First Avenue

History

The club we know as First Avenue was born in 1970, but the history of live music in that distinctively curved black building on the corner of First Avenue and Seventh Street rightfully begins much earlier. It was on a February Friday in 1937 that the orchestral music of the Gopher Melody Men played, ribbons were cut, and the new Northland-Greyhound Bus Depot opened for business.

When it was built, the Greyhound Bus Depot was widely acclaimed for its streamlined art deco style and modern luxuries. Called one of the most "modernistic" and beautiful travel centers in America, this bus depot boasted such luxuries as public phones, shower rooms and air conditioning. The décor included huge chromium trimmed chandeliers and a checkered terrazzo floor. Outside, there were blue-glazed bricks with white trimming.