Calls To Save Porky's May Be Too Late

By Bruce Hagevik, NewsRadio 830 WCCO

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It opened in 1953 as one of the first drive-in restaurants in the Twin Cities, but now Porky's is being sold to a nearby senior housing developer and Sunday is the last scheduled day of operation.

"Porky's is really emblematic of the car culture that emerged in the Twin Cities in the 1950's," said Erin Hanafin Berg, field representative for the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota.

WCCO's Bruce Hagevik Interviews Erin Hanafin

The Alliance is making a last-minute effort to save Porky's but Berg admits it's a difficult task. An auction is planned for Monday morning.

"Once parts of the building start, kind of, flittering away to the winds if somebody buys, you know, the signage or the canopy or things like that, obviously it's going to be much harder to preserve as an intact site," said Berg.

Berg says they've been unable to talk directly with Porky's owner.

The St. Paul restaurant is easily recognized on University Avenue by it's 8-foot tall pig sign.