Bill Sackter's neighborhood remembered

Bill Sackter, for whom Wild Bill's Coffee Shop is named, started his life in a neighborhood of 19th century wood frame homes just north of downtown Minneapolis. These dwellings were located along dirt streets and were already old when Bill was born in 1913. In fact, they were some of the oldest in the city at that time.

Bill grew up above his parents' grocery store on Aldrich Avenue North. His parents had emigrated from Russia to the United States, as had many of their neighbors. And like many of their neighbors, they were also Jewish.

Bill's neighborhood was one of the earliest centers of Jewish culture in Minneapolis. It was here that the first synagogues in the city began.
It was here, too, that kosher markets and Yiddish theater flourished.

And it was here that the tradition of Jewish social services began in Minneapolis. Families in the neighborhood developed their own social welfare system which was originally financed by a "tithe" of ten cents per week. This provided not only aid to the poorest families, but also supported a community center and programs for youth.

All of that is gone. In fact, Bill's entire neighborhood is gone -- obliterated by successive waves of urban renewal which began in the 1930s in Minneapolis.

But there are some pictures of the area as it was in Bill's childhood days on display in a Minneapolis restaurant. The Lincoln Delicatessen, 4100 W. Lake St., has photographs of this Jewish neighborhood on its walls.

That history is also recalled in two stage plays. One, titled "King of the Kosher Grocers, " focuses on a Jewish grocer like Bill's Dad, Sam. The other, "Good Evening! It's A City Celebration" includes a scene about Bill himself which was inspired by the "Unlikely Celebrity" book
Note to readers: Since this column was written, the Lincoln Del has closed. I do not know where the old Northside photographs are now