Minneapolis Morning: Rainbow Taxi

Can you imagine an announcer's voice: "When in Minneapolis, travel in gay comfort with the Rainbow Taxi Service!"

My chariot awaits but I'm walking this morning. At a $5 minimum and a $2.50 flag drop per mile, umm, it ain't a cheap ride. Luckily downtown Minnie is compact, beautiful and very easy to walk around.

Comments

[Jim]

"Luckily downtown Minnie is compact, beautiful, and very easy to walk around."

And it’s not January.

[Edwin]

Jim: Even if it were January, it's literally possible to walk from one end of downtown Minneapolis to the other by using the Syyway bridges. The pedestrian skyways link almost all of the buildings downtown.

So yes, it's very easy to walk around our beautiful city, despite the cold in January and oppressive heat in August.

[Jim]

Edwin, I remember a native Detroiter telling me, back in the day, that similar structures in his city were called “honky tubes.”

I know a name like that isn’t going to get started in Minneapolis, but do you all have a nickname for them?

[Jon]

@ Jim: They're just called "skyways" - no other nickname. Check out the beautiful Replacements song "Skyway" (from their Pleased to Meet Me album) for some excellent skyway culture. "Oh then one day / I saw you walkin' down that little one way / Where the place I'd catch my ride most every day / There wasn't a damn thing I could do or say / Up in the skyway."

[Jon]

I should say: No other nickname I'm aware of....though they've jokingly been called "habitrails."