Funky stuff from iconic Tempe bar hits auction
The wacky, kitschy and sometimes colossal collection of oddities that stuffed Minder Binders, a longtime Tempe and ASU hangout, will hit the auction block today.
The auction will include more than 500 items, such as a British-style red telephone booth, a 25-foot antique umiak whaling boat, a giant Paul Bunyan head and a movie-prop sculpture of a Roman gladiator.
EJ’s Auction & Consignment in Glendale is selling nostalgia to those who remember the red barn-looking restaurant and bar that opened at the corner of McClintock and University drives at the dawn of the 1970s. The two-story venue caked with artifacts, including a full-size taxidermied horse, continued as a place for burgers, beer, music and good times through four decades.
The memories are still celebrated on Facebook with a Minder Binders page that has more than 1,000 likes and comments, such as: “Was my home away from home in the early 80’s.”
The auction makes way for a new restaurant concept that will open later this fall.
Those interested in purchasing Minder Binders memorabilia got a sneak peek Friday at the Glendale auction house, 5880 W. Bell Road.
Today, EJ’s Auction & Consignment will open at 9 a.m. and the auction will begin at 10 a.m. The public can bid live, online or via phone.
“Our auctions are social events. Sixty or 70 people come in every Saturday — they come to buy, but I think the biggest reason people come is to socialize,” said Erik Hoyer, EJ’s owner and auctioneer.
Hoyer himself is prone to nostalgia
over Minder Binders, sharing 30-year-old memories of tubing on the Salt River, chasing girls and heading to Minder Binders to finish off the night. In those days, he said the drinking age was only 19 and the beers were 17 cents.
“It was burger madness. They had the best hamburgers,” Hoyer said.
And it had the eclectic interior, including a 61⁄2-foot crocodile hide that greeted patrons as they walked upstairs.
“The wacky, crazy stuff in there fueled that atmosphere of how fun a place it was,” Hoyer said.
The restaurant got its start with owners Al Ehringer and Bob Scura, two pilots who loved drinking and hanging out with friends.
They were determined to create a destination for the college crowd, original architect Richard Wilken said.
The restaurant was named after the main character in one of the owners favorite book-to-movie, “Catch 22.”
The men used their free-flight job perks to go scavenging for decor that was fun, silly and festive, whether it be from an Amish community yard sale or an auction at a European castle, Wilken said.
There was a collaborative nature in designing the restaurant and bar that let the two relive their youth, and even the carpenter had some say in where things would go.
The two were jokesters, as Wilken remembers they would host annual Minder Binders “going out of business” sales (with no intention of going out of business) and signs to the bathrooms pointing in opposite directions meant to confuse. The team created a venue where regulars were always in on the joke, and new patrons were in for surprises.
“It was a place where you could have fun and not worry if you spilled a little bit of beer on yourself. Go ahead and dance and get sweaty — it’s OK. It was a place to really get loose and have a good time,” Wilken reminisced.
The party spot closed in 2005.
Seven years later, a new owner purchased the landmark and began to transform the barn-style building into a more Spanish Mission style. It reopened as Mission @ Minder Binder in 2014. The interior, full of memorabilia, remained unchanged.
The Tempe landmark changed owners this summer when former Seattle restaurant owner Mike Kenney purchased the building.
The restaurant closed in July as he and his staff work to unveil a new restaurant concept, the Social Hall, this fall. Grand opening details are still in the works. The rebranded restaurant will serve American cuisine with a Latin flare.
The restaurant will feature bar games, pool tables, shuffleboard and large-screen TVs.
As Kenney works with EJ’s to auction off the vast collection of memorabilia, he will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Tempe History Museum, which is restoring the old Minder Binders sign, and hurricane relief efforts.
Additionally, EJ’s is a collection site for non-perishable food and personal hygiene items for St. Mary’s Food Bank through Sunday. Patrons who bring in 10 non-perishable food or personal hygiene products by Sunday will have $5 added to their bidder account.