Yowza.

Terra Cotta yadda-yadda on the Baker Building.

Faces in the bookstore.

No dogs on the skyway

Too pupped to pop. Fundraising puppy on the Nicollet Mall.

Take-out on the skyways

I guess 90% of skyway traffic has something to do with lunch.

Armstrong, Vino, Segway

Armstrong bike, Vino scooter, Segway for the DID program worker.

Mystery Door on Hennepin Ave.

There are unmarked doors around town. Not even a handle. What kind of passage is that?

Facade, Hennepin Ave.

Hotel Amsterdam, Hennepin Ave.

Decor on the State theater

When architects design with cake decorating tools.

Optical ghost....seeing ghost?

Ghost letters. 9th Street

Bernie's ghost

Bernie's Cleaners and Launderers. Ghost letters. 9th Street.

What do you dig about the skyways?

Look at the details on this stone building

Excuse the reflections, but hey that is what makes this a skyway post. Check out the ornamental stone carving on the pilasters in the eastern facade of the builiding, with their star-studded globe and other intricate detailing. (link brings you to a zoomable pixcture on gigapan.com) An interesting blend of Masonic symbolism and Richardsonian Romanesque traditions. This 8 story building was one of Minneapolis' tallest from the 1890 thru the 1920s. It is the Masonic Temple, and it is one of the few remaining prizes from the Victorian era. The West Hotel, which was across the street, and the Metropolitan Building, toward the river, are still talked about for their amazing qualities decades after being demolished.

Zoran Mojsilov builds solar systems out of stone and wire

Part of the Art in Public Space exhibit. (See next post)

Curious little exhibit

There is an Art in Public Places exhibit in City Center as you head west toward Block E. It has models from various proposals made to the program over the years, and a brief description of the program. These are two bus bench designs, about 4" tall.

Downtown learns the lessons of the State Fair

Lunch time on 6th and 1st Ave. No.

Putting the sidewalk in sidewalk cafes

Doorman, Pedestrian, Giant of Labor

This was a bank, now its a hotel. Can you sleep in a vault?

In Minneapolis our mysteries are cheerful

I was struck by the vaguely Egyptian forms on this facade, where the double decker skyway crosses Sixth. It has the arc, like the goddess Nut bending from horizon to horizon, and the Pyramid within a rectangle, a kind of gnostic semaphor beckoning to the iniate with layers of ancient symbolism. Then I realized it was just a pretty conceit of the architect, and no Gnosis was involved at any level, except for the mysterious cheerfulness this doodle conveys.

Hennepin Boogie Woogie

Two remnants of our stone and brick splendor -- the Masonic Temple and the Plymouth Building, brood above the empty geometry of a skyway, while the mindless yellow glee of the stop sign gazes past the disparity of a century, blinking permissions and sanctions in the sun.

When trucks fly

This looks like a behemoth truck careening around the corner and leaping up, catapulted by its momentum and a rift in the street. You probably guessed, though, that it is sitting on massive hydraulic jack supports, while its cargo crane wields a ton of something between floors.

Exiled in my skin

At lunch time, it is all about the menu, and speed.

The skyways are inside, but they are outside too. Outside of the lunch spots, outside of our encounters with each other, inside the skyscrapers, inside the survey plat of Downtown. In Minneapolis we have interiorized several layers of inside and outside without effort, without naming them, as the Eskimos name varieties of snow, or the Bedouins name different kinds of sand, sunlight, heat. After six months on the skyways, they have become a kind of second skin to me, a container for my self. And they are also a form of exile.

The first six months: disconnect from stereotypes and cliches about the connections.
The next six months: reconnect something to something, anything to everything.