Window into a city's soul
WEEKEND GETAWAYS | Piano lounge has pulse of Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS -- Sweet Lou Snider knows a thousand songs, but she may best understand "As Time Goes By."
Snider has been the lounge singer at Nye's Polonaise Room since 1965. The historic bar, restaurant and polka lounge is near downtown Minneapolis at the foothill of the Hennepin Bridge that crosses the timeless Mississippi River.
Snider has been the lounge singer at Nye's Polonaise Room since 1965. The historic bar, restaurant and polka lounge is near downtown Minneapolis at the foothill of the Hennepin Bridge that crosses the timeless Mississippi River.
Snider has been playing Minneapolis since Prince was a pauper.
Snider has been playing Minneapolis since Prince was a pauper.
It is rare for a bar to become a tourist destination, but Nye's is more than a Nordic getaway. Besides Snider, there's accordion player Ruth Adams and her world's most dangerous polka band. There are huge pierogis. When was the last time you saw a relish tray? And hazelnuts in the White Russians. Nye's Polonaise is a window into a city's soul, just as Miller's Pub is to Chicago's.
In 2006, Esquire magazine named Nye's "The Best Bar in America," but that's old hat for those who would adjourn to Nye's after watching Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen appear on "A Prairie Home Companion" in nearby St. Paul.
Snider plays at Nye's on Friday and Saturday nights until 2 in the morning. She is demure and diminutive and it is easy for her to get lost in the shuffle of Nye's sparkling accolades. The 72-year-old performs underneath multicolored, Flintstone-like lamps that were handcrafted in Winona, Minn.
She sits in front of a huge portrait of Chopin and an American flag. They were favorites of the late founder, Al Nye, a Minneapolis native.
During a visit on a cold January night, Snider solos on the Patsy Cline hit "Crazy." Her regulars gather around her Yamaha keyboard to join in on Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." For those who want to take Snider with them, her CD "Lou Snider/Live at Nye's Polonaise Room" sells for $15 at her keyboard.
"People request 'King of the Road,'" Snider says during a set break. " 'Mack the Knife.' 'The Gambler.' They like things that move a little bit." If Snider's piano were a barge on the nearby Mississippi, she'd be known for delivering the goods.
"They hired me here because I was desperate," she says. "They [had] let me go at the last place because they found out I was pregnant. Nothing here has changed since the day I started." She looks at the sparkling golden vinyl covers in a restaurant booth and says, "These are new covers, but they are original. Mr. Nye bought double the amount of upholstery fabric and kept it. As time flies, these may be 15 years old."
The room in which Snider plays opened in 1964. The original Nye's Polonaise was the polka bar next door. That opened in 1950, and they still serve cold Tyskie, "The No. 1 Beer of Poland." The loud polka music from next door is not distracting to Snider. "We don't hear it too much at the piano," she says. "It's in the restaurant area where you get the best -- or worst -- of both worlds. You can't hear either one of us."
Snider was born within three miles of Nye's. Her mother liked to sing with her upright piano, and her brothers played guitar.
"In 1945, I took piano lessons from a lady who played for the silent movies," she says in proud tones.
Snider met her future husband, David, on Labor Day weekend 1959 while she was playing the Casino Bar in La Crosse, Wis. He requested "It Had to Be You." Snider says, "I had to look it up. I was playing with a rock 'n' roll band in the mid-1950s. Lanny Charles and his Harem. He was a drummer. Another lady played guitar. She and I sang."
Now Snider holds court at one of the last piano bars in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
"When I started, there were people who made the circuit. Karaoke put a squelch to that. Young people -- including my children -- grew up playing their records and singing in their rooms. When karaoke came in, they didn't have to rely on me anymore. They know the arrangements from A to Z."
It is around 10 p.m. and the room is shifting from a reserved dinner clientele to a louder Saturday night hipster crowd. Snider's gold and silver brooch sparkles in the nocturnal twilight. "This is a gift," she says of her brooch.
The Twin Cities most beloved solo act slowly gets up from the vinyl booth and returns to her place behind the keyboard. The best is yet to come.
Nye's Polonaise Room, 112 E. Hennepin Ave., (612) 379-2021.