row of townhomes is really important to f scott gerald. -- f scott fitzgerald. his parents lived in a couple of different ones. they literally moved from town to townhome in the same row of townhomes. they are associated with the two great loves of his life, jeanette reckoning and zelda zehr. school when east to inevre camer a -- g to a party here. his parents were living at one of the townhomes here where he moped about genevre. he eventually joined the army and went south and met zelda. when she rejected him, he came back to this townhome. this is where magic struck. space, herd floor rewrote the book he had rewritten -- he had written while he was in the army. it was known as "the romantic egotist." subsequently published as "this side of paradise." he worked really hard to rewrite the book. supposedly, after he learned that the book was going to be published, he ran onto summit avenue and said, my book is going to be published! his parents were giving him a last chance. get your novel published, or go out and get a job. one of his friends got him a job on th

f. scott fitzgerald. esota historical society just loves to document, especially the early life, the early career of f. scott fitzgerald and fits kennedy for he becomes a superstar. so i have a couple of fun things here that are from that time period. and i will take a little time to show those to you. he published first in his school, well, i guess newsletter or something, and we have all of that. this i just love because this is junior high school textbook from printed in 1911. just kind of a crummy little book, yet if anybody soldiers, it wouldn't be more than a buck or two. we paid $25,000 for this. and the reason is because it was owned by francis scott fitzgerald, and you are so marginal notes in here and some marginal drawings. and that's kind of fun. but the really important thing here is the last page of this. and the text, if i can read that to you, is just kind of, makes you slap your forehead. so he says, francis conference joe, st. paul, minnesota, and he describes himself. playwright, poet, n

f. scott fitzgerald probably sat at this bar. wrote almost everything down but he didn't say i was at the basement bob but i am guessing he was. this is a pretty special place for fitzgerald's dollars when they come to see the actual places where he socialized, where he worked, that inspired him and so is this is one of the many places in st. paul that provided information for fitzgerald and his stories. the university club was the center, one of the centers of the social life in st. paul back then, still is today. fitzgerald was probably never a member but he had a lot of friends who would have been so he would have had access to these rooms. he met several people here including that donald ogden stewart who he convinced become a writer and went on to win an academy award for philadelphia story and he had a party for zelda when they were living at 626, they call the bad luck ball because it was on friday the thirteenth and to show you the extent that they would go to to entertained their guests fitzgerald literally had a newspap

paul was the most important to f scott fitzgerald's legacy. he lived all over the world. on his life up until he was probably about 40 and the hollywood years. stories,ad fitzgerald they are washed in st. paul imagery. on september 24, 1896. it was considered a luxury apartment back then. befitting of the daughter, one of the richest men in st. paul. unfortunately, he died pretty young. living offly was kind of the legacy money. but still, they were well respected around the town of st. paul. took his first steps here and said his first words here. there were two sisters that died he suggested he become a writer. another sister was born in new york but he said he did not know anything else existed in the universe until his younger sister was born. his father went to get a job in to york but they came back st. paul. we are standing in front of st. paul academy, the former st. paul academy. the school has moved now. fitzgerald's parents had a lot of ambition for him. that is why they named him after a distant relative. francis was the middle name of mcluhan, hiss grandfather

a lot of people have written about that influence of religion on f scott fitzgerald. he got that in st. paul. i also think his writing about the wealthy also came from st. paul. him for had a hold on most of his life, when he needed money, he would write short stories about st. paul. life,oughout much of his he was of st. paul in midwest. the great line in great gas be, i guess this is a story about the midwest after all. this was the midwest he was talking about in the great gatsby. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] 1800's, upstream effectively made st. paul the end of the line for steamboat travel traveling north. hosted by our comcast cable partners, c-span's city tour staff recently visited any sites showcasing the city's history. learn more here on american history tv. >> alexander ramsey was a politician who achieved recognition and people don't realize that. he was not from minnesota. he and his wife or from pennsylvania. he was born in 1815. he rose through the ranks, he started a

f. scott fitzgerald and his parents live in a couple of to do what's, believe it or not. not only did they move from block to block, they literally moved from town to town home in the same row of townhomes. they are associated with the two great loves of his life, and he was going east to school when there was a part here and he fell in love with her, and his parents were living out one of the townhomes here where he kind of moped about because of her. eventually joined the army and went south and met zelda. and when she rejected him because he wasn't making enough money, he came back to this townhome at 599 summit. this is where magic struck. up in the third floor, space up there, he rewrote the book that he written while he was in the army. it was called the romantic egotistic eventually was published by scribner's, this side of paradise, but he literally, you know, a compact in parts of chapters and worked really hard to rewrite the book. max perkins liked it. supposedly, after he learned that the book was going to be published, he ran out onto summit have an accent my

i think at the end of the day, a lot of people have pensionels but there are not that many f scott fitzgeralds it talks even if you have a camera, it takes still to be a story teller. it's one of the things we reckoned with, the difference between the camera as a recording device and a camera as a story telling window. >> as you tell stories about america, concerned? >> i am concerned about america. i think america at this stage in time is like my friend, e jea derecky said we have this sense of what made us, it's like a bloated he wielvis. we have a completely dis functional congress. we have a huge wage disparity, income disparity in this country. our society is pulling apart. we have enormous wealth and power and yet we have huge divisions that we are not reckoning with so, yeah, i am de deeply concerned because i think we are coasting as if, you know, if we just say we are great often enough, it will be so but it won't be so. we have to make ourselves great. we have to get back to work. overcome. >> absolutely. i think the overcoming is where you see with these kids in "edge of 18," you se

f. scott fitzgerald put it best. the morals were looser, the liquor was cheaper. the jazz age raged on under its own power, served by great filling stations full of money. i wish i could have written that. then, in this year, and in this decade, the vanguard of cultural and technological transformation that would make the 20 century the american century. and make new york the quintessential city of the earliest 20th century. the rise of commercial radio and talking movies in 1927, you had the invention of television. you had the beginning of tabloid journalism with the new york daily news, the first american tabloid founded by joseph patterson of the patterson family in chicago. you have the spread of radio and of thisphic records -- pulsating new urban music called jazz. i featured duke ellington in this book. you have the emergence of yankee stadium, of mass spectator sports. the enormously important boxing matches staged at madison square garden, and other venues. ellington sums it up. the duke says that new york was the capital of everything. the little happen

f. scott fitzgerald." he explains the influence that st.paul had on fitzgerald's work. >> american life. >> st. paul had this huge impact on fitzgerald. fitzgerald had an impact on st. paul. st. paul was the most important town of his legacy. he was all over the world. the vast majority of experiences that he used in his novels and his writing either directly came from st. paul, written in st. paul, written in st. paul. so it have this huge impact on his life up until he was partly about 40 and the hollywood years. so if you read fitzgerald's stories there are awash in st. paul imagery. he was born in this apartment september 241896. was considered a luxury apartment back and the daughter of pf mcclellan, one of the richest man in st. paul. unfortunately he died young. the family was living off of the legacy money. but still, there were well-respected around the town. that's your took his first steps here. he said his first words here. there were two sisters that died right before he was born. he suggested that is why he became a writer. an