“Closing Time: Saloons, Taverns, Dives and Watering Holes of the Twin Cities,” a new book by Bill Lindeke and Andy Sturdevant (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2019), includes the history of four Northeast bars. The authors have the outsider’s view. The Northeaster decided to add our own digging.

Three things you may not have known about Jerry Faust: He likes ties that incorporate art by former Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia. His grandfather was the mayor of a small town in North Dakota. He didn’t have gray hair when he started his 15-year tenure as mayor of St. Anthony.

What do carriage houses, mother-in-law apartments, and granny flats have in common? Two things: they’ve been around a long time, and now they’re called Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). You may have lived over a garage or in a basement while you were in college, or waiting to buy a starter house, or because it was what you could afford. But Minneapolis, like some other cities, is taking a new look at ADUs as another way to increase the city’s “density” factor without occupying more land.

The underwear wasn’t the only thing that was red on the blustery afternoon of Dec. 1. Runners bolted with rosy cheeks, and rosy cheeks, across the Stone Arch Bridge in nothing but their unmentionables as part of the city’s first Red Undie Run.

Developers just love Main Street, especially the 500 block. At one end, at 521 Main Street, stands a 134-year-old duplex. At the other end at 503, is a 1½ -story home. Both are slated to give way to multifamily housing in the next couple of years.

When you visit public schools in Northeast, you see black kids, brown kids, kids of Asian descent and a smattering of white kids. Overall, Northeast’s population is 69% white, according to Minnesota Compass, a social indicators project led by Wilder Research that tracks trends in education, economy, workforce, health, and housing. Yet Northeast’s schools are the least diverse in the city. Where have the white kids gone?

Diane Loeffler, State Representative serving District 60A (formerly 59A) for the past 15 years, passed away Nov. 16 at age 66 of cancer that she battled privately for about two years, initially with success.