Minneapolis/Southwest

Southwest Minneapolis is a district in Minneapolis. It includes Uptown, Lyn-Lake, the Wedge, Eat Street, Linden Hills, the popular Chain of Lakes, and other areas. Part of the 50th and France commercial district bleeds into the Fulton neighborhood, but most of it lies in Edina.

Get in
Streets run east/west and generally have numbers that increase as you go further south. Nicollet Avenue divides the streets. Append the direction at the end of streets such as W 27th Street to indicate west of Nicollet. Avenues run alphabetically west from Lyndale (Aldrich, Bryant, Colfax) far into the suburban surrounding communities. When the alphabet reaches Z, it starts again at A. Avenues are named in no particular order in a small half-mile band between Lyndale and Nicollet, then numbered east from Nicollet Avenue heading towards South Minneapolis, where the numbered avenues continue until you reach Saint Paul. The first part of addresses on the avenues are based on the nearest cross street. For example, 4000 France Avenue South is at the corner of France Avenue and 40th Street.

By public transit

 * Route 2 begins at Hennepin and Franklin and travels east along Franklin Avenue through the Wedge and Whittier neighborhoods before continuing on to Phillips, Seward, the West Bank, and the University of Minnesota.
 * Route 4 travels along Lyndale Avenue from downtown to 50th Street (passing through Lyn-Lake). At this point, the route splits into two branches, with one continuing on Lyndale Avenue and the other turning on 50th Street, where it goes west to Penn Avenue, and then goes south from there.
 * Route 6 travels along Hennepin Avenue from downtown to its end at 36th Street (passing though Uptown), turns west, and skirts the southeastern edge of Bde Maka Ska. The route splits in two at 39th Street and Sheridan Avenue; one continues west on 39th Street to France Avenue, then travels south from there (passing through the 50th & France commercial district), and the other travels south on Sheridan Avenue, which merges onto Upton Avenue (passing though the Linden Hills commercial district), turns west on 44th Street, and then continues south on Xerxes Avenue.
 * Route 11 begins in Columbia Heights and runs through Northeast Minneapolis and Downtown. In the Whittier neighborhood it runs along 3rd Avenue, passing by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Hennepin History Museum, and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. At 28th Street it jogs over to 4th Avenue in Phillips and continues through western Powderhorn and Nokomis before terminating in the Kingfield neighborhood at 46th Street and Nicollet Avenue.
 * Route 12 enters Minneapolis along Excelsior Boulevard, which soon ends and merges onto Lake Street. The route continues until its end at the Uptown Transit Station; during rush hours it will continue travelling along Hennepin Avenue into downtown.
 * Route 17 travels along Nicollet Avenue from downtown to 24th Street, turns west, then turns south on Hennepin Avenue. Past the Uptown Transit Station, it will turn west on Lagoon Avenue, which then merges onto Lake Street, and continue from there into the west suburbs.
 * Route 18 travels along Nicollet Avenue through the entirety of Southwest Minneapolis, passing through Eat Street along the way.
 * Route 21 travels along Lake Street from neighborhoods to the east until its end at Uptown Transit Station, passing through Lyn-Lake along the way.
 * Route 23 travels along 38th Street to Bryant Avenue, jogs two blocks north to 36th Street, then travels west to Hennepin Avenue, continuing north from there until its end at the Uptown Transit Station
 * Route 46 travels along 46th Street to 34th Avenue, jogs four blocks north to 42nd Street, then travels west to Cedar Avenue, jogs four blocks south to 46th Street, continuing west from there until either Nicollet Avenue or Bryant Avenue, jogs four blocks south to 50th Street and continues from there into the west suburbs.
 * Route 53 is a limited stop route travelling on Lake Street alongside the 21 (see above); stops are located at Uptown Transit Center, Lake & Girard, Lake & Lyndale, Lake & Nicollet, and Lake & 1st. This service only operates during rush hours, eastbound in the morning and westbound in the afternoon and evening.

By bike

 * Midtown Greenway is a bike path (grade-separated east of Hennepin) that runs east-west one block north of Lake Street. It continues east into South Minneapolis, and the west end of the Greenway links to the Southwest LRT Trail that heads to St. Louis Park, Hopkins, and beyond.
 * Kenilworth Trail runs roughly north-south between Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles. It acts as a connector between the Cedar Lake Trail to the north (a commuter trail running between Downtown and the west suburbs) and the Midtown Greenway/Southwest LRT Trail to the south.

By car

 * Interstate 35W is along the eastern edge of the district, with exits at Lake Street/31st Street (northbound exit/southbound entrance only), 35th Street/36th Street, 46th Street, Diamond Lake Road, and 60th Street. For northbound travellers, the 31st/Lake exit will be useful for getting to Lyn-Lake and Uptown areas, just travel westbound on either street. Southbound I-35W travellers wanting to get to those two areas should exit onto westbound I-94 (see below).
 * Interstate 94 is to the northeast of the district. The Lyndale Avenue/Hennepin Avenue exit is useful for getting into the area. Follow Lyndale southbound to get to Lyn-Lake or Hennepin southbound to get to Uptown.
 * Interstate 394 is along the northern edge of the district.

Film
Head to Uptown for some independent film:



Sleep
There aren't many lodging options in Southwest Minneapolis, but the Downtown hotels aren't too far from the Uptown, Lyn-Lake, and Eat Street areas.



Go next

 * Much of the artist community that has been priced out of Uptown moved to Northeast.
 * If you're still hungry for more Southeast Asian food after eating your way through Eat Street, there's another large concentration in the Frogtown neighborhood of Saint Paul.
 * If you keep heading north along the trails near Cedar Lake you'll eventually find yourself in Theodore Wirth Park.