Longfellow Whatever is a reader-funded news project focused on the fine-grained details of life in the Longfellow communities of Minneapolis (Longfellow, Cooper, Howe, and Hiawatha).
Subscribers get frequent, brief updates delivered to their inbox in a tone somewhere between a local newspaper and dispatches from a plugged-in friend: How’s construction coming along on that new restaurant? What’s the latest plan for the lights on the river road? What does that business in the tiny corner space actually do? Who's behind that iconic holiday lights display or landscaping oddity? Why's that seemingly desirable lot still vacant? How’s business lately at your favorite cafe, movie theater, grocer, or auto shop?
More about how it works: Frequently asked questions.
Is cost a barrier? The Longfellow Community Council has generously sponsored a limited number of yearlong subscriptions to expand access to the newsletter.
👗 The "good used stuff" shop opening this weekend on 42nd Ave
True Finds, a secondhand clothing and accessories store, opens on Friday across from Sanford Middle School.
🦅 We’ve got an eaglet in the Dorman nest
Congratulations are in order to the longtime residents of the Dorman Avenue eagles nest, who’ve welcomed at least one new baby eaglet into their expansive family tree.
🍦 Minnehaha Scoop opens Friday
James Freid has been supplying his neighborhood with ice cream for a long time.
⚽️ Fight continues over Minnehaha Academy soccer field upgrades
The school is asking the city for the variances it needs for its soccer field overhaul. A group of neighbors has stepped up pressure to reject or modify the plans.
🗓 Whatever Whenever: May events calendar
Just about everything going on in the neighborhood this month.
👕 Sneak peek: This year's East Lake Liquor shirt drops Friday
The iconic t-shirt has become the neighborhood's de facto uniform, with a new color scheme every year. We have the scoop on this year's look, which drops Friday.
🏡 LCC's popular home improvement grants go live Wendesday
The popular program helps pay for home improvements and is open to people earning up to 80 percent of the area's median income.
🚶♂️Strolling with the lightpole-famous "Men's Walking Group"
The most common billboard in the neighborhood isn’t for Kris Lindahl or TSR or Nicolet Law. It’s for the "Men's Walking Group."
🏫 Vacant Cooper School boarded up to deter intruders
The school board said it has seen fewer intrusions at other vacant schools after boarding the first-floor windows.
🌮 Racket's Best Budget Bites: $7.50 ‘Mini’ Tacos Dorados From Mi Mexico Querido
Racket writer Em Cassel highlights the eyebrow-raising value of Mi Mexico Querido's Mini Tacos Dorados.
🌲 Exploring the Lake Street weed district
Ahead of Saturday's high holiday, a look at four Lake Street businesses staking their claim in the new market.
🌳 What are those brush piles by the river?
They’re part of a largely successful push to rid the area of a buckthorn infestation.
🚫 Don't get got: Street sweeping starts Wednesday
The twice-yearly chore of sweeping the streets of a half-year's worth of salt, sand, litter, and plant matter reaches Longfellow this week on Wednesday and Thursday, and will continue piecemeal over the next three weeks.
🚧 Hiawatha-Lake interchange closing for six months
All four ramps connecting the two roads will be closed and Lake Street will be down to one lane in either direction. But once completed, the intersection should be considerably easier to walk, roll, and drive through.
🧵 SKY Chairs HQ moves in
Bob Anderson, who's been handmaking the hanging canvas chairs for almost 50 years, sets up shop in Longfellow.
