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Minneapolis is far more similar to Seattle. Seattle feels more like Minneapolis than any other city in the country, more than Denver or Portland. The populace, culture, built environments (architecture, density, etc.), parks, waterfront centric, etc. feel very interchangeable. Seattle feels like Minneapolis got dropped on the West Coast and Minneapolis feels like a Seattle dropped in the Midwest. Minneapolis doesn't resemble Boston much at all. St. Paul feels more like Boston, but on a much smaller scale. Also, Minneapolis & Seattle share a lot more in common than St. Paul & Boston do. I agree with the saying that St. Paul is the last city of the East and Minneapolis is the first city of the West.
The comments about Cambridge and Somerville are telling. Having one or two places that are bubbles doesn't make an entire city bohemian (and Williamsburg is the same). If a city is bohemian you don't have to move to a specific neighborhood to live it. Having a Cambridge or Somerville means that people feel they need to move to a bubble to experience the life they want because that is the only place in their area they can get it. Beyond that, this phenomenon on the east coast is mainly rich kids going through a period, it isn't deeply imbedded into the culture to the point where there are people who live like that until old age. There is no Williamsburg in Portland, or the Bay Area, it is everywhere, and it is the culture rather than a temporary affectation.
In this respect Minneapolis is more like the west coast than the east. Half the city is its Williamsburg (Whittier, Lyn Lake, Stevens Square, Northeast, Powderhorn, Seward, Kingsfield and Dinkytown). St Paul on the other hand is more conventional, which is part of what makes it more east coast style.
I dunno, buddy. I have relatives that grew up (in part) in the Twin City suburbs, and I’ve never heard them describe the area as Bohemian or anything close.
On the flip side, you absolutely don’t need to go to Cambridge to find that sort of culture in Boston.
I dunno, buddy. I have relatives that grew up (in part) in the Twin City suburbs, and I’ve never heard them describe the area as Bohemian or anything close.
On the flip side, you absolutely don’t need to go to Cambridge to find that sort of culture in Boston.
I've worked a lot in MSP. You don't have to get too far out of the city before it turns into the movie set for Fargo. Very white bread. After one night of it in suburbia, I found a boutique hotel on Nicollet Island and stayed there any time I was working there. That area is almost Charles River Basin/Esplanade-like. College vibe. Walkable. Downtown is a few minutes walk. It feels really progressive and cosmopolitan.
You clearly do not know Seattle. Minneapolis is if Denver and Milwaukee had a baby. Seattle has huge issues with homeless populations, violent junkies, an increasingly scuzzy downtown, and is known for coffee, rain, seafood and grunge. Minneapolis has some overlap with that but as I said its more like the yuppie, health conscious world of Denver mixed with the more blue collar aspects of Milwaukee.
I know it well and spent some time up there in the military. Seattle and Minneapolis have very similar Scandinavian roots, very reserved, cold weather, Seattle Freeze/Minnesota Nice, with a strong yuppie fit/outdoorsy/technocrati culture. Thrown in with that Milwaukee "down home" culture (beer, brats, boats on the lake, where did you go to high school?).
Denver culture is a bit more south western, in a way that Seattle and and Minneapolis are not (urban cowboys, open range, libertarianism, hardcore sprawl, large Mexican population etc.).
Don't get me wrong, I would put Denver in the same tier as Minneapolis, Portland, San Diego, and Austin. But really it is kind of like Seattle, just not at the big time level of global commerce. But it is kind of like Milwaukee, just noticeably more cosmopolitan.
Last edited by Valley Boy; 09-01-2021 at 02:41 PM..
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