A Brief History of Garage D'Or

Garage D'Or opened in 1985 when Jim Peterson, Paul Stark, and Terry Katzman co-founded the retail outlet. Located at 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in South Minneapolis, D'Or became the mecca for traveling bands and local personalities. In fact less than two months after the dreadful Oarfolkjokepus fire, Garage D'Or hosted its first in-store all out marathon featuring Bob Mould, Lianne Smith, Jeff Waryan, Dave Pirner, Grant Hart and more. That was the first phase combining retail and rock. The second so called phase ('90-'95) featured musical performances by among others Hammerhead, The Muffs, Supernova, Mark Eitzel, Alejandro Escovedo, Los Straitjackets and more. This culminated in our Ten Year Anniversary celebration in the Fall of 1995. In 1997, Garage D'Or, the record label, was born. From then on it was a tough time. Road construction in our area, the growing interest of mega-chains in independent music (think Nirvana), and internet sales all took their toll. After a farewell bash we left 26th and moved to the intersection of Lake and Lyndale. 1998-2001, our last years, were nonetheless punctuated in some fabulous sales and great bands-Cracker, Golden Smog and Nashville Pussy among them. Sadly, declining sales and lower volume and less flexibility in the in-store area ended our retail run in South Minneapolis. Garage D'Or Records closed its doors for the last time on February 28, 2001.
We are now the Garage D'Or Recording Company, 5805 Columbus Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55417. U.S.A. Distributors include : Morpheus, Electric Fetus, Juno Beach, Choke, and Subterranean.