Yay!

The Thursday farmer's market has returned downtown. That is something that will never be in the skyways. But from the second floor, the shapes and colors of the farm bounty create a delirious cloisonne of primary and tertiary color. I am as hungry for the riot of visual texture as for the fresh tang of the citrus itself.

Plasma, the instant nostalgia of the 20th century

The first neon signs were probably used in a Packard car dealership in Las Angeles in 1923. Within a few years neon calligraphy wrote the history of American cities on the blackboard night. Now you have to look hard to find this retro neon ghetto in downtown.

Riveting view

Rivet patterns in the Fifth Avenue Towers skyway from the Qwest building catch the high sun angle.

Real and fake people....er, Art.

On the south plaza of the Fifth Street Towers, from the skyway, a bronze family greets hope while real people greet...reality.

Red on red

Block E to Target Center skyway from inside the Starbucks.

Blue on blue

Skyway to City Center from Block E, facing East. Study in blue, with auburn accents. These were among the last skyways built, and you can see they have major industrial brawn. The sibling to this skyway runs from the west side of Block E to the Target Center, and is bright red, same exposed girder construct.
Fact: every skyway is a bridge on the State's roster, and is inspected accordingly.

Heroic skyway engineering laid bare

This massive piece of bridge engineering looms just at eyelevel on the skyway from Block E to the Target Center.

Hieroglyphs for the aliens

Stephen Hawking has advised us to leave well enough alone when it comes to signalling extraterrestrial life. That is kind of a let-down for a boomer kid who expected the Martians would provide our individual antigravity transports and mind-meld communications. In the meantime, I saw these fresh marks on the roadway beneath the skyway, and imagined the ETs thumbing (pseudopodding?) through their traveller phrase books, wondering WTF the humans were trying to tell them.

Electric Carillon

A bell tower down the street from the American Express skyway. A theme of the day. This belongs to the St. Olaf Catholic Church.  As far as I know, it is the only church proper on the skyway system.

The existential scale of urban life. Smoke em if you got em.

Solitary smoker framed by the Baker facade in strong April sunshine, seen from the skyway.

Faced stone

These faces adorn the Baker Building facade. They are not individuals. But they aren't blank glass panes, either.

Living on the edge of shadows.

My answer to modernist architecture is this minimalist photo of two people at the edge of shadow. I left the junk in the left side of the frame to liven up the composition a bit. I can't suppress all my humanist tendencies.

Shapes. Shadows. Walking the dog.

Shadows of the old Methodist Church seen from the end of the line skyway.

The end of the skyway, the end of design.

This photo of the IDS tower is taken from the furthest point you can go south on the skyways. It is a bridge to the parking ramp from the Convention Center, around 13th and Marquette. I like the contrast between brick/ivy and mirrored curtain wall. But I have to say, this modernist architecture is not really memorable, is it? Fortunately the fashion has swung away from such severe surfaces as the IDS represents. Not that we will see 50 story brick buildings any time soon.

The world's smallest bell tower?

Belltowers are the theme of the day. This one might be the world's smallest? It inspires something in the man on the bench. He is either lost in devotion, or rehearsing the speech he has to give to the Minnesota High Technology spring conference at the convention center nearby.

Less mystery. More seating.

Few things are as unmysterious as a convention center. But I saw these chairs spotlit by the sun as I passed from one skyway to another through the convention center. Intriguing.

The subject is bells.

Very pretty bell tower seen from the Convention Center skyway. Read the next post for the story.

Belltowers, patience, and gifts

Look very closely or click to enlarge to see the Central Lutheran Church's Belltower rising above the Normandy Inn in the middle ground. They both crown the last leg of the Thrivent skyway, as seen from the 6th floor of the Municipal Government Center parking ramp.
Not strictly skyway related, but...
The belltower was part of the original plans for the church, built in 1928, but funds ran out. The church managed to serve the community for 75 years without its bell tower. Then, anno mirabilus! In 2003 an anonymous donor provided funds to finally build the tower to original specs. The bells were cast by a 250 year-old firm in France, and include a 4800 pound beauty among the 47 total. The tower is 139 feet tall, and the church is located at 333 South Twelfth Street.

Frames within the frame

Alyssa serenely holds court in the Main Street Gallery and Gift Shop, in the skyway arcade of the Investors Building. There is a photo earlier in this blog of the owner, David Yorks with a sign in the window which reads "It is what it is." My wife sent me back to buy the sign, and I had a chance to chat with Alyssa about business on the skyways, the shifting tastes of downtown art purchasers. (They don't buy posters like they used to -- they are going for nice frames and original art) Go to their website and tell them you support art on the skyways. Or stop by and see the real, live art.

Photo of a skyway inside a photo inside the skyway system

This is a picture of a picture of a skyway in the promenade between skyways in the US Trust building.  By Larry Kanfer.  He had a gallery in the skyway a few years back, I believe in the Baker Building, and I always loved his photography.