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Old 04-04-2008, 09:41 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
501 posts, read 1,938,849 times
Reputation: 138

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Spawned from recent chat about schools and continuous comparisons of neighborhoods, I'm singling out the Victory neighborhood and requesting info.

*What is the general perception of the Victory neighborhood?
*What types of people populate that neighborhood?
*How's the crime rate?
*How's the degree of "neighborhood feel"? Everyone-knows-each-other or good-luck-ever-meeting-your-neighbor? Any block/neighborhood parties or the sort?
*Aside from living directly on the Parkway, are there areas of that neighborhood that are preferred? Any that are not recommended?
*To which schools do most people who live in that neighborhood send their children? Private or public? Names?
*What is there to do around there? (We prefer not to go downtown.)
*We do most of our shopping online but frequent grocery stores and occasionally hit up a mall or Target...any of those things nearby?
*Any great restaurants? (Both family friendly and fine-dining)

I think that's good for now. Your replies are VERY much appreciated!
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Old 04-04-2008, 10:09 AM
 
Location: 44.9800° N, 93.2636° W
2,654 posts, read 5,743,605 times
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*What is the general perception of the Victory neighborhood? I dont think there is one. No one really seems to know it exists outside of the general vicinity. People like it when they discover it though.

*What types of people populate that neighborhood? Upper-middle class and middle class.

*How's the crime rate? Low to moderate at worst. Much better than most.

*How's the degree of "neighborhood feel"? Everyone-knows-each-other or good-luck-ever-meeting-your-neighbor? Any block/neighborhood parties or the sort? Seems to be high from what I can tell

*Aside from living directly on the Parkway, are there areas of that neighborhood that are preferred? Any that are not recommended? Streets closer to the parkway. Thomas Ave looks like a dump, so I would avoid that. Penn I wouldnt want to live on either.

*To which schools do most people who live in that neighborhood send their children? Private or public? Names? Cant really say.

*What is there to do around there? (We prefer not to go downtown.) Cant really say.

*We do most of our shopping online but frequent grocery stores and occasionally hit up a mall or Target...any of those things nearby? Grocery stores on Brooklyn Blvd a mile or so north, Target nearby.

*Any great restaurants? (Both family friendly and fine-dining) Rix used to be good but its now awful. Emilys has good breakfast. Papas is amazing.
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Old 04-04-2008, 10:24 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
501 posts, read 1,938,849 times
Reputation: 138
Quote:
Originally Posted by nick is rulz View Post
*What is the general perception of the Victory neighborhood? I dont think there is one. No one really seems to know it exists outside of the general vicinity. People like it when they discover it though.

*What types of people populate that neighborhood? Upper-middle class and middle class.

*How's the crime rate? Low to moderate at worst. Much better than most.

*How's the degree of "neighborhood feel"? Everyone-knows-each-other or good-luck-ever-meeting-your-neighbor? Any block/neighborhood parties or the sort? Seems to be high from what I can tell

*Aside from living directly on the Parkway, are there areas of that neighborhood that are preferred? Any that are not recommended? Streets closer to the parkway. Thomas Ave looks like a dump, so I would avoid that. Penn I wouldnt want to live on either.

*To which schools do most people who live in that neighborhood send their children? Private or public? Names? Cant really say.

*What is there to do around there? (We prefer not to go downtown.) Cant really say.

*We do most of our shopping online but frequent grocery stores and occasionally hit up a mall or Target...any of those things nearby? Grocery stores on Brooklyn Blvd a mile or so north, Target nearby.

*Any great restaurants? (Both family friendly and fine-dining) Rix used to be good but its now awful. Emilys has good breakfast. Papas is amazing.
Thank you very much!
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Old 04-04-2008, 11:58 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, MN
1,934 posts, read 5,803,790 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MNNative View Post
Spawned from recent chat about schools and continuous comparisons of neighborhoods, I'm singling out the Victory neighborhood and requesting info.
[cut: questions]
I think that's good for now. Your replies are VERY much appreciated!
*What is the general perception of the Victory neighborhood?
I think that many people know about the area as a great place to live - it has had somewhat of a visible presence due to the annual victory garage sale (frequented by people all over the metro), the Victory 10K/ 5K, the annual ice cream social, and other events. Us and several of our neighbors have noted that people from the surrounding suburbs will bring their kids here to go trick or treating, not sure what that is about, but the parkway areas seem to be an ideal trick-or-treating destination for whatever reason. Similarly, I believe the argus leader profiled Victory either in the late 90s or early 00s in an article titled something like "Victory - the gem of North Minneapolis". Nick is right, however, that a lot of people are unfamiliar with the area - there is generally a feeling of it being a hidden best kept secret. I have friends that live in surrounding neighborhoods of Lind-Bohanon, Shingle Creek, etc. and they sometimes refer to us as "parkway snobs" for living in Victory, but otherwise I've heard people talk on this forum about the great, interesting, and active people in the neighborhood. When realtors describe Victory in home listings, you will often find the words "choice", "desirable", "great neighborhood", and proximity to the parkway in their ads.

*What types of people populate that neighborhood?
It's a neat mix of people - a lot of younger professionals (singles, couples, families), a number of retirees that either grew up here or have lived here for years (and we've found that they make for a great 'neighborhood watch'), and everyone in the middle. The people I meet are generally in the middle to upper middle income bracket (the neighborhood average household income exceeds the city of minneapolis average), but you will find working-class/ moderate income folks and retirees living on their social security, etc. as well. The neighborhood has a very high rate of home-ownership to rental ratio, and people take great pride in their homes and yards (really after living here, we drive around other areas in Minneapolis and St. Paul that we were looking at to purchase- Northeast, South, and St. Paul - and we usually comment on how dumpy those neighborhoods now look to us). The people here are generally pretty active in their community, liberal, socially conscious (the neighborhood's housing committee, headed by a partner in a local green design/ build firm, is planning to implement a lot of "Green" standards with the low-interest home improvement/ rehabilitation loans that they provide). Although it's unfortunate that the neighborhood itself isn't as diverse as many surrounding neighborhoods, there is still a strong diversity here - ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, age, politics, sexual orientation, etc. that gives a somewhat eclectic feel to the neighborhood that you will not find in the suburbs.

*How's the crime rate?
It's probably the quietest neighborhood that I think I've ever lived in (and I've lived in a variety of city/ rural areas) and it's very safe and comfortable walk any time of day and night. With that said, it's in a metropolitan city so there of course are incidents/ occassional spates. I would guess that the crime here is much lower than a majority of city neighborhoods on annual, and probably less than a number of inner-ring suburbs. There are tons of block clubs - probably at least 60 - 70% of blocks in the neighborhood, that are active, and the neighborhood organization sends out alerts to residents if there is anything ever 'going on'.

*How's the degree of "neighborhood feel"? Everyone-knows-each-other or good-luck-ever-meeting-your-neighbor? Any block/neighborhood parties or the sort?
ALL THE TIME. Extremely "neighborhood-y". We've met tons of people just going out on walks on the parkway areas. Like I said above, there is the annual events here, but in addition to those in the summer there are neighborhood-sponsored "spring cleaning" events, in the summer there are OUTDOOR MOVIE NIGHTS with a projector screen at the Victory Flagpole (neighborhood historical landmark), regular band concerts in the parkway, the ice cream social, and many block parties throughout the neighborhood - people here seem to like to get together. We've become active with the neighborhood organization and that has been great and another way to meet neighbors, and we've met people at the local restaurants as well (and it's funny how often, in the course of work, I meet or realize that someone I know lives in the neighborhood). When we first moved here, we thought that we must look like another well-known couple in the neighborhood as, having lived in more dense neighborhoods for a while, we were shocked by how many people would stop and talk to us at length when we went out on walks.

*Aside from living directly on the Parkway, are there areas of that neighborhood that are preferred? Any that are not recommended?
Not really, it's a matter of personal preference- drive around and see what feels like home. There is only one street besides Penn (I believe Thomas) that has a bus line servicing it, most people want to be as close to the parkway as they can - we live just off Dowling (the block as far south in Victory as you can get) and we're very happy with our street/ blocks around us.

*To which schools do most people who live in that neighborhood send their children? Private or public? Names?
Loring Community Elementary School is I believe where most parents want their kids if they can get in (i've heard there's a wait list). Olson Middle School and Patrick Henry High, both rated in the top 5% of middle/ high schools in the nation. I see a lot of yard signs for a Catholic school up here - Elizabeth Seton, as well as Maranatha Christian Academy which is actually in Victory. I have heard of a few parents, due to wait lists or some other issue, having kids in school at Robbinsdale (they can get on the bus on the parkway) although I think that's relatively rare. And there's that one experimental or magnet school (5 or 7- 12?) that's downtown - I'm forgetting it's name right now, but it has an amazing reputation, I believe it's publicly funded but your kids need to go through an application/ acceptance process and it's relatively small.

*What is there to do around there? (We prefer not to go downtown.)
Besides what I mentioned above, Victory is home to The Warren, an Artist Habitat(The Warren_An Artist Habitat) which is home to the Workhouse Theatre Co. (Workhouse Theatre Company | Minneapolis (http://www.workhousetheatre.org/site/index.php - broken link)) - their shows are usually pretty good and often fun, the last one we went to sold out for numerous shows. There is a "cheap theatre" just north of us in Brookdale where you can see $3 movies with cheap concessions and a major movie complex just north of 694/ Hwy 100 so that's a pretty short drive as well. In the winter you can go ice skating at Webber Park (on the Webber-Camden parkway east of our neighborhood, maybe 15 min walk) and utilize free ice skates if you don't have any and a warming house - this is also located next door to the Webber library which is going to get rebuilt maybe a half mile west of its current location in a multimillion dollar project. There is an interpretive center (kroenig?) at the mississippi river due east of our neighborhood (less than 5 minute drive). And the newly rebuilt North Regional Library isn't too far and sits on Lowry, the border of Near North and Camden areas.
But the main thing to do is go for a walk, bike ride, or run in the neighborhood. There are miles of parks and paths to do so, and one little lake (Ryan Lake) in the northwest corner of the neighborhood, and the larger Crytal Lake just west of the parkway in Robbinsdale. Theo Wirth Park areas and their amenities are just to the south of Victory Memorial Parkway

*We do most of our shopping online but frequent grocery stores and occasionally hit up a mall or Target...any of those things nearby?
This is anotehr thing we were pleasantly surprised by when we moved here - being in the NW corner of Minneapolis, not only are we in easy commute to downtown, we are a stone's throw away from Robbinsdale's shopping district/ downtown areas as well as Brookdale Shopping District - so we have several major grocery stores (Rainbow and Cub Foods - Robbinsdale; Cub Foods in Brookdale area, not to mention Aldi on Penn/ Lowry) and smaller grocery/ convenience stores close by; the Brookdale Target is very close, several CVS Pharmacies and Walgreens close by off of 81, and if you want to go to a Menard's or Home Depot (that is, if a close-by local hardware store on penn/lowry doesn't have it) - Menard's in golden valley and fridley, home depot in brooklyn park or fridley, and other suburban Super Targets which are all about a 10 minute drive if that.

*Any great restaurants? (Both family friendly and fine-dining)
Robbinsdale has some great restaurants that we are still slowly discovering - a number of ethnic (mexican/ chinese) restaurants, etc. Brookdale has some cheesy family-friendly offerings like Applebee's, local bar and grills, and a wierd 50s theme place. In Victory itself, you have Rix Bar and Grill, which recently changed ownership and will soon be a French or French fusion restaurant called "Sauced" (fine dining), Papa's is probably an inbetween of fine dining and family-friendly and is, like Nick said, AWESOME italian/ pizzeria as well as a newly opened gelato (Papa's Pizza and Pasta). Emily's Family Restaurant (diner feel) is a neighborhood restaurant for breakfasts and extremely affordable, i believe they're open 7 days for breakfast and lunch- no dinner. SteamWorks Coffee (Steamworks Coffee & Tea Company) won Best of Twin Cities "Coffee" in 2000 or 2001 has great coffee, espresso, muffins/ cookies, etc. as well as offers light breakfasts and lunches- I recommend the belgian malted waffles.

I think that's good for now. Your replies are VERY much appreciated!

Feel free to throw out/ DM any other specific questions you have Moving, and if you do decide to move here, Direct Message me so I can make sure you get on the list to get a neighborhood welcome packet (neighborhood and city needed information, coupons to many of the above restaurants, etc.)and/or we can take you and yours to Papa's some night. Good luck-

Last edited by Camden Northsider; 04-04-2008 at 12:16 PM..
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Old 04-04-2008, 12:12 PM
 
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
501 posts, read 1,938,849 times
Reputation: 138
Wow. Thank you VERY much Camden Northsider for that wonderfully detailed response! Very helpful and encouraging...sounds like the type of neighborhood we're after. I'm also glad to hear that there are school options worth taking a look at. (And yum, does Papa's sound right up our alley!!!!--I'm Italian--)
Well, we are taking a look at some homes in that neighborhood tomorrow morning, so we'll see how it goes!
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Old 04-04-2008, 12:29 PM
 
Location: Minneapolis, MN
1,934 posts, read 5,803,790 times
Reputation: 1777
Quote:
Originally Posted by MNNative View Post
Wow. Thank you VERY much Camden Northsider for that wonderfully detailed response! Very helpful and encouraging...sounds like the type of neighborhood we're after. I'm also glad to hear that there are school options worth taking a look at. (And yum, does Papa's sound right up our alley!!!!--I'm Italian--)
Well, we are taking a look at some homes in that neighborhood tomorrow morning, so we'll see how it goes!
Awesome and you're welcome - the owner "Papa" himself is a neat guy and actually a New Jersey transplant. Keep us posted on how your search is going and I'm open to answering any other questions I might be able to help out with (but i hope I don't discourage more people from responding to your questions, i sometimes have a tendency for overkill!).
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Old 04-05-2008, 01:10 PM
 
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
501 posts, read 1,938,849 times
Reputation: 138
Well, we checked out homes this morning, some of which were in the Victory neighborhood. I have to say we stopped to chat with some neighbors and even as we just drove by people were waving and very personable.

Our main concern is, of course, still schools. According to Mpls's website, they want your pick for schools sent in by Feb 29 (that date is long past). I am assuming our chances of getting into Loring are slim. We're a little nervous as both of our favorite homes in that neighborhood happen to be ones that other buyers were viewing today as well! (So they know we exist and we know they exist and if they liked the homes as much as we did...)

Last edited by MNNative; 04-05-2008 at 02:25 PM..
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Old 04-05-2008, 08:03 PM
 
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
501 posts, read 1,938,849 times
Reputation: 138
No one else has anything to add?

Does anyone currently have kids enrolled in Mpls schools (don't necessarily have to be ones in the Camden neighborhoods)?
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Old 04-06-2008, 03:15 PM
 
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Thought I'd add some feedback as well, since I also live in the Victory neighborhood.

*What is the general perception of the Victory neighborhood?
For people who know the north side of mpls, they know that the Victory neighborhood is one of the best and most desirable to live in. I would echo the comments earlier in this thread about the Annual Garage Sale weekend (May 31st this year). Usually a great time to see the other houses around and get some great deals. The neighborhood is extremely quiet and people have a lot of pride in the neighborhood since many own their own homes.

*What types of people populate that neighborhood?
Mostly young urbanite/dual income families, retirees who have lived hear for 20, 30, 40 years, and other folks from other demographic areas.

*How's the crime rate?
Crime rate is very low.

*How's the degree of "neighborhood feel"? Everyone-knows-each-other or good-luck-ever-meeting-your-neighbor? Any block/neighborhood parties or the sort?
Each street will very in its involvement with the block club. But, our block is very active and looks after each other.

*Aside from living directly on the Parkway, are there areas of that neighborhood that are preferred? Any that are not recommended?
Any area except for Thomas Ave. Many rentals that have lapsed in the maintenance of their properties.

*To which schools do most people who live in that neighborhood send their children? Private or public? Names?
My child is only 1 yr old, so he's not old enough yet. But, most I believe send their kids to Loring School or to St. Elizabeth Seton School in the Lind Bohanon neighborhood.

*What is there to do around there? (We prefer not to go downtown.)
Robbinsdale has many shops and Emily's, Rix and Papa's are very nice restaurants.

*We do most of our shopping online but frequent grocery stores and occasionally hit up a mall or Target...any of those things nearby?
We frequent the Target in Crystal and the Cub Foods off Hwy 100.

*Any great restaurants? (Both family friendly and fine-dining)
Rix, Papa's and Emily's are all family friendly. Thistles in Robbinsdale is a decent fine-dining place as well.

Overall, I'm happy to hear that more and more people are considering the housing opportunities in Victory. You can't do much better for a first time homebuyer or for being centrally located in the TC Area. We've been hear for 3 years and have loved it.
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Old 04-07-2008, 07:44 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
501 posts, read 1,938,849 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mpls Hawkeye View Post
Thought I'd add some feedback as well, since I also live in the Victory neighborhood.

*What is the general perception of the Victory neighborhood?
For people who know the north side of mpls, they know that the Victory neighborhood is one of the best and most desirable to live in. I would echo the comments earlier in this thread about the Annual Garage Sale weekend (May 31st this year). Usually a great time to see the other houses around and get some great deals. The neighborhood is extremely quiet and people have a lot of pride in the neighborhood since many own their own homes.

*What types of people populate that neighborhood?
Mostly young urbanite/dual income families, retirees who have lived hear for 20, 30, 40 years, and other folks from other demographic areas.

*How's the crime rate?
Crime rate is very low.

*How's the degree of "neighborhood feel"? Everyone-knows-each-other or good-luck-ever-meeting-your-neighbor? Any block/neighborhood parties or the sort?
Each street will very in its involvement with the block club. But, our block is very active and looks after each other.

*Aside from living directly on the Parkway, are there areas of that neighborhood that are preferred? Any that are not recommended?
Any area except for Thomas Ave. Many rentals that have lapsed in the maintenance of their properties.

*To which schools do most people who live in that neighborhood send their children? Private or public? Names?
My child is only 1 yr old, so he's not old enough yet. But, most I believe send their kids to Loring School or to St. Elizabeth Seton School in the Lind Bohanon neighborhood.

*What is there to do around there? (We prefer not to go downtown.)
Robbinsdale has many shops and Emily's, Rix and Papa's are very nice restaurants.

*We do most of our shopping online but frequent grocery stores and occasionally hit up a mall or Target...any of those things nearby?
We frequent the Target in Crystal and the Cub Foods off Hwy 100.

*Any great restaurants? (Both family friendly and fine-dining)
Rix, Papa's and Emily's are all family friendly. Thistles in Robbinsdale is a decent fine-dining place as well.

Overall, I'm happy to hear that more and more people are considering the housing opportunities in Victory. You can't do much better for a first time homebuyer or for being centrally located in the TC Area. We've been hear for 3 years and have loved it.
Thanks very much, Mpls Hawkeye. We really find the neighborhood appealing and it's nice to hear that the people who live there really enjoy it. I appreciate your comments...I was hoping more than just Camden Northsider lived in Victory (not that I don't appreciate C.N. but I like to hear other opinions too!)
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