Minneapolis Neighborhoods: a Primer for Newcomers (and New Drivers**)

A River Runs Through It (Diagonally)

Quick!

Test your knowledge of Minneapolis’ quirky geography (or at least, quirky neighborhood names), and see if you know which of the following are real names, used by the locals:

A. North Minneapolis
B. South Minneapolis
C. West Minneapolis
D. East Minneapolis
E. Northeast Minneapolis
F. Northwest Minneapolis
G. Southeast Minneapolis
H. Southwest Minneapolis

Answer key:

A. North Minneapolis. Yup, there is such an area: it’s the collection of 13 city neighborhoods that lie (mostly) north of downtown (“Harrison” is almost directly west).

Complicating things just a tad: “North Minneapolis” splits into what I’ll call two neighborhood “groupings”: “Camden” is north of Lowry Ave, while “Near North” is south of Lowry.

B. South Minneapolis. Also a real area.

In fact, given Minneapolis’ strongly vertical layout, “South Minneapolis” arguably constitutes two-thirds of the city.

Roughly speaking, it’s all the area that’s south of Downtown.

C. West Minneapolis.  Nope, no such animal.

D. East Minneapolis. While the city does have an east side (mostly neighboring St. Paul) . . . it’s not called that.

Instead, it’s referred to as “Longfellow,” which in turn consists of “Seward,” “Longfellow,” “Cooper,” “Howe,” and “Hiawatha” (no, you’re not imagining:  “Longfellow” is both a neighborhood and a broader area within the city).

At least the Eastern boundary of Longfellow is easy to keep straight: the Mississippi River.

Its other boundaries are Interstate 94 (north); Hiawatha Ave or Highway 55 (west); and Minnehaha Falls (south).

E. Northeast Minneapolis.  Yes, a real (and very trendy) neighborhood.

It’s located north of downtown, and bounded on the west by the Mississippi River.

F. Northwest Minneapolis. Nope. See, “North Minneapolis.”

G. Southeast Minneapolis.  Yes, it’s a real area — at least all its streets have a “Southeast” suffix after their names.

Except that it’s not really located in the Southeast part of the city, but rather the Northeast.

Officially, “Southeast” is located across the Mississippi — and directly east of — downtown Minneapolis, and is anchored by the University of Minnesota.

H. Southwest Minneapolis. While “Southwest Minneapolis” is technically a subset of South Minneapolis, the locals think of it as the neighborhoods near Cedar Lake, Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, and Lake Harriet.

That includes “Sunset Gables,” “Linden Hills,” “Fulton,” and “Lynnhurst.”

**That would be my 16-year-old son, who got his driver’s license last month.

See also, ““Calhoun Lake??” Is that by Isles Lake?“; “There’s No Place Like Home”: Garrison Keillor’s Homage to the Twin Cities in National Geographic“; and “Lake Nokomis-y” vs. “Lake Harriet-ish.”

Plus, “Spectacular Tudor in Coveted HPDL Neighborhood”; “Name Brand Neighborhoods:  Linden Hills vs. Northrup (Northrup??)“; “Minnesota Monthly’s 12 Great Twin Cities Neighborhoods“; and “Twin Cities Metro’s 30 Best Neighborhoods.“

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