Bloomington is not a part of Minneapolis.

[golfgal]

Lakeville and Rosemount have downtowns too.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Originally Posted by knke0402

How is Excelsior's downtown? I have never been there

One of the best around, at least on the level of Hopkins if not better. Good restaurants, nice park, eccentric but utilitarian, a working movie theater. There is also a museum about the lake and they have the Streetcar boats out in summer, I believe. Even used to have an amusement park and resorts. The only unfortunate part is the Excelsior never developed into a decently sized town, so there aren't alot of residential areas or neighrobhoods outside the immediate downtown. You hit Shorewood pretty quick. Oh, and the old railroad depot has no place sitting there on the side of the road.

[knke0402]

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

One of the best around, at least on the level of Hopkins if not better. Good restaurants, nice park, eccentric but utilitarian, a working movie theater. There is also a museum about the lake and they have the Streetcar boats out in summer, I believe. Even used to have an amusement park and resorts. The only unfortunate part is the Excelsior never developed into a decently sized town, so there aren't alot of residential areas or neighrobhoods outside the immediate downtown. You hit Shorewood pretty quick. Oh, and the old railroad depot has no place sitting there on the side of the road.

Have you ever heard of the Rolling Stones and Excelsior story?

I guess in the early 1960s, well before the boys got huge, they played a show in Excelsior. While prepping for the show, Mick walked into the local drug store downtown and asked for a good that was not carried at the local store- The store owner, noticing Mick was dissapointed simply replied with "You can't always get what ya want"...It was said that Mick wrote the song after that incident-however the song wasnt written until 6 years after that little show in Excelsior, and some have a hard time believing that he would remember to write a song about that little situation in small town Minnesota....but ya never know..

[Minnehahapolitan]

It was a Cherry Coke.

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

It was a Cherry Coke.

Interesting! And who was Mr. Jimmy?

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

One of the best around, at least on the level of Hopkins if not better. Good restaurants, nice park, eccentric but utilitarian, a working movie theater. There is also a museum about the lake and they have the Streetcar boats out in summer, I believe. Even used to have an amusement park and resorts.

I remember seeing an old wooden roller coaster (or the remains of one) in the Excelsior area when I was really little. I think...??

Okay, I found some info...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excelsior_Amusement_Park

"The Cyclone".