From MPR.com...
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from St. Paul," said Ron.
"How do feel about calling it Minneapolis-St. Paul from now on?"
"I'm not too much in favor of calling it Minneapolis-St. Paul. I don't like the name Minneapolis," Ron explained.
"I don't even go over there," Don said.
"Why's that?"
"Two reasons. I get lost is one reason. The second reason is I don't want to get beat up over there. So I stay home," said Don.
Funny, I've heard this debate from both sides. St. Paul natives rarely move to this side of the river and, while less rare, Minneapolis natives don't make the jump across the river either. For some reason, northeast Minneapolis has a better rep' with St. Paul natives. It's like we have some sort of street cred. We don't live in Uptown, we don't live in south, and heaven forbid we live in north Minneapolis.
But over here in northeast we have a bit of a working class, community, neighborhood. We have both dive and more upscale bars, restaurants, churches. Boy, do we have churches. Every other block seems to have a church on the corner. All of Minneapolis, with the exception of south, is very accessible.
Northeast Minneapolis is the closest thing St. Paul and the most accepted. I personally rarely go to St. Paul, though recently that's changed more. St. Paul just feels so far away and as I've said in a previous entry that when I first moved here smoking indoors was still legal. That immediate introduction to St. Paul soured me on it and just now has my life habits directed me back towards St. Paul.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
As a person whose 17 years in the Twin Cities include Minneapolis (Whittier) 1 year, St Paul (Downtown) 1 year, back to Minneapolis (Whittier) 1 year, back to St Paul (Frogtown) 13 years, and finally back to Minneapolis as a homeowner in NE for about a year and a half, I have been involved in this debate many times! In general, it seems like the cool places in Minneapolis get all the "press" and the cool places in St Paul go largely unnoticed by those people who have sworn off St Paul. Examples? The video store with the overall best selection: Box Office Video on Selby. Best Bah Mi in town, as long as you are a meat eater: Saigon Cafe on University. I could not live without Tanpopo Noodle Shop. The Muddy Pig used to have the best beer selection but others have now horned in on that territory. I could go on, but those are some of the things that keep me going to St Paul.
Although I am now 100% Minneapolitan, I still love St Paul.
Post a Comment