Exploring Uptown: 34th & Lyndale
Community — By Thatcher Imboden on May 30, 2011 8:53 pmThe product of being on one of the main ways into town, 34th and Lyndale in the greater Uptown Minneapolis community is like many other small business districts across Minneapolis. With only a few commercial buildings on three of its corners and a park on the other, the district is small but diverse. An ice cream producer/cafe, yoga studio, coffee shop, guitar store, screen printer, a specialty bike apparel designer, an apparel store, and a gift shop call it home.
Historically, 34th & Lyndale was home to a meat market on the northwest corner and a drug store on the southwest corner, but like nearly all business districts, meat markets and drug stores are long gone as chains have greeted eager consumers seeking cheaper prices and more consumers chose the grocery store for the majority of their purchases over specialty stores. Painter Park, on the northeast corner of the intersection was the original home of Lyndale School prior to it moving to Grand Avenue.
Twin Town Guitars
Twin Town Guitars, 3400 Lyndale Avenue S, was started in 1997 and sells new and used guitars, amps, keyboards, and more. The store took over Benedict's Guitars.
Belle Weater
Belle Weather, 3404 Lyndale Avenue S, is an independent gift shop that sells everything from silly magnets to beautiful pillows, tote bags, jewelery, lamps, linens, and more.
June
June, 3406 Lyndale Avenue S, is an upscale resale clothing and accessory store. June often has specialty events at their location, such as independent lingerie designers or make up producers.
Stroker Ace
Stroker Ace, 707 W 34th Street, is both an awesome t-shirt store and custom screen printer. You’ve probably seen the I <3 Mpls shirts where the heart is a bicycle, right? Well they came from Stroker Ace.
OM Collective
The OM Collective, 3350 Lyndale Avenue S, offers a variety of yoga classes. The studio is one of several that has been operating out of the space since it replaced a convenience store.
Bull Run Coffee
Bull Run Coffee Bar, 3346 Lyndale Avenue S, is the first coffee shop for Bull Run Roasters, a well respected coffee roaster in the Twin Cities. Bull Run Coffee Bar focuses on individually brewed coffee. Check it out.
Crema Cafe
Crema Cafe, 3401 Lyndale Avenue S, started off and still is the home of Sonny’s Ice Cream in 1945. Today, Crema Cafe is a fantastic cafe with everything made from scratch. The intimate courtyard is packed nearly every evening.
Twin Six
Twin Six, 716 W 34th Street, is 34th & Lyndale’s other apparel producer. Twin Six specializes in alternative clothes for the bicyclist. So whether it’s their jerseys sporting argyle-print, various checkered race patterns, or even one that reads “Dopers suck”, they’ve got you literally covered. They also produce a variety of bike themed t-shirts and other products. Their goods are available in stores like Hub, Calhoun Cycle, REI Bloomington, Behind Bars, and more.
Thatcher Imboden
How cities work and change, how they are the product of their inhabitants and outside forces, and the resulting livability keep me thinking and dreaming about the future. I work in urban real estate development, am Past President of an Uptown business organization, grew up in Uptown, was on an Uptown neighborhood association Board, and am an Uptown and Lyn-Lake historian.
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3 Comments
LOL GREATER UPTOWN? EVERYONE IN THE CITY WOULD DISAGREE WITH THIS BLOG.
Think so? Tell that to the thousands of people who live in the area that list their houses for sale as being in “Uptown”, that rent apartments that are in the “Uptown” area and who tell their families and friends that they live in the Uptown area even if they live up near Franklin-Lyndale, 34th-Lyndale, 34th-Hennepin, etc.
Having grown up at 33rd-Dupont, I can assure that while we lived in between Lyn-Lake and Hennepin-Lake, we were most certainly a part of Uptown.
And there’s no reason why Lyn-Lake and 34th-Lyndale can’t be independent but still be a part of Uptown.
I live in Minneapolis, grew up in Uptown, and think it’s fair to say 34th and Lyndale counts as “Greater Uptown.” It’s certainly within the Uptown orbit, and it’s within easy walking distance of Uptown’s central core. It’s not central Uptown and certainly isn’t Hennepin and Lake, but then nobody is suggesting that it is.