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The local bar scene was rapidly evolving. In 1976, Doty bought the former Comfy Bar on the North Mankato end of the old Main Street Bridge. He re-opened it in 1977 as the original T.J. Finnegan’s Pub, on what he calls his “favorite date: December 22.” At the same time, liquor liability laws were putting increasing pressure on establishments that made most of their money off booze. So in 1980, Doty radically altered the Hurdy Gurdy, turning it into a pasta bar and night club called R.J. Noodles. Live music was out, disco DJ’s were in. But the disco boom was brief. “It died in one day, it seemed,” Doty muses. It was 1984, and building the new Veterans’ Memorial Bridge would claim the original T.J.’s, along with the legendary restaurant, The Century Club. Doty decide to move his thriving little pub into the larger Hurdy Gurdy/R.J. Noodles space: “It was clear to me, that was the right move. T.J.’s was doing well, and now we could double its size. It was an immediate hit.”
In addition to the MSP Airport, Land to Air Express now offers multiple daily trips from Mankato to Rochester and Southern MN destinations in between. Convenient Mankato shuttles are still available every day to and from the Minneapolis International Airport.
Visit landtoairexpress.com or call 507-625-3977
As Ron Doty recalls, it was college students who first assigned South Front Street its now-notorious name in the early 1990’s. As drinking establishments proliferated there, the bar owners joined in 1997 to promote street parties, advertising the area as, The BarMuda Triangle, cementing the moniker. While the concept generated lots of revenue, Doty has qualms, wondering if “creating a bar district was a mistake.” He thinks it has led to problems with out-of-control behavior. He also opposed a 2 a.m. closing time, until that movement became inevitable in 2002. Doty sold T.J.’s in 2007 to retire after being in the bar business for 45 years. The place was renamed Red Sky, which itself is now on hiatus while all the demolition and new construction takes place in the 500 block of South Front. As for Pappy’s and the Hurdy Gurdy and T.J.’s? Of course, they’ve all been consigned to that noble list we compile of Places That Are No More. M Pete Steiner is host of “Talk of the Town” weekdays at 1:05 p.m. on KTOE. MANKATO MAGAZINE • August 2014 • 49