Vic Thorstenson

@vthorstenson.bsky.social

1194 Followers 1051 Following

East Bank, Minneapolis. Former long-time MN legislative and state government staffer. I take pictures.

Slotted spoon with three openings that form a shocked expression in a copper container with other kitchen utensils.
Front cover of the Acme Tools catalog advertising "Patriot Series Limited Edition Levels, celebrating USA's 250th anniversary." The levels themselves are painted red, white and blue.
Store display for Hello Kitty limited edition Spam.
Coyote with its head down, drinking.
Poster for the 2007 movie The Mist showing a man and a woman looking out across a misty nighttime streetscape. A giganric many-tenticled monster can be seen emerging from the haze.
Two photos by Richard Tsong-Taarii with this caption: "Svenskarnas Dag festival braves the rainy weather / Katy Jo Johnson, Miss Svenskarnas Dag 2019, led children to dance around the maypole to celebrate midsummer, It's the Scandinavian Summer Fest, a celebration of Scandinavian music, dancing and handicrafts. This year marks the 85th edition of "Midsommar at Minnehaha Falls" event. Dale Petrowski as the "Swedish Chef" made mashed potatoes and gravy. His daughter is a member of the Svenskarnas Dag Girl's Choir. Festival enthusiasts couldn't be stopped by intermittent showers throughout the day Sunday.
A collection of five Svenskarnas Dag buttons from the 1930s. The one in the middle, sporting a sailing vessel festooned with Swedish flags, commemorated the tricentennial.
Anaglyph image of the Big Fish Supper Club in Bena, MN.
Ad says Food Club White Milk 2 for $3.00 half gallon.
Gif clip from Apocalypse Now, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning.'
Clip of a Google map of the Chequamegon National Forest showing a single road and pins for the bridge, the falls and a high point.
Anaglyph photo of the same log cabin being discussed.
A log cabin made with exceptionally thick logs. A large stone chimney rises from the center of the left side.
Mad Magazine Spy vs. Spy character holding a classic round bomb with a lit fuse.
Bison grazing on grass. Side view, facing right.
Small herd of bison resting in a mudpit under a tree.
Large limestone lavatory building built by Works Progress Administration workers in 1938. Located at Minneopa State Park near Mankato, MN.
A sort-of steampunk leather briefcase with a big clock on one side.
A vintage pinback that reads "COYOTE A loose woman's organization." Pictured is the group's logo, a coyote licking it's upper lip.
Large fuel tank with sign that says "Courtesy of Minneapolis Gad Light Company" along with arrows pointing towards the airport and due north.
Close up of rooftop airport directional sign. An arrow extends with the letter N above the arrow point.
Image has South on the top. Black and white aerial photo showing the Minneapolis West Bank milling district and railroads along with the 10th Avenue Bridge (demolished) on left and the Stone Arch Bridge on bottom.
November 1, 1927 issue of "Minneapolis" showing a collage of local hotels stacked upon each other.
Detail of the graphic showing a map of the "northwest territory" consisting of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota North & South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska.
Cover of the February, 1929 issue of "Minneapolis," an organ of the Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Association. A big young woman in a standard-issue diaphanous gown bearing a gigantic tray laden with cars, trucks, flour sacks, tractors and crates. In the background is the Minneapolis skyline in 1929 along with a zeppelin.
Clip of an email announcement reads: More local publications have been added to the Minneapolis Community Newspaper and Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Collections, with still more to come this summer. • Downtown Journal (2005-2010) – Covers the downtown area. Successor publication to Skyway News. • Greater Minneapolis (1950-1979) – Covers the business community of Minneapolis and the Twin Cities metro. • The Journal (2005-2018) – Covers the downtown area and Northeast Minneapolis. Successor publication to Downtown Journal. • Minneapolis (1933-1945) – Covers the activities of the Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Association (the predecessor of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce) and the downtown business community. • The Paper for the Model Neighborhood (1971-1974) – Publication of the Model City Project, covering development and activities in the Minneapolis Model City communities. The library also has an archival collection on the Model City Program and the Model City Communications Center. The Model City Program was one of the so-called Great Society programs developed in the 1960s to combat poverty and develop alternative forms of city government. The program ended in 1974. • Snoose News (1975-1981; 1987-1988) – Covers the Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood. • Southwest Journal (2006-2020) – Covers the Southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods. Earlier issues will be added later. • The Surveyor (1977-1995) – Covers the Elliot Park Neighborhood. Early issues were called the Elliot Park Surveyor. • Whittier Globe (1976-1999) – Covers the Whittier Neighborhood in South Minneapolis.
Google map of the U of M's coal storage facility, once the site of a very pretty waterfall.
1950s cut from a clipart book of a lady who looks like she just read that she won the Irish Sweepstakes. Seven astonished onlookers look over her shoulder.
A bowl full of cherry pits.
A steel colander containing about a gallon of fresh pie cherries.
Local shoppers ad for the Shawano July 3 fireworks show, broadcast live on local radio station B99.3 FM, WOWN.
A crossed-eyed stereo pair of the Anson Northrup paddleboat about to pass under the Washington Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis. The photo was taken at dusk and the Weisman Art Gallery reflects the reddish/orange light.
Skeet from Set 28, 2025 following the MN Vikings defeat at a game in Dublin, I think it was. It shows funny man Dennis Miller at a microphone and the caption reads, "This was the biggest Viking defeat on Irish soil since the Battle of Clontarf in 1014."
A clump of blueberries on a bush. Some are fully ripe, some are still green.
Coyote running out from radpberry plants, side view.
The coyote eating a squirrel (blacked out) on Saturday.
A nearly empty lot of bike racks.
A shelf of Bay View brand pickled products. From left to right, pickled eggs, pickled bologna, and hot and mild pickled polish sausage.
I sizable grey and white possum taking a morning stroll across a back yard towards a herb garden and some potted plants.
A proposed flag design for Southeast Minneapolis.
Ink and waterercolor illustration of Pogo and his pals in a john boat labeled "The Washington Star." Pogo holds a net while Albert Alligator holds a fishing pole and line that has ensnared a twisted golf club, an apparent reference to golfer Dwight Eisenhower, the sitting president. The Washington Monument can be seen in the background.
A gilded wall panel containing quotations like those found in the Minnesota Capitol, but the words have been changed to read "We'll just let our predecessors figure it out." below it it reads "Purfeerst." Senator Clarence Purfeerst was well-known for spoonerisms like this, and he is credited with saying this as co-chair of a conference committee in the 1990s.
View of the front of the chamber of the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1905. Image from the Western Architect, October 1905. https://archive.org/details/cu31924015361375/mode/2up
Zoomed-in (and blurry) detail of the Minnesota Kicks logo shows five fingers on each hand.
People on Nicollet Mall, 1968. Numerous businesses have large retractable awnings.
Mary Tyler Moore reluctantly tossing a cut of meat into a shopping cart at a Minneapolis Red Owl store. From the opening credits to the show.
Google map showing the location of Lyndale Avenue N in Faribault, MN, due sue south of Minneapolis.
A rainbow arches above a yellow brick home in the middle distance. In the foreground, pink shrub roses drape over a deck railing.
Two boxes of gold leaf rolls, one from the Hastings company and the other from Swift. A third box of Swift surface 23c. gold is also shown open, with one book opened to reveal a single gold leaf.
Mini refrigerator full of books and mounted on a wooden fence.
A sheet of fabric with the logo of Janus Films in blue, (the two-faced Roman deity) with the caption JANUS FILMS The Classic Collection underneath.
A patio table with a cup of coffee and a camera. A large rose bush is in full bloom in the background.
A large opossum ambles past a closeline to see what's cooking in the herb garden.
An iris of unknown variety. Big, showy blossom in white and purple, (although this is a black and white photo.)
Just what the caption says. Baptisia is small shrub with many blue flowers similar to a pea flower. The bumblebee has got his head stuck deep in a blossom.
The poster as a 16 year old holding a violin and an unearned expression of confidence out in the middle of nowhere. Oh wait, that was our front yard.
Unknown person hiding identity with fake beard and old top hat.