St Paul Skyway Walk 4K | October 2023

[@p.j.driton4528]

Your outside walk of downtown was beautiful. Such a pretty area.

[@walkingminnesota]

Thanks!

[@p.j.driton4528]

Thank you so much. I no longer live in Minnesota but grew up in St. Paul. The Skyway was in its prime when I lived there. I used to work at Dayton's. Every store was filled, and you walked shoulder to shoulder during lunch hour. To see it as it is today makes me very sad.😪 What happened?

[@we5xz-1902]

We lived in Airye Condominiums from 2011-2019. The skyway was always pretty desolate during that timeframe. When COVID happened, everyone was sent home to work and a lot of businesses shutdown. It’s a little strange for me to watch this video. We spent so much time in these halls!

[@walkingminnesota]

Thanks for watching! So sad to see these once great places decline. Hopefully city leaders can figure out a way to bring them back. My guess for reasoning is remote work and online shopping. Both just took everyone who used to spend their time in the malls and skyways to other places. I never got to see the skyway during their glory days, I imagine it’s pretty disappointing to see what they have become

[@R.J.1]

Exactly. "What happened?" is what any St Paul native asks. It's really a bummer. I worked downtown even in my late teens. We'd grab the lunch buffet at Hunan Garden, then some popcorn at that cart in the hallway to spend some of our paycheck at Dayton's.

[@JM-qn3tf]

Democrats

[@noredmx1515]

Really sad to see Galtier Plaza as a ghost town now. Used to watch movies at the theater there as a kid.

[@walkingminnesota]

Yeah, that was a strange place to walk through. It looks like someone bought it a few years back and wanted to convert it to housing

[@R.J.1]

Union Depot is just gorgeous. Meticulously clean. They used to have a really artsy pingpong table in that Grand corridor when it first reopened.. I've lived Downtown/Lowertown several times. I appreciate the revival, but the 90s when I was in high school was really neat. Dayton's, Mickey's, Maharajas, Town Square, World Trade Center, movie theater in Galtier, etc. Best place to ditch school on a Friday.

[@walkingminnesota]

Beautiful in there. I think they renovated it within the last decade

[@R.J.1]

@@walkingminnesota You're right, believe it finished around 2010.

[@noredmx1515]

Town Square used to have a really cool 🎠 in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Looks like a ghost town now. Miss getting cookies at Mrs. Fields in the old Daytons building. Union Depot was eerily quiet. Wish it was lively and bustling like Grand Central Terminal in NYC.

[@walkingminnesota]

Union depot was beautiful! Very sad that it is under utilized

[@theproplady]

I remember walking through the skyway about 25 years ago on a daily commute. I remember a stationary store, Daytons, and a small display showing vintage pictures from the Winter Carnival. I remember it seeming a little more seedy and crowded. It used to close up right after 5 pm and I wondered how anyone could live in downtown St. Paul with it becoming a ghost town at that time of day.

[@walkingminnesota]

I wish I could have seen it!

[@aldelvex235]

The skyway has always been mostly empty but it’s definitely more after the pandemic. I like the Minneapolis skyway a bit more even though I live in St. Paul.

[@walkingminnesota]

Yeah, I think I like the Minneapolis one a little more too. I think it gets more light as a whole

[@dashingmay]

Hi, nice video! Thanks for sharing. If I want to explore the skyway, where would you recommend me to park? It would be preferable if it's free or inexpensive parking.

[@walkingminnesota]

Thanks for watching! I parked near mears park I think and it was about $2 an hour (which I think is pretty common in downtown Saint Paul). I know there are areas where it’s $1 an hour but those are probably a few blocks off of the skyway.

[@FreeRoamBaltimore]

Where's the people and businesses? That place is a whole Backrooms level.

[@walkingminnesota]

Yeah, hopefully this is something we can look back on in the future and see a nice recovery

[@AtticTapes14]

Looks like mall in there

[@walkingminnesota]

Yeah, definitely has that feel to it