A History of Minneapolis' Skid Row

Once upon a time, Minneapolis tried to keep their citizens with a penchant for hard drinking—lumberjacks, farmhands, and railroad workers—into the oldest quarter of Minneapolis. It was an era of flophouses, preachers and nuns trying to save souls and a bar owner named John Bacich, aka Johnny Rex. The Star Tribune’s James Shiffer has written a new book about Minneapolis’s Skid Row and its king.