Twin City Street Musicians #21

 [Grand Avenue, Saint Paul.]

 [Skyway, Minneapolis.]

 [Victoria, BC.]

 [Downtown, Saint Paul.]

 [Vancouver? Or maybe Seattle.]

 [West 7th Street, Saint Paul.]

 [Lowertown, Saint Paul.]

[Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis.]

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maps of Colloquial Terms for Where You Park Your Car

Image
[WTH is a "parkade"?] If you leave the bubble of Minnesota, you quickly come to realize that not everyone calls a multi-story building where empty cars are parked by the same name. Sure, these grey concrete buildings are a ubiquitous part of our landscape. And yes, here in Minnesota, these things are called "parking ramps." But not so elsewhere in these United States. In fact, much like the great "pop / soda / coke" divide or the Minnesotan "duck duck grey duck" exception, one quickly finds that the term "parking ramp" is rather unique to the Upper Midwest and that elsewhere in the United States people will park their cars on second stories in other kinds of buildings! Let me break it down for you, using Google Trends maps. The first key point is that the term "parking ramp" is a geographically specific regionalism... Minnesota is the center of the "parking ramp", and once you leave the state, the term starts to di...
Read more

100 Years Ago Minneapolis Walking Tour next Sunday April 8th

Image
[Mmmmm... looks healthy!] A friend of mine organizes an annual month-long health effort called "Buds of Spring" aimed at getting the summertime off on the right foot by having social events not organized around drinking. Way back in 2013, I had agreed to lead a walking tour as part of the event series, but on that day the rain rained and the wind blew and we ended up cancelling the tour. Well, it's back! Presenting the "100 Years Ago Minneapolis" walking tour. We'll be walking around downtown, about 2.5 miles total, and looking around and thinking about what it might have looked like back in 1918. It should be fun. Prepare to be amazed by the imaginary industrial landscape that surrounds you! Let's hope for better weather this time, or else it might be another five years before I try it again. [Alley shacks!] [ Facebook event is here .] What : 100 Years Ago Minneapolis Walking Tour When : 4/8 at 4:00 pm Where : Leave from the Dunn Brothers on 2nd and 3rd...
Read more

Notes from the Old Nicollet Walk

Image
[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...
Read more