains, work boots, chaps, and/or other elements of “masculine” occupations, the Eagle’s clientele often identify with the Leather/Levi, Bear, or S&M subculture communities.

Other bars—namely, the Gay 90s Complex—attempted to cater to this crowd in the 1980s and 1990s, but the Eagle was the first stand-alone establishment to serve this particular patronage with near-exclusion. As time progressed, the Eagle opened the Bolt Video Bar (in 2003)(2) and the Bolt Underground in the building’s basement (in 2004)(3).	Advertisement for the Minneapolis Eagle, 2006. Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection.

This complex occupies two building that have tangible industrial roots. Long before the Eagle opened, the structures sat across Washington Avenue from the Milwaukee Road train yards. They were also situated near the old Minneapolis Mill District, and mill workers, railroad men, coopers, and other working-class men drank in the saloons that operated on the south side of Washington. 515 Washington Avenue served the men in other ways as well—when renovating the building, the Eagle’s owners discovered small rooms on the second floor that were once part of a brothel.(4)

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(1)Harley, Derek. "The Minneapolis Eagle, Bolt, and Bolt Underground." Minneapolis Gay Ngihtlife Examiner, 9/13/09.

(2)Ibid.

(3)Ibid.

(4)Nienaber, William "Bill." Interview with the author and Jacob Gentz, February 2009.

Part of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-1969), (1969-2010)