Much has been said lately of the Central Corridor, the off-again, on-again 11-mile light rail route that would connect Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Minnesota Public Radio has a great multi-media feature that follows the planned route on University Avenue, with images and sounds of what is there now, and how the street looked in years past. Very cool.
The Central Corridor, Then & Now
Jun 12 2008 — 2:00am
34 Reader Comments
12:57 pm
I wish that were running tonight. It would cut my commute time from DTMPLS to Uni-Lex in half.
1:01 pm
Wow. Your “add” finger is as fast as your delete finger, max. Thanks.
The little video on the signs along University Avenue is very nice, and really shows the diversity of the neighborhood.
1:02 pm
It’s the same finger.
1:03 pm
Please, don’t share its other uses with us, or this thread is in trouble from the start…
1:25 pm
Oh how I wish the UniLex ballpark was still there. Or the one at 31/Nicollet. What a wonderful joy a true neighborhood ballpark would be! I saw on the PBS once that the Chicago White Sox franchise got its start at that stadium.
The transformation of that intersection in the time I’ve lived here is tremendous. When I first took the bus down University in Feb. 2004 it was an empty eyesore. You could even still see the footprint of the ballpark. Now, it ’s entirely built in and you wouldn’t know it’s the same place if you didn’t know it was.
1:43 pm
um…it has a strip mall, a kfc, a white castle and a crappy full service vietnamese restaurant. if that’s progress, then I’m for regression.
1:49 pm
There is also the TCF Bank (where I go), and Aldi’s and the new Walker Foundation building.
1:50 pm
well, compared to how it looked in 04 with the abandoned parking lot, and the crappy gas station which was empty on the corner…it looks much better. Sure, the white castle could go…and the check cashing strip mall..but the addition of Pres. homes..and Wilder Foundation has helped make the intersection look much better. Is it grand ave…well, no…but is it nicer than it used to be…YES.
1:50 pm
kevin, if you go to the Wells Fargo at 31st and Nicollet they have a plaque up about the Nicollet Park. Ted Williams and Willie Mayes both played there.
1:51 pm
in all honesty, I’m just a drive-by on that intersection. I’m more of a Uni-Snelling kind of guy. Except for Evergreen Plaza.
1:52 pm
That’s where The Millers used to play. They were so popular that entire northern towns would rent buses and come down en masse. Now?
Well, my favorite Mexican Bakery, El Rey, is right across the street.
1:57 pm
They would do double headers against St. Paul, a game in each city. Everyone would cram on the street cars to race from one city to the other to see the games. (I learned that when I originally heard the radio broadcast of the MPR feature above).
We live two blocks from the old park, and our house was built within a year or two of the stadium. I can’t imagine how different the neighborhood was back then.
1:59 pm
Yes, we live right by there..but don’t have much need for the kfc..white castle…or the aldi….so don’t actually stop there very often. Dairy Queen on the other hand, is a much different story. All in all though, the area has improved greatly.
2:03 pm
I see the old Franks is an auto parts store now.
Oh, and don’t forget the cool little model train store on the corner!! Very unique!
2:04 pm
It’d been years since a ballpark graced the Uni-Lex neighborhood. I can only recall a liquor store and a thrift shop being there from the ’80s onward … and a large expanse of asphalt for a parking lot. Typical ’60s-era strip mall. It’s much, much better now.
And if you think Hoa Bien is crappy, you don’t know good Vietnamese food.
2:05 pm
The eggrolls at Hoa bien are awesome. I would go there just to order those………..mmmmmmmmmmmm
2:10 pm
Have you tried the Vietnamese Coffee at Hoa Bien? Great.
Actually, their is a crappy “Asian Express” on Lex, just across from the bank (same building as Check Cashing joint, Compass Men’s Fashions and the before mentioned model train store). Maybe that is what was referred to earlier.
If so, I concur.
2:10 pm
Hmmm… Eggrolls…
2:20 pm
Hmmm… Coffee…
2:21 pm
Somebody asked me one day if I wanted to go to Hoa Bein for lunch and I said, “Whoa, bein not my kind of place.”
2:22 pm
Hmmm… Lunch…
2:24 pm
Your loss, kevs. The phß ga is particularly good there.
2:27 pm
Hmmm… Kevs…
2:28 pm
No, I’m not going to eat you, Kevin.
2:32 pm
But…
(walks away wearing his bathrobe, holding a bottle of champaigne and two empty glasses…stops to blow out the candles…leaves dejectedly)
2:33 pm
Whoa, didn’t mean to upset you.
2:40 pm
Phoenix: Just be glad you said something when you did, when it was still at the imaginary_bathrobe-and-champagne stage. If you had left it much later, you would have awoken in an imaginary bed after having imaginary sex.
2:45 pm
OK…
2:50 pm
Panaderia El Rey es un limon! San Miguel es una panaderia fuerte!
2:54 pm
Me gusta la panderia esta en Nicollet y 28. Es lo mejor. Los churros estan bien.
2:54 pm
Panaderia El Rey is a lemon! San Miguel is a bakery strong!
4:48 pm
I’m such a history nerd… one of my favorite things is imagining how familiar places used to be “once upon a time”. Thanks, Bob!
5:00 pm
The MN Historical Society has a great collection of old photos too.
I wonder if Prospect Park will ever look the same. I hear they are going to lose most of their trees to disease.
7:12 am
Thanks, nayana. Nice blog posting on The Princess Bride, also a fav of mine.
“You keep saying that word. I do not think you know what it means…”