#minneapolis

A classic cocktail with a spooky name…Happy Halloween!

For 1 cocktail:

• 2 oz. gin (I used DuNord Fitzgerald)
  
• ½ oz. green chartreuse
• ½ oz. lime juice

I think one of the hardest things about the pandemic is making meaningful time for ourselves. I’ve always been really big on staycations (nearcation?) because you don’t have to spend money on a flight or plan anything. There’s something I love about pretending to be a tourist in the city you live in too. Thanks to Elliot Park Hotel, we were able to get away for a night at their boutique hotel in downtown Minneapolis.

Our room was a corner suite and I LOVED the amount of light (and people watching).

My most favorite feature of all was the bathtub. Maybe it’s because our tub is consistently filled with kid toys and generally the most unrelaxing experience ever. Despite only staying here one night, I took advantage of it. In my head, I also had this super relaxing wide angle shot of me sipping coffee with the steam of the bath and cup wavering in the air. Like a true Instagrammer, I tried to get my husband to carry out my vision. I couldn’t get it to work – there’s always a next time though.

At night, the lobby becomes a really cozy area. Not pictured is the most hygge lounge arrangement I’ve ever seen at a hotel. Despite the reception desk welcoming and checking out people a few meters away, somehow the way it is arrange removes you from all that noise. Another perk of this hotel is that, Finnegan’s tap room, is right next door and you don’t even need to step outside.

After our night, we had brunch at Tavola and essentially ordered every egg entree they offered.

Eggs benedict, avocado toast…and gnocchi. I can say that I’ve finally had gnocchi for breakfast and it makes complete sense.

Grand Rounds Missing Link

When Horace Cleveland planned the Minneapolis park system in the late 1800s, he envisioned a great network of parkways looping the city. His vision was soon dubbed the “Grand Rounds.” Through the work of generations – including a burst of WPA progress in the 1930s – nearly all of the Grand Rounds are now complete. Except for the Missing Link.

In southeast Minneapolis, a three-mile stretch of the Grand Rounds remains unfinished. Numerous plans and efforts have been made through the years to connect this final portion of the parkway network. The map shown here is a 1939 plan for the Missing Link that would have taken the Grand Rounds across the Mississippi at the 10th Avenue Bridge. (Visit our Digital Collections to see the map in greater detail.)This map from 1930 offered another possible option across the Washington Avenue Bridge.

In 2007, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board included closing the Missing Link in their comprehensive plan. Since then, a new project has forged ahead to complete the Grand Rounds. Earlier this month, the Star Tribune reported that the Park Board is working to exchange small parcels of land with the University of Minnesota. The land would be one more step toward finishing the Grand Rounds.

Map from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.

Fill ‘er up!

U.S. gas prices reached an all-time high this year and are predicted to stay high for the foreseeable future. Take a look back at gas pumps from the past—from the world’s smallest gas station to Tudor hobbit cottages, to one beautiful oil spot—to see where and how locals filled their tanks. They sure don’t make gas stations like these anymore!

Photos from the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections

1. Shell Oil Co. at Franklin Ave. E and 27th Ave. S(1928)
2. John Hancock Oil Company at 3751 Portland Ave.(1928)
3. Pure Oil Company at 2955 Portland Ave.(1928)
4. Texaco Service Station at Penn Ave. and Superior Blvd.(1928)
5. World’s Smallest Gas Station(1941)