Saint Paul By Bike – Every Block of Every Street

September 19, 2023

Highland Park, Frogtown, North End, Payne-Phalen, Railroad Island, Dayton’s Bluff, Lowertown, Downtown, West End

30.7 miles

The streets of Saint Paul were once paved with bricks and cobblestones. Perhaps you’ve spotted the old red brick on thoroughfares in Macalester-Groveland and Summit Hill neighborhoods. The only place in Saint Paul I know is still paved with cobblestones is about five blocks of Osceola Avenue in Summit Hill between St. Clair and Milton.

Like nearly everything, science and technology have yielded an evolution, in this case of the preferred materials and processes for pavement to either concrete or blacktop (bituminous as pavement professionals refer to it.)

A more haphazard way to get a glimpse of the roadway of yore is through potholes and street construction, which often expose the subsurface of our streets. From time to time, this will not merely reveal the pavers but also long-buried trolley tracks. A great example of this was in the 500 block of Cleveland Avenue South in Highland Park.

It’s an interesting exercise to imagine what Cleveland Avenue, in this case, was like when the trolleys were a common way to travel around Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Summit Hill

A tiny canary-colored house and rectangular shadow box, both affixed to a brick, cement and iron fence at 851 Goodrich Avenue, piqued my curiosity. The little house and box are the Tiny Treasure House and Tiny Art Gallery according to signage.

Less than a block east and on the north side of Goodrich is a home, that to me is, breathtakingly beautiful. There is so much to see on the vibrant Diedrik Omeyer house at 808 Goodrich Avenue that one could (and I did) find themselves spellbound. Omeyer was partner in the architectural firm Omeyer and Thori.

Local architecture critic Larry Millett doesn’t share my enthusiasm for the Omeyer House. Of their house designs, he wrote in the 2007 AIA Guide to the Twin Cities, “they specialized in mad-dog Victorian houses, foaming with ornament.” He added that the house is “one of their prime extravaganzas” and will “clear your sinuses just by looking at it.”

Below are photos that show more details of this meticulously restored Queen Anne Victorian.

Omeyer and Martin Thori, both Norwegian immigrants, formed their architectural partnership in 1888. They designed college and municipal buildings, libraries, courthouses and homes, including Bockman Hall at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul. More than 15 of their works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

An Unusual Little Library

When I started Saint Paul By Bike in 2011, Little Free Libraries were rare. It’s great that they’re commonplace around Saint Paul today. The often imaginative and always useful boxes of books still catch my eye but it’s refreshing to see a distinctive creation like the Library of Banned Books at 623 Lincoln Avenue.

North End Twins

Winding my way from Summit Hill into Frogtown and then the North End, I again found myself on Jessamine Avenue. In the 100 block of West Jessamine I pulled up to (fraternal?) twin Victorians at 105 and 111. Both were built in 1884 on lots of the same size, according to Ramsey county records.

Payne-Phalen

The route I traveled to the East Side — more specifically Payne-Phalen — via Maryland Avenue over both the Trout Brook Sanctuary and then 35E was just under a mile. At Arkwright Street I turned north and pedaled for eight blocks to Nevada Avenue East.

There is a noticeable progression in the age and architecture of the homes on Jessamine and those on Nevada, which reflects the growth of the city. The homes in the 400 block of Nevada, just east of Arkwright, were built in the Depression-era. Continuing east through the 500, 600 and into the 700 blocks of Nevada, Ramsey County records show a more varied stock of houses. Many date to the ‘30s and ‘40s with a smattering from the 1900s, 1910s and ‘50s.

Nevada Avenue Mystery Machine

The block of Nevada Avenue between Walsh and Weide Streets features close to an even number of homes built in the ‘40s and ‘50s. But what stopped me here was not the homes; it was a real live full-sized version of the Mystery Machine van from the animated series “Scooby Doo!”

After a walk-around, I grabbed my camera to document this unexpected and special vehicle. Then I traipsed to the front door of 761 Nevada, eager to talk to the owner of the Mystery Machine. Unfortunately no one answered the door. I planned to jump back on the bike to scout the area for a short time, then revisit 761 Nevada. Before I could leave, a car pulled up and two people got out. It was my good fortune that those folks were the owners of the Mystery Machine and they were delighted to share the story.

Among the first things Guy Frechette and his wife, Teresa, explained is that this Mystery Machine is not their first, second or even third. It’s the seventh! They created the first nearly 30 years ago at the behest of their then 3-year-old son, Avery, who loved what he called “army trucks’ – any vehicle with a camouflage paint scheme.

The Frechettes owned an old, rusty, yellow conversion van that Guy described as, “really ugly, but the inside was real nice.” One day Guy decided it would be cool to paint the van in camo colors. “I said, ‘You know what? We should camouflage this, and then it would cover up the rust. And the kids could help paint.’”

So Guy explained the plan to Avery. “I said, ‘You know what, Avery? We’re going to paint the van and you get to pick how we paint it.’ And he goes, ‘Really, dad?’ He says, ‘I wanna paint it like an army truck!’”

Off Guy and Avery went to buy the paint. “On the way to the the paint store,” he said, “we went through a McDonald’s, got a Happy Meal, and I was pulling up to the paint store and Avery, from the back car seat, says, ‘Dad, can I really paint the van anyway I want?’”
“‘Sure you can,’” Guy answered, “And out of the Happy Meal he pulls a little Mystery Machine and he goes, ‘I want to paint it like this.’”
Guy stated he was “dumbfounded” at Avery’s change of plans but happy to go along with it. “We brought the little toy in [to the paint store]. We matched the colors and we painted the first Mystery Machine.”

All good things come to an end and so it was for the Mystery Machine. “So I thought, ‘Okay, well we’ll buy another one, paint that,’ And we’ve just been doing that ever since. And this is number seven.”
Teresa added, “He’s an artist. And we’re all for father-son bonding. It was fun. It was a big deal for them.“

No two of the Mystery Machine exteriors have been painted the same. One, said Guy, was decorated like the van in the Saturday morning cartoon from 1969, while another was modeled after the 2002 live-action movie. Others were a fusion of both.

The paint schemes aren’t the only things that have varied. “This is an old handicap van. But the one before, it was a completely decked out Pleasure-Way. It’s like a road truck, but nicer. And the one before that was a Pleasure-Way. Pleasure-Ways have everything. They have a microwave, stove, refrigerator, shower, bathroom, and all that stuff.”

Guy continued, “Those Pleasure-Ways are heavy vans. They get like 12 miles to the gallon on the highway. You got everything in them. And they’re nice for camping. But this one we went light. It’s like a big empty box and we put in a bed and a porta-potty and that’s it. We can get up to 20 miles to the gallon with that thing.”

Teresa explained that for the first few Mystery Machines, Guy favored well-used vans, but after the third, he upgraded. She explained that to me. “And so then we got one of the Pleasure-Ways. It was really nice. White. Perfect. And my mom said. ‘He’s not gonna paint that van, is he? He’s not gonna paint that van, is he?’ And I said, ‘No.’”

But, as Teresa explained, of course Guy did. “He didn’t have time to finish it. I go, ‘Just paint one side and we’ll park it the other way.’ So he literally parked the side that was unpainted to where my mom would see it. And then the other side still had Scooby Doo started on it.”

The interior of the van is just as decked out in Scooby Doo gear. A stuffed Scooby, window clings, bed sheets, pillow cases and curtains adorn the inside. “We got a whole box full of toys, lunchboxes and stuff that people just give us that have Scooby Doo on them. And then when we get a gaggle of kids, we will pass that stuff out.” T-shirts and small bags of Scooby Snacks cookies are other items they carry in the van, ready to give to fans.

“The majority of the people smile and get a laugh at it. And if you can make somebody have a little happy thought for the day, then it’s worth it.“

–Teresa talking about the reactions people have to the mystery machines

The Mystery Machine is simply about enjoyment, explained Guy. “We have one rule with the Mystery Machine. We don’t take it anywhere unless it’s somewhere fun. So like if we’re going camping, we’re going to a concert or some sort of event or whatever, we take the Mystery Machine.”

Naturally, the Mystery Machines draw attention everywhere, which has led to countless enduring memories. “What we found is the most fun is to crash a parade,” Guy said. “I kid you not, We don’t do anything ahead of time and we’re driving through a town in Wisconsin and they have a parade at two o’clock and it’s 1:30. Let’s do it!”

Teresa clarified that they don’t exactly crash most parades. “We usually go find the person that’s in charge of the parade and say, ‘Would you care?’ ‘Oh, no. We were hoping you’d ask,’ they said. ‘We saw it parked there last night. We were hoping you’d ask.’ So usually the parade people want you.”

The Frechettes’ Mystery Machines used to make an annual appearance at Saint Paul Saints games along with friends who had a car based on the Ectomobile from the movie Ghostbusters. One year, a few hours before they were scheduled to go to the game, the phone rang, and the caller told Guy that actor Bill Murray, at that time a co-owner of the Saints who starred in the original “Ghostbusters,” wanted to talk to him. Guy’s first reaction: “I just flat out didn’t believe him.” Moments later, another person got on the line and said, “‘This is Bill Murray and I want to ask you a favor.’ And I said, ‘What’s that?’ He says, ‘I don’t want you to drive your Mystery Machine in the parade at the Saints game tonight.'” The reason Murray gave? “‘I’m gonna make a surprise guest appearance and I don’t want you to show up the Ghostbuster car.'” Murray added that he’d “make it up to you.” Guy agreed to the request, and a couple weeks later they received an invitation another Saints game. “They had a parking spot reserved for us on the sidewalk in front of the stadium, about 20 feet from the door. We were the only car that was invited. And we had free tickets and all that stuff. And so he did make it up to us.”

Most of the time, it’s not about a large public appearance. In fact, they’ll go out of their way to make the day for a Mystery Machine fan, Guy said. “We had this really nice Scooby-Doo stuffed animal that had been in the van for three, four, maybe five years. And my kid was driving the van and this mother wanted to look at the van and she had a little kid with special needs. So my son gave that kid the Scooby-Doo. And I thought, ‘Oh, I raised him, right.’”

Then Teresa told me about the time a woman was following them in her car.” I said, ‘Guys, somebody’s following us.’ So we pulled off and she pulled in and she said, ‘My son is just thrilled.’ We had some stuff in there we were able to give him too.”

At least once, the notoriety had negative consequences. “Mystery Machine number five was stolen. And it actually made the front page of the St. Paul paper, “ Guy explained.

Teresa and Guy shared the tale of an unexpected and ultimately amusing drive Guy took one morning. It began as he rolled down an I-35E on-ramp. “I moved my sun visor over and I accidentally hit the green strobe lights as I was going into rush hour traffic.”
Guy didn’t realize the strobe lights on the van were furiously flashing. “All of a sudden all these people make room for the Mystery Machine. And I’m waving ‘thank you.’ I drive in there and they just like this,” he said, gesturing to show how cars pulled over for him.
“I’m about 10 miles down the road in this heavy rush hour traffic. And I go, ‘My strobe lights are on.’ And I thought, ‘Man, I could have got in so much trouble for doing that.’”

Out of stories, Guy and Teresa did one more thing before I left. They went into the back of the Mystery Machine, pulled out a Scooby T-shirt and a bag of Scooby Snacks and presented them to me. It reinforced the generous spirit they mentioned during our chat.

Greenbrier Street

The building now home to the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Kidist Selassie Church has stood at 1260 Greenbrier Street for well over a century. Since its 1900 construction, at least two other congregations, St. James Episcopal Church and St. Stephen (Ukrainian) Catholic, have held services in the building at the corner of Greenbrier and Orange Avenue East.

Supreme Homes on Dayton’s Bluff

Three future United States Supreme Court justices lived for years in Saint Paul. The first, Pierce Butler, moved to Saint Paul shortly after his 1887 graduation from Carlton College in Northfield, MN. He served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1923 until his death in 1939.

The other two, Warren E. Burger and Harry Blackmun, remarkably grew up about six blocks apart on Dayton’s Bluff. They became friends in Sunday School when they were five or six years old, went to grade school together and simultaneously sat on the high court for 15 years.

Although I’d taken at least a dozen bike rides through Dayton’s Bluff and driven through many more times by car, I’d never seen the former homes of either Burger or Blackmun until making a point to do it this day.

Warren E. Burger was born in Saint Paul on September 17, 1907. Burger, his parents and six siblings lived in the small two-bedroom home at 695 Conway Street. from 1914 to 1933, according to Saint Paul Historical.

While not a native Saint Paulite — Harry Blackman was born in the little Illinois town of Nashville on November 12, 1908 — he and his family moved to 847 Fourth Street East in Saint Paul when he was no older than five.

In an oral history interview conducted in 1994 and ’95 by former law clerk Harold Hongju Koh. Blackman looked back on the the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood of his formative years. “It was distinctly lower middle class, I would say, occupied largely by working people – they were good, solid people, but nearly all in modest circumstances. It was a good place to grow up actually.”

Blackman also recalled young Warren Burger’s family. “He lived in a modest little house on Conroy [sic] Street in St. Paul. His mother in my estimation was a saint; she brought up a large family on little or nothing. We didn’t have much, but the Burgers had less than we did.”

Burger and Blackmun both attended the nearby (and magnificently designed) Van Buren School through eighth grade. They went in different directions for high school with Burger attending Johnson High on the East Side and Blackman choosing Mechanic Arts High in the shadow of the Minnesota Capitol.

During the same oral history interview, Blackman said he selected Mechanic Arts because he thought it was the best high school in Saint Paul. He also praised the mix of students there. “(It) brought in a large number of African-Americans because there was such an enclave on Rondo Street in St. Paul at the time, which was in that district, and they all came to Mechanic Arts. So we had a very diverse student population which was very good for me.”

The future Supreme Court justices remained close friends for decades, undeterred by distance, family or career obligations. In fact, Blackmun served as best man at Burger’s wedding.

Warren Burger didn’t go far for college, selecting the University of Minnesota and St. Paul College of Law (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law) respectively, for undergraduate work and law school. After graduating in 1931, he practiced law at a Saint Paul firm until 1953, when he was named an assistant U.S. attorney general. Two years later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated Burger to the U.S. Court of Appeals, where he served until President Nixon tapped him for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court .

Harry Blackmun was also headed to the U of M until Harvard University offered him a scholarship. Blackmun got both his undergraduate and law degrees from there and returned to the Twin Cities to practice law and teach for the next 25 years. Blackmun joined Mayo Clinic as an attorney in 1950, where he stayed until he was appointed to the Eighth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1959.

President Richard Nixon — at Burger’s suggestion — also nominated Blackmun for the Supreme Court, in April 1970. Blackman was unanimously confirmed by the senate and sworn into office on June 9, 1970.

The most well-known cases that came before the Supreme Court during the tenure of the two justices from Saint Paul was Roe v. Wade in 1973. Burger and Blackmun voted with the majority in the case, which guaranteed to women the right to have abortions.

Other important rulings during their tenure included:

• Miller v. California: In 1973, Burger wrote the majority opinion which said that obscene materials did not enjoy First Amendment protection, but modified the definition of obscenity to relate to community standards.

• New York Times Co v. United States: In this 1971 case, commonly known as the Pentagon Papers Case, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the major tenet of the First Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of the press.
• Lemon v. Kurtzman: The 1971 ruling basically stated that providing state funds to church schools violated the First Amendment.

• United States v. Nixon: In another prominent case, this one related to Watergate, Burger wrote for a unanimous Court that ruled President Nixon couldn’t use the claim of executive privilege to prevent release of tape recordings made in the White House. Nixon resigned 16 days after the Court’s decision.

Two boys from Dayton’s Bluff who grew up to serve on our nation’s highest court and an East Side family that delights with their custom Scooby Doo van. Quite a contrast and an example of how different backgrounds, talents and experiences are woven into the fabric of uniqueness that is Saint Paul.