Debra Keefer Ramage
Debra Keefer Ramage began writing freelance for Southside Pride in 2012, shortly after returning from a 13-year sojourn in England. She covers progressive politics, education, co-ops and neighborhoods. In 2017 she started doing Southside Pride’s restaurant review column, The Dish.
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Selby Avenue’s hilly, bumpy history When Selby Avenue was first named on a map, in 1854, the site of the present Cathedral of Saint Paul (the fourth and final one to bear that name) was occupied by a 40-acre farm belonging to Jeremiah Selby. This land,…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE McRae Park is one of the friendliest parks, much beloved by its surrounding neighborhoods. It stands as a green and welcoming gateway to the business hub of Chicago and 48th and the southern parts of south Minneapolis beyond. Current use information for parks and rec centers…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Downtown at Chicago Avenue’s northern terminus, the venerable Guthrie Theater is cautiously reopening. I have really ambivalent feelings about entertainment happening while the pandemic is in the situation where there are no ICU beds available, and kids are having to go back to classes with nothing…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE New eating places and concepts and “new to me” Amazingly, new restaurants and cafes and food service “concepts” keep on opening. Three fairly recent openings, in descending order of grandness (which pretty much relates to price and that pampered, entitled feeling, but not necessarily to actual…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Grand Avenue is not like most of the other major thoroughfares we write about. It’s the only one with two esteemed liberal arts universities on it. Which may explain why it has no less than three independent bookstores on it as well. Also, although in terms…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We have a load of interesting things to tell you about on or near Lyndale Avenue South. A few are long-time stalwarts, and a few are either new, or newly reopened since the last shutdown, or newly discovered by me and checked out for the first…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Bloomington Avenue is looking OK these days. I love to see it, because a year ago, I wasn’t sure. Businesses along Bloomington tend to be either very small and/or creative and unusual. Eateries capitalized on being cozy and intimate, and had to pivot to takeout, which…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Dining rooms reopened and indoor café returns The Seward branch of Pizza Lucé has opened its dining room. Quite a few other Lucés have been open for indoor and patio dining for a while now. But this one doesn’t have a patio, so that may have…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE When you live in south Minneapolis, your only knowledge (if any) of Highland Park in St. Paul may be Ford Parkway and its mostly upscale businesses. That’s because Ford Parkway is accessed via the bridge over the Mississippi River which is at East 46th Street on…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE There has not been as much change in the past year on 66th Street as we have experienced in South Minneapolis. One or two small businesses have moved to new locations here. A few have closed; it’s not clear if it was the pandemic or just…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Cedar Avenue, in the high 30s and low 40s of cross streets, is sort of my backyard, my stomping ground. So I was caught off-guard by the multi-story apartment building with a Lunds & Byerlys grocery store as its anchor tenant popping up seemingly overnight sometime…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Where I get information about restaurants In case you wonder where I get information about restaurants, either to pass on news of the restaurant world here or to decide what to review next, I mostly get it from the same place I get a lot of…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Right now, Seward neighborhood and Franklin Avenue from Cedar eastward to the bridge is percolating politically. There’s a city council race coming up in Ward 2 that will be very interesting. With the expected DFL outcome behind us of “no endorsement,” this race solidifies to one…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE A year ago, we wrote in Southside Pride (southsidepride.com/2020/06/22/how-has-nicollet-avenue-fared-so-far/) about the massive damage to buildings and businesses near Lake and Nicollet, as determined protesters laid siege to, but did not succeed in destroying, the 5th Precinct police station. Here’s a list of the top five things…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Like many other inner-city neighborhoods, the four Phillips neighborhoods and the American Indian Cultural Corridor (AICC — the stretch from Cedar westward to 11th Avenue) have been through a lot this year. And yet when you walk down Franklin Avenue and look around, it looks, for…
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