Feb 10, 2023
The Commodore - Unit 500 For Sale
Listing Agent: Eli Johnson Welcome to this special home in the historic Commodore Building! Benefitting from windows on two sides, this corner unit is light, and bright, and capitalizes on spectacular treetop views of the surrounding Cathedral Hill neighborhood. You'll love the classic vintage personality, coupled with the right updates in the right places. Marble subway tile backsplash, quartz counters, and newer stainless appliances are kitchen highlights. Two updated bathrooms with hex tile floors and subway tile walls. Newer floors & newer paint throughout, a beautiful dental-mantel fireplace surrounded by craftsmen built-ins, white woodwork and doors, and oodles of closet space abound. Fun fact: F. Scott Fitzgerald wandered the halls of this building in its original days as a hotel. Can you just imagine him sipping a martini in the basement speakeasy, which is now the heated underground garage for your car? Don't miss this distinct and rare opportunity for something special! Eli Johnson Real Estate Advisor Engel & Völkers Minneapolis Downtown Cell: 651-357-2536 eli.johnson@evrealestate.com
The Commodore - Unit 500 For Sale
Listing Agent: Eli Johnson Welcome to this special home in the historic Commodore Building! Benefitting from windows on two sides, this corner unit is light, and bright, and capitalizes on spectacular treetop views of the surrounding Cathedral Hill neighborhood. You'll love the classic vintage personality, coupled with the right updates in the right places. Marble subway tile backsplash, quartz counters, and newer stainless appliances are kitchen highlights. Two updated bathrooms with hex tile floors and subway tile walls. Newer floors & newer paint throughout, a beautiful dental-mantel fireplace surrounded by craftsmen built-ins, white woodwork and doors, and oodles of closet space abound. Fun fact: F. Scott Fitzgerald wandered the halls of this building in its original days as a hotel. Can you just imagine him sipping a martini in the basement speakeasy, which is now the heated underground garage for your car? Don't miss this distinct and rare opportunity for something special! Eli Johnson Real Estate Advisor Engel & Völkers Minneapolis Downtown Cell: 651-357-2536 eli.johnson@evrealestate.com
Feb 10, 2023
Posted Date
Feb 10, 2023
Historical Record Date
Feb 10, 2023
Source Name
Engel & Volkers
Feb 03, 2023
Feb 03, 2023
About the Commodore
About The Commodore In 1920 the Commodore Hotel opened as the third of Cathedral Hill’s great residential hotels, joining the Blair House (now a condominium like the Commodore) and the Aberdeen (demolished in 1944). 1920 was a time of great change in St. Paul and the nation. The previous ten years saw the construction of the Cathedral, the Saint Paul Hotel, the University Club, the Saint Paul Athletic Club, The Minnesota Club, and the last of the Great Summit Avenue mansions. Change was in the air – the 19th amendment passed, giving women the right to vote. Prohibition began, and with it the age of speakeasies, bathtub gin, and a few gangsters hiding out in St. Paul. During the 1920s Lindbergh makes his solo transatlantic flight, Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs (a record that stood for 30 years), the silent film era ended and the glamorous film age began. The era witnessed the beginnings of the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance. Figures larger than life appeared in politics and the arts, and women became emancipated not just because of the vote – shortening their skirts and dancing the Charleston, they became known as “Flappers”. “Big bands” played and swing dancing became the rage. Grand Art Deco ballrooms and hotels appeared around the world along with the construction of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York – an icon of glamour and luxury opening in the 1931. And of course, the stock market crashed just as the tallest Deco skyscraper in the world, the Empire State Building, began construction. This coincided with construction of another Deco landmark, the First National Bank building. This became St. Paul’s tallest building. And competed with the Empire State Building for building materials during construction. Both buildings, along with the Art Deco City and County Courthouse, were planned and started immediately before the financial panic of the ‘29 stock crash. All three opened during the Depression. Prohibition during the 1920s forced the closure of the Commodore Hotel’s bar. However, the Commodore featured a speakeasy in the basement and hosted the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Many families moved into the Commodore from the Cathedral Hill homes their children had grown up in. Even a few mobsters arrived in town, taking advantage of the O’Conner Rule, which gave the Chicago mob protection from prosecution in St. Paul in return for leaving us alone. By 1933, the Harlem Renaissance was in full swing and the bands of the time played in Harlem at the Apollo, Cotton, & other clubs. The 21st Amendment passed, ending Prohibition. To celebrate, the owners of the Commodore Hotel joined the Art Deco hotel design craze and hired Werner Wittkamp to design a fabulous bar reminiscent of the bars found in some of the then-great transatlantic ocean liners. Mr Wittkamp was born in Berlin and came to the United States to work for Flo Zigfeld’s Zigfeld Follies in New York designing lavish stage sets. He also worked with Max Reinhardt and the great F.W. Murnaw on the sets for many great silent films. As the remodeled bar reopened in 1934, former resident F. Scott Fitzgerald published his novel Tender is the Night to rave reviews. As the Commodore reopens once again after extensive renovation to preserve Wittkamp’s vision, we welcome guests to step back in time and experience the glamour and romance of a bygone era.
About the Commodore
About The Commodore In 1920 the Commodore Hotel opened as the third of Cathedral Hill’s great residential hotels, joining the Blair House (now a condominium like the Commodore) and the Aberdeen (demolished in 1944). 1920 was a time of great change in St. Paul and the nation. The previous ten years saw the construction of the Cathedral, the Saint Paul Hotel, the University Club, the Saint Paul Athletic Club, The Minnesota Club, and the last of the Great Summit Avenue mansions. Change was in the air – the 19th amendment passed, giving women the right to vote. Prohibition began, and with it the age of speakeasies, bathtub gin, and a few gangsters hiding out in St. Paul. During the 1920s Lindbergh makes his solo transatlantic flight, Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs (a record that stood for 30 years), the silent film era ended and the glamorous film age began. The era witnessed the beginnings of the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance. Figures larger than life appeared in politics and the arts, and women became emancipated not just because of the vote – shortening their skirts and dancing the Charleston, they became known as “Flappers”. “Big bands” played and swing dancing became the rage. Grand Art Deco ballrooms and hotels appeared around the world along with the construction of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York – an icon of glamour and luxury opening in the 1931. And of course, the stock market crashed just as the tallest Deco skyscraper in the world, the Empire State Building, began construction. This coincided with construction of another Deco landmark, the First National Bank building. This became St. Paul’s tallest building. And competed with the Empire State Building for building materials during construction. Both buildings, along with the Art Deco City and County Courthouse, were planned and started immediately before the financial panic of the ‘29 stock crash. All three opened during the Depression. Prohibition during the 1920s forced the closure of the Commodore Hotel’s bar. However, the Commodore featured a speakeasy in the basement and hosted the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Many families moved into the Commodore from the Cathedral Hill homes their children had grown up in. Even a few mobsters arrived in town, taking advantage of the O’Conner Rule, which gave the Chicago mob protection from prosecution in St. Paul in return for leaving us alone. By 1933, the Harlem Renaissance was in full swing and the bands of the time played in Harlem at the Apollo, Cotton, & other clubs. The 21st Amendment passed, ending Prohibition. To celebrate, the owners of the Commodore Hotel joined the Art Deco hotel design craze and hired Werner Wittkamp to design a fabulous bar reminiscent of the bars found in some of the then-great transatlantic ocean liners. Mr Wittkamp was born in Berlin and came to the United States to work for Flo Zigfeld’s Zigfeld Follies in New York designing lavish stage sets. He also worked with Max Reinhardt and the great F.W. Murnaw on the sets for many great silent films. As the remodeled bar reopened in 1934, former resident F. Scott Fitzgerald published his novel Tender is the Night to rave reviews. As the Commodore reopens once again after extensive renovation to preserve Wittkamp’s vision, we welcome guests to step back in time and experience the glamour and romance of a bygone era.
Posted Date
Feb 07, 2023
Historical Record Date
Feb 03, 2023
Source Name
The Commodore Bar
Source Website
Jun 01, 2018
The Commodore’s History Is Filled with Secret Passages and Notorious Guests
The Commodore’s History Is Filled with Secret Passages and Notorious Guests Photo credit: Emily J. Davis History can often inspire us and in the case of the Commodore Bar and Restaurant, its history was the inspiration behind the reopening. It’s been over a year since the Commodore reopened with a buzz surrounding its bar scene, but when it first opened in 1920, there was no bar. If you know your history, you’ll realize that’s because it opened right after the start of Prohibition —when the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcohol was outlawed in the United States. This, of course, caused the black market booze scene to pop up and the Commodore to thrive. General manager Lorin Zinter says the Commodore was built as a luxury hotel, and it was common at the time for these hotels to be longer-stay hotels where people would live. “They were essentially like condominiums,” he says. “During the rum-running time, when the Chicago gangsters needed to lay low, they came to Saint Paul. And when they came to Saint Paul, they came to the Commodore.” There was a speakeasy through a secret door and down a few stairs next to what is now the lobby bar, Zinter says; today that space is simply a portion of the parking garage. It’s a part of history that has been lost over time. But during its height, “we had a lot of high-profile gangsters here,” he says. It was in the Commodore that gang leader Ma Barker and her boys planned the Hamm’s heist, where they kidnapped William Hamm of Hamm’s Brewery and held him for ransom. Al Capone was another infamous gangster known to spend time at the hotel, and it is believed John Dillinger was a guest as well. “The Saint Paul-Chicago connection was a very real, and a pretty big, thing at the time,” says Zinter. And then there’s the other famous (or infamous) duo known for their escapades around Saint Paul: Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The couple lived at the Commodore on two separate occasions in the ’20s, Zinter says. “They were known to enjoy life,” he says. “As [Fitzgerald] liked to say, he drank gin because you couldn’t smell it on his breath. Which is kind of peculiar. I don’t know what gin he was drinking.” But the Fitzgeralds had fun, Zinter says. “Zelda was known to take her clothes off” as she kept drinking, he says. “And so, after enjoying life a little bit too much, they were asked by the ownership to leave the Commodore.” They rented a house in Saint Paul for some time, but ultimately wanted to return to the Commodore. So they returned, asking for a second chance. “The owner said, ‘That’s fine, you’ve learned your lesson.’ But they were promptly kicked out again,” Zinter says. “And then they were asked never to return.” In the present day, the Commodore is returning to some of the ideas born in the rum-runners age. “When we developed the concept, it was based on using local spirits as much as possible and having everything be within a bootlegger’s distance, which is considered a day’s drive,” says Zinter. Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Duluth are prevalent on the spirits list, as are liquors and beers from throughout the Midwest. So when you order your gin drink, you can trust it came from somewhere nearby. And when you take a sip, you can imagine Zelda and Scott drinking something similar and dancing on the bar, almost 100 years ago. Bar manager Jonathan Borchardt says the Commodore Bar and Restaurant draws inspiration from various points throughout cocktail history, including pre-Prohibition cocktails. “You know, things related to a classic old fashioned, the probable prototype of the martini—the Martinez—the Manhattan,” says Borchardt. And then Prohibition hit and tastes changed. “If you’ve heard the term bathtub gin, you know people were doing what they could to get their booze,” he says. These liquors, like moonshine, “are not known to be delicious,” so more sugar and flavorings were added to cocktails. And the Commodore does all of the above (sans moonshine). With all this history, there are things Borchardt has noticed in recent trends. “I have found that people are getting more adventurous,” he says. “Daily, someone will come in and say, ‘I’m kind of feeling like a rye whisky tonight. I’m thinking maybe not citrusy, maybe spirit-forward. Go. Make me something.’ There’s a lot more faith put into the bartender or drinkmaker. We’re being more open-minded.” If you’re looking for a gin drink that will make you feel connected to your favorite 20th-century writer, Borchardt could make you the Fitzgerald, a gin sour that’s both sweet and tart. Or you can make it at home: The Fitzgerald 2 oz. gin 1 oz. fresh lemon juice ½ to 1 oz. simple syrup 2 dashes of Angostura bitters Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker (filled generously with ice) and shake. Serve on big ice cubes, as they do at the Commodore, or up in a martini glass. Depending on how tart your lemon juice is, adjust the simple syrup to taste.
The Commodore’s History Is Filled with Secret Passages and Notorious Guests
The Commodore’s History Is Filled with Secret Passages and Notorious Guests Photo credit: Emily J. Davis History can often inspire us and in the case of the Commodore Bar and Restaurant, its history was the inspiration behind the reopening. It’s been over a year since the Commodore reopened with a buzz surrounding its bar scene, but when it first opened in 1920, there was no bar. If you know your history, you’ll realize that’s because it opened right after the start of Prohibition —when the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcohol was outlawed in the United States. This, of course, caused the black market booze scene to pop up and the Commodore to thrive. General manager Lorin Zinter says the Commodore was built as a luxury hotel, and it was common at the time for these hotels to be longer-stay hotels where people would live. “They were essentially like condominiums,” he says. “During the rum-running time, when the Chicago gangsters needed to lay low, they came to Saint Paul. And when they came to Saint Paul, they came to the Commodore.” There was a speakeasy through a secret door and down a few stairs next to what is now the lobby bar, Zinter says; today that space is simply a portion of the parking garage. It’s a part of history that has been lost over time. But during its height, “we had a lot of high-profile gangsters here,” he says. It was in the Commodore that gang leader Ma Barker and her boys planned the Hamm’s heist, where they kidnapped William Hamm of Hamm’s Brewery and held him for ransom. Al Capone was another infamous gangster known to spend time at the hotel, and it is believed John Dillinger was a guest as well. “The Saint Paul-Chicago connection was a very real, and a pretty big, thing at the time,” says Zinter. And then there’s the other famous (or infamous) duo known for their escapades around Saint Paul: Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The couple lived at the Commodore on two separate occasions in the ’20s, Zinter says. “They were known to enjoy life,” he says. “As [Fitzgerald] liked to say, he drank gin because you couldn’t smell it on his breath. Which is kind of peculiar. I don’t know what gin he was drinking.” But the Fitzgeralds had fun, Zinter says. “Zelda was known to take her clothes off” as she kept drinking, he says. “And so, after enjoying life a little bit too much, they were asked by the ownership to leave the Commodore.” They rented a house in Saint Paul for some time, but ultimately wanted to return to the Commodore. So they returned, asking for a second chance. “The owner said, ‘That’s fine, you’ve learned your lesson.’ But they were promptly kicked out again,” Zinter says. “And then they were asked never to return.” In the present day, the Commodore is returning to some of the ideas born in the rum-runners age. “When we developed the concept, it was based on using local spirits as much as possible and having everything be within a bootlegger’s distance, which is considered a day’s drive,” says Zinter. Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Duluth are prevalent on the spirits list, as are liquors and beers from throughout the Midwest. So when you order your gin drink, you can trust it came from somewhere nearby. And when you take a sip, you can imagine Zelda and Scott drinking something similar and dancing on the bar, almost 100 years ago. Bar manager Jonathan Borchardt says the Commodore Bar and Restaurant draws inspiration from various points throughout cocktail history, including pre-Prohibition cocktails. “You know, things related to a classic old fashioned, the probable prototype of the martini—the Martinez—the Manhattan,” says Borchardt. And then Prohibition hit and tastes changed. “If you’ve heard the term bathtub gin, you know people were doing what they could to get their booze,” he says. These liquors, like moonshine, “are not known to be delicious,” so more sugar and flavorings were added to cocktails. And the Commodore does all of the above (sans moonshine). With all this history, there are things Borchardt has noticed in recent trends. “I have found that people are getting more adventurous,” he says. “Daily, someone will come in and say, ‘I’m kind of feeling like a rye whisky tonight. I’m thinking maybe not citrusy, maybe spirit-forward. Go. Make me something.’ There’s a lot more faith put into the bartender or drinkmaker. We’re being more open-minded.” If you’re looking for a gin drink that will make you feel connected to your favorite 20th-century writer, Borchardt could make you the Fitzgerald, a gin sour that’s both sweet and tart. Or you can make it at home: The Fitzgerald 2 oz. gin 1 oz. fresh lemon juice ½ to 1 oz. simple syrup 2 dashes of Angostura bitters Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker (filled generously with ice) and shake. Serve on big ice cubes, as they do at the Commodore, or up in a martini glass. Depending on how tart your lemon juice is, adjust the simple syrup to taste.
Jun 01, 2018
Posted Date
Feb 10, 2023
Historical Record Date
Jun 01, 2018
Source Name
Lake Minnetonka Magazine
