Minnesota’s favorite places, recast in Lego

Shortly after Nye’s Polonaise Room closed in 2016, Jeff Esler spent months recreating a miniature version of the kitschy 1950s bar, one Lego brick at a time. That was the first Minneapolis landmark Elser modeled in plastic blocks, down to its beloved sing-along piano player and World’s Most Dangerous Polka Band.

Since then, Esler has gone on to build Lego dioramas of Gluek’s, the Monte Carlo, Matt’s Bar, the Riverview Theater, the Grain Belt Beer sign and the Nokomis Beach Coffee Shop, where he counts himself among the regulars memorialized in look-alike minifigures. “They’re mostly my old haunts,” he said, explaining how he selects his subjects.

Esler has also replicated several northern Minnesota icons, including Lake Superior’s Split Rock Lighthouse, Cloquet’s Frank Lloyd Wright–designed gas station and the bobber-shaped water tower in Pequot Lakes.

Esler returned to Legos — he played with them “like crazy” growing up — around the same time the company introduced more adult-targeted kits such as orchid plants, the Titanic and the Mona Lisa, and reality TV started featuring competitive Lego building. The Danish toymaker was finally embracing its so-called AFOLs, or Adult Fans of Lego, Esler among them.

Lego models have taken over many of the flat surfaces in Esler’s Minneapolis home, including the lighthouse that landed on his dining room table. But most of his creations are housed in the basement, next to his man-cave bar, vintage beer can collection and a couple of old slot machines he repaired.

Esler still has some of his childhood bricks, including a 1976 Lego police station whose design is so basic that the minifigure officers lack faces and arms. But he hadn’t played with Legos for years until his now-teenage daughter got him back into building. His first DIY design was a model of his house, followed by a replica of his lake cabin.

Working off photographs, Esler freestyles his designs, grabbing bricks from containers he’s sorted by color. He tries various pieces and configurations until things look right. The decorative cornice on Gluek’s façade was among his biggest challenges. “I just built it and rebuilt it,” he said.

He doesn’t set out to replicate a building’s exact proportions, but, instead, to capture its essence. “Like cartooning,” he explained.

Esler, who has an IT career and a knack for fixing things, likes to tuck small surprises into his creations. For example, the sun bathers catching rays on the Gluek’s rooftop or the robber scaling the Monte Carlo’s walls with a rope and a grappling hook. Split Rock Lighthouse has a functional lamp as well as a cave hidden in its rocky base that holds a pirate’s treasure chest and skeleton.

Minifigures representing Esler and his girlfriend visit several of the landmarks. He’s gone so far as to cut a ponytail into his minifigure’s hair for authenticity, but says he rarely modifies Lego bricks as it’s considered “sacrilege” among fans.

Esler buys many of his Legos on eBay, or the Bricks and Minifigs secondhand shops. He has occasionally substituted knockoff brands for pieces that are expensive or hard to find. He estimates that the average Lego brick costs about 10 cents, but notes that collectors will pay thousands for the rarest minifigures.

He doesn’t count how many pieces go into his creations, but says he typically uses several hundred dollars’ worth of material. When Esler sells his larger creations for a few thousand dollars, he says the hourly compensation for his weeks of labor isn’t great.

“Some people think I’m crazy to spend this kind of money on a hobby, but you can spend as much on fishing,” he said.

One downside of working with a medium as fragile as Legos is that components can easily break, Esler says. Another is that the bumpy surfaces are serious dust collectors. (He keeps his creations in display cases and uses a salad spinner to clean individual pieces.)

But Esler enjoys the delighted reactions his models elicit, which have led to a few small commissions. And longtime Nye’s bartender Corky Hisle once visited Esler’s man cave to see his miniaturized self pouring plastic beer and then gifted Esler a bunch of memorabilia.

Lego fans have suggested Esler take on the IDS Center next. But he has his sights set on commemorating a few older landmarks first, perhaps Pequot’s A-Pine restaurant or St. Paul’s Schmidt Brewery.