AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
St paul highland park restaurants9/1/2023 This was arguably the soul of Highland Park, a public space at the very center of the neighborhood. In recent years there was even a piano, and people played it! This was the first place in the Twin Cities where I observed teenagers simply hanging out without seeming out of place nor threatening to others (a rare thing!). It had a kneewall as an informal place to sit, trees provided some shade, the kiosk provided a place to post community events and a landmark for meeting, and the location was close enough to the Ford/Cleveland intersection to be part of it all, but offset enough to provide refuge from passing traffic. Similarly, the public square at the southwest corner used to look like this (see above). Regardless of what they spent in either store, they kept the place populated, gave it some soul. I’d see a lot of the same people there, day after day, hanging out as people are prone to do (see above). This space was an informal “third place,” not quite in Starbucks nor Barnes & Noble, but a visible place to socialize, people watch and just linger. I suspect what a lot of people will miss is specifically the space between the cashier and the adjacent Stabucks (connected inside the building), next to the windows and the magazine racks. In this single stretch of street, on foot, you can eat, get a haircut, watch a movie, receive a massage, buy a gift and get your clock repaired! I love that.Īnd it isn’t so much the loss of Barnes & Noble itself, although it was a really nice bookstore for browsing, and had a great children’s section. Highland Park is full of good places like restaurants, coffee shops, a grocery store (Lunds), medical offices, and still has a great bookstore (Half Price Books). The east side of Cleveland Avenue between Ford Parkway and Pinehurst is the friendliest section of street, and has an insane Gehl Door Average (GDA) of close to 20 (see above). In general, all four of these new buildings improve the urbanism of the area. A mixed-use project is proposed along Cleveland Avenue one block north of Ford Parkway. To the east, a new Schuler Shoes (see above, left) is nearly complete. Today a brand new restaurant occupies the pad site at the corner, sharing a parking lot with Walgreens (see above). I’ve long been a fan of Highland Park, as I shop and dine there frequently and I believe it is a complete, walkable neighborhood built to a standard that all new suburbs should be held. It is also changing in many ways. A new Walgreens didn’t come without controversy. With the loss of these two popular gathering places, Highland Park has lost a little of its soul. As well, sidewalk replacement in late summer 2014 cost the neighborhood a little public square nearby at the southwest corner of Ford Parkway and Cleveland Avenue. I miss that little public square, too. I used to get my Financial Times Weekend there (the House and Home section is my guilty pleasure), and I miss it. The neighborhood lost not only a bookstore but a “ third place,” a beloved gathering space. If you’d have told me ten years ago that I’d be bemoaning the loss of a large-format chain retailer, anywhere, I’d have been suspicious. Stranger things have happened, and as of January 1, 2015, Barnes & Noble in the Highland Park neighborhood of St.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |