I stayed close to home for a quick run on Thursday through the Southern parts of Prospect Park, Minneapolis. I started at the Minneapolis / St Paul border with Desnoyer Park at East River Road and Emerald.
This area has a rep for gay cruising along the trails in the woods down in the Mississippi River gorge. At 24 degrees (F) and windy, it’s not peak cruising season.
I worked my way through the roads along East River Rd past the Shriners Hospital, then crossed I-94 on Franklin to climb further from the river. Up there, I stumbled across a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house known as the Malcolm Willey House on Bedford St (the sign out front reminds people that this is a private residence). If you ask me, it should be called the Nancy Willey House since Malcolm’s wife Nancy is the one who manages to talk Wright into designing the place.
I imagine this house had one heck of a view of the Mississippi River when built. Now, it’s the last home before I-94, gets to see this out front:
On Warwick St, I passed one of my favorite local restaurants, Signature Cafe. In their radio ads, they mention that they’re tucked away in Prospect Park, and they’re not joking. This place is mid-block on Warwick St in the middle of a quiet residential neighborhood. Once you know it’s there it’s east to find. Just go South half a block from Franklin on Warwick and you’re there.
I tried to imagine what this neighborhood was like before I-94 cut through it. The homes are amazing and it’s managed to hold onto much of its charm, but even with the sound wall there is a constant hum of traffic.
Regardless, it remains one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city, and the residents seem to agree due to the stability and price of homes. Only 4 homes are currently in the MLS over the area I ran. The three single-family homes run between $399,900 – $599,000 and a town home is on the market for $324,900.
Good friend of mine used to live a couple doors down from the Frank Lloyd Wright home (he previously lived a block from it too). Always wanted to see inside — there was apparently an opening about a year ago or so but I didn’t hear about it until after the fact.
That’s a beautiful neighborhood. I rented a room in a home across the street from Luxton Park on Williams Ave for a year. I loved running up and down ERR – and not just for the gay cruising, either. It’s a beautiful neighborhood. I’ll bet it was even better before I-94, too. All in the name of progress, though, right??? …that’s debatable….
Man, do I love that neighborhood. I used to live about 1/2 a block from the signature. My husband and I had a teeny tiny apartment there for 2 years and would have loved to have bought there… turns out there aren’t as you noticed any houses for 150,000 like we found in NE.