The Old Surfside

Jul 09, 2025

🌊 The Original Surfside (circa 1960s–1985)

Location & Setting: Situated on the shores of Cooks Bay at Commerce & Bartlett Boulevards, the original Surfside was a lakeside restaurant with an upstairs piano bar, popular into the late '70s.
Social Hub: A go-to hangout for high‑schoolers and community events—known for hosting homecoming parties and weekend gatherings. Back then, under owner Butch Essig (since 1973), it was a lively spot with memories ranging from youthful romance to “haunted kitchen” tales.
Demise: The restaurant was torn down in spring 1985 to make way for condo development.
Surfside Supper Club, also called the Surfside Casino or Lounge, first surfaces in the Minneapolis Tribune in 1965, nestled on Cook’s Bay—about a mile south of downtown Mound on Commerce Blvd (later 2670 Commerce Blvd).
It became known for live entertainment: big-band orchestra performances in 1967 (Dick Maw–Charlie Clarke), weekly dance nights, country‑folk acts in the ’70s, and later rock bands like the “Blue‑Rokk Band.”
The site was demolished around 1985–86, replaced by condominiums.

Surfside Park, just north of the original Supper Club, dates back to 1881, originally tied to the Chapman House Hotel.
In the 1930s, the boathouse turned into “The GlenIsle Casino”—a bowling, roller skating, and dance spot—renamed Surfside in the 1960s.
By 2012, the community restored the name to Surfside Park & Beach with a historical marker commemorating its heritage.

A writer’s 1979 journal recalls late‑night visits, a back‑door piano bar, teenage parties, and fond memories of high school romances around Surfside.
Locals reminisce that the park and its venues provided the centerpiece for Mound’s social life—from steamboat docks to glowing neon signs of “Surfside.”