Life in Hibbing

Bob's House

2425 7th Avenue East

You can imagine young Bobby Zimmerman playing in front of the house bought by Abe and Beatty Zimmerman shortly after moving to Hibbing. The family moved from Duluth to be near Beatty's parents following Abe's falling ill with polio. The two-story, nine-room house provided plenty of room for the family. By all accounts Bobby had a rather uneventful childhood, not unlike most of the children in Hibbing at that time. He and friends would play in the woods up on Pill Hill (an ore dump turned housing development where lots of doctors lived), and he did most of the things kids did in those days. His loving parents were involved in the town's Jewish community and Bobby attended religious training at a Shul (Shool) on West 4th Ave. (Shul is a Yiddish word for school).

As Bob grew older he became interested in music and began learning to play the piano and later, the guitar. Early on Bob showed an interest in writing poetry. Bob's first musical idols here were the "Hanks" - Hank Williams, Hank Snow and Hank Payne, whom he was able to listen to thanks to the radio antenna that Abe rigged to the TV aerial. This receiver opened the door to the rock and roll music of Elvis and, especially Little Richard, whom Bob would later copy onstage at the High School.

Bob's second idol was killed in a car wreck in 1955 and it was James Dean who made a big impression on the young Zimmerman. Just like today, a teenager found a role model whom he identified with and whose lifestyle he tried to copy. A friend of Bob's said he must have seen the movie, "Rebel Without a Cause," at least four times and that Bob was one of the first kids in Hibbing to sport a red jacket like Dean's. Bob collected Dean memorabilia and displayed it in a basement room of the house. Later his parents replaced the items with those of Bob Dylan, the star.

As Bob reached high school he and some friends would listen to records in the house and play their own musical compositions to each other. Bob and his brother David would also stage action photos of Bob riding his motorcycle, or pictures of him using an upstairs drapery to peek out from behind while making theatrical faces. Around this time, according to Echo Helstrom, Beatty would come home for lunch from her own job and prepare sandwiches, fruit and coffee to leave for the kids' lunch break from school. Sometimes they would practice ESP on each other while having lunch in the breakfast nook. "We weren't very good at it," admits Echo. Contrary to some accounts, Echo says Bob's parents liked her and always treated her warmly and with respect.

Bob was an above average student and made the Honor Roll from time to time. It was felt that his main problem was one of motivation. He did well when he felt like it, and did enough to get by the other times. Classmates described him as quiet, polite, intense, and introverted. Once in 9th Grade Social Studies class, the teacher asked all the students what they wanted to be in life. When it was Bob's turn, one source says he stood up and announced he "wanted to be a star in Hollywood," or something like that. Rather than kid him about it, his earnestness and drive impressed the rest of the kids. Many felt he would do it.

"We felt he was destined to go into music and be famous. We just didn't know how big. Music was in his heart and mind and he always picked up new guitar chords from people everywhere we went," says Echo.

Bob also became interested in girls while living here. It is said that once, when his Grandmother Stone surprised him upstairs with Echo Helstrom, he had her hide in a closet while he got his grandmother out of the room, telling her he was going to the Public Library. Echo then exited the house through an upstairs door to a porch over the garage where she hung from a railing, worrying about her dress creeping up, until Bob appeared and caught her when she let go of the railing and dropped down.

As Bob got older and his actions became a bit out-of-sync with mainstream Hibbing, some say he began having increasing problems getting along with his father, especially after Bob had a number of fender benders with the family car. Abe and Bob disagreed on the path Bob's life should take, with Abe certain Bob would be better getting an education and leading a traditional life. Well, what's new about a parent feeling that way? Maybe this friction is part of what launched Bob Dylan. (Abe suffered a massive, fatal heart attack in the house on June 5, 1968.)

At any rate, Bob continued to live here until he departed for the University of Minnesota following graduation.

Bob and the Lybba Theater.

The Lybba Theater was built in 1947 by Bob's uncles, Max, Julius and Sam Edelstein, according to Mary Forti of the Sunrise Deli. From that day until it finally closed in 1982, the theater was the scene of many a young Hibbingite's fondest memories. From the movies that were shown, to terrifying first dates and the exciting prospect of getting to first base in the darkened seats, the Lybba offered a comforting, dark haven of escape from the daily grind. Bob enjoyed this theater a lot and got free admittance from his uncle. It is said he was a regular and avid moviegoer and probably enjoyed movies that would interest the average kid. As a 12-year old in 1953 Bob probably watched such kid classics as "The Caddy", "Abbott and Costello Go To Mars," "Ambush at Tomahawk Gap," and "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms."

While Bob continued to get in for free as he got older, Echo had to pay full admission if she and Bob were going to meet there. They would sit in the middle of the theater and hold hands. The back rows were just too risky due to Max's regular patrols with a flashlight through the theater.

Named after Bob's Grandmother, Lybba Edelstein, the theater remained in the family's possession until it was sold along with the State Theater in 1976 to what became Mann Theaters. (The family sold that hormonal hotbed of teen adventures, the Hibbing Drive-In a year later.) Many Hibbing kids remember purchasing the strips of Saturday matinee tickets in the local grade schools (10 for a dollar?…what ever it was it was cheap at any price) and walking to see such cinematic classics as "1 Million B.C,." starring the heaving bosom of Raquel Welch.

The Lybba's final showings were "The World According to Garp" and "Zapped" on Oct. 28, 1982. The building sat unused until the Sunrise Deli-Lybba opened here in 1984.

Thanks to Mary Forti for her help.

Note: The Edelstein family owned 4 theaters in Hibbing. In addition to the Lybba, they owned the double matinee Gopher on Howard Street, the high-class State, also on Howard, and the Homer on 1st Ave, next to the current bar.

Bob at Alice School

It's the first day of school in 1946 and Bobby Zimmerman enters the Alice School for the first time. Here we see the new first grader making a friend as he begins his education in Hibbing. Bob pays for his lunch with the newly issued Roosevelt dime, introduced this year in honor of the late president. I wonder if Abe and Beatty Zimmerman have been reading Dr. Benjamin Spock's new book, "Baby and Child Care?" If so, how much might this have influenced young Bob's development? Who knows?

1946 saw the return of millions of GIs from wartime service and the change it caused to our society. For the first time, millions of people were attending college thanks to the GI Bill. Folksinger Pete Seeger is leaving military service this year and moving to New York. Wartime price controls are removed from most items and television sales begin to skyrocket, although there is not a whole lot to watch yet. For the domestic engineers at home, the electric clothes dryer is introduced to make a woman's life easier and the clothes detergent "Tide" is introduced. Hey, were women spoiled or what?

Movies like "The Best Years of Our Lives," "The Big Sleep," and "It's a Wonderful Life" are popular this year. St. Louis beats the Boston Braves 4 games to 3 in the World Series and the Cleveland Rams move to Los Angeles. The great Joe Louis defends his title for the 23rd time.

Suntan lotion, first developed for the military, is marketed commercially to the American consumer. Strapless brassieres become popular, leading to the bare shoulder in women's' fashions. The Dead Sea Scrolls are found. Winston Churchill makes his famous speech in which he refers to the "Iron Curtain" for the first time. Widespread labor strikes hit America and the federal government takes over the railroads. In Germany, the Nuremberg Tribunal sentences 12 Nazis to death for war crimes. The first atomic bomb tests take place at Bikini Atoll and Army scientists make radar contact with the moon.

But none of this probably has much impact on our chubby young first grader who is probably more concerned with the problems of being the new kid in class. Does he have any friends yet? Does he have to walk the four blocks to school, or does he get a ride or take the bus? Who was his teacher? Was she mean to Bob, or was she kind to the shy pupil? What did a Jewish boy have to eat at the school, or did he bring his own lunch to avoid eating foods forbidden by his faith?

The following year Bob transferred to the High School that housed grades K-12 and Hibbing Jr. College.

Bob and the High School Talent Show

The Hibbing High School Auditorium is the site of perhaps Bob Zimmerman's most famous or notorious early performance. It was 1957 during the Jacket Jamboree Talent Show and the place was packed and the lights were dimmed as a procession of local talent took the stage. Jacket Jamboree still exists today. Hibbing is home to the Hibbing Blue Jackets. Typically Jacket Jamboree is the beginning of February. In 1957 the High School housed grades 7-12, so every seat was filled. The occasional spitball arced through the twilight and a few ponytails were pulled despite the watchful eyes of teachers patrolling up and down the aisles. There were warblers, poetry reciters and piano players and the student body was sinking into a yawning stupor.

Until Bob took the stage.

Described by fellow students as polite, easy to talk with, and somewhat introspective, it was a total shock when he pushed back the piano bench and stood up to pound the first notes of a song into the auditorium, electrifying the student body. Kids jumped up, stared at each other open-mouthed, not knowing what their reaction to his act should be. Some were surprised and dismayed, but most were delighted. It was loud, and loud was good because it bugged the teachers. It was outrageous, especially for a place like Hibbing. Bob had his hair mounded on top like Little Richard's and he began to sing in a hoarse, insistent wail. Echo Helstrom remembers him taking a Little Richard tune and changing the words to, "I gotta girl and her name is Echo." Kids who knew Bobby Zimmerman as the quiet kid in class were laughing and cheering. The mood of the crowd was energized beyond belief and the fateful title everyone remembers was "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay."

But not in Hibbing High School, no, not that day.

Principal Ken Pedersen had been guiding some visiting education officials on a tour of the school and when he thought a bomb had gone off in the auditorium. Described as a wonderful man and great educator, he dashed into the auditorium and made his way backstage. Failing in his attempts to get Bob to stop, he pulled the plug on the power to the microphones. Undaunted, Bob kept pounding the piano keys. Some say he broke a pedal off the piano and stretched a few strings on the expensive instrument. One teacher called it "African music." Even Larry Fabbro, one of his bandmates, admitted it was a shocking performance, "for that town, for that time."

Looking back, many people feel this was the first emergence of the future Bob Dylan.

Two years later, at the Winter Frolic Talent Contest in February 1958, Bob's band, the Golden Chords, would delight a packed crowd of 250 people at the Memorial Building's Little Theater, although the brand of music did not win the contest judged by teachers and parents. By now, it seems, Bob realized he was doing something very different and very threatening to the staid people of Hibbing. Winter Frolic is still held i Hibbing each January-February.

Bob later commented that, "We were just the loudest band around…What we were doing, there wasn't anyone else around doing. The music scene in Hibbing was mostly horn kind of stuff, jazz--there was one other band in town with trumpet, bass, guitar and drums. Mostly that kind of stuff. Mostly you had to play polkas." And that is not what Bob Zimmerman had decided to do.

Micka Electric/Zimmerman Appliance

During WWII Abe Zimmerman was exempted from military service because his work at Standard Oil in Duluth was considered essential to the war effort. Following the war, the economy slowed down and Abe was let go by the company. Then, in early 1946 he contracted polio and was laid up for a long time. The family moved to Hibbing during Abe's illness to be near the support of Beatty's family, the Ben Stone family that owned a couple of theaters in town. Following Abe's recovery, he and his brothers purchased Micka Electric, an appliance and furniture business. City of Hibbing records from 1954 show the company now named Zimmerman Appliance with Abe listed as the company secretary (whatever that might entail) and Paul and Maurice listed as President and Vice President. The business sold household appliances like washing machines, ovens, refrigerators, etc, along with some furniture. Some sources report Bob working there sweeping up the floors and not liking it very much. Others say Abe would send him out on repossession runs, to reclaim merchandise from customers who failed to make their payments. Apparently, Bob detested doing the repossessions and Abe knew when he sent his son out, he would return empty-handed. Indeed, Bob would return saying, "Dad, those people don't have any money. I couldn't take their stove, too." To which Abe would answer, "Bob, those people have as much money as I do, they just don't know how to manage it."

Another book on Bob says he was a repo man for his dad, and hated it. Bob got his first taste here of the world of small business and he didn't like the flavor. Could this be another reason he wanted to take a different path in life? Was he just not conventional enough to fit into what was considered "normal life" back then?

As a local businessman, Abe was active in local organizations, like the Chamber, the Rotary, etc., and was known as a gregarious man in town. His speech was slow and deliberate, (compared to Beatty's machine gun style) and he was often seen with a big, fat cigar stuck in his mouth. Abe's style of dress was generally a bit different than that of the average Ranger, with sport shirts, slacks and sweaters suggesting more of a West Coast image. Dark hair flecked with gray, and strong glasses rounded out Abe's appearance. His bout with polio had left him with a slight limp and some weakness in his legs, but he was a big man in town on his home turf. Abe felt Bob should have shown more interest in taking over the family business someday. After all, it was a fairly successful venture. Abe thought that guitar playing was fine and dandy for a hobby, but it was a waste of time that wouldn't pay the bills. Whoa, bad guess.

Bob and Braman Music

Currently, Walken's Jewelry is located at 208 E. Howard St. This site housed Braman Music in the 1950s and is where Bob took guitar lessons from Raymond Blake. Kaye Krtinich worked part time at Braman's while attending school and recalls Bob coming in for his lessons. She did not have much contact with him but remembers him being a quiet kid who paid her for the lessons. It would be interesting to find out what Mr. Blake thought of Bob's progress as a guitarist and how he might have influenced the aspiring musician.

Bob at Crippas

Although some say Bob saved up his money to buy his first guitar from a catalog, it's only logical that he was a regular Crippa customer. Maybe too regular for Mr. Crippa. Echo Helstrom said Bob, "Loved walking into Crippa's to ask for a record he knew they wouldn't have in stock. He did it just to irritate them." Apparently, Crippa Music's inventory was more conservative than the rock and roll that was taking off around that time.
Bob's frequent visits began in Jr. High, when everyone who was anyone played in the school band. His first instrument was a rented trumpet; to his family's great relief he switched to the trombone after two days, then anther brass instrument, then he tried another reed. Finally Bob rented a cheap, little guitar. Soon Bob could be seen with his guitar slung over his shoulder on a leather strap even in the coldest weather. This might have been the guitar he was playing the night Echo Helstrom first saw him under a street lamp in front of the L&B Café (now the Old Howard expansion). It was snowing and she crossed Howard Street from the direction of the Androy hotel and as she passed by Bob she remembers thinking, "who is this strange guy?" She was sitting with DeeDee Lockhart when Bob and John Bucklen entered the L&B and struck up a conversation with them. Echo could hardly believe he was interested in talking to her and she thought maybe they were trying to pick them up. He was from what she considered the "goody two shoes part of town and I ran with a bit wilder crowd - not a bad crowd - just not the goody goodies." To make conversation Echo asked Bob about a song and the music they both liked sparked the flame and they hit it off from the start. Later that evening, Bob, John and Echo went upstairs to the Moose Club so Bob could show her how he played. The door to the room with the piano was locked, but Echo opened it by picking the lock with her penknife. Bob entertained them for a while, but afraid they would be discovered, they beat feet out of the club. As the relationship grew, the two would sometimes go to the Sportsmens' Café and have pizza burgers (Is it still on the menu?). She doesn't remember Bob smoking cigarettes at that time, contrary to some reports. They did not visit the Sweet Shop (now a tobacco store at 2nd Ave. East and Howard much, it was the wrong crowd for them.

Bob and his friends started several bands during his time in Hibbing. One of the first, was The Shadow Blasters, a band that auditioned in the fall of 1956 for the College Capers, a talent contest put on by Hibbing Junior College. The band's repertoire of one Little Richard song played a maximum volume and with lots of hollering did not win over the stuffy talent committee. The Shadow Blasters disbanded shortly after this setback and by the end of 1956 Bob had put together his most famous Hibbing group, The Golden Chords. The Golden Chords lasted until the spring of 1958, and made their first appearance at the high school Jacket Jamboree early in 1957, where they were the loudest and rowdiest of the bands. About this time many of Bob's fellow students noticed the difference between Bob the student in school and Bob the performer.

After that the Golden Chords jammed regularly at Collier's Barbecue (now the Hong Kong Kitchen) on Sunday afternoons. By this time rock and roll was in full swing and the kids of Hibbing found the Golden Chords to be practically the only real rock and roll band around. They were a welcome and radical alternative to Pat Boone, Doris Day and the polka music so prevalent in the area.

By the summer of 1958, Bob formed his last Hibbing band. Elston Gunn and the Rock Boppers played at school assemblies, the youth club and at Collier's Barbecue, not to mention garages around his neighborhood. Later, when Bob played a short stint with Bobby Vee, he asked to be called Elston Gunn. Around this period it is thought the Rock Boppers played the St. Louis County Fair and were soundly booed, as sometimes happened when the crowds were older. Hibbing was after all, pretty conservative with a large immigrant population.

Bob at Colliers BBQ

Colliers BBQ, also listed as Collier's Bar in the 1958 City Directory, was a popular eatery and teen hangout during Bob's days in Hibbing. In addition to the eats, Collier's often hosted Sunday afternoon jam sessions where up and coming bands and musicians like Bob could play.

In addition to serving standard fare, owner Rose VanFeldt's restaurant was known for "barbecuing just about anything," according to Paul Aubin. Paul remembers the restaurant as being narrow as it is today, and that there was a row of booths along the right hand wall as you entered. Down the middle of the room was a row of tables, with a luncheon type counter running down the left side of the building. The musicians somehow squeezed into the front corner for the jam sessions.

Bob and the Androy Hotel

Bob celebrated his Bar Mitzvah with 400 family members and guests at the Androy on May 24, 1954. That and the fact that WMFG Radio had studios on the west side of the building are the only known things linking the hotel to Bob. Some claim that Bob helped out at the radio station, but it has not been proven. It does make sence though, since, WMFG did play Bob's kind of music.

The queen of Iron Range hotels, the Androy was begun in 1919 and completed in 1921 with mining company money. Its name is a combination of the two eventual owners of the hotel, Andrew Quigley and Roy Doran. Currently it is a senior housing facility. Above and below the grand ballroom can be rented once again for celebrations.
In its heyday, it was the social and business center of the city. The Androy was site of many state and national conventions.

The architectural style is Northeastern Italian, and it is made of brick and concrete. It contained offices, a lobby, sun porch, dining room, private dining rooms, coffee shop, kitchen, bakery, and Crystal Lounge. It had 62 rooms with a bath, 80 rooms with hot and cold running water, six rooms with a lavatory, 148 sleeping rooms, seven sample rooms for salesmen, and a bridal suite. Later a penthouse was added. Originally it featured a roofed open porch on the west side, and a canopy extending out to Howard Street. Calvin Coolidge reportedly spent the night at the Androy.

Bob and the L&B Café.

The L&B Café at 417 E. Howard St. was a major Bob hangout during the 1950s. Bob's father, Abe Zimmerman, was also a daily lunch regular according to former owner, Eleanor Haidos. This makes sense because Micka Furniture and Electric was just around the corner on 5th Ave. East. The letters L&B stand for Lamont and Biancini, owners of the cafe prior to the Haidos family.

Almost every day Bob came in after school to order his regular snack: cherry pie alamode and coffee (or coke). Here he met Echo Helstrom for the first time. Echo had just crossed the street from the direction of the Androy a few minutes earlier and had seen Bob standing under a streetlight playing his guitar. Echo and DeeDee Lockhart were sitting in a booth at the L&B when Bob and John Bucklen entered a short time later and struck up a conversation with the girls. Bob asked Echo if she liked a certain musician, and when she said she did, the two hit it off.

Eleanor Haidos said Bob and Echo used to sit in a booth in the back of the café, which had booths down the right wall, back-to-back booths in the middle and a counter along the left wall. Tables were in the back. The kitchen in the rear served a full range of food and had steam tables. Entrees such as steaks, meatloaf, chicken, burgers and fries, roast turkey every day and BBQ made the café popular with locals as well as visiting sports teams and tourists.

According to a 1985 Spin Magazine interview by Dave Engel, Bob said it was above the café that Rabbi Reuben Maier stayed while giving Bob Hebrew lessons in preparation for his Bar Mitzvah. The Rabbi and his wife just showed up one day and stayed for a year while Bob got ready for his big event. The article quotes Bob as saying he would learn Hebrew both after school or in the evening for an hour, then go downstairs and boogie in the L&B. After completing the Bar Mitzvah the Rabbi just disappeared.