Return To The DMZ

Wow - today is a trip down memory lane.

Doug Grow writes about the closing of the Pizza Shack, a longtime South Minneapolis institution. When I first moved to Minneapolis, almost 20 years ago, the Shack was one of the first places I ever ate out. I was there a lot in the eighties; the pizza, as I recall, was thin and crispy and greasy, just the way I liked it.

Word is that the Pizza shack is closing. Bummer.

Of course, the Shack is famous - or infamous - for something else.

Via Grow:

On Sept. 25, 1992, everything changed at the Pizza Shack -- and nothing changed.

The menu at the restaurant that closed Friday after a 48-year run never changed. The owners -- brothers Monte and Lonnie Anderson -- never changed. The clientele never changed. The restaurant at Lake St. and 17th Av. S. in Minneapolis remained a neighborhood place and a place for cops and street thugs.

Funny how that worked, recalled Pat McGowan, a former Minneapolis cop who now is the Hennepin County sheriff. The Pizza Shack was an urban demilitarized zone.

"What happened on the streets was business," McGowan said. "When you went inside you were saying, 'I'm here to relax and have dinner. If you don't bother me, I won't bother you.' "

Grow goes on to relate the story of the shooting of Patrolman Jerry Haaf at the Shack, on 9/25/92, and how the shooting gutted the efforts of "United for Peace" to work on the gang violence problem in Minneapolis:

Gang violence had come to the city before the killing of Haaf. Before Haaf's death, violence had become so overwhelming that a number of city leaders -- black and white -- were willing to try a hugely controversial effort called United for Peace.

This organization brought together gang and civic leaders. The mission was idealistic: People could learn about each other and create an urban environment that would lead gang members to productive lives.

The idea was not popular with all. Rank-and-file officers found it preposterous that criminals would be willing to change. Many blanched when they saw their deputy chief, Dave Dobrotka, standing with gang members.

Haaf's killing horrified all. And it killed the United for Peace experiment.

"The work we were trying to do was the correct approach," said Spike Moss, a co-founder of United for Peace. "But when that happened at the Pizza Shack, racism won out. People didn't just indict whoever it was who killed the officer; they indicted a whole organization."

(Though four men are serving life sentences for the killing, Moss says he doesn't believe the shooter was caught.)

Worth a read.

Posted by Mitch at June 18, 2005 09:04 AM | TrackBack