St. Paul: Neither thrifty nor hip?
by Jay Gabler •
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 front row seat is the blog of jay gabler, the daily planet’s arts editor. to keep up on the local arts scene, follow artsorbit on twitter and subscribe to arts orbit weekly. |
When you go to the St. Paul page, the backhanded compliments continue. “St. Paul is less of a late night club spot,” the page reads, “and more an area for dining and chilling with friend’s on different patios.” (Either there’s a misplaced apostrophe there or the site editors neglected to mention specifically which parts of your friend you might be seeking to chill with.) “St. Paul is a beautiful and quiet city that offers many upscale attractions like the theater and gourmet dining.”
The site’s specific recommendations for thrifty and hip St. Paul watering holes, though, lead me to question just how familiar with the Capital City the site’s editors are. The two venues spotlighted as staff picks are Alary’s Bar, where the site indicates you’ll find 20 new 50” plasma TVs and one alarmingly tanned man, and the Happy Gnome. Are those two bars truly the thriftiest, hippest selections from a list that includes the Artists’ Quarter, Big V’s, and Station 4? If you want to really roll up your sleeves and get thrifty, there are a few Rice Street establishments you could take into consideration. As for hip, there’s West St. Paul, the next Northeast. The site’s list even misses some obvious choices that fall well within the hipster’s gentrified safe zone: the Blue Door Pub, the Groveland Tap, the Chatterbox Pub.
Seriously, check that town out sometime. It’s real easy to find: you just get on Lake Street and turn like you were going to the Town Talk Diner, but then just keep going straight. If you hit Wisconsin, you know you’ve gone too far.
Published on 12/3/08. Photo: Marty’s Bar in West St. Paul. Photo by Nick Busse (Creative Commons).
workaround
Comments
Thank you!
Thanks for highlighting the much overlooked and underestimated STP!
Did they miss all the nightspots in St. Mark's Parish? Damn!
Were do all the thrifty hipsters meet?
St. Mark’s Parish of course. Or Merriam Park to you non-Catholics.
The Daily Planet should get the “Mayor of Merriam Park” to take you on a tour of the parish’s watering holes, gin mills, blind pigs, and speakeasies.
He can be found every Friday and Saturday night sitting on his front porch giving directions out to all the St. Thomas students who are looking to tie one on. “O’Gara’s? Just keep walking thataway >>>>>.”
The Mayor isn’t as forthcoming and helpful at 2:15 AM when the kids are struggling to find their way back to the dorms though.
Overlooked, and we like it that way
If we were to be suddenly overrun by outsider hipsters looking for the next cool thing, we’d lose our spots at our locals, which are already doing well, thank-you very much. St. Paul has many creatives, eccentrics, college students and a diversity of settled ethnic communities with interesting restaurants and shops. Those of us who live here know this. Those of you who don’t, I’m not telling you where all the “hip” stuff is, you can find that for yourself, which should be easy, it’s everywhere. And the West End, not West St. Paul is the New Nordeast, according to the Rake. Of course, you need vision, a sense of adventure and imagination to live here. And that should be the first requirement of being a “hipster.” As to the directionally challenged, if you can find your way around Paris, London or Rome, you can handle St. Paul, if you dare…
Don't make me laugh St. Paul
Trust me St. Paul, no “hipsters” are going across the river in search of a “cool” place to hang out in St. Paul, because they don’t exist over there. SP rolls up it’s sidewalks at 8:30 PM sharp every night of the week. I mean for Christ sakes, you can’t even keep any businesses in DOWNTOWN St. Paul, let alone other areas. You stay in your podunk burg, and we will stay in the center of thriving nightlife know as “Minneapolis”.
Mac Grad
I guess it’s easy to pick on St. Paul when you are a hipster from the Great City of Minneapolis, but let me give you a reality check: Minneapolis is no Chicago, or New York. Sure it might be the biggest city in Minnesota but what does that say? I moved to St. Paul from Chicago five years ago, and I’m still finding great restaurants and bars to try out. The best part is, since St. Paul is no Chicago or Minneapolis, the drinks are cheep, the parking is free, and condescension is left at the door. Try Grand Avenue or West 7th Street for a variety of food, drink and conversation. P.S. bars are open ‘til 2 AM! So even you can get your booze on.
St. Paul Hip Spots
Great work, Jay. Being a Mpls. residence myself, merely a river away from St. Paul, I’d like to add (in addition to Big V’s, and the AQ!) the Turf Club is hands down one of the best music venues in town and has been for years (and you’ll see much migration of Mpls. hipsters there). There’s also the Strip Club, brought to us by the Town Talk Diner guys, very excellent, and Eclipse Records to name but a few. The Black Dog Cafe has Fantastic Merlins (one of the best experimental jazz bands in town on Fridays, and various hip hop and political musical events on different occasions. For years, the Clown Lounge hosts the best jazz nights on Mondays including Fat Kid Wednesdays (although those nights are so hip its crowded so maybe that is was a secret best kept quiet?) So, in my opinion, as a longtime music lover/reviewer in this town, Thrifty Hipster sounds like they need to get out more, even across the river.
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