user locations: nevereatshreddedwheat
t.g.i. friday’s (former)
from big star posted in music by nevereatshreddedwheat
In the early 70s, before it was just a depressing place to eat Guy Fieri-themed burgers with your coworkers, T.G.I. Friday's was actually a popular hangout for the hip crowd, at least in Memphis. A photo shot by William Eggleston on the back of Big Star's second album Radio City shows Jody Stephens, Andy Hummel and Alex Chilton partying down at the former Overton Square location.
The original T.G.I. Friday's was located in New York, but it was first franchised at this spot in Memphis in 1970 where it stayed until 2003.
marvel bullpen (1960s)
from marvel comics posted in comic books by nevereatshreddedwheat
Marvel Comics moved their offices from the Empire State Building to Madison Avenue in the 1960s. They were located here at 635 Madison Avenue during the Silver Age of Comic Books. In the early 70s they moved down the street and spent the Bronze Age at 575 Madison Avenue where they would stay until the early 1980s.
In Fantastic Four #10 (1963) Doctor Doom visited Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as they worked on Madison Avenue. Doom's evil meta plan was to force Lee to summon Fantastic Four's Reed Richard to the office in order to capture him.
Most artists, including Kirby, would have worked from home at that time, so a Marvel Bullpen where artists and writers collaborated together in one space, along with the idea of Lee and Kirby sharing an office, was largely Lee's invention.
gramma b’s (former)
from road warriors, rick rude, barry darsow, eddie sharkey posted in pro wrestling by nevereatshreddedwheat
A former pro wrestler named Eddie Sharkey was bartending at Gramma B's in Northeast Minneapolis in the early 1980s when a few of the young bouncers caught his eye. Just to give you an example of the big men keeping an eye on the place, Richard Rood, even at 6'3" and 235 lbs, was still outsized by several others including Joe Laurinaitis, Michael Hegstrand, Barry Darsow and John Nord. Laurinaitis, would later recall that Gramma B's, frequented by bikers, wasn't your friendly neighborhood bar.
Sharkey, who had wrestled for the AWA in the 60s, decided to start a wrestling promotion in 1982 called Pro Wrestling America. He plucked the bouncers from Gramma B's as talent, opened a school in the basement of a church and trained Rood, Laurinaitis, Hegstrand and Darsow to become pro wrestlers.
gramma b’s (former)
from road warriors, rick rude, barry darsow, eddie sharkey posted in pro wrestling by nevereatshreddedwheat
Laurinaitis (aka Animal) and Hegstrand (aka Hawk) would go on to form the Road Warriors tag team. Rood would become "Ravishing" Rick Rude, John Nord would wrestle as the Berzerker in WWF and Darsow would gain fame as Smash, one half of the tag team Demolition.
A few of the many other wrestlers later trained by Sharkey include Scott Steiner, Sean Waltman and Jerry Lynn.
Gramma B's was eventually closed in 1984 for failure to pay taxes. This spot is currently occupied by the tiki bar Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge.
robbinsdale high school (former)
from rick rude, curt hennig, barry darsow posted in pro wrestling by nevereatshreddedwheat
The Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale was at one time a breeding ground for future professional wrestlers.
AWA founder Verne Gagne attended Robbinsdale High School in the 1930s and Larry "The Axe" Hennig attended in the '50s.
Later graduates of the high school include:
Rick Rood (aka "Ravishing" Rick Rude) - class of '76
"Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig - class of '76
Tom Zenk (½ of the Can-Am Connection) - class of '76
Dean Peters - class of '76
Scott Simpson (aka Nikita Koloff) - class of '77
John "The Barbarian" Nord - class of '77
and Barry Darsow (best known as Smash from Demolition and probably worst known as the Repo Man) - class of '78
Robbinsdale High School closed in 1982. This location is currently the Robbinsdale Middle School.