Star Tribune
Fire damages popular hair salon on St. Paul’s West Side
A fire Sunday evening damaged WestSide HairCare, a beloved St. Paul salon frequented by residents of its namesake neighborhood for more than three decades.
After working at the salon for 22 years, Christina Erdman purchased the building at 450 S. Robert St. last November. Since then, she’s been using her own money to update and decorate the space.
“Now all this work I’ve done for the last eight months, it’s just out the door,” Erdman said. “I’m so overwhelmed and emotional.”
Roy Mokosso, spokesman for the St. Paul Fire Department, said a preliminary investigation determined the fire was an accident. No injuries were reported.
The city’s Department of Safety and Inspections condemned the building, meaning it could be weeks or months before people can reoccupy it, Mokosso said. There was more than $100,000 in damage to the building and its contents, he said, including the apartment of a longtime stylist who lived above the salon.
Erdman said other salons in the area have reached out to offer temporary workspaces for her tight-knit team of seven stylists. Clients will still be able to book appointments with the WestSide HairCare team on the salon’s online scheduling platform.
Calls and messages from clients have been flooding in, and neighbors stopped by to help clean up Sunday night and Monday morning, Erdman said. At least two of the firefighters who responded to the 911 call told Erdman their mothers got their hair cut at the salon — a testament to the West Side’s strong sense of community, she said.
“We’ve had so much support,” she said. “It’s been amazing. It was really awesome, considering everything.”
The salon has been a mainstay in the West Side neighborhood since 1992. Last fall, it was named runner-up for the city’s annual Traditions Award, which honors businesses that have been active in St. Paul for at least 20 years.
“People who are adults now, they came as kids, and we did their parents’ hair,” said longtime owner Jackie Dodge-Borgan, who sold the building to Erdman last fall. “This has been a staple in the community, and we need to get that back.”
Monica Bravo, executive director of the West Side Community Organization and one of Erdman’s clients, said the business “is really so much more than a salon.”
“Generations of West Side residents have been served there,” she said. “It’s a community gathering space.”
The salon sustained water damage as a result of the fire, but the occupant of the upstairs apartment “lost everything,” according to his niece, Veronica Romo, manager of nearby El Burrito Mercado.
“I was so devastated to hear about it,” said City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represents the area. “WestSide HairCare is such a linchpin of the community, an anchor institution in the Robert Street corridor — not only providing valuable services, but also very closely engaged with the community.”
Noecker said her office plans to do whatever it can to help, including possibly providing access to the city’s business assistance fund. An online fundraiser was launched to raise money for the building and its tenant, and neighbors are discussing plans to host a fundraising event in the future.
Erdman said she spoke with a restoration company Monday and planned to meet with an insurance adjuster Tuesday. Her goal is to reopen as soon as possible.
“Ideally, I would be in there cutting hair tomorrow,” she said.
In the meantime, a handwritten note hangs in the window: “Thank you for your patience. WestSide HairCare will be back SOON!!”
Staff writer Hannah Pinski contributed to this report.
When the Minnesota Supreme Court this week declined to hear an appeal by the University of St. Thomas regarding the environmental impact of its new hockey/basketball arena under construction, neighbor and arena foe Dan Kennedy said the “ethical” thing for the university to do was stop construction until neighbor concerns are addressed.
Not going to happen, university officials said Thursday.
While a public review of a revised Environmental Assessment Worksheet continues through Nov. 7, construction of the 5,000-seat Lee and Penny Anderson Arena continues. In an e-mail Thursday, a university spokesman said the arena is expected to be completed in fall 2025.
“The University of St. Thomas is aware of the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision to deny its petition to appeal and is reviewing the potential impacts of this decision,” an emailed statement from St. Thomas said. “Last week, the City of St. Paul published an updated EAW for public comment, and that process will continue. Construction of the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena will also continue, as permitted by law.”
But Kennedy said he believes that decision is not only wrong, but illegal. Because the state Court of Appeals this summer ruled the project’s first environmental review was inadequate, its site plans and building permits are invalid, said the president of Advocates for Responsible Development.
“We need somebody to specifically tell the University of St. Thomas that they must comply with the law,” Kennedy said. “This is an institution of higher learning, with a law school. They should comply with the law.”
Kennedy said he thought the Minnesota Court of Appeals had insisted on exactly that. In August, the appellate court ordered the city and university to conduct a new Environmental Assessment Worksheet. The previous assessment didn’t do enough to study the arena’s potential harm to the neighborhood’s parking, traffic and air quality, the court ruled.
“The reason why is that more sunlight in the morning time helps reinforce waking up, and having less light in the evening is less stimulation,” he said. “So when we’re winding down, preparing for sleep, having fewer hours of sunlight in the evening can help promote that process of falling asleep.”
Akingbola acknowledges that it can be sad to walk out of work or school when it’s already dark out, but in the long run, standard time is the way to go.
The U.S. already tried daylight savings year round in 1974
Despite the medical advice, there have been calls in recent years to make daylight savings time permanent.
Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, tried to pass a bill as recently as 2021 to make daylight savings time permanent, but it did not pass the Legislature.
The U.S. tried once before. According to Minnesota Star Tribune archives, due to an energy crisis, President Richard Nixon passed a law in January 1974 that made daylight savings a year-round thing.
A month into it, the Minneapolis Tribune ran an article saying there were calls to reverse the decision because there were more accidents in the pre-dawn darkness, particularly involving school children waiting for the bus. Under daylight savings time in January, sunrise wasn’t until well after 8 a.m. in Minnesota.
Karl-Anthony Towns may be in New York City, but his heart is in Minnesota.
On Wednesday night, Towns had some sweet seats for a Billie Eilish show at Madison Square Garden with his partner, Jordyn Woods, when she caught him watching the Timberwolves play the Chicago Bulls in a preseason game on his phone. Her video, posted to her Instagram story, made rounds on social media Thursday.
In the video, flames are literally spewing out from Eilish’s stage, lights are flashing all around and others in the crowd are head bobbing. And there is Towns, holding his phone in both hands and muttering to himself as the Timberwolves are down 88-75 late in the third quarter in a meaningless game.
“I promise he was enjoying the concert,” Woods wrote in the video’s caption.
The Wolves would go on to lose that game, 125-123. A nail-biter.
Towns’ trade to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and others stunned the NBA world and all of Minnesota, where he was a beloved player for nine seasons and a leader on a team rapidly ascending toward championship contention.
“It was a lot of emotions,” Towns said. “Some amazing moments and times in nine years of my life in Minnesota, a place that I’ve called home. Guys who are not just teammates to me but brothers. We were like brothers. It definitely was a wild day, definitely coming to work.”
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