Impressions of Minneapolis/St Paul (St. Paul, Edina: houses, university, places to live)

[prairiestate]

I spent New Year's weekend in the Twin Cities. Not only did I need to get away for a few days, but MSP was one of the cities I was most interested in moving to. I used transit to get around, and saw a good portion of Minneapolis and a bit of St. Paul. I went to uptown and out to Edina, the MIA area, University Ave. through the university into downtown St. Paul. Then down through the southwest side of SP to the Mall of America, and up Chicago Ave. straight through Minneapolis, back downtown.

To be honest, I was a bit dissapointed. Nothing terribly wrong overall, and the cities are nice enough. I think my expectations were just a bit too high after always reading so many rave reviews of the area. I just found the cities a bit bland. A lot of plain brick buildings along the commercial streets, and plain wooden homes in the residential areas. Nothing bad, just dull.

Downtown Minneapolis, and St. Paul to a certain extent, were particularly shocking. Neither are very comfortable to walk around in. Too many empty storefronts, parking lots, and broad plazas and not enough people out during the weekend. Also, a huge number of buildings and parking garages that have a wall of solid concrete at street level. The cities were also pretty dirty, with a lot of litter about, especially in the bus shelters. Not enough police on the streets either. I'm a life long Chicagoan, and have been downtown here at 2 am and felt safe. Not so in parts of downtown Minneapolis. Also, the architecture in downtown Minneapolis is pretty uninspired. Not much of either historical interest, or stunning modern architecture.

St. Paul seems to be more architecturally interesting, but I was suprised at the large industrial districts there, and University Ave. feels a bit like a typical suburban strip. I can see where the cities would be comfortable and pleasant places to live, it just didn't feel like there was much character or soul there.

[Slig]

I know alot of the interesting historical architecture was torn down in downtown Minneapolis in the 1950's. This led to a movement to restore and protect historic buildings. However, I think the downtown area has less character as a result.

As far as people out and about, the block E area in Minneapolis is bustling at most hours of the day. I don't know if you had a chance to check out the uptown/chain of lakes area but there are always lots of people around there, especially in the warm months. Downtown St. Paul notoriously becomes a ghost town after office hours.

Sorry to disappoint though. As far as architecture and population density, Chicago has the Twin Cities beat.

[Ed Burke]

You've got to spend more time walking in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. If you are on a time budget, my one walking path for you would be Nicollet Island, which has a lot of restored turn of the century through 1920s huge frame houses. The island is where the Mississippi splits apart. There's a terrific view of downtown on the south side.

[The Icy River Vagabond]

A lot of people probably feel the same way about Chicago, it's not really fair to compare the two cities, they are what they are.

[rcsteiner]

Doesn't sound like you spend much time exploring the suburbs -- the two cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) only have 600,000 people combined, while the metro area is pushing 3,000,000 or so.

Most of the interesting stuff (IMO) is outside of the core cities.

Also, keep in mind that Minneapolis has a skyway system, and during the winter months that's where the folks are travelling, not at street level. Too cold!