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Feb 18, 2008 7:51 am US/Central
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Finding Minnesota: Manual Elevator Operator
(WCCO)
There are a lot of historic buildings in the Twin Cities. Each offers a glimpse into another time, a look at the way things used to be.
There is one building in Minneapolis where that is really the case. The Young Quinlan building is a preservation of the past and a time-capsule of tradition.
Nestled within a skyline dominated by the modern and monumental is this small gem preserved within, an elegant reminder of the formative years of this city.
Inside is a time machine, of sorts -- a manually-operated 1926 Otis elevator. Whether you are going up or going down, in this contraption, you need to do so with an escort.
Elevator operator Millie DeZiel has been manning the antiquated controls at different buildings around town since the 1940s and has been at the Young Quinlan building, her favorite, for two decades.
"I like to be busy. I don't like to just sit around," she said. "I've never met one person who will complain or anything, and that's very nice."
DeZiel knows all the tenants by name, and treats all visitors with equal enthusiasm, even celebrities.
"What was his name? Oh yeah, Michael Jackson was in here," she said, after initially struggling to recall the famous visitor. "Well, he didn't talk much. He had his white gloves and basically did his own thing."
She considers being chipper and friendly part of the job. She unhesitatingly claims she has never had one bad day at work.
"It's just such a wonderful feeling. You come to work and you're happy and you leave and you're happy. You just have a good time," DeZiel said.
The elevator rides in the Young Quinlan building don't last that long, but DeZiel has become an expert at getting to know her passengers on the quick rides up and down.
She shares her duties with three other operators. Loretta Erickson has been here 23 years, but Mary Pickett and Darlene Lewis are the relative rookies of the foursome. They have 10 years between the two of them.
"The older ladies taught me about the pride of the job," said Pickett.
That pride is something the building owners find important enough to preserve as part of the image and style they want the Young Quinlan building to be known for.
There are more efficient options for anyone going up or down in the modern Young Quinlan building, but of the three elevators therein, the one with some history and human interaction seems to win out.
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