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I will be moving out to the St. Paul area for graduate school in June and am hoping to get some goon feedback. I will be on a stipend etc etc, so am looking for someplace cheap but still convenient for all the stuff I need. I will not have a car so access to pub. trans. will be important. What are the coolest neighborhoods? the worst? what has a good balance of cool/cheap? I will be stationed at the St. Paul campus so the areas closest to there are where I am interested in most. Also what do the residents like to do? I'm from Michigan so have an idea of what winters are like, but I have never lived in a city area like the twin cities, so any regional culture tips would be awesome.
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| # ? Mar 20, 2013 14:58 |
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| # ? May 20, 2013 07:23 |
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Are you going to be attending the University of Minnesota? If so I'm pretty sure there is free transportation via shuttle between campuses. It's been a while since I attended but if they did it in the late 90s it's gotta still be there. There's a couple threads where you can ask folks that will be more knowledgeable about living situations with respect to the U. First there's the Minneapolis thread which can get kind of circle-jerky at times but they'll answer with good information. There's also the general Minnesota thread which is, well, more general. For the most part, as long as you live near the U public transportation is going to be pretty readily available. As I mentioned above the University also has a few shuttles of its own that go between campuses. I parked on the St. Paul campus one of the quarters I was there because the parking contract was much cheaper and the shuttle ride was maybe 10-15 minutes tops so it's not really a time burden, although there may be issues getting one late at night. Overall public transportation is decent but it is a midwestern city so kind of spread out. As long as you are around the downtown/uptown/university/northeast Minneapolis area (and downtown St. Paul as well) the buses are pretty good. There's a light rail but for now it only goes from Downtown to the Mall of America. As for culture we sure got a lot of theater here. Minneapolis (maybe it's the Twin Cities combined I can never remember) has more theater seats per capita than any US city except NYC. Everything from big touring shows to a ton of small and independent theater. There's also a pretty vibrant local music scene with just about any music style you could ask for. The food scene here is actually really good as well something that a lot of people don't really recognize. There are good dives and expensive restaurants and everything in between with a large variety of different cuisines and even a burgeoning food truck scene. Minneapolis is very LGBT friendly and was even voted Gayest City in America a couple years ago by some magazine or other. Pride is a huge event with a big parade and 3 day festival that fills up Loring Park right next to downtown Minnapolis. Speaking of parks, there are a ton of them around with miles of biking and walking trails. It's a very bicycle friendly area if that's your thing and you'll find a lot of enthusiasts in the threads I mentioned above. This is again from a Minneapolis perspective just because I don't spend much time in St. Paul but I'm pretty sure there's a good amount of trails and lanes there as well. Investing in a bike might not be a bad idea if you don't have a car. It's entirely possible to ride all the way across the Cities on bike trails so it's a pretty common way to get around. In the warmer months anyway. Stop by the threads I mentioned above and get some more advice and meet some more people there. Even in the slightly clique-y Minneapolis thread folks are pretty friendly.
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| # ? Mar 21, 2013 14:57 |
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I lived in Minneapolis for 7 years. It was pretty great. I lived in Mac-grove in St Paul for 5 and downtown Minneapolis for 2. Mac grove was split between college students and upper middle class folks with kids. As you're neither, I'd probably avoid. Nice area though if you have children. Note if you're going to st Thomas or Hamline or something, this is really your only choice without a car. Downtown was awesome for me, though rent and parking were more difficult. You do have good access to MSPs adaquate but not great public transit. As you will not have a car, I cannot recommend uptown, which is a nice place, but unless you love busses, I'd avoid. Kind of south Minneapolis along the light rail line is cut ally pretty nice, though I am not sure about access to grocery stores down there. This is like below lake. A number of drinking and eating options in those neighborhoods. St. Paul in general felt under served by public transit, though the light rail line opening up might help, though it won't go anywhere I wold live. Minneapolis is very nimble in the summer, but given the public transit, in the winter I would want a car. I tried my first year in Minneapolis without a car and it made it much harder to enjoy a fairly awesome city. I don't like dinky town and the likes unless you really want gone surrounded by undergrads. Cedar riverside would be closes to the bus to St. Paul umn campus, but it isn't as gentrified as some might want. It is an awesome neighborhood, with lots of great ethnic stuff. In ever felt scared there late at night, but if I wasn't build like a defensive lineman, my opinion might be different.
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| # ? Mar 23, 2013 20:02 |
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nm posted:I don't like dinky town and the likes unless you really want gone surrounded by undergrads. Are there any other student ghettos that you can think of?
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| # ? Mar 24, 2013 00:06 |
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Thanks for the input guys. I checked out the Minneapolis thread, is there some sort of St. Paul-Minneapolis rivalry? I may post over there after reading a bit more, those big threads take some time to get up to date on. In the meantime, anyone have any thoughts about the area north of Dinkey and como ave, say on Hennepin ave? To clarify, I will be at the U of MN St. Paul campus.
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| # ? Mar 25, 2013 01:32 |
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| # ? May 20, 2013 07:23 |
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St Paul is generally a pretty sleepy boring place, to the point where a number of people (myself one of them) call it a suburb of Minneapolis.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 16:02 |
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