Minnesota/Minnesotans C or D

This is also the gateway into teaching the French Revolution in St. Louis Park. Believe.

Lake Minnetonka must have a ley-line that acts exclusively as a preppy magnet.

Minnesota is a great place to grow up, but people like me need bigger cities than Minneapolis.

The problem with Minneapolis is the same with most large modern cities--there's not much density to it. It's all sprawl. Which is also part of its charm.

Also, SPAM IS CLASSIC.

-Lots of friends there
-Had some good gigs, at the Times and Cabooze and whatnot
-Lots of cool restaurants, and I love going to Maria's or Triple Rock for breakfast
-Halal markets that sell camel meat
-That Sun Ray sign on the way into St. Paul that's had the 'y' out for years, so it says "SUN RA"
-Happy Apple

DUD:

-Asshole drivers, for real
-I can't stand finding my way around Mpls, I've gotten lost there more than anywhere else and (partly as a result of being lost and stressed) gotten in my only car accident, which is still causing me financial trouble
-Driving from Wisconsin to Minnesota is most mind-numbing drive imaginable, and it's just long enough to feel really long but too short to settle into 'driving all day' mode.

You forgot MATOS. KCLASSIC.

Minneapolis road rage is among the most passive-aggressive in the world.

I miss Dayton's, the Lincoln Del, and Excelsior Amusement Park.

First Avenue/7th Street Entry
some restaurant a couple blocks away
some hotel (maybe it was by the airport?)
the mall in Edina
a gas station somewhere between Minneapolis and Moorhead
a Target somewhere between Minneapolis and Moorhead
a dumpy bar in Moorhead
some restaurant that kinda sucked in Moorhead
a Days Inn in Moorhead (we snuck into the pool later that night)
a Chinese buffet place in Moorhead
yet another gas station

Also, Husker Du.

Hah

I'd like to see more of the state.

Well you pretty much covered everything between Minneapolis and Moorhead (as well as Moorhead) so you can check that off the list.

Yet, somehow at the same time: Classic.

tom bernard: racist.

minneapolis was my traumatic home for about a month while i decided i did NOT want to be a flight attendant. it was hell. really and truly.

on a roadtrip a couple years later i decided to give it a second chance. it didn't help.

i don't know about the rest of the state, but i hate minneapolis.

When I was twenty and living alone in an apartment off of Franklin, a woman from the liquor store invited me to her family's house for Thanksgiving. I think that I may have been the only person there under 200 pounds, and the only man under 6'3". They fed me like a brother, got me drunk on Schnapp's, and it was TEH BEST THANKSGIVNG EVAH.

It was just one family in NE Minneapolis, but I'll stick up for Minnesotans any day of the week. Even the screedy James Lileks.

It's been awhile for me, but I always really enjoyed Radio K. College radio sounds so beautiful on the AM band.

God, sometimes I want to move back there so badly.

I can get it in from the cities all the way to Sauk Centre which is pretty damn good. I like it better than Radio K as well. But please don't forget KUMM the praries only alternative. We have to be classic if only for our call letters. Also worth noting is Rev 105 which all us kids thought was the coolest thing ever at the time.

Yeah, that's usually around where it cuts out for me, too. But I used to have an '82 Olds a few years back that would get it just about to the rest area right before Alex. Only good thing about that car.

I used to hate MN with a passion growing up (could be because it was way out in the sticks) but now that I've gotten a little bit older and done a bit of traveling I've realized that all in all it's a pretty nice to be.

Also, it's the only place in the U.S. (well most of the upper midwest according to A Short History of Nearly Everything) that doesn't have to worry about earthquakes!

C/D:

Don Shelby/Diana Pierce
Sebastian Joe's seconded - I know of no better way to completely negate the good work done on arse by 10 mile bike ride around Lake Harriet/Steve and Sharon aaaaahghghh
Red Dragon/food at the Red Dragon

HUGE shout-out to Chris K.

Yeah that's great news.

A club/restaurant friend's open question: "If you wanted to throw a cool party at a great bar near downtown Minneapolis, where would you do it?"

I'll never tell

I put an event together for 12-ish people at La Doña Cervecería (Mexican taproom with good food). It's casual and brightly lit, so it's not right for mood and ambience, but it worked well. Also is just a mile or so from downtown, so there could be better options in the North Loop or nearby.

I officially retired from patrolling as of this morning, worked my last cross-guard/patrol shift at my daughter's elementary school. I did three or four shifts a week since the day after Renee Good was murdered. The crossing guard stuff was pretty easy, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad to be getting an hour of mornings back.

I can't say I miss the rapid response stuff, because a lot of times it was both stressful and kind of boring, but the few times when did escalate on my watch and was involved in a full-on Bullitt-style car chase...well let's just say I understand why some people got addicted to doing it.

A club/restaurant friend's open question: "If you wanted to throw a cool party at a great bar near downtown Minneapolis, where would you do it?"

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, March 23, 2026 7:43 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Depends on the size/budget but can't go wrong with Bar La Grassa or St Pierre

Been in the Cities for a bit taking care of my brother's things and just did what I've wanted to do for a break since I got here: take a long walk through Wood Lake Nature Center in Richfield, of all places. Related to the convo in the 50s thread, it's just amazing that the place feels just as it did when I was, like, five years old. (My parents loved nature centers and preserves, and once, I can't remember why but I'm sure he'd messed up, my brother had to clean the goose-shit-heavy boardwalk across the middle of the lake.) I just love how well kept-up the place is, and how once you're in it, other than 35W sounds, you can't feel or see the big-box stores and fast food that's popped up around it. It just feels like the values here were in the right place, to keep the area around the lake instead of just building more houses. And it gives a real sense of what the whole immediate area was like before it was settled.

did I ever mention my entire immediately family (mom, dad, and sister) relocated to minnesota in the last few years? sorry for putting you out, etc

Wood Lake is a real gem. Richfield is really thriving these days.

A big revelation on this trip came after selling some gear at Music Go Round in Roseville, on Lexington near Larpenteur, and this strip mall had so much interesting stuff: a tailor, a cat cafe, a kind of labubu dealer, and then Maverick’s Real Roast Beef, looking like a former diner converted into a counter-service sandwich shop, and lunch there was incredible.

i love that MGR and that strip mall

Selling to MGR worked out in the end, glad they were interested in some of the novelty items.

My only association with Roseville (beyond a few friends/relatives living there over the years) is having gone often to the two movie theaters: the Roseville 4 $1 theater (saw Bill and Ted, Miami Blues, etc.) and the Rosedale Cinema (saw Blue Velvet, A Chorus Line, etc.).

Did you see that Pope Leo mentioned seeing The Blues Brothers at the Roseville 4?

Mavericks is so good

hey chatterbox all right! the curry mayo on fries they do is really good. but i draw the line at j4k3 rud3, who is not so good, sadly.

Hahahaha just saw this comment and let me tell you, this guy is a mega dud for me due to how he screwed over a couple of friends of mine and his general attitude toward this one streaming platform he uses.

Otherwise, I've been living here for almost four years now and find a lot that is absolutely classic. Except for just how hot the weather can get during the summer. Um, I specifically moved out of Texas so I wouldn't have to tolerate excesses in heat anymore???

i would stay far away from the chatterbox too tbh, certainly don't order food there

Trust me, I'd rather eat at Keys Cafe, Roku Ramen, India Palace, that one Russian/Ukrainian place that serves both borscht and khachapuri, or any of the other great places to eat around here. Anyway, that guy now apparently DJs at some VFW hall.

What's wrong with the food at Chatterbox? I've never been there

dj in question is pretty huge now locally they did an anniversary party for his DJ night at the main room at First Ave

I never really bought his "I had no idea" bit after it was revealed that the Club Jager owner was an actual Nazi, even though he dj'd there for years

^^^was gonna mention this too

15 legal observers arrested by ICE this morning across the Twin Cities

"Antifa" sweeps

my local Signal reported ICE watchers homes raided

Yeah you can read the indictment here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.234415/gov.uscourts.mnd.234415.1.0_2.pdf

It's basically 90 pages of quotes from Signal chats and text chains, showing that ... they were talking to each other and planning protests and observing. Actual alleged criminal offenses look like thin gruel to me, but I'm no lawyer.

On a whim just checked Google Maps - can't believe Cafe Latte and Bread and Chocolate are still there. I left Minnesota 30 years ago and did not expect them to be among its most durable institutions.