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Showing posts from April, 2018

Saint Paul's Enduring #flagcolorgate Mystery Explained

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[From  my big Strib article on the flag .] Like it or not the Saint Paul flag is on the map of vital and trending city flags. Much like the city itself , the Saint Paul flag is on the move ! Setting aside the justifiable hand-wringing over proper flag design principles (aka. vexilology ), I believe the Saint Paul flag is above average. What's more, the Saint Paul flag has a lovely historical pedigree filled with intrigue, mystery*, and changing sensibilities. * more on this in a moment! tl;dr: I just got some new flags in stock. They're on sale at a new low low price! Buy yours today! For more details about the flag's mysterious history, continue reading... The #flagcolorgate conspiracy So the Saint Paul flag, the best official city flag in Minnesota, is good enough to be a useful compelling civic symbol for a great little city that could surely use one, particularly in this day and age when governments at nearly all levels face a crisis of urbanism. That�s why I remain an

Twin City Shop Windows #17

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[Stillwater.]  [North Minneapolis.]  [River Falls, WI.]  [Frogtown, Saint Paul.]  [Northeast, Minneapolis.]  [West 7th, Saint Paul.]  [North Loop, Minneapolis.] [East Lake Street, Minneapolis.]

Notes from the Old Nicollet Walk

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[Old Nicollet in 1950.] I was first struck by this part of the city when I first came across it many years ago, around the year 2000. I remember walking into the "Market BBQ", a self-proclaimed legendary Minneapolis restaurant for 40 years... Well, if it was so famous, how come I'd never heard of it? Since then I've always been curious about this part of the city that seems so off-the-radar of the mainstream, so full of old remnants of the built environment, despite being a stone's throw from downtown. With that idea in mind, I put together a tour. The Old Nicollet Walk  (defined as between Grant Street and Franklin Avenue) this sprinter was a fun time for me, and more than most of the tours I put together, an exploration. I didn't quite know the story of this part of the street, and I hoped that in doing research for the walk and bringing a group of people together, I might learn about this part of the city that had always intrigued me. Here are some themes t