Sydney’s Frozen Custard & Wood-Fired Pizza

Around 11:30 AM on April 10, 2023, a fire broke out at Sydney’s Frozen Custard & Wood-Fired Pizza. On what was otherwise a beautiful spring day in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Responding fire departments fought the fire for over two hours, extinguishing it around 1:30 PM. Unfortunately, the intense fire destroyed the interior of this beloved downtown eatery. In this week’s blog post, we reflect back on the history of this seasonal favorite. And, look to see what may happen to it in the future.

The Fire

In an almost eerie coincidence, the April 10th fire seemed reminiscent of another Grand Marais fire. April 10, 2023, was the Monday after Easter. So, too, was April 13, 2020. On that day, a popular Grand Marais Restaurant and two gift shops burned down. That fire started in the restaurant and would eventually spread to the other two buildings. Luckily, history did not completely repeat itself. Although Sydney’s shares a lot with Red Pine Realty, which is also home to LutZen Massage Studios in Grand Marais, the fire did not spread past the restaurant. The home located south of Sydney’s was also spared from damage.

Sydney’s is a seasonal eatery, usually open from May through October. Because of this, there was no one in the building when the fire started. However, in yet another eerie coincidence, owner Bruce Block had been in the building shortly before the fire started. As reported in the Star Tribune, “Bruce Block negotiated a deal to sell (Sydney’s)”. Block stated that there was evidence of rodent damage inside the building during the morning walk-through. It’s possible that there was damage to the wiring that caused the fire. The official cause is under investigation.

By 3 PM the fire was out and even the smoke had dissipated from downtown Grand Marais. Much to the surprise of many, the build was still standing in the end. However, it was the interior that sustained the majority of the damage, in addition to most of the southern exterior wall. The building, it seems, is a total loss. However, the Star Tribune article did end in a way that gives locals and visitors who have come to love Sydney’s some hope. “Now I’m thinking I might as well rebuild it.”

The History of  14 South Broadway Avenue

Sydney’s Frozen Custard & Wood-Fired Pizza is located at 14 South Broadway Avenue in Grand Marais, Minnesota. The eatery building is one of two buildings located on the lot. The other building, located to the north, is home to Red Pine Realty and LutZen Massage Studio.

The eatery itself is a relatively new construction. It was built in 2004 when the owner of the Red Pine building leased the land to the Blocks to build their custard shop. Sydney’s, named after one of the Blocks’ daughters, would be the first building to stand at that location.

While the building itself doesn’t have a very long history, the plot of land it sits on has seen a few changes over the years. To learn more we turned to our favorite resource for downtown Grand Marais History. That, of course, is Eugene Glader’s Downtown Grand Marais series. You will find the history of 14 South Broadway Avenue in Volume 1 of the series.

According to Glader’s book, the parcel had historically been used to store logs during the peak of the logging industry in Cook County. Then, in 1924, the first building was placed. “The original cabin was made of half log cedar and had a stone fireplace”. Pretty typical for Grand Marais in the 1920s. The cabin was used as a residence until 1964.

Changing Hands, Changing Purposes

In 1964, then-owners Raymond and Lois Scarlett converted the cabin into a gift shop called The Voyageur Trading Post. After the fire, the Cook County Historical Society made a Facebook post showing what the property looked like at this time. The lot where the restaurant would eventually stand was enclosed in the wooden fence seen in these photos.

Over the years the building would change hands a few times. First to Hal and Carol Greenwood in 1978. They would go on to remove the fence, paint the building gray, and turn it into an antique store and gift shop. The Greenwoods then sold the building to Jan Sivertson in 1999. Sivertson painted the building a shade of yellow and turned it into an art gallery.

In 2002 Siverstson moved the art gallery to a different downtown Grand Marais location and sold the building to the current owner, Michael Raymond. Raymond did a massive remodel on the aging log building and expanded it to how it appears today. Raymond would use the building primarily as a real estate company that had various different names over the years. Currently, it is known as Red Pine Realty.

The History of Sydney’s Frozen Custard & Wood-Fired Pizza

While it does not have a very long history, Sydney’s itself went through a few changes over the years. It started as a single-story frozen custard shop. As the years went on, they added other food offerings like wood-fired pizza, pitas, gyros, hot dogs, and even wine and beer. For a brief period of time, they offered a morning brunch of waffles with unique and creative toppings.

The building itself also changed. In 2014, Block added a second-story dining area. This made Sydney’s the first restaurant to offer an open-air rooftop dining space in downtown Grand Marais. Its location on the point gave diners incredible views of both the East Bay of Grand Marais/Artist’s Point and the Grand Marais Harbor. Diners would order their food at the front window. Then, they could choose to sit on the rooftop area or inside the restaurant. Inside, large windows gave diners fabulous views of the East Bay. Often, you would also see visitors enjoying their frozen custard on the sandy beach located in the back of the restaurant.

The lighthouse in front of Sydney’s was added in 2020.

For 18 years, Sydney’s Frozen Custard & Wood-Fired Pizza was a favorite stop for many locals and visitors. No one knew it at the time, but the summer of 2022 would be the last. At least, in the original building.

The Future of Sydney’s

Only a month went by before we learned what the future holds for both 14 S Broadway and Sydney’s Custard & Wood-Fired Pizza. Sydney’s returned, and sooner than anyone could have imagined.  A sign outside of the boarded-up building read “We’ll Be Back in 2025! Visit New Location Downtown”. That new location is located at the corner of Wisconsin Street and 1st Avenue, across the street from Joyne’s Ben Franklin and Blue Water Cafe.

As the sign promised, Sydney’s reopened at the temporary location on July 22, 2023. Sydney’s quick-acting owner, Bruce, was able to construct a new restaurant in a matter of weeks out of two storage containers. The replica of the Grand Marais lighthouse that previously sat in front of the Broadway location has also been moved, making the new location.

This location will stay open through the summer of 2024 and then the restaurant will re-open in its original location for the summer of 2025. At that time, construction on a mixed-use building will begin at the corner of 1st Ave W and Wisconsin Street.

Learn More

In this special history episode of Exploring the North Shore Jaye and Martha remember the day of the fire and share the history of 14 South Broadway Avenue.

This was taken during the fire.