The new North East

Last night a friend and I had dinner at the newly opened, LEED-certified Red Stag Supper Club. After we were finished eating, I made him drive me around this "close-in" part of Northeast Minneapolis, [across the river from downtown and sandwiched between 1st and Central Avenues(map)] because it seemed so foreign to me. Back in 1995, I briefly lived with some friends in "the stucco palace"--a rental home on 8th Street SE, just a block off of Hennepin. With the exception of Whitey's and the Aveda Institute and Nyes further down on Hennepin, there was nothing going on in this neighborhood. Amazing what a decade-plus will do to a place! In addition to the old standbys, there's a whole new (well at least new to me) cast of restaurants, shops, condos, and adaptively reused office space.

If there is one constant about city living, it is change. It's organic. It's necessary. Sometimes it is prosperous, sometimes ruinous. It is what keeps the city living and is what brings people back--whether to celebrate or resuscitate--or simply eat.

Image: Cobalt Condiminiums