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✒️ Mid-April miscellanea: Lowbrow Saints reopens on Minnehaha

Plus new details on the potential new Anishinabe Academy, Sea Salt opening, a new boardwalk at Minnehaha Park, Dorman Avenue eagle updates, and much more.

Longfellow Whatever
— 7 min read
✒️ Mid-April miscellanea: Lowbrow Saints reopens on Minnehaha

After leaving its 35th and Minnehaha space in July, neighborhood tattoo shop Lowbrow Saints has quietly reopened a block north, at 3456 Minnehaha Ave.

Longtime Longfellow-dweller Jason Del Castillo opened the shop in 2003 after spending years bouncing around local tattoo parlors, including Leviticus Tattoo at 42nd and Lake, and its predecessor, Omni. He's always worked in "street shops," retail parlors that accept walk-ins and specialize in pre-drawn designs on the wall and in books, as opposed to specialty, appointment-only operations.

In recent years, he had some issues with the two-story building at 35th and Minnehaha — which was for sale for an extended period — and began looking for a space nearby. That coincided with the closure of Heroic Goods & Games (for happy reasons) on the next block, in a quaint cluster of commercial buildings owned by the family that operates Minnehaha Business Services on the corner.

The collective of tattoo artists took over the space in the fall and renovated the game shop and the small office next door. They reopened in January.

The shop is planning to hang a new sign soon and host a grand opening celebration this summer. In the meantime, you can pop in at your leisure every day except Monday, from 11-7.

🏗️ Minneapolis Public Schools has released more details on its plans to relocate the Native American magnet school Anishinabe Academy to the former Cooper School.

As detailed here last year, two major decisions face project planners if the idea moves forward: 1) Whether to restore and add onto the existing Cooper School building, or tear it down and build a new facility; 2) Whether to keep the academy PreK-5, which it has been since it downsized in 2018, or restore it to PreK-8.

A recently-released "Predesign Report" recommends the latter in both cases: tearing down the schoolhouse and building a new, PreK-8 school. (Staff recommended against reusing the school "based on its physical condition and significant maintenance/repair needs that would be required in order to accommodate a PreK-8 school.")

A "predesign" rendering of a newly-built Anishinabe Academy, looking northwest

That plan calls for a three-story, 128,000-square-foot building that would accommodate about 700 students. It proposes a series of outdoor play areas and green spaces, including a soccer field on the south end of the property. The renderings suggest keeping the trees that surround the recently-rebuilt playground, but not the equipment itself.

The recommended option is projected to cost between $90 million and $105 million. Project planners indicate they plan to seek approval to start the next phase of design next month and, if approved, could begin construction in the fall and open by 2028.

🐟 Sea Salt Eatery will officially open on Friday at 11 a.m. (Though, savvy parkgoers know that the restaurant typically "soft opens" a day early.) It's business as usual this year for the destination park restaurant, which introduced a new sandwich room and restructured its ownership two years ago.