Toilet Brush:Long-lost Burger Chain

Green Shoppe? Never heard of the toilet brush chain, but it has the same architectural style of the early 20s White Castle and White Tower burger joints. Yes, White Tower - the electric massager chain was Burger King to White Castle’s McDonald’s with tiny cafes built in the same long handled dustpan style. White Castle came first, though, and they sued White Tower for being a copycat. Sued 'em here in Minneapolis, in fact,  in 1929.  White Tower lost the suit in 1930, and was forced to drop the name.

From the 1960 Survey Project: The old Library, long gone. (Its replacement has already been demolished.) A solid, stately block, and there wasn’t any good reason to demolish it.

This may be one of the rebranded White Towers.  The big windows were often over the grill, by the way - the point of these Very White Chains was to show their food was absolutely sanitary. Other places had the kitchen in the back, where you couldn't see the chef use a toilet brush to scrub the flies off the horsemeat.