A former steak house turned music venue, Jay's Longhorn Bar (or more simply, the Longhorn) was one of the gravitational centers of the punk/hardcore scene. A long bar with low ceilings and a stage at the end, the Longhorn saw numerous legendary acts perform there, including Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, the Suicide Commandos, the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, the Police (on their first US tour) and many more.

The Longhorn had a short life, opening in 1978 and closing in 1980, but left an indelible mark on Twin Cities music.

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Established in 1900, the Blake School is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian PK-12 college preparatory school. It is consistently ranked as one of the ten best day schools in the country.

In 1936, Robert Pirsig received a scholarship to the Blake School. While at this school, his IQ tested at 170 when he was 9 1/2 years old (a 1 in 50,000 result).

Prior to attending the Blake School, Pirsig had been accelerated from kindergarten to second grade. This obviously caused friction with his classmates- he was bullied, forced to write with his right hand (although left-handed), and he developed a stammer. Entrance to the Blake School allowed Pirsig to develop at his own pace, and he quickly accelerated to attend the University of Minnesota High School at the age of 10.

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Located on the same campus as the Weisman Art Museum, the McNamara Alumni Center is another example of eye-catching modern architecture. Designed by the New Mexico-based architect Antoine Predock (and named after an alumnus who donated $3 million towards its construction), the rounded, angular McNamara is intended to resemble a giant, granite-sheathed geode. Irregular windows and large slits of glass penetrate the exterior of the Great Lump of Oak St.

Inside McNamara is Memorial Hall, an 85-foot high behemoth of a room, with a processional arch from the previous property's tenant (Memorial Stadium, 1924) displayed inside.

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Located across the street from Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center was formed in 1972 by founder Dainin Katagiri Roshi.

At that time, Robert Pirsig had been studying zen meditation, and in 1973 he became a board member and vice-president at the incorporation of the new Minnesota Zen Meditation Center.

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Robert Pirsig wrote the majority of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle while working at his office at Century Publications above Robert's Shoes. He was employed as a technical writer for Honeywell. He would go to sleep at 6pm, then wake to write from 2am to 6am before work. The book combines a discourse on the metaphysics of quality, an examination of America's mainstream/counterculture split and a "real" haunting of personal madness.

ZAMM was published in 1974, after being rejected 121 times (a Guinness World Record for a best-selling book).

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