Nice, affordable, walkable neighborhood for young couple? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: best city, apartments)

[DemonsDanceAlone]

We are a 20-something "alternative" couple looking to relocate to the Twin Cities area. Currently we are in Tennessee and hate it, we're freaks and enjoy long winters instead. We've heard nothing but praise over Minneapolis/St. Paul.

I know every other thread is asking this but we'd really like to find an attractive, affordable neighborhood, hopefully with some nice entertainment, maybe an established music scene too?

Also, we prefer walking so sidewalks are a must! We will settle on a smaller suburban town just outside the Twin Cities too if it comes down to that.

Thank you in advance.

[uptown_urbanist]

What's your budget? Are you buying or renting?

Based purely on your description so far, I'll push my own favorite Minneapolis neighborhoods: Uptown and Lyn-Lake (some people consider Lyn-Lake to be part of Uptown), followed by the part of NE Minneapolis right by the river. Those are all extremely walkable areas with sidewalks (I've lived in both areas without a car), lots of live music options, and have a great mix of housing types at different price points. Uptown is centered around the commercial district at Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street, while Lyn-Lake is centered around the Lyndale Avenue and Lake Street intersection Hennepin and Lyndale are themselves only 8 blocks apart, so the areas obviously overlap. My favorite area is therefore the neighborhoods right between the two -- technically named CARAG and Lowry Hill East (aka "the Wedge") -- so you can easily walk to both everything in the Lyn-Lake sphere as well as the amenities in Uptown (which include Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles). The public transportation is really good, too, if you want that.

Parts of NE are very quiet and I think kind of boring (although increasingly trendy), but the area right by the river has a lot going on and you can walk to a lot of places. And being right by the river itself is wonderful; the Stone Arch Bridge is down there, too, and there's nothing nicer on a summer evening than strolling across the bridge towards downtown and watching the sunlight on the river.

[DemonsDanceAlone]

We'd like to rent a place (prefer house or townhouse but apartments are okay as long as they take a cat) for probably no more than $1100-1200.

And from your description it looks like there's quite a few areas that fit our bill.

[DemonsDanceAlone]

Also, according to Wikipedia (Not the most reliable source, I know I know) the Public trans isn't so great. Care to elaborate?

[uptown_urbanist]

As far as public transportation: do you mean in the Twin Cities, or in the areas mentioned? It's pretty good in the core cities, although it's not on par with the bigger cities like NYC, DC, Chicago, etc. I live without a car, as do my parents. Light rail is limited, but the bus will generally get you where you want to go. The areas I mentioned are all really good for public transportation, and a lot of people do get by without a car. Biking is great, even in winter. The suburbs are a different story; many of the inner suburbs have pretty good public transportation coverage, but if you'll be spending a lot of time in any of the farther flung suburbs then you'll probably find your options limited. (in those cases commuter service to and from downtown is usually decent, it's the getting around to other places or at non-rush hour that's the problem). If you live in, say, Uptown, you can pretty much walk to anything you need, and there are frequent buses and many bus lines to bring you all over the city. Northeast would put you near downtown (as well as has several bus routes of its own going through there), so you'd be pretty central from a public transportation standpoint. In any case, Minneapolis certainly isn't the best city out there for public transportation, but it's not bad, either.

Minneapolis has a lot of duplexes (with yards), so that might be a good option, too. You should be able to find one of those in your price range without trouble.

[golfgal]

Where will you be working?

[audadvnc]

I lived in Uptown - south Mpls by Lakes Harriet & Calhoun - it would meet your requirements perfectly. Lots to do, beautiful lake walking paths, easy public transportation... what more could you ask?

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by DemonsDanceAlone

We are a 20-something "alternative" couple looking to relocate to the Twin Cities area. Currently we are in Tennessee and hate it, we're freaks and enjoy long winters instead. We've heard nothing but praise over Minneapolis/St. Paul.

I know every other thread is asking this but we'd really like to find an attractive, affordable neighborhood, hopefully with some nice entertainment, maybe an established music scene too?

Also, we prefer walking so sidewalks are a must! We will settle on a smaller suburban town just outside the Twin Cities too if it comes down to that.

Thank you in advance.

You'll feel at home in the Whittier/Lowry Hills East neighborhoods near Uptown, the Cedar Riverside area and Northeast Minneapolis. I think you'd dig bars like the Triple Rock, Psycho Suzi's, Donnie Dirk's and pretty much all the bars on Lyndale Ave between Franklin Ave and W Lake St.

[audadvnc]

Too bad they Disney-fied Block E years ago. I'd love to recommend Moby Dick's to all these outta towners...