Contacted tonight by a headhunter about a publishing gig in Minneapolis.
Other than it being the fictional home of Omaha the Cat Dancer I’m at sea.
What can y’all tell a boy about it?
Oh! You should move there. Elenfair and lno are there, and it is the most Canadian of American cities. Plus, they like doggies.
Ginger never visited Virginia, Hibbing, Crane Lane or International Falls. The Iron Range and north of makes Minneapolis look like a slow version of L.A. I was going to comment in another thread about accents and such, but the “city” folk don’t know what goes on in the “upper half” of the state.
I grew up in northern MN, and Duluth was the big town, and the Twin Cities were the “city”. After living in many other areas since, as far as big cities go, Minneapolis is a very decent city to live in. It has it’s bad spots, as all cities do, but overall, it is a decent place. I compare it to my “home” now, in that it is a big town, but still has a bit of a country feel to it. If you can deal with nasty winters, it isn’t a bad deal at all.
It is a nice compromise between big city and small town. You get a bit of everything. If you are really nasty, Hennepin Ave. can provide you with what you want:)
Nice place. I’m a St. Pauler myself, but I do cross the DMZ to go to work in Bloomington. And my husband was raised in Minneapolis - so there is some sort of miscegenation going on.
Its probably bigger than you imagine. It takes a good forty minutes with no traffic to get from one end of the metro area to the other - and its pretty built up. Newark turns to farms faster.
Its fairly liberal (we did elect Wellstone and Garrison Keillor lives here), but conservatives won’t feel out of place (our gov is a 'Pubbie).
Strong emphasis on both the arts (at one time there were more theatre seats here per capita than anyplace other than NY or LA) and sports (professional teams Timberwolves, Vikings, Wild, Twins). Also more golf holes per golfer than pretty much anyplace except somewhere like Hilton Head.
The area is nice, with lots of lakes.
Winter weather - well…it usually snows. I’m typing this because I’m avoiding shoveling my driveway. My hands got too cold shoveling the first half and I came in. Summer is nice.
Other Twin Cities dopers…Nurse Carmen, myself, Gazelle, Rysdad, elucidator, Rubes…I’m missing a few.
The Twin Cities does have a reputation — it can be very hard to fit in here as an outsider. Oh, we are nice enough (Minnesota Nice), but most of us have lived here most of our lives. I’ve known most of my friends since high school or college. It can be hard to break in.
(They cleaned up Hennepin, you’ll need to troll Lake Street now.)
Ah, I see you may have been affected curse of the Bluesclan. Somehow over the years, a total of 2 families and 3 individuals of our family and friends have ended up in the Twin Cities area, totally independent of each other.
If you’d like, I can give you my brother’s e-mail, he and his wife being one of the aforementioned families. I’m sure he’d be willing to give you the inside scoop. Oh, and his wife’s an excellent vet, so if you do go there, I can at least reccomend a good place for you to take your doggies.
Another Twin Citian piping in here…
If you can handle the cold and snow of [most] winters, it’s a loverly place. 
There’s no lack of fun stuff to do year 'round. We’ve something for almost everyone (if you like to surf, I can’t help you there, lol.)
If you do land here, you can count on a friendly face from me. If you have more specific questions, let us know, I’m sure we’d all be glad to tell you more. 
In Minnesotan, Minneapolis is, “Not too bad.” (Translation: pretty darn nice)
There aren’t too many places I’d rather be in summer. There are a lot of places I’d rather be in winter. But yet I stay.
If you’re a fan of the outdoors, you’ll find plenty of stuff to do…even in winter.
Funny that Dangerosa mentioned that thing about outsiders. My mother moved here before I was born. She’s from Alabama. People still ask her where she’s from. But overall, we’re pretty friendly folk. Try the hotdish.
Probably less than 1 per cent of us say “uff da” on any regular basis; we’re just typecast that way.
Learn about boats–any and all kinds. Minnesota has the most boats per capita of any state. (No–I’m not looking up the cite. Just trust me.)
Crappie rhymes with “poppy”–not with “happy.”
The city itself has many pretty sights: All of the lakes, Minnehaha Creek/Falls, the Mississippi River, as well as some manmade stuff.
In Minneapolis, the streets are mainly alphabetic or numeric so it’s easy to find your way around (unlike St. Paul where there is no rhyme or reason to the street names).
If you can, try to live and work somewhere so as to be heading in the opposite direction of traffic during rush hour. You’ll thank me for that one.
When people visit Hawaii, they try poi. Here, it’s lutefisk. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.
The Packers suck, and Drew Pearson pushed off. Both are common knowledge.
Living in Minneapolis, you only need to know the location of three highways: I-35W, I-94, and Crosstown (62). Find those, and the rest is easy.
Most of downtown Minneapolis is connected throughout with a skyway system so you don’t have to go outside to get from one building to another. And walk to the right, dammit!
Fishing Opener and Mother’s Day fall on the same weekend. The Minnesota moms don’t seem to mind, though, because, at least for that weekend, they don’t have to clean the fish.
We have plenty of treatment centers. This is the place if you plan to abuse drugs or alcohol.
So…any questions?
Rysdad, that was quite the amusing anecdote. Although I must admit I do catch myself saying “you betcha” an awful lot, lol.
As someone who works downtown and travels the skyways a lot, I got a good belly laugh from that note.
Oh, and I’ve lived her my entire life and have never allowed myself to try lutefisk. :eek:
Minnesnowta in general is very purty.
Minneapolis and the surrounding area totally kick ass. The people here are friendly. If you like the arts, you’ll love it here.
Warm, friendly, and slow-paced for a large “city”.
Plus, we’re a bunch of silly but fun people. Oh, you betcha. I do advise reading lots of “Ole and Lena” joke books before coming here. Most are groaners, but hell, they’re good for a laugh.
The Minnedopers are friendly folk, too, n’ meet regularily for lunch n’ other such activities.
Speaking of which, I mean to organise a dog-park outing for us soonly! YAY! 
Elly, on behalf of the “Nofair” household (lno, and the pooches)
It’s not that bad here. The theatre scene is one of the best in the country, and we have Ax-Man, quite possibly the world’s coolest store.
I moved her in 1996, after flunking out of college in Fairbanks, Alaska. The people can be hard to get to know, but sooner or later, they’ll come around. Just bring your neighbors a hot dish or two, and it will be all good.
Rysdad’s summary’s pretty good. But you will need to know the proper use of “uff da” and also learn Ollie & Lena jokes. If you find the Ollie & Lena jokes tasteless, then rely on an arsenal of Iowa jokes.
The opening of the fishing and deer season can’t be underestimated. They may sneak up on you, but when you learn that none of the men in the company will be in on Friday, you can suspect a conspiracy – or guess that deer hunting opens that morning.
The absolute finest supermarkets are in Minneapolis: Byerly’s. The joke is that it’s where single yuppies go instead of pick-up bars . . .
The golfing across the state is good – just don’t be out on the course as the sun sets because the mosquito should be the Minnesota state bird.
When we first moved to Minnesota, my wife was stunned by the number of electric cars. She’d seen electric plugs hanging out of the front radiator of nearly every vehicle. Now, you’ll need to learn what the plugs are really used for . . .
Our daughter’s considering Carleton College, so we’re about to be re-introduced to the joys of living in Minnesota. The only place
where I’ve seen the axle of a car snap on a very cold February morning.
I may be in Virginia now but I was born in Chicago. Don’t try to throw ME with snow tales.
But I went to grad school in Iowa. Will that leave me on the outs?
Nah, I went to the University of Iowa…you’ll be fine. But you don’t want to wander around in an Iowa sweatshirt. Since you’ve lived in the Midwest, you are probably familiar with the Midwest mentality and shouldn’t be in for huge culture shock. Minneapolis is a little “Iowa meets Chicago”
Downsides to Minneapolis:
Snow (you say you can handle it, so that shouldn’t be a problem) and cold
Some New Yorkers find it small and provincial. Some people from Montana find it too much of a big city. (But if you aren’t a big city snob or a small town fan, you’ll be fine).
As I said before, apparently, we are kind of insular. However, some people manage to fit in without noticing it, while other people complain after fifteen years that they still don’t know anyone.
Other than that, all good. Feel free to drop me an email if you want to know things like where to look for a place to live, etc. Which publishing house - my mother in law used to be in that industry before she retired?
I spent six months in the Minneapolis area (lived in Eden Prairie and worked in downtown Minneapolis). I hated it. BUT—I come from the warm and friendly south, and I’m sure that affected my perceptions somewhat.
I love snow and winter weather; that’s not what turned me off. It was the chilly attitudes of the people I met. During my lunch hours, I enjoyed walking around downtown to see the sights. I grew up being taught that it was polite to smile at other people, say hello if I was in a situation where speaking would be appropriate, etc. I had people glare at me when I smiled–one person snapped, “Do I know you?” before stalking off. Yucko.
On the positive side, the terrain was just beautiful. There was a small lake not far from where I was living, and I spent a lot of time that summer sitting out by the lake. I found a quirky bookstore called Positively Fourth Street, and enjoyed rummaging through the books.
Minnesota, home of the fair weather fan. If you only casually follow sports, this is the place to be. People are really enthusiastic when their team wins, otherwise, they jump off the bandwagon. Offerings include football, baseball, hockey (St. Paul, our twin city), and basketball.
Our bartime was recently increased from 1:00am to 2:00am, just in time for the Shriner convention last summer (seriously).
Either you love it or hate it, but we have the Mall of America (One stop xmas shopping for Rubes, who loves it that way)
Although people complain about it, I find the Metro Transit system dandy, and light rail is coming in 04.
Plenty of bike trails that go around lakes and such, but not enough bike trails for navigating the city. I prefer to walk vs ride a bike with the way people drive around here. I still almost get hit numerous times, WHILE IN THE CROSSWALK with a green light.
Home of Pork-a-Palooza.
I moved here in 93, and thought I would be gone by now (I thought I’d be in Chicago), but I’m not finished here yet. I’ve had numerous friends move into town, and only one has left, and he’s out in L.A.
Actual quote from a friend of mine -
Lutefish, our ethnic food, is codfish soaked in lye until it becomes a sort of fish Jell-O. The fact that people who are not actually dying of starvation actually eat the stuff cannot be rationally explained. I suspect it is because it is white. All our food is white.
The Twins and the weather suck, but nobody talks about anything else now that Jesse is no longer governor. The Vikings suck too, but nobody admits it.
Yes, people really talk as they did in Fargo.
And it is cold.
People at parties talk about the route they took to the party, and how long the drive was. Nobody leaves until fifteen minutes after they say “Good-bye”.
Good luck with the publishing gig.
Regards,
Shodan
What N. Sane said. I lived there for 13 months and it was 13 months too long. Worked at the University. Students were nice, everyone else was insular, incredibly unfriendly and conservative. The only good thing that happened to me while living there was that I bought my horse Bob the Wonder Pony.
I’ve lived in the Twin Cities for about four years now – in downtown Minneapolis for three, St. Paul for one (so far). All in all, I’ve loved my time here. I grew up in the Seattle area, and I think the two cities are quite similar. There’s a thriving theater community (second highest number of theater seats per capita; number one is Seattle!), the outdoors are beatiful and people really take advantage of them; dogs are extremely popular, and the restaurants and nightlife aren’t half bad. We’re a B market (whereas New York, Chicago, LA and such are A markets) so we get most of the big acts and a whole host of great small acts coming through.
I will agree, though, that people here tend to be insular. I was just talking the other day about this with some people at work. Their opinion (both of people who’ve moved here and those who are MN natives) is that most people who live here gew up in Minnesota and never have left. So, they have established circles of friends and ways of doing things, and aren’t particularly open to widening their circles. I have a much easier time getting to know fellow transplants than I do natives. People are friendly and polite, but establishing a deeper connection beyond friendly acquaintance is HARD. I was actually kinda relieved to hear other people say that – I thought it was just me, or maybe that since I came here fresh out of college, I was unfairly comparing it to school, where making friends is a natural extension of being around the same people day after day.
Good luck in your decision.
I’m an outsider in the twin cities (live in the void between Minneapolis and St Paul - almost exactly half way between a dodgy area and a ritzy area). I’m from a medium-ish town in Pennsylvania. I’ve been here for about a year and a half and am just starting to get to know people - but that’s of purely my own fault. It does seem that most people are from here (or they claim to be from far away, when really they grew up in Lino Lakes and now live in Bloomington) and will give you a certain ‘confused’ look when you mention being from elswhere. I’m a grad student at the University of Minnesota, and there are fewer people from far away than at any other of the University of State Names that I know of.
Once I decided that I wanted to be involved with non-school activities, I had no trouble finding a variety of things to try. I’ve found that a lot of things (things being organizations / activities) are based in the suburbs, but it’s not difficult to get around outside of rush hour.
As for weather - I whine more during the summer than during the winter. The humidity can get nasty and I’ve never had air conditioning. Getting involved in a warm weather activity (sailing) has made me much less bitter towards the summer weather. It gets cold in the winter - but you knew that. We didn’t have snow last winter and while we’ve had a few ‘storms’ this winter, I’ve yet to see anything that compares to mid-Atlantic Snow Storms, but I haven’t been here for long. Also, it’s flat here - so snow covered roads leave you sliding a bit, but not stuck at the bottom of a huge hill.
All in all, I’m content here. Getting to know people has been slow - but I really think that’s more my doing than the ‘culture’. You’ll certainly be aware of the climate - it doesn’t really fade into the background easily.
Born and raised first in Nort’ Minneapolis, then in the 'burbs of Minneapolis. Work DT Minneapolis. Will probably never leave.
(And I have NEVER eaten lutefisk. Lefse, yes. Lutefisk, NO)
Yes, it does get cold here. But just wait. I know of few other places where it can snow one day, then be 50F the next.
We actually have seasons here. It’s beautiful. In the summer, hit one of the thousands of beaches in the day, stay around to hear the mournful loon cries at night. Ice fish on the same lake you waterskiied on two months prior. Take a drive and see the flaming red of the sumac in September.
Go west- experience farmlands as far as the eye can see. Go north and walk limestone cliffs or hike in gorgeous forests.
Regarding the insular nature? I don’t think we’re the most trustful people. At least in the metro area. Face it, we’re the butt of as many jokes as Iowa. Would you welcome people with open arms who constantly snicker at you? BUT, depending where you land in the cities, you may find some of the friendliest neighbors in the nation.
I think we’re quite open minded here. Sexuality doesn’t matter. Personal taste doesn’t matter. Just don’t hang a Packers flag up. It will be removed under the cloak of darkness. Uniqueness is embraced in many ways (see the abovementioned posts about the plentitude of theaters here- many non “traditional”).
Food? We have some DAMN fine food here. Pick a cuisine, we have it.