West Side : Featured Stories

MSP’s increasingly amenity-rich downtowns offer irresistible quality-of-life benefits that help firms attract and retain top talent. Here’s a look at why some companies moved to the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  

All of these homegrown breweries are located on or near major bikeways, making for convenient — and safe — access. String two or three of these bike-friendly breweries together for a pedal-powered, DIY brewery tour.  

According to a recent panel discussion, we need to own our cold climate and our ingenuity in order to attract new talent, continue fueling the innovation at the heart of our economy, and create a new and authentic national identity. Shall we call ourselves the North?  

The Twin Cities is a leader in bicycle use and a major innovator in bicycle design and technology. The seven inventions profiled here have, or will have, an impact on the local and global cycling industry. And the pace of innovation shows no sign of slowing down.    

We recently sat down with Shawn Combs Walding, MnDOT’s Transit Advantages Coordinator for the Twin Cities Metro District to discuss alternative transportation in the Twin Cities, what local entities can do to promote transit use, and how easy it really is to be car-free. 

A look at four heritage restaurants in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, their origin stories, their participation in their neighborhoods, and why their loyal patrons—and new generations of diners—keep coming back.

Need a kicky pair of high heels or an affordable, eco-friendly coffin? Two shops sharing a building on Saint Paul's evolving Smith Avenue are ready to help with fashion or funerals.

What do you do when the urban garden you've struggled to create gets sold out from under you? At the recent Community Garden Spring Resource Fair, New York gardening advocate Karen Washington told local growers that if they want their gardens to be really sustainable--i.e., permanent--they'd better get savvy about the political system.

Often, says Concordia University economist and biz-school dean Bruce Corrie, our minority and immigrant communities are seen solely through the "problem" lens. Their struggles are real, but their contributions to our prosperity and potential for growth are greater than most majority Minnesotans realize. And Corrie's got the figures to prove it.

Smith Avenue between the High Bridge and Dodd Road is very Saint Paul: comfortable houses alternate with an eclectic mix of independent businesses with loads of local character. A plan's afoot to turn this under-the-radar neighborhood into a full-fledged retail destination--without letting it lose its soul.

Guitarist Da�th� Sproule, a globe-trotting member of the Celtic supergroup Altan and one of the true giants of traditional Irish music, lives not in Dublin or New York but on Saint Paul's West Side--along with a growing community of musicians who play Irish music locally and nationally, and who love the fact that their close-knit neighborhood gives them plenty of chances to get together and jam.

 What's the special sauce that makes so many bright people who come here stay here--and a lot people who go away, come back? (And what do we need to make that sauce even richer?) Some local creative types weigh in.