Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Want to talk about your favorite places besides Kansas City? Post any development news or questions about other cities here.
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warwickland
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Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by warwickland »

Good Morning,

I just wanted to start a new discussion thread on the Twin Cities, as I will be traveling there for my birthday in two weeks (I tried finding a somewhat up to date thread that was already started). I was wondering if anyone had any new suggestions for bars, restaurant, museums, etc. I dont know if Garrison Keillor is in town, but my girlfriend hates him, and I have already seen him there. A Twins game is a must, in that wonderful new stadium, of course. I'm going to be there for essentially 1.75 days...I can't believe how long that drive is from St. Louis.
Last edited by warwickland on Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by DaveKCMO »

i haven't been in a few years, but am eager to hear others' recommendations since we'll likely make another trip soon. thankfully, it's only about 6.5 hours from KC!
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by trailerkid »

Downtown is kinda boring, but there's a pretty jawdropping used book store called James and Mary on Nicollet Mall. Still...Downtown MPLS has a lot more of a big city feel like Chicago than most Midwestern cities (e.g. StL and KC) so maybe it's worth just walking around for an hour or two. It's just amazing to see the amount of well-heeled professionals coming in/out of those relatively dense glass towers. MPLS is a metro that actually take pride in their city-- and it shows.

StL MetroLink > MPLS light rail. I wouldn't even bother riding it unless you have to or are a transit freak.

Good dive(ish) hipster bars in the Historic NE. Psycho Suzi's is a kinda fun place to go...i'd probably go again. it's a tiki restaurant with very good pizza. Uptown is good, but kinda gag-inducing at the same time. Still a good place to wonder around for a few hours. Near Uptown there's something called the Midtown Global Market which I'd recommend. It is a new, indoor City Market...kinda fake, but much more impressive than City Market in terms of vendors. Great place to find ethnic food in a modern setting-- in a neighborhood of a ton of other ethnic restaurants and businesses.

http://www.yelp.com/minneapolis
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warwickland
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by warwickland »

trailerkid wrote:
StL MetroLink > MPLS light rail. I wouldn't even bother riding it unless you have to or are a transit freak.
I have ridden it before, used it when I went up to see Keillor back in the day with the folks as they stayed out by Mall of America...I remember riding it to 38th street to the Cardinal Tavern, talking to an elderly murder parolee counting quarters on the bar, and getting so drunk I thought I was in the Hollywood neighborhood of Portland...to my feeble defense, Minneapolis does have feel similar to the Pacific NW, which I always find fascinating. In comparison, Chicago doesn't feel quite so exotic to me.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by trailerkid »

warwickland wrote: Minneapolis does have feel similar to the Pacific NW, which I always find fascinating. In comparison, Chicago doesn't feel quite so exotic to me.
Yes. It has an almost isolated, regionalist woodsy-meets-urban city culture. However, Minneapolis has always been Minneapolis--likely always stay Minneapolis. I'd argue Seattle and Portland aren't really the same cities they were 30-40 years ago. Minneapolis has gotten more sophisticated, but hasn't had the influx of national/coastal transplants that Seattle and Portland have had in the 90s and 00s. I would say those cities have been completely transformed and made-over whereas MPLS has had more natural urban growth. In a lot of ways that makes MPLS more attractive to me. Creative/cultural boomtowns attract boatloads of lame people.  
Last edited by trailerkid on Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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warwickland
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by warwickland »

Minneapolis has a pretty good economy, which brings in the blood in a sort of atypical way for the midwest outside of chicago, but right, not waves of douches. Although, it is weird when I notice how sickly sweet style conscious people can be in Minneapolis, and I notice this a little less in KC, even, compared to rust belty St. Louis where we all walk around unshaven with mustard stained tshirts, and this seems to increase as you move east up the Ohio, of course. Shot and a beer, and back to working on moms house or not.

I decided to go to chicago and then hit the western michigan beaches, sorry MPLS-STP. Its just too far of a drive for me (9 hours), whereas chicago is 5 and the gorgeous michigan beach is another 1.5. i noticed that they are pulling the lifeguards from the minneapolis beaches after this weekend, and i dont know if that means that they close the beaches or not. yeah, thats right i made my decision based on lake beaches (which actually are awesome in michigan and northwest indiana).
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by chingon »

Interesting. I imagine you'll get some people riled by implying KC cats are more stylish/stylized/style conscious than StLiens...

But I have noticed that IT SEEMS LIKE people in KC are significantly more tattooed than other midwest/midsizeds. Mentioned this to a close friend from Denver and he said the same thought occurred to him nearly everytime he was in KC. And I am really talking about hipster-tats, not faded barbwire biceps ink.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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chingon wrote: Interesting. I imagine you'll get some people riled by implying KC cats are more stylish/stylized/style conscious than StLiens...

But I have noticed that IT SEEMS LIKE people in KC are significantly more tattooed than other midwest/midsizeds. Mentioned this to a close friend from Denver and he said the same thought occurred to him nearly everytime he was in KC. And I am really talking about hipster-tats, not faded barbwire biceps ink.
For the record, style conscious people stand out a little more in KC, and I don't know if this is because there are more in a smaller area, or if there are less indigenous urban dwelling slobs or urban rednecks to water everything down (which, there are a lot of urban rednecks in my hood) - in any case it works well for kc. i can't really speak for all of urban st. louis either, as moving from the part of the southside where i live to the central corridor is like warping into another city.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by trailerkid »

warwickland wrote: For the record, style conscious people stand out a little more in KC, and I don't know if this is because there are more in a smaller area, or if there are less indigenous urban dwelling slobs or urban rednecks to water everything down (which, there are a lot of urban rednecks in my hood) - in any case it works well for kc. i can't really speak for all of urban st. louis either, as moving from the part of the southside where i live to the central corridor is like warping into another city.
hey! I happen to enjoy indigenous urban-dwelling slobs.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by chrizow »

i've heard a few times from outsiders that KC seems cognizably more hipster/indie than whatever city (i've heard STL, Atlanta, and maybe others).  i dont know if it's necessarily true, but i think that KC's relatively small urban core, with its tattooed types clustered in xroads/midtown can make it seem that way. 
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by nilsson1941 »

chrizow wrote: i've heard a few times from outsiders that KC seems cognizably more hipster/indie than whatever city (i've heard STL, Atlanta, and maybe others).  i dont know if it's necessarily true, but i think that KC's relatively small urban core, with its tattooed types clustered in xroads/midtown can make it seem that way. 
This, combined with the fact that hardly any visitors go to the east side (except for AB's).
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by chrizow »

nilsson1941 wrote: This, combined with the fact that hardly any visitors go to the east side (except for AB's).
i doubt too many visitors (who would notice hipster tattoos) go to north st. louis, either. 

i think that perhaps since st. louis has such a huge urban core, there just isn't that same concentration of young weird/creative folks milling around.  in KC, the westside/xroads/midtown/westport/KCAI area is all in like a couple square miles. 
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by trailerkid »

chrizow wrote: i've heard a few times from outsiders that KC seems cognizably more hipster/indie than whatever city (i've heard STL, Atlanta, and maybe others).  i dont know if it's necessarily true, but i think that KC's relatively small urban core, with its tattooed types clustered in xroads/midtown can make it seem that way. 
I think the entire nation has become more hipster/indie over the last 15 years. Soccer dads in West Lawrence now have Love Garden satchels and go bonkers over the new Arcade Fire. When it used to be for the cool kids to know about some obscure movie or watch a band at an industrial performance space...now it's no big deal. The Internet has diffused what is cool all over the country-- including the middle of the map.

With all of this said KC > StL or AtL when it comes to "hip" or "indie" folks  :lol:
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by nilsson1941 »

Cherokee St. in STL has a pretty high concentration of these kind of people (for lack of better words). That area connects with South Grand which also caters to the same crowd. But as the case with both KC and STL these people are sprinkled in with a majority of  working class people. MINN on the other hand seems highly populated with white collar or artsy folk. I'll take  KC or STL over MINN any day. I think I would be too satisfied with Minneapolis and I would be bored.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by kcmetro »

chingon wrote: Interesting. I imagine you'll get some people riled by implying KC cats are more stylish/stylized/style conscious than StLiens...

But I have noticed that IT SEEMS LIKE people in KC are significantly more tattooed than other midwest/midsizeds. Mentioned this to a close friend from Denver and he said the same thought occurred to him nearly everytime he was in KC. And I am really talking about hipster-tats, not faded barbwire biceps ink.

And apparently you're right.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38722211/ ... ?GT1=43001
No. 9: Kansas City, MO

With about six tattoo shops per 100,000 people, Kansas City came up in several sites we looked at as another ?tattoo-friendly? place to live ? not bad for the not-so-tattoo-friendly Midwest. Why? We're guessing it has something to do with KC being the bustling center of the Kansas City metro area and the state's largest city, along with having a thriving population of below-30 folk, more than 10 colleges and universities, and a big performing arts scene.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by warwickland »

nilsson1941 wrote: Cherokee St. in STL has a pretty high concentration of these kind of people (for lack of better words). That area connects with South Grand which also caters to the same crowd. But as the case with both KC and STL these people are sprinkled in with a majority of  working class people. MINN on the other hand seems highly populated with white collar or artsy folk. I'll take  KC or STL over MINN any day. I think I would be too satisfied with Minneapolis and I would be bored.
Cherokee Street is definitely still in it's infancy, but thats definitely where the superhipsters are. One of the few places in the midwest where I want to give superhipsters a high five. I think St. Louis has more people in the trades with barb tats. I mean if you want to argue with me, bring it on, I'll stick a nu metal berserker on you.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by DaveKCMO »

headed to minneapolis this weekend for cut copy @ first avenue. will be parking at a park-n-ride near the maul of amerika and riding LRT into the city. found a great deal for the aloft downtown on hotwire ($57), with dinner at saffron before the show. drinks after? anyone? sunday breakfast at hell's kitchen, a brief stop at IKEA, then the long drive back to KC.

to cut the drive up, we're driving to DSM tomorrow night and staying in another great hotwire find (hyatt place downtown, $72) and eating at proof.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by rxlexi »

sounds like a great trip!  a totally vague suggestion - i think the downtown aloft is right near the Guthrie theater, which has a couple of slick restaurant/bars.  It's a sweet Jean Nouvel building right on the river...might be worth checking out.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by Highlander »

DaveKCMO wrote: headed to minneapolis this weekend for cut copy @ first avenue. will be parking at a park-n-ride near the maul of amerika and riding LRT into the city. found a great deal for the aloft downtown on hotwire ($57), with dinner at saffron before the show. drinks after? anyone? sunday breakfast at hell's kitchen, a brief stop at IKEA, then the long drive back to KC.

to cut the drive up, we're driving to DSM tomorrow night and staying in another great hotwire find (hyatt place downtown, $72) and eating at proof.
I look forward to a trip report, going there myself in a couple of weeks.
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warwickland
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by warwickland »

Sounds like an interesting trip to some cities where bartenders will actually talk to you.
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