The Real World: Dinky Town CSCL

This is the story of 6 strangers, chosen to work on a project together and document their journey. This is what happens when students stop being polite and start being real... the Real World Dinky Town CSCL...

Description (The Journey)
Collin: For me, Dinkytown is about youth. Every weekend night, hundreds and hundreds of young people pour through the streets looking for food, friends and fun. Many of my friends live and work there and definitely a place for the youth of this community to gather socially.

Dan: As a high school senior/PSEO student, I see Dinkytown as the stereotypical “college town”; the place I’m about to enter, but am not yet ready to be in. As a “half-student” I feel almost left out from the true nature of Dinkytown. I see it as a place where college students buy cheap, filling food, drink, party, and be the conventional college student. As we traveled from the McDonalds (signifier of the signified cheap unhealthy food) around Dinkytown, I heard my group members reminisce on their “adventures” in DT, representing the history of modern-day Dinky Town, while I just enjoyed the story, hoping someday to contribute to a College town story of my own.
I also see DinkyTown as an area of trade and commerce. College Students aren’t very self-reliant when it comes to cooking, and so often they look towards restaurants for cheap and convenient food. Dinkytown and its stores reflect the concept of Culture affects us & we affect culture. Dinkytown shapes our conventions of a college town and college life, while we shape which stores and what types of businesses strive there. Dinkytown’s bars and fast food represents the conventional College interest, while its international restaurants signify the U’s growing diversity.

Caitlyn:
My group visited the historical Dinkytown for our project. Seeing it in the daytime was a whole new thing for me. For many people, when they hear Dinkytown they immediately think of Bob Dylan and the music scene. He played here many times when he was just getting started with his music career, and just recently they made a music museum in honor of him and other singers who got their big break starting in Dinkytown. But, for the younger generation, it is always the place to be Friday and Saturday nights. Mesa Pizza is famous for all of its crazy toppings, and the parties are always great, but seeing it with my group, The Real World:CSCL, was my first experience with the town during the day. When you go to Dinkytown at night pretty much all you notice are all the people around and only view the social aspect of it; however during the daytime you see how much of our culture is embedded in the town. Dinkytown is a great example of representing history, while also representing the present. It is in a double bind in trying to keep up with the new while still trying to cherish the old. This can clearly be seen through the older family owned restaurants and the sudden invasion of popular chain ones. The old vintage signs and wall paintings are being overpowered by the flashy bright lights of the newer and more modern shops. For example, there is a sign advertising for drugs, as it used to be a drugstore, and just below it is a sign for a hip new restaurant. Literally, the Old vs. New is everywhere in this town. Still, whether it is day or night Dinkytown still has its classic college town appeal. It’s small and vintage with a lot of cheap places for us college kids to eat.

Alex: Our group decided to conduct this historical site project on our very own Dinky Town here at "the U." Dinky Town is obviously a staple of the University of Minnesota campus, but many students are unaware of the vast amount of history it contains; although Dinky Town isn't particularly large, it has been around since the 1940's and is home to some of the oldest restaurants in the state of Minnesota. One of the most significant parts of our documentation to me was being able to see the mid-1940's architecture exhibited in some of the restaurants such as "The Loring Pasta Bar." It's possible that our Dinky Town helped embed some of the earlier themes of U.S. capitalism in a college setting, and perhaps even set a "standard" as to what a college town "should" look like. An important aspect of Dinky Town I noticed when we visited is that it seems to be a very enjoyable place for students to spend time, relax, do homework, and even LIVE. This shows how Dinky Town's long term existence and success continues to appeal to the many generations that have experienced it. As we go through our analysis section, we will describe in detail how Dinky Town reflects the "Circuit of Culture."
Sam:
Dinkytown for a long time has been a cornerstone for student life here at the University of Minnesota. When I first decided to attend the University I thought Dinkytown would be comparable to Uptown or Grand Avenue in size but I was greatly mistaken. Dinkytown, from what I can see is only a few blocks that consist of boutiques, restaurants, theaters and of course McDonalds. From my perspective as a first year Freshman I can see a huge difference in the way Dinkytown is at 1 am on a Saturday morning first 4 pm on a Tuesday afternoon. For lack of a better term it is like night and day.


Analysis (the Thoughts)
Dinky Town has been the name used to describe the North side of what is now the University of Minnesota campus since the 1940’s, although the name “Dinky Town” is uncertain in origin, some theories of how the name came about include the names of the streetcars used to provide transit throughout the area (“Dinkys”), and the theatre located in Dinky Town was referred to as “The Dinky” because it only had four rows of seats. Dinky Town represents a significant amount of history in that it contains some of Minnesota’s oldest and most notable landmarks such as the “Dinky Dome,” which used to be a theological seminary, the “Loring Pasta Bar,” which used to be the home of Bob Dylan, and “Vescio’s Italian Restaurant,” which opened back in the 1950’s and was one of our state’s first Italian restaurants. In this analysis section, we will frame Dinky Town in accordance to the “Cultural Circuit” provided to us in lecture.
Presentation:
The way in which Dinky Town is presented makes it a significant part of our University’s campus, and may have set an underlying “standard” for the way other Universities constructed their respective “college towns.” There’s no question that Dinky Town as a whole, picks up a lot of revenue for its small size in the restaurant business, apartment buildings, bookstores, and bars. In addition to Dinky Town’s market share, it serves a ton of argumentation and representation in the way it’s presented. Like almost every cultural artifact, Dinky Town is structured, and can be analyzed and broken down into many sub-categories which all represent our culture: It’s presentation is rhetorical in that it makes us feel that Dinky Town is the ideal college town, and that students should feel a closer bond to “the U” by just being in Dinky Town. It’s presentation is historical in that it’s been through nearly seven decades of cultural change and development, but remains intact and authentic. It’s economic in that it’s a preferred place on campus to eat, spend time, and live, and this, too, plays in the psychological aspect of Dinky Town’s presentation. The way in which it’s displayed makes it a desired are for most of us. And, finally, it’s political in that it empowers the student body and alumni.

Regulation: Rules and regulations within cities have been greatly influenced by the law enforcement and other authorities in that area. As one walks through the streets of Dinkytown, they will feel comfortable because the majority of the population within Dinkytown will be behaving ‘normally’. The stoplights are working, cars are stopping on red and going on green, pedestrians walking without getting ran over by vehicles, people are not shooting each other in bright daylight, and people wearing clothes are all examples of regulations which have been imposed in this town. Another example would be when you see a cop driving by, you automatically check whether you are following the speed limit, or if you have a seatbelt on, or if you are parked in a free spot. Since Dinkytown is part of the city of Minneapolis, its laws are those of Minneapolis. However, Dinkytown is located close to the University of Minnesota and therefore has a lot of students residing in that area. Theses students also have a big influence of on the rules and regulations within the community. These rules are within the laws of the authorities like behaving normally in public, respecting the rules within the Varsity Theater, brining books and studying the in the restaurants, riding bikes everywhere and so on. There have also been major events in the past which show that regulations are also influenced by the people of Dinkytown. On March 1, 1970 five small stores received a notice that they should clear out for the area, which is to be demolished and then prepared for the building of a Red Barn fast-food restaurant. When the students and community members heard of this demolition, they joined together to protest the building of the Red Barn. Although there were many protests and lawsuits, the Red Barn owner Robert Lafferty was given permission from the authorities to begin building. However due to protests and rejection from the community Red Barn was never built. In remembrance of that lot there is now a small park in that area. This is just one example that showed the power of the people in the community and not only the law enforcements.

Identity:
Dinky town’s identity is different to each of us. In general, it is used primarily by college students considering its location and primary “exports”: Alcohol, food, atmosphere, all which we associate with college life/style. In order to “use” it, one must know their way around it’s area. “Know their way around” is more than just a sense of direction, it’s a common sense state of being. One needs to know how to be safe at night, which places are “hot spots” of college activity, what’s cheap, what’s fun. We act as docile bodies, following the College Cultural practices of drinking, partying, and taking the position that Dinky Town is a signifier of Youth, Free spirit, and partying. The people who go there and hang out there are the their own culture, with their own lingo, conventional wisdom, and similar ideals. Anyone who doesn’t, is on the outside, left to imagine and fill in the blanks when a Dinky Town story comes up.

Production:
My group, The Real World:CSCL, visited the historic Dinkytown. Dinkytown signifies your typical, vintage college town; it is located right off of the East Bank Campus of the University of Minnesota. Dinkytown is famous for its music scene; Bob Dylan started his career there, and the Varsity Theatre is a very popular destination for those interested in the music and art scene. It is also a hot spot for college kids on the weekends. While we were walking around Dinkytown we were noticing all of the old signs and shops, and also the newer chain ones. But what struck me the most was the I Love Dinkytown apparel available in most shops. Advertisement for this small town is everywhere. I found it interesting to see that such a small town has such a high tourist rate. There were quite a few generic tourist shops, and also one specializing in University of Minnesota Apparel. It is easy to see that this once classic small town’s demographic has adjusted into taking in the local college students. From the cheap food, to tacky town apparel, Dinkytown’s identity is a classic hotspot for young adults all around the area.

Analysis: Consumption

Dinkytown is an experience that to the consumer on a weekend night is
lively, energetic and all about fun. Whether it be the Kitty Kat Club, Loring Pasta Bar
for dinner or a number of the other bars like the Library, Dinkytown is a place for
adults to go on campus and enjoy their night. With entertainment facilities like the
Varsity Theater, Dinkytown hosts a number of well talented acts that come through
campus which can be viewed by a vast number of people, but again mainly for the
21+ crowd.

For the 21 and under crowd, Dinkytown draws attraction for the cheap pizza
at Mesa and food from McDonalds. It is a place to go on the weekends to meet up with friends before going to a party or in a drunken stupor, just simply walk around and see yourself going in the bars in a few years. Dinkytown to the consumer means two different things depending on how old a person is but undoubtedly is a major draw to any U of M student based off of geographic location.