Secrets of the City

There’s so many part of the core cities I’ve never set foot in. Who knows what goes on in Dayton’s Bluff (cop bars, I hear)? Is it true there’s a ton of great southeast Asian restaurants near Lake Phalen? Where are all the old northside synagogues? I’d grab the Millett/AIA architecture guide, randomly pick a neighborhood you don’t know, and hit it.

Invite out-of-town visitors to stay with you. We see/do a lot of new things when we are showing other folks around town.

Stand behind the WCCO-TV News set on the Nicollet Mall and wave like an idiot.

Jason, did you see me???

Stand behind the WCCO-TV News set on the Nicollet Mall and wave like at an idiot.

Right back at ya, teevee boy.

Oh Rats, my strikethrough of “like” didn’t work.

Boo to that.

LRT from DT to Minnehahaha park for bike rental and dinner @ Sea Salt.

Walking in a bike lane is a good Amsterdam tourist activity, but around the Twin Cities, that’s just another day.

There’s so many part of the core cities I’ve never set foot in.

Just discovered the area near Jay’s Cafe and Key’s restaurant in St. Paul. There’s a newish coffee shop over there too, and the Gremlin Theater too. Pretty freaking sweet.

Also forgotten-about favs: West Linden Hills (44th and Franceish); Chicago Ave. and E. 48th St. (Pepitos, Bagu; Nicollet and 42ndish (Corner Table, some shops), and Cedar-Riverside.

Sometimes I think the reason why we don’t have awesome neighborhoods (besides the fact that walkability and density are constantly undermined by these things called “old people” and “families” that are horrible influences on their neighborhood associations) is because we got so many sweet tiny neighborhoods.

My suggestion is to eat at local restaurants and never eat at the same place twice.

I ain’t taking an out of towners to Cedar-Riverside.

Sometimes I think the reason why we don’t have awesome neighborhoods (besides the fact that walkability and density are constantly undermined by these things called “old people” and “families” that are horrible influences on their neighborhood associations) is because we got so many sweet tiny neighborhoods.

That does not make sense! What does it mean?

I totally bring out of towners to Cedar-Riverside. My fav Minneapolis Ethiopian is there, Midwest Mountaineering, the awesome yarn shop, Triple Rock, K-wok, and all the University area arts stuff. Totally a place for out of towners.

I ain’t taking an out of towners to Cedar-Riverside.

You mean near the “Crack Stacks”, aka, “Ghetto in the Sky”?

Actually, Cedar-Riverside isn’t that bad. I’m not saying I’d live there, but there are some great bars and restaurants there. It’s too bad that the crime keeps people away (although I’ve never had a problem going to The Red Sea).

There was a time when Cedar-Riverside was the “next big thing” in real estate development. It wasn’t always Section-8 housing. Who knows what would’ve happened had the whole development been allowed to be completed.

Cedar-Riverside is one of the best places in town to bring visiting guests. The Bedlam! The Weinery! “Balls” at the Southern Theater! The Triple Rock! Palmer’s (”Bob Dylan used to get beat up here,” you can say)!

But where do you go if you want to ditch relatives who live in town? Sure, I can leave cousins from Kansas at the MOA all day but how can I get my relations from Brooklyn Park out of my house when they come over to visit?

Ask them: Have you ever heard of Secrets of the City?

“Great chat board. Let me show it to you!”

In my experience the people most undermining dense, urban, city living aren’t old people or families – it’s the small but outspoken groups of mostly middle-aged homeowners that hate change. It probably varies by neighborhood, though.

My favorite local destinations include the Stone Arch Bridge and vicinity, Eat Street, renting a boat at Lake Calhoun, the Bakken Museum, Hennepin History Museum, and lunch/dinner/coffee at any number of small local neighborhood commercial nodes.

I never thought of Cedar-Riverside as a particularly bad neighborhood. Overreact much?

@Bixby: It’s the usual reaction to a public housing project, with the added belief now that it’s a hotbed of Muslin [sic] terrorism. People forget it was designed to be an high-rise condo/mixed-income/mixed-use project to replace what the city planners back then viewed as a downtrodden hotbed of student radicalism (Cedar-Riverside ca. 1968).

The hippies won and stopped the project from being completed.

It’s a dump. I don’t fancy taking out of towners to the crappy parts of town. Show ‘em the nice stuff, I say.

Don’t you live in a pretty “crappy” part of town, kwatt? I mean, if Cedar Riverside is crappy, then your neighborhood is too. Do you not let visitors visit you?

Ah, but it is his own crappy stuff, so that’s okay.

Alternate comment: there are several kinda crappy neighborhoods to choose from, if that’s your style. Me, I only like fancy things, so when staycationing, I go sit on the front steps of houses on Summit Avenue or Mount Curve Avenuue and order pizzas to be delivered to me there. The homeowners are perplexed by my bizarre yet unthreatening appearance, but do not call the cops on me. They sometimes have their butlers send me out a mint tea.

“Show ‘em the nice stuff, I say.”

Since you find it impossible to spend sixty bucks eating out in a month, I wonder what constitutes “the nice stuff.” Potbelly at Arbor Lakes?

Used to have to wait for buses at Ceder-Riverside when I did a temp gig at Augsburg when we first moved here and I didn’t have a job.

Was waiting for a bus one day wearing a sport coat and tie.

Couple guys waiting with me. One of them asks “are you a detective?”

If I was thinking, I shoulda borrowed and Elvis Costello line.

“Yeah: Don’t get cute.”

The End

Yeah, that’s the thing. They’re already visiting a crappy part of town to see me. Adds to my diamond in the rough image.

Where’s the Bix? We need to talk about Jack Abbot.