Get to Know the Most Vibrant and Historic Neighborhoods in Minneapolis and St. Paul Grab your walking shoes and become an urban adventurer. Holly Day and Sherman Wick guide you through 35 unique walking tours in this comprehensive guidebook. Explore the urban epicenter of the Upper Midwest, from the heart of downtown Minneapolis to Minnehaha Falls, from St. Paul’s Hidden Falls Park to historic Irvine Park—and hundreds of points of interest in between. Stroll along Lakes Calhoun and Harriet, Nicollet Avenue’s Eat Street, and the revitalized Mill District. Go beyond the obvious with tours that showcase world-class museums and theaters, the area’s extensive greenbelt, and even eight miles of climate-controlled skyways to avoid winter’s chill. Each self-guided tour includes full-color photographs, a map, and need-to-know details like distance, difficulty, points of interest, and more. You’ll soak up history, backstories, architectural trivia, and fun facts to share with others while on your way to the best cafes, bars, and nightlife in Minnesota. So find a route that appeals to you, and walk the Twin Cities! Holly Day’s writing has appeared in more than 3,500 publications internationally, including Computer Music Journal , ROCKRGRL , Music Alive! , Guitar One , Brutarian Magazine , Interface Technology , and Mixdown Magazine . Over the past couple of decades, she has received an Isaac Asimov Award, a National Magazine Award, and two Midwest Writer’s Grants for her work. Her books include The Insider’s Guide to the Twin Cities and Music Theory for Dummies . Sherman Wick is a native of the Twin Cities. Since receiving a history degree at the University of Minnesota, he has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, focusing on music, film, and Minnesota’s rich cultural and historical offerings. Holly and Sherman started writing their first book together, The Insider’s Guide to the Twin Cities , one week after marrying and have since written Nordeast Minneapolis: A History , A Brief History of Stillwater Minnesota and the forthcoming History Lovers’ Guide to Minneapolis . They live near downtown Minneapolis with their daughter, Astrid. Phillips and Elliot Park Park Avenue Urban Shape-Shifter BOUNDARIES: 28th St. E., Portland Ave. S., Ninth St. S., Chicago Ave. S. - HUDSON’S TWIN CITIES STREET ATLAS COORDINATES: Map 394, 3C and 3D - DISTANCE: About 3.5 miles - DIFFICULTY: Easy - PARKING: Free parking on Park Ave. S. - PUBLIC TRANSIT: Bus lines 5, 9, and 11 The name Park Avenue conjures up images of the affluent street in New York City and elsewhere across the United States where the designation was used in obvious imitation. The Park Avenue area of Minneapolis was once the city’s Victorian mansion row―much as Summit Avenue is in St. Paul, with more than 30 mansions between 18th and 28th Streets. However, Park Avenue suffered a different fate than Summit Avenue due to its easily accessible location directly south of downtown on flat prairie land. Instead of falling into disrepair and remaining so for decades, as its larger St. Paul counterpart did, Park Avenue was repeatedly redeveloped from 1890 to its 1920 heyday. Numerous great mansions on Park Avenue were razed, carved into apartments, or converted into homes for organizations such as the Ebenezer Church offices, the Shriners (Zuhrah Shrine Temple, 2540 Park Ave.), and social organizations such as chemical-dependency halfway houses and mental health treatment centers. The remaining Park Avenue mansions are most heavily concentrated in the Phillips neighborhood, while the north part of the walk heads into the Elliot Park neighborhood in the shadow of downtown. After losing almost half its population to freeway construction between 1950 and 1970, Elliot Park, today more affluent than Phillips, has become a hip hub for renovated and newly constructed apartments and condos. Walk Description Begin at the corner of 28th Street East and Park Avenue South. Observe the odd mixture of architecture that includes mansions, apartments, and functional corporate and organization buildings, such as the Ebenezer Corporate Offices and Park Apartments. Head north on Park Avenue, crossing 27th Street East. Across the street is a local landmark and important cultural institution: the American Swedish Institute (ASI). The gaudy Chateauesque and Baroque Revival beauty was constructed in 1908 for Swan J. Turnblad, publisher of the Svenska Amerikanska Posten , then the largest-selling Swedish-language newspaper in America. In 2012 ASI added the Nelson Cultural Center, featuring a gallery, an event center, a classroom offering Swedish-language and craft classes, and a new museum shop. The jewel of the new space is the cafe, Fika, which offers a selection of Swedish-inspired, reasonably priced gourmet cuisine. Cross 26th Street East. On the left corner is the former Zuhrah Shrine Temple (1902), a lovely Italian Renaissance Revival mansion, now part of the St.