"Terrace 2.0" highlights piece of Robbinsdale's past
Piece by piece, artist Alison Nguyen is recreating a memory from her childhood by designing a parade float of Robbinsdale's old Terrace Theater.
"I guess this project is probably fueled by nostalgia," said Nguyen. "I went there when I was a kid when it was a dollar theater, so I never really got to see it in its glory."
A gem of the early 1950s, the Terrace Theater fell into disrepair and closed after showing its last movie 15 years ago.
"It had like a glamour that we don't have anymore," said Nguyen.
With Robbinsdale's annual summer celebration, Whiz Bang Days, underway this weekend, Nguyen and her husband, Jimi, are bringing the grandeur of the Terrace Theater back in the form of a parade float that pays tribute to the theater's glory days.
With a Terrace marquee comprised of ping pong balls designed to look like light bulbs, the float is a creative labor of love for the couple.
"We're trying to give the illusion of something grander than it is," said Jimi Nguyen. "It's basically just 2x4s, duct tape and cardboard."
With cooperation from the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, the Nguyens have spent hundreds of hours planning the float, even setting up a Facebook page, Terrace 2.0, to fuel excitement and allow people to share their memories of the theater.
"It has been boarded up for 15 years, and I think people have just kind of forgotten what it looked like," said Nguyen.
When the float debuts this weekend during Robbinsdale's Whiz Bang Days parade, Nguyen hopes her love for Robbinsdale nostalgia sparks renewed interest in a treasure of the past.
"It would be cool if people walked away thinking, 'oh the Terrace is pretty sweet, we should really preserve it,'" said Nguyen.
The Robbinsdale parade begins Sunday at 3 p.m. Nguyen has also created other artwork, classic images of Robbinsdale, that will be on sale at the Robbin Gallery Saturday morning.
Alexandra Renslo reporting
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