The charming twin
Minneapolis has the size, but St. Paul has the personality
Twin, schmin. When I visited St. Paul this summer, I was vaguely aware of another city nearby. I saw skyscrapers in the distance and heard mention of a twin ––a sparklier, sassier, busier, bigger city slightly to the west. A city that gets first billing and all the love.
I registered that other city in my mind and then dismissed it altogether, because St. Paul, I discovered, is more fun than second fiddle and too important to be an afterthought.
St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota, the older and smaller of the Twin Cities. It’s quieter and more relaxed, wholesome and family-friendly, with an air of romance, as though it were winking at a bygone time. It’s F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthplace and boasts one of the country’s best-preserved neighborhoods from the Gilded Age. St. Paul is hardly a sleepy town ––it attracts big-name entertainers, goes hockey crazy in the winter and this year opened Allianz Field, a gleaming world-class soccer stadium. I ran out of time during my visit before I ran out of highly recommended restaurants.
St. Paul may be accused of being the buttoned-up sibling, but it doesn’t take long for a visitor to see the city’s silly and spirited side: Take the St. Paul Saints baseball team’s SpongeBob SquarePants promotion; the croquet group that plays in Victorian dress; the watering hole called Bad Weather Brewing Co.; or the beloved Winter Carnival, featuring a legendary fight between King Boreas and the firetruck-riding Vulcanus Rex. Of course, if a SpongeBob-celebrating, croquet-playing, Vulcan-fighting city isn’t your jam, there’s always the other city. For the rest of us, there’s St. Paul.
Go LOCAL FAVES
What do you expect when Bill Murray is involved? The philosophy of the St. Paul Saints, an independent professional baseball team, seems to be that no matter what happens on the field, a night of fun and wackiness is a win. (According to the website, Murray, one of the owners, is the “team psychologist.”) This past season, when the Saints had fun and won the league championship, promotions included Star Wars Night, Food Allergy Awareness Night (“Not a peanut in the park!”), and celebrations for the anniversaries of “The Office” and “Sesame Street.” The team plays at CHS Field in Lowertown, and over the years its pig mascot has been named Hammy Davis Jr., Garrison Squeallor, Stephen Colboar and Porknite. The well-attended games are wildly popular with locals, particularly for the $1 beers on Thirsty Thursdays, $5 same-day tickets and bleacher seat massages.
No matter the season or the reason, locals unwind at Como Park. The sprawling park, northwest of the city, includes a free zoo and conservatory, open yearround. The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, one of the few remaining glass-domed Victorian-style gardens in the country, was built in 1915 and is home to permanent collections as well as five seasonal flower shows (the Fall Flower Show runs through Nov. 24). You’ll find a Japanese garden, a bonsai collection and a fern room with more than 100 species. Visitors often stroll, run or skate around the lake (1.67 miles) and grab a beer and burger at the pavilion, which hosts yoga and live music in the summer. In the winter, cross-country ski or sled at the Como Golf Course and take ski and snowboard lessons at Como Park Ski Center.
Guidebook musts
If you can’t strut out to Paisley Park in Chanhassen (about 30 minutes southwest of St. Paul), hit the Minnesota History Center to see Prince’s famous “Purple Rain” get-up. The suit (fab ruffled white shirt, long purple gloves, knee-length jacket) is part of “First Avenue: Stories of Minnesota’s Mainroom,” an exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary Minneapolis music club Prince called home (through May 3, 2020). After you’ve binged on music videos and artifacts, head to “Weather Permitting,” a permanent exhibit that will prepare you for small (and large) talk about weather with locals. Turns out the Twin Cities, equidistant from the North Pole and the equator, have some of the world’s most volatile weather. I sat through a six-minute tornado simulation ––re-creating one that hit the region in 1965, killing 14 ––with “Purple Rain” looping in my head.
Downtown’s Rice Park, splendid and lively in all temperatures, unveiled its $2.35 million face-lift this summer. The park, which features a stunning fountain, is bordered by the Saint Paul Hotel, the George Latimer Central Library, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and Landmark Center, an arts and history center that has several micro-museums (including the Schubert Club museum, filled with historic instruments and correspondence from famous composers). Rice Park, designated a public square in 1849, is home to a bronze statue of St. Paul native Fitzgerald. Nearby are statues of hometown hero Herb Brooks, the hockey coach behind the “Miracle on Ice” win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics, and Peanuts characters, an ode to St. Paul’s Charles Schulz. In the winter, Rice Park becomes a twinkly, magical wonderland and hosts the uber-popular Winter Carnival.