Al Milgrom
Al Milgrom could be called the Mayor of Dinkytown. He first came to Dinkytown in 1941 to attend the U of M. He joined the army during the war and lived in various places around the world but came back to stay in the 1960s.
He started the University Film Society which later evolved into MSP Film Society, the sponsors of the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. In 2015 his film Dinkytown Uprising, which documented the 1970 occupation of a proposed fast food restaurant, premiered at the MSP International Film Festival.
Al died in December 2020 at the age of 98.
Bill Tilton
Bill Tilton is a St.Paul-based attorney who first came to Dinkytown in the late 1960’s. In 1970, he became a member of the infamous “Minnesota Eight” when he went to prison along with the other seven after they were convicted of breaking into Selective Service (draft board) offices throughout the state.
David Baldwin
David Baldwin is a Professor of Trumpet at the University of Minnesota. He also conducts the Minnesota Brass Choir. Since the late seventies, he’s been a regular at Al’s Breakfast in Dinkytown.
Doug Grina
Doug Grina is been the co-owner and Chef of Al’s Breakfast, the legendary and indescribable Minneapolis breakfast diner for over 40 years.
Dr. Demento
Dr. Demento (aka Barry Hansen) came to Dinkytown in the late 1950’s. He was there during the heyday of the 10 O’Clock Scholar where John Koerner and Bob Dylan regularly played.
Even back then he was collecting records, particularly unusual ones. He has become a legend as a radio broadcaster with a large following.
Erik Storlie
Erik Storlie came to Dinkytown in the late 1950’s to join the beat movement. He came too late but discovered the beginnings of the counterculture and its music. He went on to Berkely and studied Zen Buddhism.
He came back to Minneapolis and was one of the founders of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center and joined the faculty of Minneapolis Community College. He is the author of Go Deep & Take Plenty of Root, which chronicles his Dinkytown odyssey.
Father Harry Bury
Father Harry Bury is an international peace activist Roman Catholic priest and college professor who was affiliated with the Newman Center in Dinkytown during the 1960s.
It became a gathering place for anti-war activists during the Vietnam era. He has written a book chronicling his vast experience called Maverick Priest.
Spider John Koerner
John Koerner came to the U of M and Dinkytown in the late 1950s. He dropped out of school and was briefly in the Marines. He returned to Dinkytown in 1959 after visiting coffee houses in Los Angeles and San Francisco and nurtured the scene in Dinkytown playing guitar at the Scholar. He was already performing there when Bob Zimmerman (Dylan) came to Dinkytown.
A few years later Koerner joined with Dave Ray and Tony Glover and recorded the classic Koerner, Ray & Glover album Blues, Rags, & Hollers which influenced a generation of musicians including the Beatles. He still performs on occasion.
Kristen Eide-Tollefson
Kristen Eide-Tollefson, owner of the Bookhouse in Dinkytown since the 1980’s, is the co-founder of Preserve Historic Dinkytown
Laurel Bauer
Laurel Bauer was born in Dinkytown. Her parents owned the House of Hanson, the small grocery store in the heart of Dinkytown. She began working in the store as a child and owned it until it closed in 2013.
Laurie Savran
Laurie Savran is an Edina-based attorney who came to Dinkytown as a U of M student in the 1960s. She married Bill Savran who owned bookshops in Dinkytown as well as the west bank.
Mike Gelfald
Mike Gelfand is a journalist and radio personality who reported extensively on the Red Barn occupation in 1970 as a reporter for the Minnesota Daily. He was featured in Al Milgrom’s documentary "Dinkytown Uprising".
Monte Bute
Monte Bute is a professor at Metropolitan State University who experienced the scene in Dinkytown in the late 1960s. He was involved in the Red Barn Occupation in 1970.
Professor John Wright
John Wright first came to Dinkytown in 1963. His efforts as a member of the Afro-American Action Committee (AAAC) after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and in the 1970 takeover of Morrill Hall on campus pushed the University to establish an African American Studies program.
In 1984 he joined the U of M faculty becoming a Professor in the African American, African, and English departments. He retired in the spring of 2019.
Shel Danielson
Shel Danielson had a long career as KQRS radio personality Alan Stone beginning in the early 1970’s. He first came to Dinkytown as a student in the 1960’s.
This project was funded by a grant from the Minnesota Historical Society with funds from the Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment.