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Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan Itinerary

DAY ONE

Minneapolis and Saint Paul
(Accessible via most major airlines and their code-share partners into
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport – MSP)

• University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Dylan was enrolled from fall 1959 – fall 1960.
• Dinkytown (adjacent to the University's main campus):
  • Ten O'clock Scholar (14th Ave. SE between 4th St. SE & 5th St. SE) Dylan played here regularly the winter from late 1959 to the fall of 1960.
  • Gray's Campus Drug (14th Ave. SE & 4th St. SE, now Loring Pasta Bar) Dylan lived here in a 2nd floor room starting in the winter of 1960.
  • "Positively 4th Street" – runs through the heart of Dinkytown.
• Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity house (800 Lincoln Street, destroyed by fire in 1999)
• The Bastille (an erstwhile coffee house, near the corner of Oak Street and Washington Avenue on the University of Minnesota Campus, Minneapolis) Dylan played here in the spring of 1960.
• West Bank (across the Washington Avenue bridge on the west side of the Mississippi River):
  • Koerner, Ray and Glover, a local folk-blues group famous in the early 60's with whom Dylan hung out and jammed. (Koerner & Glover are still alive and occasionally perform in the Twin Cities including at the nearby Palmer's Bar and Triangle Bar (Riverside Avenue, between 19th Avenue and Cedar Avenue).)
• The Purple Onion Pizza Parlor (722 North Snelling Avenue at the corner of Minnehaha Avenue near Hamline University, Saint Paul) Dylan played here in the fall of 1959 and spring of 1960.

DAY TWO

Duluth
(3 hour drive north along Highway 61)

• Birthplace (519 North 3rd Avenue East) born May 4, 1941, Dylan lived here until 1948.
• Duluth Armory (2416 London Road) Dylan witnessed the next to the last performance of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, who played here in February 1959 just prior to their deaths in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa.
• Now called the Armory Arts & Music Center it marks the beginning of Duluth's Bob Dylan Way, a 1.8 mile cultural pathway designated with brown, black and white signs depicting the world-famous singer/songwriter. An exhibit about Bob Dylan Way is at Fitger's located at 600 East Superior Street in downtown Duluth.
• Bayfront Park (home of the annual Bayfront Blues Festival on Duluth's inner harbor) near the DECC – Duluth Event & Convention Center where Dylan performed in 1998.
• "Highway 61 Revisited" – The Highway runs for over 400 miles in Minnesota from the southeast corner north along the Mississippi River on Great River Road to Minneapolis/Saint Paul and then to Duluth and along North Shore Scenic Drive to Canada.

DAY THREE & FOUR

Hibbing
(1.5 hour drive northwest)

• Childhood home (2425 7th Avenue East) Dylan lived year from 1948-1959.
• Hibbing High School (800 East 21st Street) Dylan's second band, The Golden Chords, performed in a talent show in the Auditorium in 1957. He graduated in 1959.
• Dylan Drive (7th Avenue East) renamed in 2005.
• Engraved Star on Howard Street in front of Zimmy's Bar & Grill ("Zimmy's Walk of Fame") dedicated in 2005 to honor Dylan.
• Hibbing Public Library (2020 East 5th Avenue) Dylan Exhibit based on his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume I.
• Zimmerman's Furniture & Electric (East 5th Avenue at Howard Street) owned by Dylan's father from 1954-1958.
• The Lybba Theatre (2135 1st Avenue) movie house built and operated from 1947-1976 by Dylan's uncles and named after his grandmother. It closed on October 28, 1982. It is now the Sunrise Deli-Lybba.
• Braman Music (208 East Howard Street) Dylan took guitar lessons here. Now Walken's Jewelry.
• L&B Café (417 East Howard Street) a Dylan hangout where he met Echo Helstrom (Girl from the North Country).
• Collier's Barbeque and Bar (1928 East 4th Avenue) Dylan and The Golden Chords jammed here on Sundays in late 1957 and early 1958. His final Hibbing band, Elston Gunn and the Rock Boppers performed here during the summer of 1958. It is now the Hong Kong Kitchen.
• Memorial Building – Little Theater (400 East 23rd Street) Dylan performed here with The Golden Chords at the Winter Frolic Talent Contest in February 1958. Now contains the Hibbing Historical Society Museum.
• Zimmy's Bar & Grill (531 East Howard Street) Dylan tribute themed restaurant.
• "Girl from the North Country" -- Echo Star Helstrom, Dylan's high school girl friend.
• Dylan Days, 4 day tribute festival built around Dylan's birthday, May 24.

DAY FIVE

Fargo/Moorhead
(5 hour drive west)

• Performance venues, including the Moorhead Armory, 1002 15th Avenue North, Moorhead, MN, where Bobby Vee* and the Shadows – for whom Dylan briefly played piano in 1959 under the name Elston Gunn – performed in these two cities. *Vee's career was launched as a result of filling in for Buddy Holly who died in the tragic plane crash in Iowa during the infamous Winter Dance Party tour of 1959.

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