Timothy D. Holtan

Hi.

My name is Tim Holtan.

I'm 37, married and we have a beautiful son named August. We have a dog and his name is Brutus. We live in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota. As you may have gathered from this website, I like motorcycles, cars and the history of the metropolitan Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. Living here in the Cities has given me a sense of connectedness that I really didn't have in the town I grew up in. As a suburban youth, there really wasn't much to do except mooch my parents' car or ride the dreaded bus into the Cities.

I think my obsession with cars started at an early age. Dad was a big car nut and I dutifully followed in his footsteps. I grew up holding the flashlight for my dad as he wrenched on and swore at the not-as-reliable-as-we-would-have-wished cars.  They dragged us around town and maybe up to northern Minnesota a couple times a year, and that's really all we expected from them. Dad seemed to know just enough to get the job done. I don't know where he learned what he knew about cars, but I certainly learned from him. From an early age and probably as a result of hanging out with Dad when he was working on the cars, I seemed to just know how things worked or could figure it out pretty easily. Just don't ask me about automatic transmissions.

As you may have gathered from this website, I have many interests. I learned from Dad that one can save a bunch of money working on your own stuff, provided you do it right. Sometimes I get it right. I enjoy working on my bikes and cars. I enjoy photography, both as an artistic endeavor and to document happenings and surroundings. I also enjoy studying the history of the city of Minneapolis.

As I've aged, I've changed. I once had hair. I don't drink as much as I used to.

I was born in Denver Colorado and have lived in Rochester Minnesota, Decorah Iowa, and Stillwater, Minneapolis and Saint Paul Minnesota. I graduated from Stillwater High School in 1985.

I've never been a specialist in any one particular thing. I live in the details of things, but I get bored easily and so my interests tend to move around a bit. I have been interested in and still am interested in model airplanes, flying, wood working, electronics, music (both playing it on guitar and listening to it on the stereo), boats, art, architecture, gadgetry and computers, zymurgy, French, Russian, travel, reading, history, geography, writing and red wine. This is by no means an inclusive list. Because of these sometimes far-flung interests, I am pretty good at trivia and word games.

Things I dig:
My son, 1920s design, motorcycles, cars, figuring out how things work, the web, hardwood floors, red wine, strong coffee, Minneapolis history, figuring out why things have changed, seeing new places, and hanging out with friends.

Things that suck:
Credit cards, hypocrisy, cauliflower, idiot/inattentive drivers, tailgaters, late fees, Islamists, commercial radio in this market, Cat Stevens, litterers, our nation's drug laws, crass commercialism, conspicuous consumption, spam email and telemarketers.

Have a look around the site. This is the front door of the site.

This is my blog/journal/daily column thing.

Me in Florida with the Wing, 1996.

Hey, send me some email! I'd love to hear from you!