It\u2019s the end of an era for a storied and historic Twin Cites nightclub that launched the careers of many and; on several occasions counted Prince as one of its patrons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After 25 years in business, Arnellia\u2019s Bar and Restaurant is shutting its doors at 1183 University Ave. W. in St. Paul. The declining health of the club\u2019s pioneering owner, Arnellia Allen, is cited as the reason for the closure, which is set for April 30. Allen is credited as the first and only African-American female to hold a liquor license in the state of Minnesota. For most of Arnellia\u2019s 25 years in business she was the only African-American to hold a liquor license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
News of Arnellia\u2019s closing and of Allen\u2019s declining health has hit the Twin Cities arts community hard, especially those of the R&B\/soul\/blues music scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m truly sad to hear that the place is closing,\u201d said Ricky Kinchen, member of the grammy-nominated group, Mint Condition. \u201cI stop in there at least a few times a years just to say \u2018hi\u2019 and listen to some music. I always made sure to stop in there. I\u2019d talk to her (Allen) every time I was there and let her know that I appreciate her for all she\u2019s accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That sentiment was echoed by Jeff Cryer, founder of the nationally touring Jeff Cryer\u2019s Tribute to Motown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cArnellia\u2019s is historic. It\u2019s like B.B. King\u2019s in Memphis. All the national acts came through there \u2026 Zapp, Ronnie Laws, Cameo \u2026 Karen White. She (Allen) is a legend. She\u2019s irreplaceable. That place is irreplaceable. She\u2019s done so much for this community,\u201d said Cryer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cryer credits Allen with getting his touring show off the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe took a chance on me and gave me a place to try out my concept (for his Motown tribute show) when no one else would,\u201d said Cryer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe gave us (musicians and fans of soul music) a place to go, to play \u2026 to eat,\u201d said Kathleen Johnson, a musician and owner of Whole Soul Mobile Kitchen. Ms. Arnellia has been such a wonderful support to Black musicians. We were able to launch there. As a Black band, it\u2019s not easy to find places to play. Arnellia\u2019s was the only one really willing to give Black bands a shot. She risked big on us all because that\u2019s how big her heart is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to launching Johnson\u2019s music career, Allen said Arnellia\u2019s also launched her cooking career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I launched my mobile kitchen I went to Ms. Arnellia and asked could I go into her kitchen to launch and she gave her kitchen to us for four months for free,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A celebration of the legendary venue was announced via Facebook and is slated to take place April 27 \u2013 April 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s the end of an era for a storied and historic Twin Cites nightclub that launched the careers of many and; on several occasions counted Prince as one of its patrons. After 25 years in business, Arnellia\u2019s Bar and Restaurant is shutting its doors at 1183 University Ave. W. in St. Paul. The declining health […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2687,2688,32],"class_list":["post-4289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-arnellias-bar-and-restaurant","tag-ricky-kinchen","tag-twin-cities","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-9.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4291,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4289\/revisions\/4291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}