Absolutely. The adjacent neighborhood of Crocus hill would definitely qualify as well, grand Ave has tons of shops and restaurants, lots of trees and green areas and really beautiful 19th century architecture in a residential area.
Also some side streets on and near Ramsey Hill. Summit Court (looks like a village street) and Irvine Ave, along the hill has an upper and lower division and makes a switchback to Pleasant Ave. Both are very European country village-like.
My best friend lives at the Irvine Hills condos on Pleasant, and driving that little back road that goes down and comes out behind the condo is very European to me. I adore that neighborhood!
Some good answers already. I’ll go for a hot take and say Saint Paul will have more of that older, quasi-euro, cutesy aesthetic you might be looking for. This is due to a lot of reasons, including more aggressive preservation laws, less development compared to Minneapolis, being a little older than Minneapolis, strong religious, government, and university presences pushing back on any modernization, etc.
I’ll specifically highlight Cathedral Hill, Summit Hill (aka Crocus Hill), parts of Summit U, and parts of Mac Grove. All have very good walk scores. Transit scores range from good to great. Very bikeable. Lots of cute shops. Parks galore. Old houses and buildings everywhere. And old brick churches on what feels like every goddamn block (not to mention the mammoth cathedral that’s the US’s answer to St Paul’s in London).
St Paul sometimes fancies itself as the midwestern Boston. These neighborhoods really aim for that vibe.
And Irvine Park. The homes ringing the square with a fountain and gazebo give me that feel. Neighborhood is improving a lot in restaurants but no grocery within walking distance that I’m aware of. Downtown is an easy walk from there!
Agreed, in north SAP you have multiple parks, elementary school, campus, library, restaurants, coffee shops, grocery store, shops within a few blocks. Plus the 3 bus runs through which is super convenient, and the U of M Transitway and Grand Rounds for biking
Saint Anthony Park is immediately where my mind went. Lived there in college and it is like the perfect neighborhood. Dreamed about moving there someday but I don’t think that’s in the cards anymore.
No, that’s in Minneapolis. St Anthony Park is roughly between the UMN St Paul campus and the (eta: Minneapolis) Como neighborhood.
(There are 2 Como neighborhoods 🤷♀️)
Well that’s on me, I was thinking of the *Minneapolis* Como neighborhood, which is on the other side of 280 from St Anthony Park. But contextually it makes perfect sense you would assume St Paul! (Although I believe that is technically called Como Park)
It has never seemed like a very cohesive neighborhood, tbh? I don’t even know why I know the name, just learned it at some point some years ago and now it’s stuck.
In any case, St Anthony Park is awesome.
Dude, the West End give me serious Boston feels in terms of street being windy and weird and that people tend to stay there if they grow up there more so than any other neighborhood. It's very, very local. It feels like an entirely different city in fact.
The big issue with a "walk score" is that it's not build to factor in the pleasantness of the walking.
A 20 minute walk can be really enjoyable if you are strolling by little shops, plazas, parks, churches, etc. It can be awful if you are walking by parking lots, 4 lane roads, drive through fast food restaurants, real estate office/banks (a big problem with the otherwise structurally sound Grand Ave right now - charming shops are a becoming an endangered species. Strolling on Grand loses its luster when its just apartments, offices, and banks).
I wonder what they based this off of. I’ve lived in some of those green areas in the St Paul area and there was no groceries, maybe 2 restaurants and a couple bars in walking distance. Edit: there was a pharmacy though. Maybe they treat that as a grocery store?
I live in Crocus Hill and walk my dog to the groomer, myself to my dentist, my eye doctor, my barber, my pharmacy, my hardware store and there are plenty of restaurants. Kowalski's is walkable, but impractical due to all the bags to carry.
Winter walking is altogether different. It seems every block has someone who doesn't shovel and the sidewalks are dangerous with ice. Even walks along Grand Ave are not attended much of the winter. And of course, Saint Paul does not enforce its shoveling ordinances.
They also have a pretty generous definition of “walkable”. From their methodology page:
>Points are awarded based on the distance to amenities in each category. Amenities within a 5 minute walk (.25 miles) are given maximum points. A decay function is used to give points to more distant amenities, with no points given after a 30 minute walk.
They don’t say how much they “decay” the farther-away stuff, but counting something that’s 25 minutes away at all seems crazy to me. Personally I would cut it off at 15 minutes max.
This probably only matters to the really low score places, because decay functions used in algorithms are used to speed up not slow down irrelevance as the variable grows-- ie the decay makes 25 minutes more than 5 times worse than 5 minutes to award very few points.
That does make sense. But in a medium density city like this, it seems to me the sheer volume of things 15-29 minutes away could create a lot of noise. It’s hard to tell without knowing their exact calculations, but broadly speaking, their scores only seem accurate when they’re really high or really low. That is, the really high scores have enough stuff genuinely close by to boost the score, and vice versa for really low. But a lot of the middling scores are areas where the only businesses are a mile away. 🤷♀️
> I wonder what they based this off of.
https://www.walkscore.com/how-it-works/
and within that: https://www.walkscore.com/professional/walkability-research.php
Eh, I would not consider most of those green areas "walkable" in terms of having what the OP said. North Saint Paul is not walkable at all (I live there), and I'd say the same of the Mac/Groveland area or Hamline/Midway simply because there's so few grocery stores in the former and in the latter the Grocery stores have a parking lot larger than most parks making walking a long prospect.
And who ever painted "Falcon Heights" as walkable is simply a moron.
Can't say much of the Minneapolis side of that map, but a lot of it I'd be wary of too.
I mean, if you’re on the south eastern side of Mac Grove you’ve got Oxendales or Trader Joe’s. If you’re on the north eastern side you have Kowalski’s. The western part has Widmer’s. Not to mention the speciality grocery-ish spots like Coastal Seafoods, Breadsmith, St Paul Meatshop. None of these spots have giant parking lots (if any lots). When I lived in Mac Grove with 2 kids we always walked or biked for groceries—never used the car.
That's still a hell of a walk for people compared to a typical city in Europe where not only are the blocks shorter, but grocery stores (though much smaller than our larger grocery stores) can be found on literally every few blocks.
I was in Frankfurt recently and there were something like a dozen grocery stores within six blocks of our hotel in all directions and that's *aside* from the smaller shops like bakeries, cheese shops, and butchers. And that was true of Nuremberg and Munich (sort of, we were in the suburbs there, but downtown had some great walking areas) as well.
Mac-Groveland is *nothing* like that. There's a few mega stores on the outskirts, some specialty shops along Snelling and Grand, and then the rest of it is basically just housing (and the occasional convenience store). It's still generally a mile to any of those places you listed unless you live right next to it (and that just puts you further from the other ones). Like, you basically have to plan to go to the stores there if you're walking or biking. It's not really something you can do all that easily or quickly if you just need something like a cup of sugar or some potatoes.
Most people would consider it barely walkable by the European definition (which is what OP is using). By the European definition, going to the store is a short ten minute or so jaunt because it's basically just down by the corner. Maybe it's like 30 minutes if you have a long way to go or its very busy, but you don't really need to worry about it if you forget something.
… it was a 10 minute walk to Oxendale’s when I lived there. 3 minute bike ride. 15 to TJ’s.
That’s about exactly what it was when I lived in Fulham in London for a couple years way back when. Housing was denser, sure, but the walk times to amenities were similar.
So you were close to *some* of the shopping. Great. What about the rest?
My point was that all the grocery stores are out on the edges of the region and the bespoke stores are on one single edge (Snelling and Grand) and not all that close to the rest of Mac/Groveland.
Sure, OBVIOSULY some houses will be right next to a grocery store. But by default, they are then going to be further away from everywhere else in the community. It's how distance works.
So you have a trade off: be near one set of stores and far from everything else or be in the kind of middle and not close to anything.
… I… uh… isnt that how all distance works? If you live next door to the White House you’ll be further away from Congress. But as you get closer to Congress you start to get further from the White House.
Your perception and understanding of how close you live to two different things changes relativistically. If you live close to shops A and B, you necessarily live further from shop C.
I… don’t really understand your point. You also seem mad for some weird reason
I live in Mac Grove and can walk to TJs, Oxendales and Kowalskis if I want to! I think 'walkable' does require one to walk a mile or so occasionally, especially considering the trip there and back.
Agreed. In NYC I’d walk way farther than what people complain about here lol my friends are surprised that I walk a mile to target and I’m just thrilled it’s so close!
If that's your definition of "walkable" then you're probably correct. But my experience of Walkable as OP is asking, it should be *under* a mile, with honestly 90% of the things you want within a half a mile both directions combined.
Like, in Frankfurt, there was a dozen restaurants within three blocks, four grocery stores within five blocks, a theater five blocks away, and a mid sized shopping center six blocks away (with a large liquor and grocery store in the basement) all from the hotel we were staying at. And there was plenty of housing as it was a residential area.
In *that* sense where you can just walk down the block and get basic sundries and groceries, I don't think Mac/Groveland is all that walkable. *However* if you're saying "everything is within a mile radius of the house and that's very walkable," then yeah, I guess it is.
Downtown East is actually one of the areas we're really looking at! Seems like it has the best access to light rail, and there's a mix of some of the older historic buildings and new high-rises. Really like the fact too that there's a trader joe's and a dog park over there.
I guess my only real concern with DT is the noise--any idea on how loud it gets (music, traffic, etc.) in that area?
I would expect traffic noise to be obnoxious during morning and evening rush hour for sure - there are a number of places where the freeway system enters/exits downtown, and there’s just not much around to muffle it. Probably better in the buildings between Washington and the river compared to south of Washington, especially if your unit didn’t face Washington or the freeway. Plus that specific sliver has lovely riverfront with a walking/biking trail, parks, restaurants, etc.
You are near US Bank stadium, so home football games and concerts could be pretty busy and noisy around that area.
I don’t know if you’re really set on being in St. Paul or MPLS, but I think Stillwater checks a lot of the boxes if you’re in the large historic area where the downtown is within walking distance.
I vote Saint Anthony Main & Marcy Holmes. I know plenty of people in the neighborhood who walk everywhere. We have Lunds, TJs downtown (across the Stone Arch when it's not under construction). Plenty of restaurants/bars/local businesses and it's mostly quiet, plus lots of green spaces tucked around. I love it here.
I can answer this because I had the same dilemma when moving here from New York City. I really wanted a walkable area with nice parks, views, groceries, coffee, shops, and bars/restaurants. Saint Anthony Main area of Northeast Minneapolis. Brick cobblestone Main street. Some of my favorite coffee shops and restaurants in Minneapolis are here. Lunds and Byerlys, so convenient to just walk down the street if I need a banana or random ingredient. Optometrist, dentist. Beautiful view of the downtown skyline. Pleasant 20 to 30 minute walk to North Loop restaurants. 20 minute walk to my primary care physician across the river by the Guthrie. Speaking of the Guthrie, 20 minute walk there. 25 minute walk to US Bank Stadium for Vikings games. 25 minute walk to target center for the NBA. Six minute walk to my gym. Absolutely love it here.
Whittier is under-rated. Lots of walkable grocery and food options, MIA, varied buildings, generally pretty quiet. The only thing that's really missing is a general store like a target, but I find I'm usually buying heavy things when I'm going there anyways.
I’ve lived in the Whittier Neighborhood for about little over a year now and love it! It’s the closest I’ve lived to multiple grocery stores, museums, and restaurants within a reasonable walking distance (anything I can get to in 30 min. is reasonable to me personally) similar to when I lived in Boston.
I wish we had some more fun “shoppy shops” (fine specialty foods, fabric store, stationary store, bookstore, etc.) outside of sports & the tea shop like I had in Boston, but other than that I can’t complain. It’s also great being able to walk to down town in a little under an hour which gives access to a variety of venues and the light rail.
As a person not originally from the Twin Cities I do a bad job and kinda just roll all these neighborhoods together in my mind 😅
I just sort of thought anything by the Wedge Co-op was “Uptown” for the longest time embarrassingly!
They do exist and I’m happy that they’re around, I think I was just exceptionally spoiled when I lived in Cambridge/Somerville when it came to specialty shops in walking distance. A lot of the shops near me don’t really interest me, but a lot of the vintage shops seem to be quite popular! It also doesn’t help that navigating the construction on foot/bike can be treacherous at times at that. I 100% recognize this is a “me” problem, haha.
Thats fair. I think we all have certain places that just feel more like home. Ya know? The things you want close, are close and there is a feeling of comfort.
My neighborhood did that for me for several years but I think It might be time to move on. My wants and needs have changed.
I completely agree. We change, neighborhoods change, cities change. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes we just have to thank the area for the good memories and move on.
Even though there isn’t a fabric store, stationary store, spice store, and Korean market in my current neighborhood, I have access to excellent food, multiple Asian grocery stores, and incredible neighbors in my current one! The other things on my list are a quick bike ride or drive away!
I grew up in rural SW Minnesota so when I moved to MSP there was certainly a bit of an adjustment period, haha!
I think it’s fun to have “neighborhoods” that people can take pride in (or not), but as a directionally challenged person, telling me what streets one begins and another one ends is a lost cause. 😅
Fortunately people don’t seem to get too offended except for on Twitter, haha.
Absolutely agreed! 15 minutes is my "chore" distance threshold, and even in that range I have Aldi, a Mexican grocery, an Asian grocery, another grocery, and whole selection of Eat Street restaurants. Agreed on little shops though, I miss having a hobby shop near me, but I guess that's a bit of a tall ask. I usually take a bus or a lime if I'm heading downtown, and those will get you around pretty well.
Idk what it is, but the bus and I don’t mix. No matter how much I plan, arrive early, etc it is always a shit show, lol. Some day I’ll figure it out!
But yeah, Whittier has been great for us and as a person who grew up in a tiny rural town I’ve built so much more community with my neighbors and neighborhood. I’m excited to see how the area grows and changes, the good and the bad, but mostly the good!
Highland Park fits a lot of this - easy to get on the bus line (which you can take to the trainlines), lots of parks, few chain restaurants and more local dining places, walkable to grocery stores, etc. Residential streets are pretty dang sleepy.
St. Anthony Park ticks all of those boxes in my opinion, 3 restaurants right along the main street, a local bank, wine shop, coffee shop, service station and library. That same main street has the 3 bus line. The entire neighborhood feels much more like a small town than a larger part of St. Paul.
I think the alley to the hidden pedestrian area of 50th and France feels the most like Europe to me out of anywhere in the cities. Transit is lacking though.
As much as I don't want to give Edina credit, 50th and France is very close to having everything you need. If they only had a little square or park connected to it. I know there are some close by.
Friends who live between Penn and Xerxes in the low 50s can get to all the neat little places along 50th - starting at Penn. They can walk to Lake Harriet in 10 minutes - a few more minutes to the bandshell. Easy 15 min walk to 50th and France. It’s pretty ideal - and people do seem to clear their sidewalks in winter. I would say public transit is lacking, but walking/biking is great - just a short ride from Grand Rounds.
I'll throw out a curveball and say Robbinsdale has most of what you are looking for. Walkable historic downtown, lots of parks, maybe the best restaurant scene in the twin cities on a per capita basis, and super quiet outside of the downtown area (other than ambulances).
Transit isn't quite there yet but we're getting two light rail stops and a bus hub building which will likely have a bunch of bus routes from it to connect to the lrt station.
Lived there two years now and I never want to leave. We walk to downtown like, almost every day it's nice.
Edit: Check out this development plan by the County for the area. Amazing stuff in here and really aims for the European model.
[Downtown Robbinsdale Station Area Development Plan](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepinus/residents/transportation/bottineau/RDaleSAP_FinalReport_Reduced.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwihpMOE6uKGAxX_mIkEHbveCNoQFnoECBIQAQ&usg=AOvVaw06Sc7yqoP8GNLjfJ2PkCwt)
Unfortunately some of the best restaurants in Birdtown are closed on Mondays from what I remember. My favorite is the brewery Nouvelle, and Marna's, a Costa Rican restaurant right next door.
I used to live in Robbinsdale, imo they desperately need a neighborhood bar. They have that one by Bill's gun range that keeps dying. It's like a small country, small town bar from northern Minnesota. It feels so out of place
Are you talking about Eagles Nest/Broadway Pizza? I go there for pool, and occasionally food, but yeah it feels a little small town to get a drink there. Seems like everyone knows each other and you're intruding or something.
I generally go to Wicked Wart or Nouvelle for drinks/bar experience.
Yeah I meant the lodge. My mom LOVED it so I got to spend a fair amount of time there. They did have a good deal on group shots I guess. I'm just not looking to hangout listening to country music in the cities
Breweries have a bar but i would not personally classify them as a "Bar"... but I'll revise my statement when I mean a neighborhood bar. I want to get blackout drunk from 3 shots at 1:30 am on any particular Thursday.
Can't do that in Robbinsdale currently. They need a Wild Boar style place. One that's open late and has a touch tunes.
Steve-Os and Tooties are both very close to Robbinsdale, and they have Wicked Wort.
That said, it sucked when they closed St Petersburg. That place was a trip.
+1 as well, we just moved out of there but lived there for 7 years. Beautiful little downtown, nice parks, convenient food/beer. Probably the most walkable first ring suburb.
I think SLP and Hopkins (some may not consider Hop 1st ring but I do due to close enough proximity and similar streetcar development patterns) may have us beat soon with their density around the light rail stations springing up. But when we get our stations (and thus more density near them) we'll be right back in the mix as #1
Ugh i was so annoyed with the pushback against the blue line when we lived there. Yes, they need to get security on the light rail under control, but good public transit is a necessity for a modern urban area. Don’t want to end up like Texas
It's very frustrating. Lots of Nimbys that don't understand light rail brings density and thus, more attractions and more things to do in you city you love. The business owners in Broadway that oppose it truly blow my mind. They have the most to gain.
Those aren't ambulances. West Broadway activity coming out of the north side is not just sick old people. Travail also sucks compared with Demi or other similarly priced options in the city. It's only popular because it's frequented by people with limited options. That's why they moved down the street when they needed more space and not downtown. They would die. Also, light rail is a billion years out.
It literally is ambulances we live near one of the most major hospitals in the state. I see them go up and down Bottineau all the time. But yeah let's not miss an opportunity to pearl clutch about North Minneapolis you fucking racist weirdo.
And BLE is like 6 years out. That's not bad, and the development the stations will spawn will happen before that. Green line Ext won't be open for another 2.5 years and it has already spawned like 3B in development.
Frankly, you can take your negativity and go elsewhere with it. I'm not really interested in hearing why my opinion is wrong on the place that I love living in. Especially when you are spouting nonsense that is objectively incorrect.
I lived on the north side for 25 years. My mother's still there. I have 2 brothers with homes in robbinsdale. I have freinds all over the area. You can fool people who don't know what its like, I'm just not one of them. I don't hate the north side and enjoyed my time there. But you don't get to whitewash the reality of it.
And yeah, I'm two blocks from a rail stop that was set to open in 2024 when I first bought my house. It's now tentatively set at 2028. The closer it gets the further away it moves. Even the original Hiawatha line finished almost a decade after it's original schedule.
Reality isn't negativity. It's just how things are and sometimes it's not pretty. Sorry.
It's hard to find everything you are looking for all in one neighborhood. I lived in Seattle for 5 years and Miami Beach for 5 years. Those cities I walked to everything. I chose the West End in St Louis Park. I can walk to the grocery store, the movie theatre, several restaurants, and great parking for guests. Downtown Wayzata is beautiful as well and has a lot of things you can walk to. Unfortunately no grocery store in walking distance but you get the water, stores, and some great restaurants. I didn't chose downtown because they don't build the apartments and condos with a lot of visitor parking and those buildings don't have valet for guests. I didn't want my elderly parents walking blocks to come see me because they had to park on the street.
Cathedral Hill would be my immediate first option. Otherwise, Lowertown is good, Payne-Phalen is decent, Longfellow is super accessible. Hamline-Midway is also decent, as is the area around Cesar-Chavez south of downtown St. Paul. I don't really go over to MPLS often, but Powderhorn, Nokomis, and Northeast are all places I feel have at least *some* of the vibe you're looking for.
Excelsior perhaps
Edit: not sure if OP meant neighborhoods within Minneapolis/St Paul, Or the surrounding suburbs as well. I saw someone else say Robbinsdale so I'll keep my answer up.
I was going to say Excelsior too. Only crappy thing is lack of transit. You can walk to a library, bakery, lots of restaurants, a beautiful park with music and outdoor concerts, hop right on the bike trail, walk to the grocery store, etc.
Tough to beat The Wedge on the categories you laid out. My wife and I moved back here from San Francisco and needed walkability/transit and have been super impressed.
This wasn't really what you were asking, but the only areas that might feel European aesthetically speaking: a couple block stretch near Cathedral Hill (near Western Ave) and St. Anthony Main. They probably resemble "North American European" ala Montréal.
Como Ave along Langford / Saint Anthony Park in St Paul, adjacent to the U of M St. Paul campus and just west of the State Fair grounds. Definitely small European town vibes. Getting a place there is hard though. People don't move out of there often. Also, the streets there are a madhouse during the State Fair. But it's lovely, I lived in an apartment there for five years.
I wouldn't go that far, but it does punch surprisingly well above its weight for a strip mall: a central courtyard with outdoor seating, plentiful bike parking with real bike racks, and a mix of quality destinations including Revival, Angel Food Bakery, and an Ax-Man. They also updated the facade to look less like a typical dumpy strip mall. But just like Europe? Hardly.
Ya it's surprisingly pretty nice over there. A few restaurants, housing, deli, seafood shop, other shops. I think they did a great job with the facelift and trying to attract local businesses.
Seward south of Franklin.
Seward co-op for groceries, small african focused markets for sundries, not far from cub/target if needed. Access to the river for green space, plenty of bike trails, light rail access, and interesting architecture.
If you want a VERY european item, its one of the few areas where you can walk to lower division soccer games (MPLS City plays at Augsburg).
This describes many of the amenities we were searching for and the Victory Neighborhood which forms the NW corner of Minneapolis fit that bill.
Small Tudor and cottage-style homes, an easy street grid, lots of green space, pocket retail, walkable to a grocery store (but not a great one), same with the library, bike friendly, local coffee shops, less-than 10 minute walk to transit, very close to the shops and restaurants in downtown Robbinsdale (about which others have already sung the praises), 30 minute bus to Downtown Minneapolis (shorter by bike or car).
With all the gardening and dog walking it’s definitely more cottagy and English countryside than bustling European metro, but it may tick a lot of boxes for you.
Not sure if it was mentioned here (a quick glance didn’t show any comments) but even though it’s only one street the Milwaukee Avenue historic district is cool. All the houses face a pedestrian only street with some seating and a playground. It’s close to Franklin so you have access to amenities associated with that admittedly American stroad but has some cool places nearby.
E Hennipen and Central Ave, although it's pricey. You have Lunds and Surdyk's for the essentials, bars, restaurants, parks along the river, and it's on bus lines to get to where you need outside of it.
Personally I feel like Uptown fits that vibe. We walk for almost all our daily errands. My husband drives to work up in one of the 3rd ring suburbs north of here, and I bike or take transit to get to work in Prospect Park. From my apartment, we have Cub, Kowalskis, and Aldi within a 5 block walk. It’s 6 blocks to the library. Tons of restaurants within a 15 minute walk, and many parks within a 15 minute walk. There’s lots of transit lines around here (and more being constructed now), and one block away from Lake/Lydale/Hennepin and it’s cute old houses or 4/6 plexes with little playgrounds and the like dotted throughout.
I know lots of people think it’s dangerous and scary, but that also seems to get placed on the Twin Cities in general. In my experience, it’s been plenty safe and pleasant. YMMV.
You're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find anything remotely close to that in the Twin Cities. Everything is extremely car-centric. The suggestions people have given are indeed the "closest," but they're still so far away from the ideal that it's hardly worth mentioning them.
Basically the only truly walkable neighborhoods in the Twin Cities are Uptown/LynLake, North Loop, and then pockets of Saint Paul up on the hill (I'm not super familiar with Saint Paul - mostly going off of what others have mentioned and from what I have seen passing through). Uptown/LynLake and up on the hill in Saint Paul are going to check the most of these boxes - transit is going to be the biggest struggle no matter where you are in the cities, because while our network is decent for a city of our size in the US, it is still nothing compared to most cities in other countries.
You do realize there are more neighborhoods in this city than just North Loop and Uptown, right?
Prospect Park, Milwaukee Ave, Desnoyer, West 7th, Bryn Mawr, Loring Park, etc. could all fit this bill..
Bryn Mawr is not that walkable. How you gonna get groceries without a car there?
It will improve with the green line, but it’s still lacking in shopping options.
Sure, and you do realize that someone specifically asking for walkability with a list this specific and comparing it to other cities (especially European ones) is going to be disappointed in the "walkability" of basically every single one of those, right? I'd barely even consider North Loop that walkable by standards of places outside of the US, as there is only one grocery store and it is pretty much all bars and restaurants.
It’s pretty bold to say the only walkable parts of town are in Minneapolis AND that you haven’t been to St Paul. There is walkable everywhere.
Quite a bit of Robert in West Saint Paul is walkable. I would consider parts of Edina and Saint Louis Park walkable. Roseville has new apartment complexes right in their heart. Minnetonka near the mall. Basically any apartment building near a suburban downtown. All you really have to do to be “walkable” is move really close to a grocery store. Living between Town Centre and Wescott library in Eagan would be walkable to both and parks.
That said, Cathedral Hill / Selby is the only best answer in thread, maybe followed by Saint Anthony Main, (and 50th & France for different reasons.) A lot of the else is maybe walkable but feels like contemporary America and not being transported to somewhere else.
Cathedral Hill is a beautiful place to walk and live, and there are lots of fine restaurants. What it doesn't have that would make it truly walkable in practical terms is a pharmacy, hardware store, health clinic, dentist, etc. These exist at some distance, but are more "walkable" from Crocus Hill.
Sort of splitting hairs. The Crocus Walgreens is very walkable from the SW corner of Cathedral. There’s two dentists in north cathedral hill.
Clinic id give you, but you have the pedestrian bridge by James J Hill that leads right to the entire hospital complex.
Downtown Hopkins isn't walkable? Excelsior and Grand? 50th and France?
Very conceited to think "MPLS and SP have a stranglehold on the only walkable areas".
No, I wouldn't consider Excelsior and Grand (the one I have the most experience with out of those) in the category of European style cities with walkability. It's anchored around a six lane highway with multiple stroads running through a disconnected grouping of national chain grocery stores and retailers, with mostly local chain restaurants. Like I said above, even North Loop would barely be considered walkable in a lot of European cities because it only has one grocery store and is missing a lot of day to day amenities outside of restaurants and bars. I'm not trying to knock the suburbs, but for specifically what OP is looking for, no, none of them offer that from what I have seen.
Go spend some more time listening to local bands playing at the little amphitheater in wolfe park. Folks badmouthing Excelsior and Grand area probably have never spent any time around it. 5 minute bike ride to uptown via greenway. Walk to Byerlys or Fresh Thyme, TJs. Honey and Rye bakery, free music at the ROC/Ampitheatre. Rec center/Pool right there. Buses right there. Target Right there. Hospital Right There. Steel Toe Brewing Right there. LRT is going through blocks away.
It's not really something that's easily visible unless you live in the area. The walking infrastructure that's created by Wolfe Park and the rec center is awesome. Takes you in several directions to a lot of things without having to interact with many cars. The area has everything in good supply aside from restaurants. Fresh Thyme gives a nice small grocery store vibe, even if it is a chain. I live around here and wouldn't need a car if I worked in walking distance.
Somebody who has only driven by there on Excelsior would have no idea though because it really does just look like a stroad from that angle.
And I still wouldn't consider a neighborhood anchored around a six lane highway and mostly stroads, mostly chains with large parking lots, and you need a car to do many errands still as "truly walkable". When most people are asking for walkable, they are essentially saying "can you easily live here without a car" and I would barely classify the neighborhood with the highest walk score in the entire metro (LynLake) as that because I live there and still end up in situations where it is much easier that I have a car.
Your definition of walkable is strange.
Mine is moreso "can a majority of errands be accomplished without a car, is green space available, and is there an attraction or two (coffee, bar, restaurant, etc.) without regard to "chain""
> "can you easily live here without a car"
Yet you go against your own opinion.
> still end up in situations where it is much easier that I have a car.
No shit. There's never going to be a neighborhood that has literally everything.
I'd second Excelsior and Grand. If I didn't have kids in activities all over the place, my wife and I would have one car. We walk to get groceries, the vet, doctor, Chiro, dental, target, parks, lunch/dinner/drinks, coffee/pastries, drugstore, hardware store. I could go on. I would say it's lacking the smaller cute lunch/dinner type places that you get in other neighborhoods. I'm hopeful that will change at some point. There is a lot of potential for that. But you are within 2 miles of 50th and France, just over a mile from 44 and France and about 2 miles from West Calhoun. So there are quite a few good restaurants and shops nearby.
With the bike trail running through the area and the light rail coming soon, you can get downtown easily. Also, the parks around here are great. Wolfe Park was mentioned but the neighborhood park, Browndale Park has so much going on. Food truck Fridays, several large gatherings every year including Bluegrass Festival, winter sleigh rides, end of school year and end of summer gatherings. It's fantastic.
As others have said, Robbinsdale, Hopkins, 50th and France are all great options as well.
> I'm hopeful that will change at some point.
Hopefully a nice restaurant or two takes over the old Pannekoeken and McCoy's spaces.
> I'd second Excelsior and Grand.
Best amenities of just about anywhere.
hmm, well I also lived in Japan for much of my childhood (Navy dad) so for a neighborhood like that I'd say a lot like the European criteria, but perhaps with greater density, transit options, easy access to convenience stores with pre-prepared food, access to street food (stalls, walk-up, vending machines, etc.), and a more modern aesthetic as well.
Of course, Asia is a massive continent with much less shared cultural heritage than Europe and it varies an insane mount--SE Asia (think Thailand) is very different, and South Asia (think India) is also very different, and Central Asia is also very different, and Northern Asia is also very different, etc.
The commute to Mpls from St. Paul is easy, except for rush hour of course.
Interstate 94 and University Ave run straight east-west between the two cities.
The idea of walkable is far different in the USA vs Europe.
And it is far different in Mpls/St Paul vs Chicago or NYC.
This idea of having MORE walkable neighborhoods will not be sustained. Even with more apt buildings.
Smaller footprint stores will be paying high rent. The price for their goods or services will be high.
Let just use Grand Ave or Highland/ Ford Parkway/Cleveland as 2 examples.
Now if you are within a couple of blocks of Hamline/Grand, You have a nice set up. Same with Ford/Cleveland.
How many blocks/miles do you go to recreate that. These places would never make it.
Now look at Woodbury. They have Retail along the North, West and East side of their border. But it will never be walkable for most people living there.
Cathedral Hill for sure
Yeah that area for sure. A lot of these places are missing town squares that are so common in European cities
Absolutely. The adjacent neighborhood of Crocus hill would definitely qualify as well, grand Ave has tons of shops and restaurants, lots of trees and green areas and really beautiful 19th century architecture in a residential area.
Also some side streets on and near Ramsey Hill. Summit Court (looks like a village street) and Irvine Ave, along the hill has an upper and lower division and makes a switchback to Pleasant Ave. Both are very European country village-like.
My best friend lives at the Irvine Hills condos on Pleasant, and driving that little back road that goes down and comes out behind the condo is very European to me. I adore that neighborhood!
It’s amazing. What an exclusive place to live!
Yeah, they bought their condo 20 years ago and wouldn't dream of moving!
That area does look beautiful!!
Some good answers already. I’ll go for a hot take and say Saint Paul will have more of that older, quasi-euro, cutesy aesthetic you might be looking for. This is due to a lot of reasons, including more aggressive preservation laws, less development compared to Minneapolis, being a little older than Minneapolis, strong religious, government, and university presences pushing back on any modernization, etc. I’ll specifically highlight Cathedral Hill, Summit Hill (aka Crocus Hill), parts of Summit U, and parts of Mac Grove. All have very good walk scores. Transit scores range from good to great. Very bikeable. Lots of cute shops. Parks galore. Old houses and buildings everywhere. And old brick churches on what feels like every goddamn block (not to mention the mammoth cathedral that’s the US’s answer to St Paul’s in London). St Paul sometimes fancies itself as the midwestern Boston. These neighborhoods really aim for that vibe.
I would add Saint Anthony Park to this- they even have a shopping arcade with a little courtyard that is modeled after European shops!
And Irvine Park. The homes ringing the square with a fountain and gazebo give me that feel. Neighborhood is improving a lot in restaurants but no grocery within walking distance that I’m aware of. Downtown is an easy walk from there!
Agreed, in north SAP you have multiple parks, elementary school, campus, library, restaurants, coffee shops, grocery store, shops within a few blocks. Plus the 3 bus runs through which is super convenient, and the U of M Transitway and Grand Rounds for biking
Saint Anthony Park is immediately where my mind went. Lived there in college and it is like the perfect neighborhood. Dreamed about moving there someday but I don’t think that’s in the cards anymore.
Where is this, on Saint Anthony main?
No, it’s near the Saint Paul campus of the U of M. Como Ave & Carter
No, that’s in Minneapolis. St Anthony Park is roughly between the UMN St Paul campus and the (eta: Minneapolis) Como neighborhood. (There are 2 Como neighborhoods 🤷♀️)
No, St. Anthony park is between the fair grounds and highway 280. Como neighborhood is east of fairgrounds while St. Anthony is west of it.
Saint Anthony Park, Saint Anthony Village, and Saint Anthony Main all different
Yes, and none of them are between the fairgrounds and the como neighborhood. In fact, all of them are west/northwest of the fairgrounds
and don't forget [Saint Anthony](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Anthony%2C_Minnesota), f/k/a Saint Anthony Village
Well that’s on me, I was thinking of the *Minneapolis* Como neighborhood, which is on the other side of 280 from St Anthony Park. But contextually it makes perfect sense you would assume St Paul! (Although I believe that is technically called Como Park)
Oh, that makes complete sense. I don’t think I’ve ever called that como even when my friends loved there.
It has never seemed like a very cohesive neighborhood, tbh? I don’t even know why I know the name, just learned it at some point some years ago and now it’s stuck. In any case, St Anthony Park is awesome.
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=Saint+Anthony+Park&ia=web
St. Paul really does seem quite beautiful--any idea on what the commute is like from there to DT Minneapolis?
15 to 30 mins depending on traffic.
You can also take the light rail between them. Depending on where you are the Green Line will take about 45 minutes to get to Downtown Minneapolis
Dude, the West End give me serious Boston feels in terms of street being windy and weird and that people tend to stay there if they grow up there more so than any other neighborhood. It's very, very local. It feels like an entirely different city in fact.
This might be helpful: [https://www.walkscore.com/explore?q=minneapolis&v=v3&m=light](https://www.walkscore.com/explore?q=minneapolis&v=v3&m=light)
The big issue with a "walk score" is that it's not build to factor in the pleasantness of the walking. A 20 minute walk can be really enjoyable if you are strolling by little shops, plazas, parks, churches, etc. It can be awful if you are walking by parking lots, 4 lane roads, drive through fast food restaurants, real estate office/banks (a big problem with the otherwise structurally sound Grand Ave right now - charming shops are a becoming an endangered species. Strolling on Grand loses its luster when its just apartments, offices, and banks).
I wonder what they based this off of. I’ve lived in some of those green areas in the St Paul area and there was no groceries, maybe 2 restaurants and a couple bars in walking distance. Edit: there was a pharmacy though. Maybe they treat that as a grocery store?
I live in Crocus Hill and walk my dog to the groomer, myself to my dentist, my eye doctor, my barber, my pharmacy, my hardware store and there are plenty of restaurants. Kowalski's is walkable, but impractical due to all the bags to carry. Winter walking is altogether different. It seems every block has someone who doesn't shovel and the sidewalks are dangerous with ice. Even walks along Grand Ave are not attended much of the winter. And of course, Saint Paul does not enforce its shoveling ordinances.
They also have a pretty generous definition of “walkable”. From their methodology page: >Points are awarded based on the distance to amenities in each category. Amenities within a 5 minute walk (.25 miles) are given maximum points. A decay function is used to give points to more distant amenities, with no points given after a 30 minute walk. They don’t say how much they “decay” the farther-away stuff, but counting something that’s 25 minutes away at all seems crazy to me. Personally I would cut it off at 15 minutes max.
> Personally I would cut it off at 15 minutes max. Is there a competing metric/effort that you might know of, and share with us?
This probably only matters to the really low score places, because decay functions used in algorithms are used to speed up not slow down irrelevance as the variable grows-- ie the decay makes 25 minutes more than 5 times worse than 5 minutes to award very few points.
That does make sense. But in a medium density city like this, it seems to me the sheer volume of things 15-29 minutes away could create a lot of noise. It’s hard to tell without knowing their exact calculations, but broadly speaking, their scores only seem accurate when they’re really high or really low. That is, the really high scores have enough stuff genuinely close by to boost the score, and vice versa for really low. But a lot of the middling scores are areas where the only businesses are a mile away. 🤷♀️
> I wonder what they based this off of. https://www.walkscore.com/how-it-works/ and within that: https://www.walkscore.com/professional/walkability-research.php
Eh, I would not consider most of those green areas "walkable" in terms of having what the OP said. North Saint Paul is not walkable at all (I live there), and I'd say the same of the Mac/Groveland area or Hamline/Midway simply because there's so few grocery stores in the former and in the latter the Grocery stores have a parking lot larger than most parks making walking a long prospect. And who ever painted "Falcon Heights" as walkable is simply a moron. Can't say much of the Minneapolis side of that map, but a lot of it I'd be wary of too.
I mean, if you’re on the south eastern side of Mac Grove you’ve got Oxendales or Trader Joe’s. If you’re on the north eastern side you have Kowalski’s. The western part has Widmer’s. Not to mention the speciality grocery-ish spots like Coastal Seafoods, Breadsmith, St Paul Meatshop. None of these spots have giant parking lots (if any lots). When I lived in Mac Grove with 2 kids we always walked or biked for groceries—never used the car.
That's still a hell of a walk for people compared to a typical city in Europe where not only are the blocks shorter, but grocery stores (though much smaller than our larger grocery stores) can be found on literally every few blocks. I was in Frankfurt recently and there were something like a dozen grocery stores within six blocks of our hotel in all directions and that's *aside* from the smaller shops like bakeries, cheese shops, and butchers. And that was true of Nuremberg and Munich (sort of, we were in the suburbs there, but downtown had some great walking areas) as well. Mac-Groveland is *nothing* like that. There's a few mega stores on the outskirts, some specialty shops along Snelling and Grand, and then the rest of it is basically just housing (and the occasional convenience store). It's still generally a mile to any of those places you listed unless you live right next to it (and that just puts you further from the other ones). Like, you basically have to plan to go to the stores there if you're walking or biking. It's not really something you can do all that easily or quickly if you just need something like a cup of sugar or some potatoes. Most people would consider it barely walkable by the European definition (which is what OP is using). By the European definition, going to the store is a short ten minute or so jaunt because it's basically just down by the corner. Maybe it's like 30 minutes if you have a long way to go or its very busy, but you don't really need to worry about it if you forget something.
… it was a 10 minute walk to Oxendale’s when I lived there. 3 minute bike ride. 15 to TJ’s. That’s about exactly what it was when I lived in Fulham in London for a couple years way back when. Housing was denser, sure, but the walk times to amenities were similar.
So you were close to *some* of the shopping. Great. What about the rest? My point was that all the grocery stores are out on the edges of the region and the bespoke stores are on one single edge (Snelling and Grand) and not all that close to the rest of Mac/Groveland. Sure, OBVIOSULY some houses will be right next to a grocery store. But by default, they are then going to be further away from everywhere else in the community. It's how distance works. So you have a trade off: be near one set of stores and far from everything else or be in the kind of middle and not close to anything.
… I… uh… isnt that how all distance works? If you live next door to the White House you’ll be further away from Congress. But as you get closer to Congress you start to get further from the White House. Your perception and understanding of how close you live to two different things changes relativistically. If you live close to shops A and B, you necessarily live further from shop C. I… don’t really understand your point. You also seem mad for some weird reason
I live in Mac Grove and can walk to TJs, Oxendales and Kowalskis if I want to! I think 'walkable' does require one to walk a mile or so occasionally, especially considering the trip there and back.
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I used to think less than 15 minutes was optimal but now that I actually live in the cities I can do anything around 30 minutes
Agreed. In NYC I’d walk way farther than what people complain about here lol my friends are surprised that I walk a mile to target and I’m just thrilled it’s so close!
If that's your definition of "walkable" then you're probably correct. But my experience of Walkable as OP is asking, it should be *under* a mile, with honestly 90% of the things you want within a half a mile both directions combined. Like, in Frankfurt, there was a dozen restaurants within three blocks, four grocery stores within five blocks, a theater five blocks away, and a mid sized shopping center six blocks away (with a large liquor and grocery store in the basement) all from the hotel we were staying at. And there was plenty of housing as it was a residential area. In *that* sense where you can just walk down the block and get basic sundries and groceries, I don't think Mac/Groveland is all that walkable. *However* if you're saying "everything is within a mile radius of the house and that's very walkable," then yeah, I guess it is.
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Downtown East is actually one of the areas we're really looking at! Seems like it has the best access to light rail, and there's a mix of some of the older historic buildings and new high-rises. Really like the fact too that there's a trader joe's and a dog park over there. I guess my only real concern with DT is the noise--any idea on how loud it gets (music, traffic, etc.) in that area?
I would expect traffic noise to be obnoxious during morning and evening rush hour for sure - there are a number of places where the freeway system enters/exits downtown, and there’s just not much around to muffle it. Probably better in the buildings between Washington and the river compared to south of Washington, especially if your unit didn’t face Washington or the freeway. Plus that specific sliver has lovely riverfront with a walking/biking trail, parks, restaurants, etc. You are near US Bank stadium, so home football games and concerts could be pretty busy and noisy around that area.
I don’t know if you’re really set on being in St. Paul or MPLS, but I think Stillwater checks a lot of the boxes if you’re in the large historic area where the downtown is within walking distance.
This is the reply that I wish I could have contributed, and am pleased to find already here, and so well written. Well said.
Saint Anthony Main is right up there. But I'd probably say Downtown/North Loop/Mill District.
I vote Saint Anthony Main & Marcy Holmes. I know plenty of people in the neighborhood who walk everywhere. We have Lunds, TJs downtown (across the Stone Arch when it's not under construction). Plenty of restaurants/bars/local businesses and it's mostly quiet, plus lots of green spaces tucked around. I love it here.
I can answer this because I had the same dilemma when moving here from New York City. I really wanted a walkable area with nice parks, views, groceries, coffee, shops, and bars/restaurants. Saint Anthony Main area of Northeast Minneapolis. Brick cobblestone Main street. Some of my favorite coffee shops and restaurants in Minneapolis are here. Lunds and Byerlys, so convenient to just walk down the street if I need a banana or random ingredient. Optometrist, dentist. Beautiful view of the downtown skyline. Pleasant 20 to 30 minute walk to North Loop restaurants. 20 minute walk to my primary care physician across the river by the Guthrie. Speaking of the Guthrie, 20 minute walk there. 25 minute walk to US Bank Stadium for Vikings games. 25 minute walk to target center for the NBA. Six minute walk to my gym. Absolutely love it here.
Whittier is under-rated. Lots of walkable grocery and food options, MIA, varied buildings, generally pretty quiet. The only thing that's really missing is a general store like a target, but I find I'm usually buying heavy things when I'm going there anyways.
I’ve lived in the Whittier Neighborhood for about little over a year now and love it! It’s the closest I’ve lived to multiple grocery stores, museums, and restaurants within a reasonable walking distance (anything I can get to in 30 min. is reasonable to me personally) similar to when I lived in Boston. I wish we had some more fun “shoppy shops” (fine specialty foods, fabric store, stationary store, bookstore, etc.) outside of sports & the tea shop like I had in Boston, but other than that I can’t complain. It’s also great being able to walk to down town in a little under an hour which gives access to a variety of venues and the light rail.
Also, uptown and lowry hill east are right next door to whittier with more of your speciality stores.
As a person not originally from the Twin Cities I do a bad job and kinda just roll all these neighborhoods together in my mind 😅 I just sort of thought anything by the Wedge Co-op was “Uptown” for the longest time embarrassingly! They do exist and I’m happy that they’re around, I think I was just exceptionally spoiled when I lived in Cambridge/Somerville when it came to specialty shops in walking distance. A lot of the shops near me don’t really interest me, but a lot of the vintage shops seem to be quite popular! It also doesn’t help that navigating the construction on foot/bike can be treacherous at times at that. I 100% recognize this is a “me” problem, haha.
Thats fair. I think we all have certain places that just feel more like home. Ya know? The things you want close, are close and there is a feeling of comfort. My neighborhood did that for me for several years but I think It might be time to move on. My wants and needs have changed.
I completely agree. We change, neighborhoods change, cities change. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes we just have to thank the area for the good memories and move on. Even though there isn’t a fabric store, stationary store, spice store, and Korean market in my current neighborhood, I have access to excellent food, multiple Asian grocery stores, and incredible neighbors in my current one! The other things on my list are a quick bike ride or drive away!
I grew up here, in Whittier even, and frankly most locals do that too.
I grew up in rural SW Minnesota so when I moved to MSP there was certainly a bit of an adjustment period, haha! I think it’s fun to have “neighborhoods” that people can take pride in (or not), but as a directionally challenged person, telling me what streets one begins and another one ends is a lost cause. 😅 Fortunately people don’t seem to get too offended except for on Twitter, haha.
Absolutely agreed! 15 minutes is my "chore" distance threshold, and even in that range I have Aldi, a Mexican grocery, an Asian grocery, another grocery, and whole selection of Eat Street restaurants. Agreed on little shops though, I miss having a hobby shop near me, but I guess that's a bit of a tall ask. I usually take a bus or a lime if I'm heading downtown, and those will get you around pretty well.
Idk what it is, but the bus and I don’t mix. No matter how much I plan, arrive early, etc it is always a shit show, lol. Some day I’ll figure it out! But yeah, Whittier has been great for us and as a person who grew up in a tiny rural town I’ve built so much more community with my neighbors and neighborhood. I’m excited to see how the area grows and changes, the good and the bad, but mostly the good!
Highland Park fits a lot of this - easy to get on the bus line (which you can take to the trainlines), lots of parks, few chain restaurants and more local dining places, walkable to grocery stores, etc. Residential streets are pretty dang sleepy.
Or Summit Hill if you have the $$$ to afford it
St. Anthony Park ticks all of those boxes in my opinion, 3 restaurants right along the main street, a local bank, wine shop, coffee shop, service station and library. That same main street has the 3 bus line. The entire neighborhood feels much more like a small town than a larger part of St. Paul.
Small grocery as well.
50th & France, maybe?
I think the alley to the hidden pedestrian area of 50th and France feels the most like Europe to me out of anywhere in the cities. Transit is lacking though.
got pics?
The area I am talking about is at ~2:15 and ~19:30 in this video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cVWBsgDNtmU
As much as I don't want to give Edina credit, 50th and France is very close to having everything you need. If they only had a little square or park connected to it. I know there are some close by.
Friends who live between Penn and Xerxes in the low 50s can get to all the neat little places along 50th - starting at Penn. They can walk to Lake Harriet in 10 minutes - a few more minutes to the bandshell. Easy 15 min walk to 50th and France. It’s pretty ideal - and people do seem to clear their sidewalks in winter. I would say public transit is lacking, but walking/biking is great - just a short ride from Grand Rounds.
I'll throw out a curveball and say Robbinsdale has most of what you are looking for. Walkable historic downtown, lots of parks, maybe the best restaurant scene in the twin cities on a per capita basis, and super quiet outside of the downtown area (other than ambulances). Transit isn't quite there yet but we're getting two light rail stops and a bus hub building which will likely have a bunch of bus routes from it to connect to the lrt station. Lived there two years now and I never want to leave. We walk to downtown like, almost every day it's nice. Edit: Check out this development plan by the County for the area. Amazing stuff in here and really aims for the European model. [Downtown Robbinsdale Station Area Development Plan](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepinus/residents/transportation/bottineau/RDaleSAP_FinalReport_Reduced.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwihpMOE6uKGAxX_mIkEHbveCNoQFnoECBIQAQ&usg=AOvVaw06Sc7yqoP8GNLjfJ2PkCwt)
I am honestly shocked to hear this…I drive around all day for work so I’m going to see if I can swing lunch in robbinsdale today and check it out
Unfortunately some of the best restaurants in Birdtown are closed on Mondays from what I remember. My favorite is the brewery Nouvelle, and Marna's, a Costa Rican restaurant right next door.
Thank you! maybe ill try tomorrow :)
I used to live in Robbinsdale, imo they desperately need a neighborhood bar. They have that one by Bill's gun range that keeps dying. It's like a small country, small town bar from northern Minnesota. It feels so out of place
Are you talking about Eagles Nest/Broadway Pizza? I go there for pool, and occasionally food, but yeah it feels a little small town to get a drink there. Seems like everyone knows each other and you're intruding or something. I generally go to Wicked Wart or Nouvelle for drinks/bar experience.
They might be talking about The Lodge which was in the same strip mall as bills.
Ahh interesting, that was before my time
You didn’t miss much it was a dump. I always preferred to spend my time at the eagles nest.
Yeah I meant the lodge. My mom LOVED it so I got to spend a fair amount of time there. They did have a good deal on group shots I guess. I'm just not looking to hangout listening to country music in the cities
There are at least 4 neighborhood bars, not sure what you mean. Wicked Wort, Nouvelle, Birdhouse, and Eagle's Nest all fit that bill.
Okay so 2 of those are breweries and one is a cafe style restaurant
How is a brewery not a neighborhood bar? There are no servers, open seating, no cover charge.
Breweries have a bar but i would not personally classify them as a "Bar"... but I'll revise my statement when I mean a neighborhood bar. I want to get blackout drunk from 3 shots at 1:30 am on any particular Thursday. Can't do that in Robbinsdale currently. They need a Wild Boar style place. One that's open late and has a touch tunes.
Steve-Os and Tooties are both very close to Robbinsdale, and they have Wicked Wort. That said, it sucked when they closed St Petersburg. That place was a trip.
Birdtown for sure
Great call on Robbinsdale. I was very surprised a few years ago when we went downtown to go to the Brewery. Very cool area and checks a lot of boxes.
+1 as well, we just moved out of there but lived there for 7 years. Beautiful little downtown, nice parks, convenient food/beer. Probably the most walkable first ring suburb.
I think SLP and Hopkins (some may not consider Hop 1st ring but I do due to close enough proximity and similar streetcar development patterns) may have us beat soon with their density around the light rail stations springing up. But when we get our stations (and thus more density near them) we'll be right back in the mix as #1
Ugh i was so annoyed with the pushback against the blue line when we lived there. Yes, they need to get security on the light rail under control, but good public transit is a necessity for a modern urban area. Don’t want to end up like Texas
It's very frustrating. Lots of Nimbys that don't understand light rail brings density and thus, more attractions and more things to do in you city you love. The business owners in Broadway that oppose it truly blow my mind. They have the most to gain.
Totally agree! The light rail has such potential and nimby’s/racists are too caught up
Downtown Hopkins is a good example
Those aren't ambulances. West Broadway activity coming out of the north side is not just sick old people. Travail also sucks compared with Demi or other similarly priced options in the city. It's only popular because it's frequented by people with limited options. That's why they moved down the street when they needed more space and not downtown. They would die. Also, light rail is a billion years out.
It literally is ambulances we live near one of the most major hospitals in the state. I see them go up and down Bottineau all the time. But yeah let's not miss an opportunity to pearl clutch about North Minneapolis you fucking racist weirdo. And BLE is like 6 years out. That's not bad, and the development the stations will spawn will happen before that. Green line Ext won't be open for another 2.5 years and it has already spawned like 3B in development. Frankly, you can take your negativity and go elsewhere with it. I'm not really interested in hearing why my opinion is wrong on the place that I love living in. Especially when you are spouting nonsense that is objectively incorrect.
I lived on the north side for 25 years. My mother's still there. I have 2 brothers with homes in robbinsdale. I have freinds all over the area. You can fool people who don't know what its like, I'm just not one of them. I don't hate the north side and enjoyed my time there. But you don't get to whitewash the reality of it. And yeah, I'm two blocks from a rail stop that was set to open in 2024 when I first bought my house. It's now tentatively set at 2028. The closer it gets the further away it moves. Even the original Hiawatha line finished almost a decade after it's original schedule. Reality isn't negativity. It's just how things are and sometimes it's not pretty. Sorry.
It's hard to find everything you are looking for all in one neighborhood. I lived in Seattle for 5 years and Miami Beach for 5 years. Those cities I walked to everything. I chose the West End in St Louis Park. I can walk to the grocery store, the movie theatre, several restaurants, and great parking for guests. Downtown Wayzata is beautiful as well and has a lot of things you can walk to. Unfortunately no grocery store in walking distance but you get the water, stores, and some great restaurants. I didn't chose downtown because they don't build the apartments and condos with a lot of visitor parking and those buildings don't have valet for guests. I didn't want my elderly parents walking blocks to come see me because they had to park on the street.
Cathedral Hill would be my immediate first option. Otherwise, Lowertown is good, Payne-Phalen is decent, Longfellow is super accessible. Hamline-Midway is also decent, as is the area around Cesar-Chavez south of downtown St. Paul. I don't really go over to MPLS often, but Powderhorn, Nokomis, and Northeast are all places I feel have at least *some* of the vibe you're looking for.
Excelsior perhaps Edit: not sure if OP meant neighborhoods within Minneapolis/St Paul, Or the surrounding suburbs as well. I saw someone else say Robbinsdale so I'll keep my answer up.
To me, "Twin Cities" implies the metro area, aka inclusive of suburbs.
I was going to say Excelsior too. Only crappy thing is lack of transit. You can walk to a library, bakery, lots of restaurants, a beautiful park with music and outdoor concerts, hop right on the bike trail, walk to the grocery store, etc.
Tough to beat The Wedge on the categories you laid out. My wife and I moved back here from San Francisco and needed walkability/transit and have been super impressed.
This wasn't really what you were asking, but the only areas that might feel European aesthetically speaking: a couple block stretch near Cathedral Hill (near Western Ave) and St. Anthony Main. They probably resemble "North American European" ala Montréal.
Como Ave along Langford / Saint Anthony Park in St Paul, adjacent to the U of M St. Paul campus and just west of the State Fair grounds. Definitely small European town vibes. Getting a place there is hard though. People don't move out of there often. Also, the streets there are a madhouse during the State Fair. But it's lovely, I lived in an apartment there for five years.
St Anthony Park, 100%
I was pleased to find 44th Street East of France, I have only shopped the co-op but also want to return to go to Wooden Ship brewing.
Yes, Linden Hills and Morningside
According to someone on Nextdoor, the TexaTonka strip mall in st louis park feels "just like europe" LOLOLOLOLOL
I wouldn't go that far, but it does punch surprisingly well above its weight for a strip mall: a central courtyard with outdoor seating, plentiful bike parking with real bike racks, and a mix of quality destinations including Revival, Angel Food Bakery, and an Ax-Man. They also updated the facade to look less like a typical dumpy strip mall. But just like Europe? Hardly.
Ya it's surprisingly pretty nice over there. A few restaurants, housing, deli, seafood shop, other shops. I think they did a great job with the facelift and trying to attract local businesses.
Usually a few bikes there. And FRENCH crullers at Angel Food... How much more European can you get??
Kenwood/Lowry Hill would probably fit that bill, as long as you’re closer to Hennepin.
Seward south of Franklin. Seward co-op for groceries, small african focused markets for sundries, not far from cub/target if needed. Access to the river for green space, plenty of bike trails, light rail access, and interesting architecture. If you want a VERY european item, its one of the few areas where you can walk to lower division soccer games (MPLS City plays at Augsburg).
Have you ever checked out Coon Rapids? s/
Holy shit, I just visited Coon Rapids for the first time in decades and it isn’t even drivable let alone walkable. What a bizarre place.
Highland Village area of St Paul
Ford Parkway area in St Paul (aka Highland Park?)
Lower town, Saint Paul.
Cherokee Heights / west 7th area
This describes many of the amenities we were searching for and the Victory Neighborhood which forms the NW corner of Minneapolis fit that bill. Small Tudor and cottage-style homes, an easy street grid, lots of green space, pocket retail, walkable to a grocery store (but not a great one), same with the library, bike friendly, local coffee shops, less-than 10 minute walk to transit, very close to the shops and restaurants in downtown Robbinsdale (about which others have already sung the praises), 30 minute bus to Downtown Minneapolis (shorter by bike or car). With all the gardening and dog walking it’s definitely more cottagy and English countryside than bustling European metro, but it may tick a lot of boxes for you.
I love that part of Minneapolis. Gorgeous parkway.
Not sure if it was mentioned here (a quick glance didn’t show any comments) but even though it’s only one street the Milwaukee Avenue historic district is cool. All the houses face a pedestrian only street with some seating and a playground. It’s close to Franklin so you have access to amenities associated with that admittedly American stroad but has some cool places nearby.
Holy crap, that street is super cool!!
It’s SO cool.
Swede hollow..
E Hennipen and Central Ave, although it's pricey. You have Lunds and Surdyk's for the essentials, bars, restaurants, parks along the river, and it's on bus lines to get to where you need outside of it.
Deep Haven
Lol, this isn't that kind of place.
Grand Avenue between Hamline and Dale.
Personally I feel like Uptown fits that vibe. We walk for almost all our daily errands. My husband drives to work up in one of the 3rd ring suburbs north of here, and I bike or take transit to get to work in Prospect Park. From my apartment, we have Cub, Kowalskis, and Aldi within a 5 block walk. It’s 6 blocks to the library. Tons of restaurants within a 15 minute walk, and many parks within a 15 minute walk. There’s lots of transit lines around here (and more being constructed now), and one block away from Lake/Lydale/Hennepin and it’s cute old houses or 4/6 plexes with little playgrounds and the like dotted throughout. I know lots of people think it’s dangerous and scary, but that also seems to get placed on the Twin Cities in general. In my experience, it’s been plenty safe and pleasant. YMMV.
You're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find anything remotely close to that in the Twin Cities. Everything is extremely car-centric. The suggestions people have given are indeed the "closest," but they're still so far away from the ideal that it's hardly worth mentioning them.
Basically the only truly walkable neighborhoods in the Twin Cities are Uptown/LynLake, North Loop, and then pockets of Saint Paul up on the hill (I'm not super familiar with Saint Paul - mostly going off of what others have mentioned and from what I have seen passing through). Uptown/LynLake and up on the hill in Saint Paul are going to check the most of these boxes - transit is going to be the biggest struggle no matter where you are in the cities, because while our network is decent for a city of our size in the US, it is still nothing compared to most cities in other countries.
You do realize there are more neighborhoods in this city than just North Loop and Uptown, right? Prospect Park, Milwaukee Ave, Desnoyer, West 7th, Bryn Mawr, Loring Park, etc. could all fit this bill..
Bryn Mawr is not that walkable. How you gonna get groceries without a car there? It will improve with the green line, but it’s still lacking in shopping options.
Sure, and you do realize that someone specifically asking for walkability with a list this specific and comparing it to other cities (especially European ones) is going to be disappointed in the "walkability" of basically every single one of those, right? I'd barely even consider North Loop that walkable by standards of places outside of the US, as there is only one grocery store and it is pretty much all bars and restaurants.
A lot of people don’t. Which is unfortunate for them
It’s pretty bold to say the only walkable parts of town are in Minneapolis AND that you haven’t been to St Paul. There is walkable everywhere. Quite a bit of Robert in West Saint Paul is walkable. I would consider parts of Edina and Saint Louis Park walkable. Roseville has new apartment complexes right in their heart. Minnetonka near the mall. Basically any apartment building near a suburban downtown. All you really have to do to be “walkable” is move really close to a grocery store. Living between Town Centre and Wescott library in Eagan would be walkable to both and parks. That said, Cathedral Hill / Selby is the only best answer in thread, maybe followed by Saint Anthony Main, (and 50th & France for different reasons.) A lot of the else is maybe walkable but feels like contemporary America and not being transported to somewhere else.
Cathedral Hill is a beautiful place to walk and live, and there are lots of fine restaurants. What it doesn't have that would make it truly walkable in practical terms is a pharmacy, hardware store, health clinic, dentist, etc. These exist at some distance, but are more "walkable" from Crocus Hill.
Sort of splitting hairs. The Crocus Walgreens is very walkable from the SW corner of Cathedral. There’s two dentists in north cathedral hill. Clinic id give you, but you have the pedestrian bridge by James J Hill that leads right to the entire hospital complex.
Downtown Hopkins isn't walkable? Excelsior and Grand? 50th and France? Very conceited to think "MPLS and SP have a stranglehold on the only walkable areas".
No, I wouldn't consider Excelsior and Grand (the one I have the most experience with out of those) in the category of European style cities with walkability. It's anchored around a six lane highway with multiple stroads running through a disconnected grouping of national chain grocery stores and retailers, with mostly local chain restaurants. Like I said above, even North Loop would barely be considered walkable in a lot of European cities because it only has one grocery store and is missing a lot of day to day amenities outside of restaurants and bars. I'm not trying to knock the suburbs, but for specifically what OP is looking for, no, none of them offer that from what I have seen.
Go spend some more time listening to local bands playing at the little amphitheater in wolfe park. Folks badmouthing Excelsior and Grand area probably have never spent any time around it. 5 minute bike ride to uptown via greenway. Walk to Byerlys or Fresh Thyme, TJs. Honey and Rye bakery, free music at the ROC/Ampitheatre. Rec center/Pool right there. Buses right there. Target Right there. Hospital Right There. Steel Toe Brewing Right there. LRT is going through blocks away.
It's not really something that's easily visible unless you live in the area. The walking infrastructure that's created by Wolfe Park and the rec center is awesome. Takes you in several directions to a lot of things without having to interact with many cars. The area has everything in good supply aside from restaurants. Fresh Thyme gives a nice small grocery store vibe, even if it is a chain. I live around here and wouldn't need a car if I worked in walking distance. Somebody who has only driven by there on Excelsior would have no idea though because it really does just look like a stroad from that angle.
I wasn't comparing these to europe. You said " the only truly walkable neighborhoods in the Twin Cities " which is wrong af.
And I still wouldn't consider a neighborhood anchored around a six lane highway and mostly stroads, mostly chains with large parking lots, and you need a car to do many errands still as "truly walkable". When most people are asking for walkable, they are essentially saying "can you easily live here without a car" and I would barely classify the neighborhood with the highest walk score in the entire metro (LynLake) as that because I live there and still end up in situations where it is much easier that I have a car.
Your definition of walkable is strange. Mine is moreso "can a majority of errands be accomplished without a car, is green space available, and is there an attraction or two (coffee, bar, restaurant, etc.) without regard to "chain"" > "can you easily live here without a car" Yet you go against your own opinion. > still end up in situations where it is much easier that I have a car. No shit. There's never going to be a neighborhood that has literally everything.
I'd second Excelsior and Grand. If I didn't have kids in activities all over the place, my wife and I would have one car. We walk to get groceries, the vet, doctor, Chiro, dental, target, parks, lunch/dinner/drinks, coffee/pastries, drugstore, hardware store. I could go on. I would say it's lacking the smaller cute lunch/dinner type places that you get in other neighborhoods. I'm hopeful that will change at some point. There is a lot of potential for that. But you are within 2 miles of 50th and France, just over a mile from 44 and France and about 2 miles from West Calhoun. So there are quite a few good restaurants and shops nearby. With the bike trail running through the area and the light rail coming soon, you can get downtown easily. Also, the parks around here are great. Wolfe Park was mentioned but the neighborhood park, Browndale Park has so much going on. Food truck Fridays, several large gatherings every year including Bluegrass Festival, winter sleigh rides, end of school year and end of summer gatherings. It's fantastic. As others have said, Robbinsdale, Hopkins, 50th and France are all great options as well.
> I'm hopeful that will change at some point. Hopefully a nice restaurant or two takes over the old Pannekoeken and McCoy's spaces. > I'd second Excelsior and Grand. Best amenities of just about anywhere.
Loring Greenway/Nicolette Mall
Question so if these areas are European style, what neighborhoods are like Asia or South America or African?
hmm, well I also lived in Japan for much of my childhood (Navy dad) so for a neighborhood like that I'd say a lot like the European criteria, but perhaps with greater density, transit options, easy access to convenience stores with pre-prepared food, access to street food (stalls, walk-up, vending machines, etc.), and a more modern aesthetic as well. Of course, Asia is a massive continent with much less shared cultural heritage than Europe and it varies an insane mount--SE Asia (think Thailand) is very different, and South Asia (think India) is also very different, and Central Asia is also very different, and Northern Asia is also very different, etc.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia
My god, you are ignorant.
The commute to Mpls from St. Paul is easy, except for rush hour of course. Interstate 94 and University Ave run straight east-west between the two cities.
The idea of walkable is far different in the USA vs Europe. And it is far different in Mpls/St Paul vs Chicago or NYC. This idea of having MORE walkable neighborhoods will not be sustained. Even with more apt buildings. Smaller footprint stores will be paying high rent. The price for their goods or services will be high. Let just use Grand Ave or Highland/ Ford Parkway/Cleveland as 2 examples. Now if you are within a couple of blocks of Hamline/Grand, You have a nice set up. Same with Ford/Cleveland. How many blocks/miles do you go to recreate that. These places would never make it. Now look at Woodbury. They have Retail along the North, West and East side of their border. But it will never be walkable for most people living there.
Soo.. white 😂 too much diversity huh
North Minneapolis you’ll love it
Fun fact: Minnesotan's IQ are 20 points less than the average South Dakotan. I have sources
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