About a month or so ago now, I visited Minnesota for a long weekend. My wife was on a work trip, and as I’ve mentioned before, she is a huge Peanuts fan. (Peanuts being the comic strip by Charles Schulz) Charles Schulz grew up in the St Paul, Minnesota area before moving to California, so St Paul and Minneapolis have a ton of Peanuts Statues all over.
Long story short, as I was driving her around looking for the statues we came across Mickey’s Dining Car. I wasn’t out looking much for places for me to photograph because I was focusing on my wife’s love of Peanuts that weekend, but we couldn’t pass up checking Mickey’s out. We had already eaten lunch, but we had to go in and we were not disappointed!
Mickeys Dining Car - St Paul, Minnesota - Kodak Tri X Film - Documenting America with TRD Photography
The atmosphere here was just amazing. It was like stepping back in time. I grew up loving the 50’s and 60’s music and aesthetic, and this was just making me happy. We sat down in a corner booth and were looking over the menu. We were still stuffed from lunch, but we grabbed a milkshake and fries. The service was terrific! As we were waiting on our food, I looked around and started taking a few photos.
Mickeys Dining Car - St Paul, Minnesota - Kodak Tri X Film - Documenting America with TRD Photography
Mickeys Dining Car - St Paul, Minnesota - Kodak Tri X Film - Documenting America with TRD Photography
After getting back and looking up some info on Mickey’s Dining Car, I discovered it was actually used in the first and third Mighty Ducks Movie. I knew they were based in the St Paul/Minneapolis area, but I just thought that was awesome as The Mighty Ducks movies were childhood favorites of mine! It also was featured in Jingle All the Way.
If you’re ever in the area, I highly encourage you to stop and check it out. We are sadly losing more and more of these types of establishments and they need all the support we can give.
Ricky
Mickeys Dining Car - St Paul, Minnesota - Kodak Tri X Film - Documenting America with TRD Photography