Northeast

Understand

Once a working-class, largely Eastern European neighborhood, the "Nordeast" has had an influx of young professionals and artists. This demographic swing, combined with neighborhood revitalization efforts, have resulted in a resurgence of commercial space and a thriving artistic community. Northeast Minneapolis, with its plethora of neighborhood bars and eating establishments, is becoming a nightlife hotspot for those wishing to avoid the cost and clientele of Downtown and Uptown drinking.

While Northeast is larger than you might think, a kind of 'downtown' Northeast has formed in the Old St. Anthony area (which occupies about equal areas of Northeast and of Southeast) and continues to develop around the triangle of Hennepin Ave, University Ave, and Central Ave. This area houses a thriving commercial district with new and developing urban residential buildings.

Along the river on the Northeast side is St. Anthony Main, signed in neon as such and visible from the Hennepin Ave bridge. St. Anthony Main houses several good restaurants, bars, a movie theater, and businesses. It can be quite lively on warm summer nights, and often deserted during winter.

The city has designated the area bounded by Lowry Avenue, Central Avenue and Broadway as the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. It includes most of the major studio buildings which are open during Art-a-Whirl every May: The Northrup-King Building near Central Avenue and 14th Avenue NE, the California Building south of Lowry at 23rd and California, the Thorp Building just north of the railroad tracks 1t 1620 Central Avenue, and the Grain Belt complex on the Mississippi River at Marshall Street and Broadway. There is also a small, arts-heavy commercial district on 13th Avenue NE between 2nd Street NE and 4th Street NE, including several prominent galleries, the Ritz Theater (the home of Ballet of the Dolls), and bars and restaurants including the Modern Cafe and Erté.

From Old St Anthony, keep heading up Central Avenue. At first you will pass through a bleak industrial area, but afterwards you will find a thriving commercial strip along Central stretching from 18th Avenue onwards. A hub of Indian groceries and stores is around 19th Avenue, and another hub of Middle Eastern and Latin American restaurants and stores has emerged around Lowry Avenue and Central Avenue. Once you pass 27th Avenue, the activity drops off and the street turns mostly residential on the east side and with the Shoreham rail yards and Columbia Park (largely occupied by a golf course) on the west side. Commerce picks up again just north of the city limits of Columbia Heights at 37th Avenue.

Get in

From downtown Minneapolis, head north east across the Hennepin Ave bridge or the 3rd Ave bridge. The triangle formed by Hennepin Ave, Central Ave, and University Ave places you squarely in 'downtown' Northeast.

Northeast can be accessed from the freeway system via I-35W.

Get around

By car

Similarly to North Minneapolis, numbered avenues run east-west. Due to the geometry of the river, these numbers are lower than the numbers of the North Minneapolis avenues opposite them. This only comes into play when you are crossing one of the bridges. Plymouth Ave is equivalent to N 13th Ave, but becomes NE 8th Ave. Lowry Ave is equivalent to N 32nd Ave, but becomes the equivalent of NE 25th Ave east of the river. N 42nd Ave crosses the Camden Bridge to become NE 37th Ave. Except for a few numbered streets near the river and a few "half-blocks", the north-south running roads are called streets and are named after U.S. presidents in chronological order heading east.

The above rules break down in the area closest to downtown. The street grid turns from the strict compass-points grid to line up with the river, and a grid with both numbered streets (parallel to University Ave) and avenues (parallel to Hennepin Ave) holds sway. In the transition zone between the two grids, a brief mini-grid uses the names of the seasons.

Finally, streets in the industrial area on the eastern side of the area are more randomly named

By bus

• Route 4 goes up Johnson Street (every 30 all week except 10-15 minutes weekday rush)
• Route 10 provides frequent (M-F every 10 minutes, 15 on Saturday, and 20 on Sunday. Service also operates only every 30 minutes after 7PM) north-south service along Central Avenue.
• Route 11 goes through the heart of the Arts District on 2nd Street (service every 15 minutes M-F 6AM-7PM and Sa 9AM-6PM, every 30 minutes at all other times).
• Route 17 zig-zags along Monroe Street and Washington Street, ending up at Washington and 27th Ave (service every 30 minutes from 5AM-1AM everyday).
• Route 30 runs east-west along Broadway Street, M-F only.
• Route 32 runs east-west along Lowry Avenue; frequencies are only every 30-60 on middays and every 30 during rush hour. 32 service operates M-Sa from 7AM-7PM.