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Official Prince website publishes interactive guide to Minneapolis

by Jay Gabler

December 26, 2019

For Prince fans visiting the Twin Cities, it's easy to find landmarks like Paisley Park, First Avenue, the Purple Rain house, and a growing number of murals. A new interactive guide on the Prince estate's official website helps fans to zero in on the Minneapolis where Prince grew up: his homes, his schools, the venues where he played, his early studios.

Photos from Prince's recently-published memoir illustrate the guide, which also includes audio commentary from associates like André Cymone, Bobby Z, and Owen Husney — plus Prince himself, in clips largely gleaned from his incredibly revealing Piano & a Microphone concert at Paisley Park. The site also boasts original photography by Minnesota artist and musician Sarah White.

The tour includes a few of Prince's early homes and his schools, illustrating how he moved back and forth between North Minneapolis and South Minneapolis before moving into his first apartment in the Lowry Hill East neighborhood. It includes community centers where Prince's high school band Grand Central played, the office where he met his first manager Owen Husney, and the Capri Theater, where he made his glitch-ridden but ultimately triumphant live solo debut.

A few of the landmarks have long been hard to pin down, even for serious Prince fans. Among them are the South Minneapolis house where a young Prince lived off and on with his aunt; and the nondescript former location of Moon Sound Studio, where Prince recorded his first demos before refining them at the better-known Sound 80.

If you enjoy the tour, check out our coverage of Prince's birthplace and his childhood homes.

Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment
This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.