# Minneapolis and St Paul | Architecture, street art and people



## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

I took some more photos today, these are from downtown Minneapolis:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Nicollet Island is a tiny island in the Mississippi that is next to downtown:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Thunderstorms are nearby:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Now the storms are here:


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## charliewong90 (Nov 24, 2009)

nice photos of streetlife.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

We had another thunderstorm tonight. I haven't really done any night photography before and I don't own a tripod so I would call these shots experimental, at best.

The neighborhood didn't turn into a lake this time.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

I took some more photos today. The first one is from Minneapolis, the rest are all from Saint Paul:










*Saint Paul*

This first batch of photos is from the Frogtown neighborhood which is the poorest part of Saint Paul, it is a multi-ethnic no majority neighborhood but most of the businesses are owned by asian immigrants. This is the heart of the largest urban Hmong community in the US.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

The next batch of Saint Paul photos is from Cathedral hill which is south of Frogtown. Cathedral Hill is the richest part of Saint Paul though these photos are from the least upscale part of it. The neighborhood is full of late victorian houses and a lot of mansions but I didn't photograph any of those because I covered that last year.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

That is all for now.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

I took some more photos today.

*Minneapolis*


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Here are the rest of my photos from yesterday.

*Saint Paul*

These are all from downtown Saint Paul.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Goyazny (Feb 1, 2009)

First: Great pictures.
Second: No one here haven't explained a spirit of a place like you.

Really, enjoying every post of yours.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Thanks.

I took a small number of photos yesterday and today in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis. This is the neighborhood I live in, it is a bit of an everything neighborhood in terms of social class and demographics.

*Minneapolis*


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## Arrrgh (May 10, 2007)

Wow, what a great thread 
I'll bookmark it!


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Thanks.

*Saint Paul*

I took some more photos of Saint Paul this afternoon. All of these are from Crocus Hill which is a neighborhood to the west of downtown (St Paul). It was built to be the high rent district in the late 19th century, by the 1960s and '70s it was a slum. Gentrification began in the late '70s and it is now back to being an upscale neighborhood. House and condo prices have gone through the roof but apartments are still relatively inexpensive.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

So I got up early this morning and took some photos. The first three are from Whittier and Lyndale Ave which is the border between Whittier and Uptown.

*Minneapolis*


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

The rest are from east Lake St and the areas around it which is the poorest part of the southside of Minneapolis.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

I took some more Minneapolis photos this afternoon:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

*Saint Paul*

I took these photos in downtown St Paul:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

These are some neighborhood shots of the Macalester-Groveland and Concordia area. 





































I lived in this house 20 years ago, the rent has doubled since then:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

I took a ton of photos in downtown Minneapolis today. I started in Loring Park which is the residential part of southern downtown. This is actually a cheap neighborhood to live in for some reason, although most residents aren't poor and the housing is nice.

*Minneapolis*


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

These are from the core of downtown.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

These photos are from the riverfront. In the late 19th century this area was the largest flour milling center in the world and was the reason Minneapolis became a city. All of the mills are closed now and the area is full of park land, cultural buildings and high end condos.


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## thewild2007 (Oct 25, 2007)

Oh wow!, Twin Cities!... I had great times there: It was the place where I felt in love first time. I lived in Kenwood (close to Downtown Minneapolis) and Eagan too.
I hope to see more pics and go back soon.

P.S.: Excuse me if my english sucks.


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## Medaart (Jan 20, 2009)

No need to apologise for that on an international forum. I'vee seen worse around here. 
And to Somnifor, please keep posting. I love your photo's and cities but maybe you where already aware of that.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

I will be doing this indefinitely. It has become part of my weekly routine. I try to take walks on days off for exercise, I take my camera with me when I do that.

I should do Kenwood soon, it is not that far from where I live and it is full of nice houses.


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## Chadoh25 (Dec 28, 2007)

I LOVE those old homes and apartment blocks! They just don't make them like that anymore! Great photos!


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

St Paul has a lot of good late victorian architecture, I should take more pictures there.

I took some more photos today. The first is from downtown Minneapolis. The rest are from the Dinkytown neighborhood, which is where the University of Minnesota is located.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Allegedly Bob Dylan lived in the building on the corner:


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Lovely, great photo updates from Minneapolis and St. Paul


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## gearedtowardssalad (Mar 15, 2010)

Somnifor said:


>


Somnifor, I don't know if you know who the rapper POS is, but I'm pretty sure this is him. Totally random!


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

I didn't realize it until you pointed it out but I am pretty sure you are right.


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## Chadoh25 (Dec 28, 2007)

Great updates!


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

A small number of photos from today.

Downtown Minneapolis:




























The Whittier neighborhood:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Six new photos from Whittier in Minneapolis today:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Seven new photos from today, all from Minneapolis.

Uptown:



















Stevens Square:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Downtown:


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## bayviews (Mar 3, 2006)

Excellent photos of the Twin Cities. Without any doubts, its one of the most vibrant areas in the Midwest!


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## drowningman666 (Nov 5, 2007)

Wonderful thread Somnifor, I appreciate that You showed us this not well known part of the USA


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Very nice, great photo updates from Minneapolis and St. Paul :cheers: well done


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Thanks for the comments.

I have some new photos today. First a few from Minneapolis.

Downtown:










The Warehouse District:



















Whittier:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

*Saint Paul*

The rest of the photos are from St Paul. 

Downtown:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

The East Side is a blue collar neighborhood east of downtown St Paul:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Back to downtown:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

*Minneapolis*

I took some more photos today. These are from the Kingsfield neighborhood in south Minneapolis which is a typical working class/middle class city neighborhood.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

These are from Uptown in south Minneapolis:


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## namenlos (Sep 19, 2008)

Great pictures! I only knew Minneapolis because of Prince and never thought the Twin Cities would be that nice! Please keep posting!


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## Chadoh25 (Dec 28, 2007)

^^ Cute neighborhood. I like the Warehouse District as well.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Three new photos from today, these are from Whittier:


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Nice and cool photo updates; well done


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Thanks.

I have a few new photos from today:





































The classic skyline shot:










Thats all for today.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

It was warm today, not much below freezing, and the light was good, so I went downtown and took a bunch of people shots:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Thats all for today.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

I have five new photos from today, the first is from Uptown, the rest are from Phillips:










The Swedish American Institute:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

It was cold and sunny today so I took some cold people shots:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Union.SLO (Dec 24, 2007)

Outstanding people shots, great job!


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Thanks.

Four new photos from the Phillips neighborhood today:




























Another classic skyline shot location:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Now that we are into the dirty snowpile portion of winter it is hard to make the city look nice so I am going to continue with my focus on the grittier parts. I took these shots in Powderhorn Park today, along with Phillips this is the poorest part of the south side. The neighborhoods are next to each other and form two halves of a whole with Phillips being a bit older and closer to downtown. Despite being poor and having relatively high crime Powderhorn is a cool neighborhood. It has an interesting vibe. When I moved here in the 80s it was populated by working class blacks, hippies and punk rockers; since then it has had a large influx of central and south American immigrants but the working class blacks and freaks are also still there.














































This last shot is from the Lynlake section of Uptown:










I though I should add this, it is a rough map of the neighborhoods of Minneapolis from a real estate website. It is relatively accurate but some of the large areas are actually an amalgamation of neighborhoods; the area it is calling Calhoun - Isles is actually a combination of Uptown, East Isles and Kenwood, the area it is calling University is actually Dinkytown and Marcy-Holmes; the West Bank and Seward are mixed in with Longfellow.


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## aster4000 (Jan 28, 2010)

cool shots.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Thanks.

I was all over town today and took a bunch of photos. At first I was going to focus on people shots because it was sunny but it was also really cold so there were not that many people outside. Instead I focused on neighborhood shots.

First I was in Uptown:










Then I went downtown:


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Next I went to east Lake St which is the border between Phillips and Powderhorn Park.










Some detail shots of a mural on east Lake St, the mural covers two sides of the building. I don't know who the artist is but they have done a number of murals in the neighborhood. This one must have been done this fall because it wasn't there last summer. As far as I am concerned this person should be paid to paint buildings in the city for as long as they want to because their stuff is fantastic.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)




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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Back to Uptown:














































That's all for now.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

A couple of experimental night shots in Uptown:


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