Palmer’s Sideshow

A portrait of the best bar in America, according to Esquire

The area of Minneapolis known as the West Bank refers to the west bank of the Mississippi where the University of Minnesota straddles the river. The Bank always been an area of itinerant transition beginning as a Scandinavian immigrant center in the 1890s. By the 1950’s it had more of a skid row atmosphere that morphed into the hippie/antiwar counterculture center in the late 60s early 70s, catalyzed by the spread of the University of Minnesota to the West Bank. It has evolved back to an immigrant area with the largest Somali community in the US.

Palmer’s is a wedge-shaped bar that’s graced the West Bank area in Minneapolis near the University of Minnesota for 120 years. As the other old bars of the Bank closed, the music and clientele moved to Palmer’s, the final stronghold. A lot of experienced faces populated the place. In mid-summers the bar sponsored Palmfest, a two-day outdoor music festival behind the bar. In 2009 I went to photograph the patrons and musicians with a 4 x 5 film camera in front of a sheet of white backdrop. Summer of 2025, with the announcement of the imminent closure of Palmers, I organized all the portraits into a book and added one last one. That was of Cornbread Harris. At 98, he was the last act to perform at Palmers on September 14, 2025.

Minneapolis’s West Bank, located along the Mississippi near the University of Minnesota, has shifted from a Scandinavian immigrant center in the 1890s to a skid row area in the 1950s, then to a counterculture hub in the late ’60s and early ’70s, and today hosts the largest Somali community in the US. Palmer’s, a wedge-shaped bar open for nearly 120 years, became the West Bank’s musical mainstay as other bars closed. It hosted Palmfest, an annual summer two-day music festival. In 2009 I went to photograph the patrons and musicians with a 4 x 5 film camera in front of a sheet of white backdrop. n 2025, anticipating Palmer’s closure, I compiled these portraits into a book, adding one last portrait: Cornbread Harris, who at 98 was the final performer on September 14, 2025.
My travel would be in a small, self-contained RV, never leaving the road I would find that the road warrior’s journey is a two-way street, driving toward what lies over the horizon and away from things left behind – a fugitive seeking solace.