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Swank Check
Hip, classic, elegant—Minnesota Bride examines
venues with swanky style.
By Dara Moskowitz
What is swank? It's the power to turn every head in the room with
style and charisma. It's the ability to sear your presence into
the memories of others forever. Some have got swank, and some have
not. Zelda Fitzgerald had swank. So did Ava Gardner. Very simply,
each took her irresistible sense of style and ran with it. But venues-as
well as people-can exude a swanky je ne sais quois,whether
boasting Art Deco furnishings, Swingers-type ambiance or
opulent antiques from an earlier century.
You could argue that there are more swanky spots today then ever
before-there are certainly all types. Take the newly remodeled Van
Dusen Centre. A red stone castle just south of downtown Minneapolis,
the mansion was recently painstakingly restored to its 1892 standard
by Robert E. Poehling, who recounts hours of stripping paint from
the gleaming wood-paneled walls, polishing the carved mahogany fireplaces
until they shone like caramel, and installing his vast collection
of antiques.
But perhaps your dreams of swank don't turn on castles and carpets.
Perhaps swank for you is the Art Deco bloom of Moderne notables
like Jean Harlow and Zelda Fitzgerald. In that case, your options
are equally deluxe. First on any list, at least for smaller weddings,
is Goodfellow's in downtown Minneapolis. Housed in the glimmering
fantasy of what was once the old Forum Cafeteria, being in Goodfellow's
is like looking up from the bottom of a cut crystal champagne flute.
Decorated in shades of sage, jet, silver, and maple, Goodfellow's
fairly drips with trim and fixtures that evoke the hopeful, streamlined
shapes of what was once known as "Zig Zag Moderne."
For Deco dreams hinging on a larger guest list, the Commodore might
be just what the flapper ordered. Even today you can almost hear
the echoes of the musicians, artists, and social climbers that made
the Commodore fashionable over a half century ago. While much of
the (very large) wedding space is simply antique-furnished, the
Art Deco bar is downright breathtaking.
For much more on reception sites, see the Spring/Summer
1999 newsstand issue of Minnesota Bride.
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