The Fuji-Ya restaurant story
These are photos related to the tragic story of the Fuji-Ya restaurant that thrived for 22 years on 1st street, until the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board took most of their parking space, destroying the business. It's a long, sad story that I'll link to here, but here are photos of the Fuji-Ya I've taken and gathered.
Now, (2009), 4 more years after I created this page, the lonely Fuji-ya building still sits, boarded up, abandoned and unused by the Park board that paid 3.5 million dollars to destroy an individual's dream... all to get 8 parking spaces. (click on any thumbnail for a large version)
Now, (2009), 4 more years after I created this page, the lonely Fuji-ya building still sits, boarded up, abandoned and unused by the Park board that paid 3.5 million dollars to destroy an individual's dream... all to get 8 parking spaces. (click on any thumbnail for a large version)
My 
article about the Fuji-Ya.
article about the Fuji-Ya.
 Recent aerial view. The Fuji-Ya building is in the lower right, with the brown and white bands. |
 Approaching the Fuji-Ya on 1st street, looking south across the parking lot |
 1st street. When the Fuji-Ya opened, the street led to nothing else except old mill ruins. |
 What was once the entrance. The posted sign says that the parking spaces are Park and Recreation Board contract parking. |
 The few contract parking spaces. |
 View from the new West River Road |
 The river side of Fuji-Ya. The two stories of windows are covered over with plywood panels. Note the apartments now hovering above, enjoying the view that the Fuji-Ya revealed to others. |
 Photo showing the shabby condition of the Fuji-Ya building, after 15 years of ownership by the Park and Recreation Board. |
 Here we can see how the restaurant building was built using the existing ruins of an old mill building. Other ruins are to the right, on the edge of the parking lot. |
 The old ruins were respected and protected by Reiko Weston and her Japanese architect. |
 On the west (1st st.) side of the building, we can see an old ruins wall inside the exterior Fuji-Ya wall. |
 Part of the grand view that Fuji-Ya diners had of the riverfront, including the lock and dam, and the old stone arch bridge. |
 The Fuji-Ya logo, part of a larger advertisement. |
 1990 StarTribune photo by Rita Reed, captioned "Sayonara, Fuji-Ya" "Chief chef Tai San, left, has been in the Fuji-Ya kitchen since the day it opened in 1959. tonight owner Carol Weston will close the Japanese restaurant in Minneapolis that her mom, Reiko Weston, founded." |