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The letters have been coming in every month since Mickey’s Diner closed its doors.
Loyalty Customer Note, Login. Making sure he knows how much he misses his favorite restaurant and how happy Mickey will be when the doors open again.
On difficult days, Melissa Matson read those letters again. The days when contractors struggled with Diner’s Depression-era pipe work; When the supply chain doesn’t deliver; When the closed sign in the window remained for years.
“Once a month, he writes, ‘I can’t wait.'” Mattson, president of the business her grandfather started, says, ‘I’m looking forward to you.’ Her pen pal has been coming to Mickey for 60 of the past 80-plus years. [one of the letters] Where everyone can see it. ‘We can do this!’ It’s like saying.
Bert Mattson and Mickey Crimmons opened Mickey’s in 1939 in downtown St. Paul. Designed to look like a train dining car, it remained open for many of the next 80-plus years, proving that anytime was the perfect time to pop in and grab some pancakes or a big bowl of Mickey. Until the epidemic and until the outbreak.
But Mickey’s will reopen, probably by the end of the summer, definitely by the end of the year.
Mickey will reopen, thank you.
When the restaurant closed its doors, customers opened their wallets and donated more than $70,000 to an online fundraiser to help keep Mickey’s neon lit. Thousands of donors, each reminding employees why they work so hard and who they work for.
“It made me cry, it made my dad cry,” Mattson said.
On the other side of the river, another popular small business was about to disappear by 2020.
Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore and Uncle Edgar’s Mystery Bookstore will be opening soon, thank you.
Two years ago, Don Bliley’s bookstore burned down during the riots that broke out in Minneapolis after the killing of George Floyd. Today, it has a new store in a new location, filled with tens of thousands of new and used volumes, many donated by grieving fans of the twin bookstores.
Echo the store dog is back in business, at 2716 E. 31st St. The bookstore’s new home is slumbering among the stacks at the bottom of the Moon Palace books.
“I had enough insurance money that I could just retire and never work again,” Bly said.
But the outpouring of support — including nearly $200,000 in online donations — made Uncles realize just how big a hole he left in the hearts of Twin Cities readers.
“In independent bookstores, each one reflects the personality of the owner and what the owner thinks is important,” he said. “None of them do anything close to what I do. I’ve been hearing from a lot of people that we can’t find anything comparable to your service anywhere in the Twin Cities.” So I decided to go ahead and give it a shot.
Blily is ready to restore what he lost. The books, the shelves, the store, the computers, the staff. Challenged by months of shipping problems and red tape, it’s close to reopening — maybe next week.
Back to Mickey, work continues. The eatery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, so staff members appreciate the under 30s while preserving the surroundings that customers love.
As they work, Cheryl Adder works on Mickey Diner’s diary. Her father, Frank LaPlante, was one of the restaurant’s managers when it first opened, and the diner’s history has been part of her family history ever since.
She filled 32 scrapbook pages with family photos, postcards, newspaper and magazine clippings. She remembers every time Mickey appeared in a Hollywood movie and her grandson built a diner out of Legos.
“I really care about this business,” said Ader, 69. “It’s a family.”
For decades, Mickey’s doors were open every hour, every day, every holiday. Blank Mickey has been a strange, sad sight over the past few years.
But the new booths are on their way. Once customers have a place to sit, opening day isn’t far off. Ader is dreaming of her first meal back. Maybe it’s a burger. Maybe one of Mickey’s legendary breakfasts.
“I can’t wait,” she said. “The food is great. The atmosphere is fun. And there’s just so much history.”
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