Well, first off, when you say, “that no one else knows about”, that’s pretty limiting, I guess I’m going to interpret that as “not widely known OUTSIDE your area”. I guess I could interpret it as “not widely known IN my area”, but stuff like that doesn’t tend to stay open very long…just about anything I can think of, some people need to know about, or what’s the point.
Basically, I love living in the Twin Cities of MN. I live right in the heart of St. Paul, our Capitol city, and what’s nice is that the core of the cities (Minneapolis on the west bank of the Mississippi River, St. Paul on the East Bank), is the core of a vast metropolitan area which stretches a good 30 miles in any direction. There is so much to see and do here, it would be impossible to ever be bored, no matter what you are into. Starting at my house, if I walk 2 blocks, I run into Como Lake, one of the many lakes we have right in the city. It has a walking path that I believe is 1.6 miles around. On the far end of the lake from where I live is a bandshell which has a small coffee and snack shop attached, and where many nights during the summer they host live music shows, usually by your old style big bands (the kinds with a huge brass section).
Right on the corner of the lake is the historic streetcar station, a mini museum dedicated to the memory of the streetcars that used to grace the streets of Minneapolis/St. Paul up until the early 1950s. This building is I believe on the US register of historical places. Go a little further and you run into the picnic and playgrounds at Como…complete with a full playground, mini golf, fire pits, picnic tables, etc. Across the street is the main attraction. First, there is ComoTown, a small amusement park with reasonable prices (all day rides are $16 I believe). It is geared towards kids ages 3 to 9, but if you’re too cheap for that, you can go to Como Zoo. We have the Minnesota State Zoo in a rather affluent south east suburb called Apple Valley, and that zoo is very nice, but Como is free (or by voluntary donation), and it has most of your major zoo animals. Also built onto the zoo is the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, home to a 4 wing collection of flowers and plants from around the world, as well as a Koi filled reflecting pond (this is a favorite spot for wedding photos). Outside the Conservatory are the Japanese gardens which are only open during the summer. For those who want to golf, Como also has a full 18 hole golf course, which during the winter is converted to a sliding hill, complete with tow rope. The area and the paths are also home for cross country skiing, roller blading, dog walking, etc. It’s a very beautiful, serene, yet robust area for being so close to the heart of the downtown of a big city.
The downtown area of St. Paul is home to a few large companies, in fact, the whole of the Twin Cities is home to 19 of the Fortune 500 companies, but downtown is mostly where business goes on in the city, so there is not a ton of nightlife to be had. However, there are some notable spots. One thing which recently got national attention was the Xcel Energy Center, home to the Minnesota Wild hockey team (when it was the home of the RNC last fall), but this is where most of the major concerts in St. Paul happen. Though there are small clubs in or near downtown, notably Station 4 which hosts a variety of hardcore metal acts. For dining, there are a couple of exceptional restaurants, there is Patrick McGoverns, an Irish bar with a full menu where you can have all you can eat popcorn at your table, along with strong and delicious mixed drinks, while you’re waiting for one of the 2 best hot turkey sandwiches anywhere in town (the other is at Keys restaurant, which has several Twin Cities locations, is family owned, and which is soon to have one of it’s restaurants featured in the upcoming Coen Brothers’ film, “An Inconvenient Man”).
The other notable restaurant in Downtown St. Paul has been there since almost the turn of the century, it is an Italian shop which serves New York style pizza and a variety of authentic Italian dishes for dine in or carry out, and which has a gelato station and an Italian Market on the premises. Downtown also has a variety of interesting little shops such as Majarajah’s, where you can get your rasta on, and the Twin Cities Magic and Costume shop where you can buy anything magic related. On the outskirts of downtown you’ll also encounter a couple interesting steak houses, pawn shops, and tattoo parlors.
Downtown also has another big ticket attraction in the Science Museum of Minnesota. I’ll admit, it’s not quite as cool as the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, or the Exploratorium in San Francisco, but it is a surprisingly large and packed museum with a 3-D theater, an Imax and exhibits for every type of science you can imagine…and it’s right on the banks of the Mississippi, so the view is fantastic. You can go outside and play on their rooftop playground, complete with mini golf (for an extra fee). Also housed within the museum is the collection of the now defunct Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, which used to be a mainstay of the Minneapolis area known as St. Anthony.
Just south of downtown is “West St. Paul”, which no one can explain to me why it’s west St. Paul if it’s SOUTH of St. Paul, but such is the interesting part of life here. This is the Mexican area of St. Paul, and it’s also the home to the caves which used to serve as the hideout for many of the notorious prohibition era gangsters, particularly John Dillinger (for an interesting read on John Dillinger’s travels in and around St. Paul, there is a book called John Dillinger Slept Here). Anyway, go past the caves and there are a variety of authentic Mexican restaurants, one of our favorites is called Boca Chica, and they have positively THE best margaritas in town, which you can get 2 for 1 from 3 to 6 (unless they’ve changed it). When you continue on down the main thoroughfare towards the most southern reaches of St. Paul, you’ll see most of the same chain stores that are found everywhere else in town, but you’ll find a few unique places as well. Granny Donuts comes to mind, run by the same Asian couple for the last 23 years, their donuts are made fresh continuously, and they are open 24/7/365…they have never closed once in 23 years, and their donuts are better than anything you can get at a Dunkin Donuts or a Krispy Kreme, and are much cheaper. And they throw in a couple donut holes with every order…they are light and fluffy and creamy and simply melt in your mouth. Further down is Regina’s candies, a place that still makes all their own candy…they have the best English toffee anywhere. And every year they let kids in to watch them make homemade candy canes at Christmas (though this particular location is not where they make the candy, that is in an area of St. Paul called Highland Park which I will get to later.
In fact, no better time that right now…that was kind of the south east/south central part of St. Paul, go southwest and you head towards Highland Park. On the way you’ll encounter Cheapo Records, billed as the last authentic record store…where you can flip through stacks of new and used CDs, DVDs, Records and Cassettes, it’s a hunter’s paradise. Keep going to Highland and you’ll find a variety of local shops selling bird items, jewelry, fresh meats, gifts, etc., and most importantly, one of the 7 Twin Cities location Half Price Books, which are in some other, but not all other states. The great thing about this store, which sells pretty much anything printed or recorded is that prices never go higher than half the original price (well, except for a select few collectors items). Several times a year they have 20% off everything sales, and at the end of the year, you can get a calendar with 15% off your entire purchase coupons to use throughout the year, get enough of these calendars and you can get 15% off any time. Or, if you are as lucky as I am to be married to a librarian (also works for teachers) you can get a card good for 10% off any time. Often stuff is marked down to next to nothing…they usually have a huge variety of books, software, CDs & DVDs for $1 to $3. Highland is also home to a yearly festival, Highland Fest, which has a variety of street vendors and artisans, food, etc. Some of the finest artists in the city display their wares here, and often the stores have sales to coincide, such as the tent sale at the aforementioned Half Price Books. A couple standouts for dining in this area are the Highland Grill, which serves just about anything you want, and they use, fresh, organic and locally sourced foods. A little north are the twin restaurants Luci, and Luci Ancora, the place to bring a date if money is no object, you want the most authentic Italian food you’re likely to find in Minnesota…and about the only place I’ve ever been in to feature a $7,000 bottle of wine on their wine list.
Heading east you go to some of the less affluent areas of St. Paul, which can be bad, but also lends itself to some really great restaurants with dirt cheap prices. Two Italian joints in particular, within a mile of each other are the Dairy-ette, a 1950s style drive in complete with car hops, which serves home made Italian food, and DQ style ice cream treats. One of the best things about this place is that they deep fry their meatballs, which makes them some of the juiciest meatballs you’ve ever tasted. Even better AND cheaper is the Little Oven…here’s a cafe that specializes in Italian food, but also has a huge selection of American entrees. This is the kind of place where you can get a 24 ounce steak WITH a side of pasta for under $12. Their 2 specialties are pizza, which if you carry it out are buy one get one free, and pasta, Sunday through Thursday they have an all you can eat deal for $6, which includes your choice of pasta, and either 2 meatballs or an italian sausage…and for my money it’s the best pasta anywhere….a smooth, spicy red sauce slathered over noodles…served with hot, fresh baked bread and garlic butter.
Right where the east side ends and downtown begins is the best Pizza in the universe, Red’s Savoy Pizza, or at least the best thin crust pizza. They have a crust that is both crispy and chewy, and they cover it with a rich, spicy sauce, and simply HEAP the fresh toppings on…I’ve had thick sliced pepperoni stacked 4 deep from time to time, about a 1/4 inch, with the 1/4 inch of cheese, this pie is to die for. And yet another Italian place of note, just a couple blocks from Savoy’s is the Buon Giorno express, a small Italian market/liquor store, which serves hot lunches (and cold) M-F, like the spaghetti or rigatoni and meatball w/ garlic bread for $4.99, it’s more than you can eat.
North of the Highland Park area, but west of downtown, you have Grand and Summit Avenues. On Summit, you have a huge variety of stately mansions, mostly built at the turn of the century. Here you’ll find the Governor’s Mansion and the James J. Hill House and library, a great place to do your geneology and historical research. Keep going towards downtown and you hit the Cathedral Hill area, where you will see the Cathedral of St. Paul, a building probably more recognizable than the Capitol building itself. Keep going and you hit the Minnesota History Center, a sprawling museum dedicated to Minnesota history, including a massive exhibit on the Minnesota musical scene.
Go south from here past downtown (but before you hit the west side) and you hit Harriet Island, a huge island right in downtown, where ever year there are a variety of events, including a 4th of July festival called the Festival of Nations. Each year they bring in live music acts for free (this year Friday night is Judas Priest and Whitesnake, and Saturday night is Elvis Costello), along with a variety of food and artisan vendors, exhibits, rides, etc. Back into downtown for some night life, we have the Ordway theater, the place to go for Broadway shows.
St. Paul is also home to a number of other parks besides Como…there is Rice park downtown, or Keller Park or Phalen Park on the East Side (both with nice lakes). And all of this and much, much more is right within the city limits. One other thing of great interest right in town, being home of cartoonist Charles M. Schultz, every year for a few years they put something like 150 statues around town to commemorate his work…One year it was a standing Snoopy, the a Charlie Brown, then a Lucy, then a Linus, then a Snoopy on his doghouse w/ Woodstock. Each of these started as a blank canvas and a local artist painted it to his interpretation, and local businesses bought these statues which are now permanent fixtures all along downtown. Last year they did something similar with dinosaur statues, but did not continue it this year.
We have a variety of cultures, a huge Latino population leading to an explosion in authentic mexican dining everywhere, and a large Hmong population, culminating in a Hmong Marketplace where you can get anything your heart desires dirt cheap (one woman was recently arrested for selling monkey paws here…but it’s not all bad, where else are you gonna get a fresh pineapple for a buck?). I won’t even talk about Minneapolis or any of the suburbs, I’d be here till next year!
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