Polish club's Last Polka

Eleven-month-old Rylee sits on the shoulders of her father, Ben Dexter, as he eats fried fish Friday with other family members at the Polish-American Club on Arcade Street in St.

[Homer J]

What a shame. You see these clubs and dance halls going under all over the state. I guess it's the sign of the times.

[Shame]

Thanks you Chris Coleman and the city council for all you do...

[Paul]

It is more important to the politicians to spend money on the new cultures that have come in and demanded things than the old cultures that have made us what we are.

[DaBroad]

It's the same all over the country - 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation don't care about their ancestral heritage as much. They have no interest in anything about the "old country". Give our newest immigrants a few generations, it'll be the same thing.

[WoW]

This sounded more to me like the liberal mayor of St. Paul and his posse (city council) ran the place out of business by over oppressive taxing of business. You can bet if it was a "Sanctuary" where illegals could congregate, it would be different. As long as they spoke Spanish, Koleman and the city would call it a "community center" and steal from the taxpayers to fund it.

[Sad]

WOW, my father would be so sad. My dad was a proud polish eastsider, born and raised by polish immigrant parents. Maybe now it can become a mexican or hmong club.

[Parnelli Jones]

The taxes have again literally killed another of St. Paul's landmark institutions. I'm sure the Minneapolis Mayor who Chris Coleman evidently idolizes will have some suggestions for the place. Maybe it can become the central office for the light rail boondoggle, or perhaps as another poster put it, a community, or cultural center for "our new citizens". They can then take it off the tax base. What a crock! This city, this state are becoming a symbol of Marxist Leninist Communistic life. Nikita Kruschev was right when he said they would destroy us from within. We let these Liberals do it, and then just let 'em do it all over again.

[Diane]

So, membership has declined by 50%, and they aren't able to book many weddings or other events anymore. But they say that they're selling because of property tax increases. I'm sure that's part of it, but if they had been able to book the business they used to be able to - and keep people interested in being members - they would have been able to pay the extra $4K per year.

I agree on parking - I live about 3 blocks away, and parking sucks. Whenever the american legion has an event, our whole block is packed, because there's little off-street parking. But that's not new, so you can't really blame that for the closing.

[TO SAD]

THE LINE AT THE END ABOUT MAYBE IT CAN BECOME A MEXICAN OR HMONG THAT IS A LITTLE RUDE DONT YOU THINK BUT ONE THING I KNOW FOR SURE IF IT WAS A MEXICAN OR HMONG HALL, ALL THE MEMBERS WOULD STICK TOGETHER AND IF NEED GIVE MONEY OUT OF THERE OWN POCKET TO HELP PAY FOR THERE HALL BECAUSE THAT IS THE KIND OF GREAT PEOPLE THEY ARE..

[helen windish azevedo]

The polish American club has given me some of the best times of my life growing up. Our large Polish family (Dwuznik) had many many wedding receptions there and I had a blast at all of them as a child and teenager, mostly in the 60's and 70's.It seemed like every weekend I had a cousin if not one of my own sisters getting married. Everyone was so jovial and polka'd the night away. And the bunny hop. I don't know if that is a polish thing but we did the bunny hop every time. Now this would go over like a lead balloon these days but, me and my cousins(teenagers) would sneak a glass of beer here and there and we thought it was so funny to be able to"fool" everyone. Now I'm not sure if we really did.Anyway I will miss and have missed that place for years. It will always bring the fondest memories to me.

[Ell]

It seems unfair to blame city government and taxes for the center's closing when its own community is not supporting the center like it once did. DaBroad said it right, though, about the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations. And why is this necessarily a bad thing? Ethnic/cultural groups are generally started by newcomers who feel themselves isolated from and outside of mainstream society. If the Polish and other European cultural groups aren't getting the membership they once did, perhaps it's because their potential members now see themselves more as Americans than as Poles/Germans/Norwegians/etc. Wouldn't most of us agree this is a good thing? As DaBroad said, give our newest immigrants a few generations, it'll be the same thing.

[helen windish azevedo]

DaBroad wrote:

It's the same all over the country - 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation don't care about their ancestral heritage as much. They have no interest in anything about the "old country". Give our newest immigrants a few generations, it'll be the same thing.

I must agree with yu. Helen is a big family name in my family and mostly they pronounced it as Helenka or Helinka or sometimes just Inka. I am one of those 3rd generation polish kids and I kick myself everyday for not learning polish and ( I only learned the bad words from my grampa and great aunts when we heard them playing poker. My mother and her sisters did the same thing and we listened to them too , when we weren't being told " you kids, outside" unless it was a night game and we would listen from the upstairs heat registers that lead down to the dining room..I would like to still learn it but who would I speak to. Nobody here speaks polish. And yes you are right the new immigrants will follow suit and already are.

[Sad]

TO SAD, No I DON'T THINK IT'S RUDE I THINK IT A FACT ABOUT THE EAST SIDE. THERE ARE MORE MEXICANS AND HMONGS THEN THERE ARE POLLS. DO YOU EVEN KNOW THE EAST SIDE JERK. GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE.

[Eastsider]

DaBroad wrote:

It's the same all over the country - 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation don't care about their ancestral heritage as much. They have no interest in anything about the "old country". Give our newest immigrants a few generations, it'll be the same thing.

That's very true, most of my friends don't even know their ancestry or even what country their great-grandparents came from! It's kind of sad, because they don't care either.

[Taxes]

Of course it's the taxes and higher food, booze and untility bills causing them to close. Who do you think ends op paying these increases? Not the club but the customers. They have to raise their prices to customers who end up taking their receptions to Roseville and Shoreview and every other almost sane Government who isn't pricing businesses out of the city. The worse part is that this is only the beginning. We are turning into a cold detroit. Get out while you can. I am selling this spring, well at least praying I can find someone dumb enough to purchase my home here in St. Paul. I am a life long resident and can see this city is doomed, thanks to the communists running us into the ground.

Man am I a fool, I seen it coming but never imagined it could ever get this bad, this fast. My property taxes have doubled in just four years, I have no evidence that, that, will slow down anytime soon. As more businesses close, less tax revenue will be collected which will lead to even more tax increases, speeding up our decline. What a shame, I planned to retire here, as with Detroit as taxes rise and services end up being cut and crime will rise.

You voters need to wake up. Oh yeah the Parks and Rec's is 3 million in the hole and the SPSD just announced another 10 million shortfall. It's never going to end. Thank you DFL for chasing me out of the city of my birth.

[Roman Kaniewski]

I think that it is sad that we can help out all others, but when it comes to Polish no one will talk about the hard working Polish families that never had any money funded to them and made it. I think it is time for the Polish now.
I grew up in the polish area of St. Casimir church and tree years ago had been married there to a Polish Gal from NE. Minneapolis. We had booked the wedding long before and the Governor from our state told the paster to move our wedding date because the President on Mexico was coming to visit the school that is now most Mexican. So now this shows you how the system works. I think we should all stick together and fight for our rights!!!!!!!

[Former Eastsider]

To the person who said that the Mexicans or Hmong would stick together to keep it going. Yea any group could do it if they got the tax breaks those people get.

[Zipper Gang JL from CA]

After reading some of the comments on this story, I find it amusing that some people actually believe that city government caused the decline and fall of the Polish Hall, when in fact the real reason had more to do with the changing face of the neighborhood as all neighborhoods do over a period of time. Families grow up in an area of town and as the early ones die off or move to another area, new people move in. It does't matter what ethic group it is, the fact remains that those who supported this hall are no longer attached to it the way it was in the past. It happens everywhere. In North Minneapolis there used to be a strong Jewish presence. They and their children moved out in the 60's to other parts of Minneapolis and/or it's suburbs and now it is predominately Black. The grade school my children and our friends children went to at Homecroft is now in trouble for whatever reason. The facts remain, neighborhoods change. But don't blame politicans. That is rather narrow-minded and extremely stupid.

[Diane]

I totally agree with Zipper Gang. I live in the neighborhood. It's always been a neighborhood of immigrants - in the past it was Poles, Swedes, and Italians, and now it's Hmong and Latino. The older folks that used to go to the PAC are moving away; my neighbors on both sides were older couples who used to go there. Now they've both moved to townhomes in other parts of St. Paul, and my neighbors now are a young couple and a single man, none of whom are big on polka. It isn't about property taxes - if they had still been able to book events & get new members, they wouldn't be leaving.

That said, I'm sad they're going. Not because I ever went there - I didn't - but because the last thing Arcade needs is yet another vacant building. We have plenty of those already.

[Kuznia]

We love our club. The taxes are unbelieveable! The laughing, dancing, eating and all around good time! You don't have to be a descendent of Poland to join! This is America!