Coffeehouse Extempore
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History
Date Opened: 1965
Date Closed: 1987
Owners:
The Coffeehouse was established in 1965 by the Coffeehouse Association, a non-profit membership group, to promote several arts and communication goals, crossing age, religious, and political lines.
The original location was at 2200 Riverside Avenue in Minneapolis on the West Bank. It included a small snack bar, a chess room, a conversation space, a library room, and a gallery. The gallery space, initially an art gallery, swifty became the place for musical performances. Despite its demise as a visual arts space, the music spaces in subsequrent locations was always called "The Gallery".
Early performers included Chicago bluesman Lazy Bill Lucas, Papa John Kolstad, Judy Larson, The Mama's Home Cookin' and Jook Savages jugbands, Max Swanson, Bill Dockens, Maury Bernstein, Tommy Ray, and Dean Carr.
By the late 1970s, financial problems led the Coffeehouse to seek stable sources of funding in the Twin Cities community. The prospect of receiving funding from a local foundation like the Metro Area Council or First Banks Foundation meant that the Coffeehouse could no longer rely on its informal system of management. It worked to create job descriptions and an organizational hierarchy, which would demonstrate a sound management system to potential donors. Some members became unhappy with these changes, expressing concern that the Coffeehouse was no longer a "family" type of organization.
The Coffeehouse continued until 1987(?) when it closed and the Cedar Cultural Center was opened.
Address
Cedar Ave near Riverside
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