One Neighborhood, Many Cultures
By Halle Marr | Bethel University
Bikers rush left and right down the Midtown Greenway, a bikeway running below the streets of Minneapolis. Graffiti decorates a bridge built in 1915 that crosses over the pathway. Up a set of stairs leading from the greenway to the streets, four people sit chatting on a bench. Further along, an abandoned bottle of Royal Canadian is propped on another bench. A patio with tables stretched across the top of the stairs. None of them were occupied. Although Minneapolis is populated with people and traffic, quietness permeates this area beneath the city.
Just steps away, on the corner of Chicago Ave and Lake Street, the Midtown Global Market towers over the neighborhood, reflecting the clear blue sky on its hundreds of windows. Outside the main doors are bike racks filed with locked cycles. Midtown appears to be nothing more than a tan brick building, but entering the market it is evident there is much more to this place than the outside reveals. Inside is an explosion of color and chaos as people flood the hallways. The aroma of ethnic foods fills the air, and loud salsa music shakes the room.
On my visit to the Global Market, conversations blended together into one loud muffled sound, but a variety of languages were distinguishable- English, Spanish, Somali, and Hmong. One sign read, “Check out lane starts here. La linea para pagar comienza aqui.”
A man wearing a Mill City Merchant shirt handed out bright orange brochures, which mapped out the market’s many vendors and restaurants. “There is always something going on here,“ he said, noting that he is a member of the planning committee for the Global Market’s approaching tenth-year anniversary. “Fridays we have family night and on weekends we usually have people who perform different forms of entertainment.” But what he loves best is the food. “There is just about every type of food imaginable,” he said, “If you’re not able to find something you like here, you’re too picky of a person.”
He was right about that. The market offers cuisines from India, Italy, Africa, China, Vietnam, the Middle East and Latin America. Sizzling Vietnamese chicken and rice from Pham’s Deli was a popular choice for lunch hour specials. Next door is Holy Land Deli, known widely for its gyros. Around every corner, a track of another culture could be sensed.
Amid the chaos of the market, a woman got her eyebrows waxed at a mini salon next to “Arte Hispano” which sells handmade goods from Latin America. Like many of the Midtown employees who are culturally connected to the small businesses, the clerk said she was from Mexico and had been working at the shop for just over a year.
Built in 1928 as a retail space for Sears until 1994, this lively place was dead for nearly a decade. In 2005 the city of Minneapolis was searching for a use for the space. It was because the community voiced their ideas and worked for establishing this place. Now, many cultures integrate and share their lives and stories. In the center of the market, colorful posters from the Green Card Voices non-profit shared immigrant stories. One featured Ruhel Islam, an immigrant to Minneapolis from Sylhet, Bangladesh, “I gave up a lot of things to come to the United States: my family, my friends, my chickens. After arriving, I remember talking to my father and him telling me I shouldn’t come back. I would never get to see him again.” This building is more than just a place for a market; it’s a melting pot of cultures.
