{"product_id":"the-king-of-skid-row-john-bacich-and-the-twilight-years-of-old-minneapolis-paperback","title":"The King of Skid Row: John Bacich and the Twilight Years of Old Minneapolis - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJames Eli Shiffer\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe story of a much different Minneapolis, through the words and photographs of one of its most colorful characters--now in paperback\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e City blue laws drove the liquor trade and its customers--hard-drinking lumberjacks, pensioners, farmhands, and railroad workers--into the oldest quarter of Minneapolis. In the fifty-cent-a-night flophouses of the city's Gateway District, they slept in cubicles with ceilings of chicken wire. In rescue missions, preachers and nuns tried to save their souls. Sociology researchers posing as vagrants studied them. And in their midst John Bacich, aka Johnny Rex, who owned a bar, a liquor store, and a cage hotel, documented the gritty neighborhood's last days through photographs and film of his clientele. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe King of Skid Row\u003c\/i\u003e follows Johnny Rex into this vanished world that once thrived in the heart of Minneapolis. Drawing on hours of interviews conducted in the three years before Bacich's death in 2012, James Eli Shiffer brings to life the eccentric characters and strange events of an American skid row. Supplemented with archival and newspaper research and his own photographs, Bacich's stories recreate the violent, alcohol-soaked history of a city best known for its clean, progressive self-image. His life captures the seamy, richly colorful side of the city swept away by a massive urban renewal project in the early 1960s and gives us, in a glimpse of those bygone days, one of Minneapolis's most intriguing figures--spinning some of its most enduring and enthralling tales. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e James Eli Shiffer has been a professional journalist for thirty years and is an editor at the \u003ci\u003eStar Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e in Minneapolis. In 2010, he partnered with Ewen Media to create \u003ci\u003eRubbed Out, \u003c\/i\u003ea multimedia history of the murder of a journalist in Minneapolis in 1945. He was a member of the \u003ci\u003eStar Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e team whose coverage of the killing of George Floyd and subsequent civil unrest was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 192\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.7 x 7.9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 14, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51765157888288,"sku":"9781517916596","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/504dc149dd06fcb1595ab68e873400e7.webp?v=1780262853","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/the-king-of-skid-row-john-bacich-and-the-twilight-years-of-old-minneapolis-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}