When a 3.2 beer joint called the Brown Derby opened in 1934 alongside the Edina Theater, even children who had free rein to wander 50th and France were sternly warned to stay out.
Despite its reputation, the Brown Derby was no swinging honkytonk. It was more diner than bar, but in a village where alcohol was outlawed except at the two country clubs, even low-alcohol beer seemed racy. The mom-and-pop café offered breakfast, sandwiches, burgers and steaks, but its 3.2 beer made it “a real ‘sin bin’ of the day,” says Joe Sullivan, a freelancer who writes about Edina history. “Edina was nearly dry, so even 3.2 beer was considered by some to be pretty wild.”
The Village Inn and Nolan’s were other 3.2 establishments at 50th and France, but the Brown Derby was cheaper and closer to the theater, making it a favorite of high school students who came for the fries and burgers and the grown-up atmosphere. “It was not a place one told their parents they had frequented,” wrote one 1957 Southwest High School graduate.
Although some teens now admit to convincing a legal drinker to buy them a beer, few got away with it. Edina police officer Ding Dahl regularly patrolled the Brown Derby to check for violators. “When my Southwest High schoolmates and I were there enjoying burgers and cokes after a movie, I would sometimes notice him checking to make sure there weren’t any beer bottles on our table,” Sullivan recalls. “There weren’t.”
The Brown Derby survived for several decades, providing Edina’s youth a tame place to “walk on the wild side.”
