59 Comments:
Yeah, it's tough. Here's an example: Downtown. Does Downtown contain the Warehouse District? Because some folks say it's "The North Loop". Also, in the classifieds, a lot of people say that the Stevens area across the highway is Downtown. Are those two areas in the same neighborhood?
»» Submitted by Taylor at 12:14 PM on August 3
Oh, brother.
»» Submitted by Simon at 12:17 PM on August 3
I started to include Stevens, and then I thought, "Well, then I have to include Phillips and Powderhorn and Longfellow and Nokomis..." So I just drew the line and said "South Minneapolis."
»» Submitted by Rex at 12:23 PM on August 3
I think you missed South Mpls on the list then (and I assume that's different from South Metro). Otherwise Uptown would be way too all-encompassing per yesterday's debate.
Will Uptown be everything, say, northwest of 35th and Lyndale, east of the lake and south of downtown?
»» Submitted by Dave at 12:30 PM on August 3
South Minneapolis needs some further division - I'd be willing to concede everything South of downtown, North of 36th Street, west to the lakes, and east to 35W as "Uptown." Then call eveything South of downtown and east of 35W to the river (longfellow, midtown, nokomis, etc.) "South Minneapolis." What's left (Linden hills, washburn/tangletown, etc.) can just be Southwest Minneapolis.
Notably imperfect in a couple of spots (Bryn Mawr?), and the KMART/Blaisdell/1st Ave area which by the above demarcation would be Uptown, which it really isn't (Dirty Uptown? Uptown's Underbelly?) That's my take, for what it's worth.
»» Submitted by Alex at 12:28 PM on August 3
I thought everyone agreed that Uptown doesn't exist? Or maybe that was wishful thinking. Anyway, I figure the mark of a neighborhood worth living in is the impossibility of delineating its boundaries on a map.
»» Submitted by chuck t at 12:39 PM on August 3
Uh, by that logic, I have to delete this site.
»» Submitted by Rex at 12:47 PM on August 3
It's tough.
Within the different pockets of Minneapolis there are many different neighborhoods; in NE for example, the neighborhood of 27th & Ulysses is much different from that of 13th & University. I know, I know. This opens up a crazy ball of wax. But it is true.
Perhaps it may be better & more accurate to refrain from using the term "neighborhood" & use "community" instead.
Growing up on 27th & Ulysses St NE, I would never have said that someone who grew up on 13th & University grew up in my neighborhood, but I would agree that we grew up in the same community.
»» Submitted by dahli at 1:18 PM on August 3
Alex, I'm technically in the Kingfield neighborhood on 43rd Street and Stevens, and I believe the Tangletown line is drawn at 46th Street. But it sure seems like plain old "South Minneapolis" all the way to the Richfield border. 35W seems to be a more recognized delineation than 46th.
FWIW, I identify more with South Minneapolis than Kingfield, which I think supports at least a couple other arguments in this thread.
»» Submitted by David at 1:15 PM on August 3
I will from here on out call the KMart/ 1st/ Lake area "dirty Uptown".
»» Submitted by Taylor at 1:53 PM on August 3
The MLS real-estate listing system uses a breakdown of Minneapolis that I think works pretty well.
- Calhoun/Isles (that's your Uptown)
- Central/Downtown
- Longfellow
- Nokomis
- North
- Northeast
- Phillips/Powderhorn
- Southwest
- University (Southeast)
For practical purposes I think you could merge Nokomis into either Powderhorn, Southwest or Longfellow.
St. Paul has its own breakdown, but I think it comes down to Midway, Downtown, Mac Groveland, West 7th, and the Eastside. The suburbs can be divided into quadrants: North, West, South of River, and East, or by area code (952, 763, 651).
Anyone who would include "Moorhead" on this list must be from North Dakota.
»» Submitted by Simon at 1:49 PM on August 3
Just call everything "somewhere in the Upper Midwest."
»» Submitted by Mr. Geography at 2:07 PM on August 3
Well, where's S'Uptown?! I just got a tee-shirt that says that, I got hosed.
»» Submitted by Peter at 2:14 PM on August 3
I guess I just assumed that people knew what Minneapolis neighborhood they lived in, but after reading the open thread I guess that's not the case. Simon had it right, technically speaking, about the number of neighborhoods and the street sign designations. But anyone who lives near the border of a neighborhood knows that specific geographic boundaries aren't what constitute a "neighborhood." That's why people get their panties in a bunch when you lump them into a neighborhood they think has a not-so-hip reputation. But they need to suck it up and realize that the official neighborhood distinctions were made for a reason: Each one has at its own park, usually named the same as the neighborhood.
I like the idea of neighborhood-specific news, but I think you should branch it out to broader communities, like what Dahli said. Pick what you think they should be, and then provide a map so people can see which one they fall in. Or you could just use the 11 official "communities" as stated by the city of Minneapolis, which I think makes the most sense.
»» Submitted by neon_mamacita at 1:53 PM on August 3
Don't be too hard on Rex. We North Dakotans can easily be confused by all the "big city" lingo!
»» Submitted by Rhonda at 2:27 PM on August 3
Simon: Agreed, Tangletown goes in South, not Southwest - my mistake.
»» Submitted by Alex at 3:11 PM on August 3
When I lived in "South Minneapolis", I lived in the Field, Regina, and Northrop neighborhoods (across the freeway was Kingfield). Seems like if there are street signs, its a neighborhood. Is there some city department that designates these, makes the signs, and thus knows all of this information? Perhaps if you had that, you could then lump things together to explain whats in each group. Even so, I still want to know what happens in the neighborhood thats only a block away but called something else.
»» Submitted by Ben at 3:26 PM on August 3
Sings are no help. Evidence: the hype machine known as "Eat Street."
»» Submitted by Rex at 3:31 PM on August 3
Type "Minneapolis" and either "uptown" or "seward" or "eat street" into Google Maps. The businesses of the area quite accurately depict these supposed fictitious neighborhoods...
»» Submitted by Ben at 3:57 PM on August 3
Doh! St. Paul is all lumped together??
»» Submitted by Victoria at 4:15 PM on August 3
St. Paul can't be lumped together. There are too many distinct neighborhoods...Frogtown, Como, Cathedral, Grand, Highland, etc...
»» Submitted by Oops at 4:33 PM on August 3
Rex, have you considered working for Gannett? They'd love you!
Signed,
Ross, resident of Lowertown
»» Submitted by Ross at 6:02 PM on August 3
Isn't your neighorhood really composed of all the other homes that get flyered with "Level III Sex Offender" notification when you do? Also, does anyone know of a reasonably priced vacancy outside the Logan Park area?
»» Submitted by sarah at 6:11 PM on August 3
Sarah: you should visit the always excellent craigslist. There's all sorts of listings in the apartment section.
»» Submitted by Taylor at 6:39 PM on August 3
Rex, great idea. I co-founded the new neighborhood around the U of M, UDIA or University District Improvement Association. The Neighborhood Revitalization Program, NRP, has a map of all the Minneapolis neighborhoods. Maybe you short changed St. Paul but apparently they are not reading the blog or care enough to complain. Until they "speak up", don't worry about it.
Everyone keeps saying I ignored St. Paul, but all of these from my original post were intended to include St. Paul in some way: South Metro, Midway, North St. Paul Metro, and, duh, St. Paul.
»» Submitted by Rex at 11:19 PM on August 3
Rex: All large neighborhoods within the city and and outer-metro areas (as you've got them grouped above) have local free papers. The papers map out the areas for news covered. As far as I'm concerned, your list is just fine.
»» Submitted by Alexis at 12:24 AM on August 3
North Mpls can be divided into Near North and Camden. There is actually a map that shows the division of the neighborhoods in the city. I haven't seen it online, but it is definitely hanging up in the office where I work.
»» Submitted by The Kid at 4:39 AM on August 4
I've seen a few shoutouts for St. Paul neighborhoods, but mine is missing. I live on St. Paul's West Side (and no, it's not West St. Paul, that's not St. Paul proper) but it's also called Cherokee/Riverview, and sometimes District Del Sol. It's all complicated-like.
»» Submitted by Sharyn at 7:48 AM on August 4
Hello? There is a whole neighborhood called Linden Hills? Lots and lots of people live there.
»» Submitted by Nina at 8:48 AM on August 4
ok check out this link. Its a map of each area(central,southwest,calhoun...) then shows what 'hoods are in those areas. Then you can break it down by 'hoods and their demogrpphhhics.
http://www.minnesotas-real-estate.com/minneapolis_neighborhoods.htm
»» Submitted by lunch at 9:07 AM on August 4
Regarding lakes: I think if you are going to associate lake names with a neighborhood, it ought be only the immediate area surrounding the lake. For example, say you live just west of Hennepin Ave and south 27th. Technically, you live in East Isles, but I think most would be hard pressed to say you live by the lake the same way that the folks with the million dollar houses live by the lake.
Regarding Uptown: I live at 26th and Hennepin and I consider it Uptown. I think of Uptown as a vibrant, active, always moving kind of neighborhood. With that in mind, I think of Uptown as the immediate stretch a block or two east and west of Hennepin Ave from 36th street up to Franklin Ave. Outside this area to the west you get the big lake homes and east you are mostly quiet residentials. As I said in another thread, I don't really consider Lyndale part of Uptown, it's just not the same. I think of it more as just "Lyndale."
If you don't believe me, come stay with me on Hennepin for a few days and then spend a few days living on Lyndale, I think you'll see what I mean.
»» Submitted by Kevin at 9:42 AM on August 4
I still stand by the "communities" map (thanks for the link lunch), with just a few minor quibbles: Whittier and Lyndale really aspire to be in Calhoun-Isles, not Powderhorn. The rest of Powderhorn can be merged into either Phillips and Nokomis. I think you could get away with merging "Near" North and Camden as just plain "North." Then you've got a bunch of well-defined regions, firmly divided by highways or rivers.
Sure, a bunch of people live in Linden Hills, which is part of Southwest, but all my friends live in Bancroft, which is part of Powderhorn. I live for conversations like this.
»» Submitted by Simon at 11:39 AM on August 4
Apparently the MN Speak folks are in favor of far away cities, but not the west (St Louis Park to Maple Grove) or east (Oakdale to Woodbury) metro cities.
»» Submitted by Stacia at 11:55 AM on August 4
Someone needs to step up and draft the Official MNSpeak Twin Cities Neighborhoods Map. It would look like a huge Venn diagram. Awesome.
»» Submitted by chuck t at 12:00 PM on August 4
if you go by neighborhood associations (in Southwest MPLS at least) you get...this it seems.
»» Submitted by kristoffer at 12:54 PM on August 4
What about the people who live in Landfall? And Lilydale? Who speaks for them?
»» Submitted by Pat at 1:10 PM on August 4
The point being missed here is that Rex is trying to create categories for posting neighborhood-specific news. For such purposes, not only is it completely unnecessary to distiguish between, say, the Logan Park and Sheridan neighborhoods, but it would be a complete pain in the ass. For Rex and for the reader, most likely.
»» Submitted by Alexis at 1:51 PM on August 4
But how can a news story consider Lyndale/Franklin south Minneapolis? If downtown is the orientation, Lyn/Frank is about a 2 minute WALK from downtown. I would hardly consider that south Minneapolis.
»» Submitted by Kevin at 2:09 PM on August 4
Based upon all of this, I think this is what I've come up with:
- Downtown Minneapolis
- Downtown St. Paul
- South Minneapolis
- Northeast Minneapolis
- North Minneapolis
- Uptown
- North St. Paul
- South St. Paul
- East St. Paul
- Mac Groveland
- Midway
- University
To answer some questions: Warehouse is in Downtown Minneapolis. Calhoun and Eat Street are Uptown. Lowertown is Downtown St. Paul. The North Loop is Northeast Minneapolis. Westside is South St. Paul. Como is Midway. Summit is Mac Groveland. Stevens, Phillips, Nokomis, Linden Hills, and Powerhorn are all South Minneapolis. And I suddenly live in Uptown again.
I'm sure this infuriates someone, but keep in mind I'm trying to keep my list small. And besides, none of this matters, because I still have to write the code that actually breaks up this site's stories by neighborhood anyway.
»» Submitted by Rex at 2:18 PM on August 4
I for one probably don't see much benefit to have anything tailored to my neighborhood or anyone else's. Heck, if something interesting goes on in Hudson, by all means stick it on here and lump it in with all the rest. If we were getting 50 stories a day rather than five maybe it would become necessary, but if we get up to 50 a day my bet is that the problem would be more a need to filter by quality than by geography. But Rex may have something up his sleeve that I'm not anticipating.
»» Submitted by Dave at 2:19 PM on August 4
Um, seems like it's Rex's site, and he can break it down however he chooses. Some may feel it's idiosyncratic (St. Cloud as a neighborhood? I lived there for 4 years and it was more like a cemetery), but ultimately it's up to Rex how he wants to define the boundaries.
Also, too, keep in mind that he probably doesn't want to have to provide news for every postage-stamp parcel of land that has a unique name and a population of 223. I would think that about 8-10 total areas would be fine. Any more than that and CJ gets confused.
I'll keep reading whether you break it down by "neighborhood," zip code, block or not at all.
»» Submitted by fkaJames at 2:07 PM on August 4
where does St. Louis Park fall into that revised list?
cuz i'm closer to downtown Minneapolis than most anyone in Northeast is...
just curious
»» Submitted by solace at 2:26 PM on August 4
Rex always has something up his sleave that you're not anticipating. You should try dating me. (Wait, no you shouldn't.) All I'm really planning is to tag stories by category and geography. The best reason for this is archiving, so you can quickly look up all the stories written about, say, Uptown. MNspeak is good at being up-to-date, but I'd also like to extend it into being a bit more of a resource to look up things.
And frankly, I don't know where St. Louis Park would fit in, but we never write about it anyway. :)
Oh, and thanks to everyone for contributing your thoughts. This thread was really, really fun.
»» Submitted by Rex at 2:33 PM on August 4
St. Louis Park is right next to Rex's Uptown, or "Rextown," which is what I'm going to call it from now on.
Rex, I think your Minneapolis categories will work. But as for St. Paul... "North St. Paul" and "South St. Paul" are already suburbs. May I suggest: Midway, Downtown/W. 7th, Macalester/Highland, East Side, West Side.
Kevin, when you walk from downtown to Franklin, which direction do you go in? By the way, you're a fast walker.
»» Submitted by Simon at 2:42 PM on August 4
Simon, when we worked together in St. Paul a kjillion years ago, what neighborhood was that?
»» Submitted by Rex at 2:56 PM on August 4
That was the West Side. Even though it was just south of downtown (yep, directionals are just as retarded in St. Paul as in Minneapolis). You could walk to one of those cool West Side Mexican restaurants.
»» Submitted by Simon at 3:00 PM on August 4
We should just go by these categories.
»» Submitted by Ben at 3:52 PM on August 4
West Side = teh w1n.
Just sayin'.
»» Submitted by Stu at 8:09 PM on August 4
Dang Ben that was funny
»» Submitted by Nina at 11:25 PM on August 4
1. Where is eat street? I mean, I see signs all over the place and naturally I expect to find restaurants near them, but I don't?
2. Rex- that's like saying Iowa is the southern United States because you go south to get there from Minnesota.
»» Submitted by Kevin at 7:23 AM on August 5
Perhaps start a wiki and allow us readers to define the neighborhood the way that makes sense to us.
We're playing with something like that over in the MNteractive Directory
Simon is the nieghborhood guru of the Twin Cities. I am impressed (and awtonished, frankly) by the depth of thought he's put into this.
»» Submitted by Katie at 10:58 AM on August 5
Kevin -- I liked your analogy at first, but I think the problem with it is that Minneapolis geography is indeed all relative to downtown like it or not, whereas US geography obviously does not revolve around Minnesota.
»» Submitted by Dave at 11:24 AM on August 5
No restaurants on Eat Street? Next time pick up a rock and throw it...you'll hit one. Granted, you won't find the Chipotles or LeAnn Chins of vibrant and active Hennepin Ave...but they are there.
»» Submitted by adam at 12:04 PM on August 5
Eat Street is soooo not Uptown. Please!
»» Submitted by Pat at 12:37 PM on August 5
Well, I found eat street. Thanks.
»» Submitted by Kevin at 11:33 AM on August 9
Grouping Lyndale and Whittier with Powderhorn makes no sense. These neighborhoods are firmly divided from Powderhorn via 35w. They should be considered part of the Calhoun/Isles community.
»» Submitted by John_x at 11:26 AM on September 23
Having lived in Calhoun/Isles, Whittier/Lyndale and now very near to Powderhorn, I can say with reasonable authority that they are completely different neighborhoods.
»» Submitted by kevin is kinda frisky at 11:44 AM on September 23
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