Amen to all of this! Absolutely love the Gnome. I'm originally from Rochester but moved up here in 2009 to go to school at Hamline. I was hoping to move closer to the Cathedral Hill area but I'm definitely liking where I'm at now. I have a buddy who's living over on West 7th right in that same area. Well if there's ever a Hubski meetup in the area at least we'll know there'll be at least two of us! :)I prefer the Saint Paul lifestyle to Minneapolis, it's a big city, but it's also quiet and laid back most of the time. Plus it has my favorite bar in the world, The Happy Gnome.
Yeah. It was a nice place to grow up and it's nice for families. Safe, decent schools, etc. Just a pretty boring place to be a teenager/young adult. A lot of the city feels like a suburb too, which can be annoying. It sounds like Mayo is really making a concerted effort to bring in young people and make it more of an urban center with better public transit. Hopefully that works out well. Are you from the area?