Stereotypes of the individual Minneapolis suburbs?

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by ellysbelly

Liberal Christians and I get along fabulously, so that bodes well-- my closest friend from undergrad is a liberal, church going Lutheran from the Midwest. As long as someone is cool with me, then I'm cool with them-- live and let live and all that.

I may have made the assumption about Edina as the two friends of friends that live there happen to be Jewish, but that might just be a coincidence. Just noticed that there are a number of synagogues in Minnetonka (don't know why I mentally switched Minnetonka with Plymouth, but I did), I will have to check out the town while we're there. If not, commuting to SLP or Minnetonka from any of the areas we're considering if we put the kids into Hebrew School is doable.

A couple that my husband and I are very close with are both from Blaine (they live here in South Florida now) and neither of them had ever met a Jewish person until they moved here (and, ironically, they now live in an area where a good 30%, if not more, of the residents are Jewish)-- so, partially due to that, I had eliminated Blaine from our short list, that and because it's relatively far from EP where my husband will be coaching most mornings.

Thank you all again for the insight-- only 43 more days until I get to check it all out in person!

Historically the Jews in Mpls settled in North Minneapolis. After the 1960's MLK race riots, Jews fled out of North Minneapolis, Westward in Golden Valley, St Louis Park (aka St Jewish Park ) & Plymouth primarily. In St Paul, Highland Park was & continues to be the area with the largest Jewish population. There's no Jewish stereotype or connection to Edina, that said you won't feel out of place anywhere in the Metro if you're non a non-Hasidic Jew.

[rzzz]

Originally Posted by Mason3000

There's one in NE Mpls/St Anthony Village I'm pretty sure?

Yeah, it's right on Lowry and Stinson.

[JONOV]

Originally Posted by rzzz

I do not think either Edina or Plymouth have much of a Jewish population. Google "Twin Cities Synagogues" and the map that shows up is where the small Jewish communities are.

Don't you think that has more to do with Edina's proximity to SLP and the historic covenants about not selling to Jews in Edina? Obiously, that's not the case anymore, but they wouldn't throw up new Temples if the one they grew up going to was just a stones throw away. Anecdotally, I dated a girl from Edina and she said there was a fair handful of Jewish kids (I think they got High Holy Days off school? Not sure on that one.) I lived with a kid from Plymouth, and of the six kids from HS that visited him our freshman year three were Jewish.

[57special]

To the OP- I'm not Jewish, but my brother is married to one. They are happily married and living in NDG back in Montreal. There is far less of a Jewish presence/ culture in the Twin Cities compared to Montreal, NYC, or Toronto. Closest thing would be St. Louis Park, but it's not like you'll be tripping over good delis. Places like Linden Hills in MPLS have a Jewish presence, and a tolerant vibe. I'm in Edina. We're here for the excellent public schools... Haven't been disappointed. We are seeing more and more non- white faces here- mainly, but not all Asian, who are here for the schools also. My son's friends include Hindus, Muslims(from all over the place), Latino, and Chinese as well as your typical (not there is any such thing) Edina White Christian.

I've lived all over this continent and a bit in Asia and have found Edina to be a friendly, welcoming place. Local MN'ers consider them to be snooty... Their heads would explode if they ever met the upper crust that you find back East. Btw, the hockey here is really good also. I played quite a bit back in MTL many, many years ago, and have found my way back into it by coaching.

Now that I know the MPLS area better there are many areas I would consider living in besides Edina, but it is hard to beat if you have kids of school age. While there are many expensive, high end neighbourhoods you can find some homes that are more on the modest side, and at modest property taxes to boot. Schools and services are top notch, and access to the airport is pretty good. If it was up to me I would probably live out more in the country, but my wife needs the central location for her work.

The twin cities are really livable in general, and devoid of many of the headaches that you will find in many urban areas. To me it's hit the sweet spot in size so that it's big enough to have a fair amount to offer but small enough that things still work. The big drawback to most is the weather... Just think Montreal but with less snow and no biting winds off the St. Lawrence.