March 31, 2015 9.9 miles Highland Park The trees remain bare, the sides of most streets are ensconced in five months of winter grit and the temperature dips quickly as evening approaches. But none of that matters because it’s March 31st and my bike and I are out of the basement and on the streets […]
12.5 Miles Macalester-Groveland, Merriam Park, South Como The warm October continued for another day, which gave me another chance to ride. Like yesterday, Halloween ornamentation and leaves were plentiful. On my bike rides I often see an object I otherwise wouldn’t lay eyes on. Many times it’s the unusual, but occasionally, it’s objects so commonplace […]
You know what I don’t think we have enough of on Streets.mn? Huge, improbable, thought-provoking ideas. We’re all familiar with Nicollet Ave and a lot of the buildings that reside on it. It’s the Main Street of Minneapolis, representing a lot of what’s great about both cities. However, that’s Minneapolis; it’s not all of Minnesota and […]
Friday, October 24, 2014 19 miles Macalester-Groveland, West End, Downtown, West Side Halloween is but a week away and there were some creative decorations displayed on today’s jaunt. The house at 1236 Jefferson is a great example. Next stop for Halloween fun, 487 Michigan Street in the West End. The Česko-SlovanskýPodporujícíSpole, C.S.P.S. Hall for short […]
After having invented the modern American shopping mall with his design of Southdale in Edina, Victor Gruen spent much of his career working to reverse the population movement from core cities to sprawling suburbs across the U.S. This short film covers his work in Fresno which includes many parallels to Minneapolis-Saint Paul in that freeways were […]
Saturday, September 27, 2014 Frogtown, Como, Highland Park The stunning September weather continued for another weekend, bringing enough sun and warmth to almost blot out thoughts of putting my bike away for the season. The points of interest started in Frogtown with the Church of Saint Columba, the iconic Catholic church on Lafond Street. I […]
I’ve recently found myself getting frustrated by the discourses surrounding architectural aesthetics I’ve been coming across. Here’s an example from the Star Tribune. Yes, I know, the Strib comment section is terrible (bless those of you who take the time to try and ameliorate it), but humor me. One person’s garbage is another person’s treasure. […]
Macalester-Groveland, West End, Downtown 13.4 Miles September 20, 2014 There are sales galore in Mac-Groveland on this beautiful Saturday. I made two stops on the same block of Palace Avenue in Mac-Groveland today, both for ornamentation so unusual they could (and may still) be recognized on the “Quirky Saint Paul” page of this blog. First, […]
The past couple months has seen a robust conversation about development in Minneapolis, starting with Tom Fisher’s Star Tribune piece and followed by Jason Wittenberg’s streets.mn rebuttal. But taste is subjective, so rather than talk about what makes a building “ugly,” let’s instead discuss the ground floor and how it relates to the public realm around it. Building frontages are at eye-level, and together with […]
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about historic preservation as a social cause. This is not entirely new for me (I spend an embarrassing amount of time thinking about these things), but I have slightly changed my view on the topic given recent events. I get so frustrated by the way I see preservation presented […]