While Bob Dylan may answer only to himself, and his music belongs to the world- he comes from Minnesota. Popturf users crabapple and prof_improbable have provided submissions that form a tour of Dylan’s early years in the state.
Robert Allen Zimmerman was born in Duluth, MN at St. Mary’s Hospital on May 24th, 1941. His family moved to Hibbing, MN shortly after that.
Hibbing (population 16,361) is located on the Iron Range, a region of Minnesota that is named for the extensive iron ore mining that has occurred there since the 19th century. Dylan’s boyhood home still stands there. It is occupied, so please be respectful.
Talented in music from a young age, Dylan used to play piano in the lobby of the Memorial Building to crowds. He had his Bar Mitzvah at the Androy Hotel in Hibbing, and attended high school at Hibbing High School. While not the only celebrity from Hibbing (basketball great Kevin McHale is from here; baseball legend Roger Marris was born here), Dylan is the only person from Hibbing to have a collection in his honor in the basement of the public library.
Dylan traveled to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota as a journalism major in 1959. For a time, he lived above what was then Gray’s Campus Drug in the Dinkytown neighborhood (currently the Loring Pasta Bar). It’s possible that the song “Positively 4th Street” was drawn from Dylan’s time at this corner of 4th street SE.
At that time, the neighborhood was a beat and folk hangout, and the 10 O’Clock Scholar was the beat coffee shop to hear folk music. There were a number of Dinkytown folk musicians in the neighborhood at that time, and musicians that mingled in the same scene as Dylan (like Spider John Koerner and Tony Glover) still perform in the area regularly.
In 1961, just down the street, is where the recording of the “Minnesota Party Tape” took place, where a pre-New York Dylan made a number of early recordings, which can now be heard at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul.
Close to the Dinkytown neighborhood is a gothic-style water tower that is nicknamed the “Witch’s Hat.” It is a shuttered tower, open only once a year, that rises out of the top of the hill, overlooking the surrounding wooded park. It’s alleged that this tower was an inspiration for Dylan’s song “All Along the Watchtower,” which was later radically reinterpreted by Jimi Hendrix. Seeing the structure rise above the treeline as you approach the hill, you can’t help but wonder if somehow the unique construction of the tower and the enigmatic lyrics of the song are intertwined.
I hope Dylan never says…that would ruin all the fun.
Northern Minnesota
Duluth
Hibbing
- Bob Dylan’s boyhood home
- Memorial Building
- Androy Hotel
- Hibbing High School
- The Bob Dylan Collection (Hibbing Public Library)
I’d forever want to be update on new articles on this internet site , saved to bookmarks !
great blog wil be back for more!
I intended to draft you one little bit of remark to be able to say thanks once again with your unique opinions you have documented at this time. It’s quite shockingly generous with you to make unhampered just what a number of people would have distributed for an e book to make some bucks on their own, precisely seeing that you could have done it if you ever decided. These inspiring ideas additionally worked to become easy way to know that other people have similar interest really like my personal own to find out a whole lot more on the topic of this matter. I know there are numerous more enjoyable instances ahead for folks who view your blog post.
I really appreciate this post. I’ve been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thanks again! “One never goes so far as when one doesn’t know where one is going.” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
As I website owner I think the written content here is really great , thanks for your efforts.
I do consider all the ideas you have presented in your post. They’re very convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are very quick for newbies. May just you please lengthen them a little from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
Only wanna input that you have a very nice website , I love the layout it actually stands out.
I was reading some of your content on this internet site and I think this internet site is very informative ! Keep on posting .
Thanks for helping out, superb info .
Its such as you learn my mind! You appear to grasp so much about this, like you wrote the ebook in it or something. I believe that you could do with a few % to pressure the message house a bit, but other than that, this is great blog. An excellent read. I will definitely be back.
I’m impressed, I must say. Really rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. Your idea is outstanding; the issue is something that not enough people are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I stumbled across this in my search for something relating to this.
I’m impressed, I must say. Really rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. Your idea is outstanding; the issue is something that not enough people are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I stumbled across this in my search for something relating to this.
Whoah this blog is wonderful i love studying your posts. Stay up the good work! You already know, many persons are hunting around for this information, you could aid them greatly.
Needed to post you that bit of note to be able to give thanks more than again about the awesome concepts you’ve documented in this case. This is so surprisingly open-handed with you to offer without restraint all that a few individuals would have marketed as an e-book to earn some cash for themselves, specially considering the fact which you might properly have done it in case you considered necessary. The smart ideas likewise served like the effortless strategy to realize that other individuals have the identical desire exactly the same as my own to realize a great deal far more on the topic of this difficulty. I’m sure you will find thousands of a lot more enjoyable times up front for folks who take a appear at your website.
Cool layout I think.