"Sweet Lou" Retires from Nye's After 45 Years as Pianist at "The Best Bar in America"

It probably won't be same at Nye's Polonaise Room after "Sweet Lou" , played those ivory keys for the last time on Sat. evening, Feb.26, 2011. After 45 years of playing piano at Nye's, Esquire Magazine's pick in 2006 for The Best Bar In America, the local icon has decided it's time to call it quits. "It's time for me and my husband of 50 years to start living like old people and do some quiet things", Lou Snider told reporters in a recent interview.

Located in historic "Nordeast " Minneapolis, just a stones throw away from downtown and the Mississippi River, Nye's has been defined as urban cool for generations. "It occupies a corner in America where the path to righteousness and the road to perdition run parallel, east to west, perpendicular to the muddy river that cuts the country in two, north to south", was the description given to the location of Nye's, one of the oldest, as well as one of the best bars in America.

Since 1949 not much has changed at Nye's, including the decor, which belongs in a museum, as well as the generous menu and drinks. It's understandable that some of the regulars are still regulars, even after more than 50 years. "The Bar That Time Forgot", will have a noticeable change now with the absence of pianist, "Sweet Lou" playing piano for all those years in the Polonaise Room, but I'm quite sure the ambiance of Nye's will continue to be the same.

The building that Nye's occupies dates back to the 1880's and for years was home to a working man's bar. When Nye's bought the place in the late'40's, it was kept close to it's blue collar roots. In 1964 a building next door to Nye's was purchased and made into a dining room and named the Polonaise Room, and that's where "Sweet Lou" pursed her career as a piano player, for the past 45 years. All the 60's regalia is still the same in the Polonaise Room, including the curved piano bar, where Lou played and sang thousands of songs, and helped thousands to sing along with her.

Lou Snider was just 30 years when she started playing piano in the Polonaise Room. It was quite new the 76 year old said when she started playing and she liked it enough to keep playing for the next 45 years. "It was something to do and easier then a regular job", is the way "Sweet Lou" described her job at Nye's.

"This is and end of an era for us", the bar manager at Nye's Polonaise Room said. "Lou Snider and the Polonaise room have gone hand in hand ever since the place opened, almost a half century ago." Her presence will definitely be missed at Nye's, the bar that was once given the title and honor of being The Best Bar In America, I'm sure.

Nye's is open 7 days a week at the corner of 112 E. Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis. It's a place where you can enjoy a nice steak, or any other favorite entree in an atmosphere that you will surely remember for a long time after your visit. The entertainment isn't bad either. In addition to the piano bar, other bands play their quite often, also.

sources: nyespolonaise.com
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