January 24, 2019, Thursday - Fuji-Ya & Riverfront Revival Presentation at the Mill City Museum
Time: 7p - 8p
Location: Mill City Museum, 704 S 2nd St
Fuji-Ya & Riverfront Revival Presentation
Join Kimmy Tanaka and Jonathan Moore for a presentation on Fuji-Ya founder Reiko Weston and how the riverside dining spot transformed the city of Minneapolis.
After a century of milling, the Minneapolis central riverfront became a landscape that the city had turned its back on. Enter Reiko Weston, a Japanese immigrant in her early 30s. Determined to establish a new home for her Japanese restaurant, Fuji-Ya, Weston boldly purchased a burned-out flour mill on the riverfront in 1968, said to be the first public building constructed within view of St. Anthony Falls in more than 70 years. The restaurant would serve as an early catalyst for a wave of revitalization efforts in the area.
This presentation is based on Kimmy Tanaka and Jonathan Moore's Minnesota History magazine article, "Fuji-Ya, Second to None: Reiko Weston's Role in Reconnecting Minneapolis and the Mississippi River."
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