Skyways

In 1986, I worked as a messenger in the IDS Center, and shared an apartment with a friend who also worked there. Every morning we took the bus into town from Northeast Minneapolis and walked in the skyway through several buildings before we arrived at the IDS. I felt privileged at the time to work in such a place, high above the city, surrounded by buildings and skyways that made such interesting use of glass. Even though I worked there for 18 months, I never tired of the view of the falcons soaring and diving among the buildings, or the tiny people way down on the street below. And I truly appreciated the fact that one could go from one end of downtown to the other without jaywalking or waiting for traffic lights. Automobile traffic was just never an issue in the skyways. One never had to slog through slush in winter, either. Just take the skyway.

Although I was born in St. Paul and saw many major world cities before I turned 20, I still was impressed by the skyways in the Twin Cities. There is nothing like them anywhere else.

One day, as my friend and I were walking to work through the skyway between Marshall Field’s (then Dayton’s) and the IDS Center, I looked straight up through the glass pyramids on the ceiling, taking in the approaching glass monolith. My friend looked at me and said, “tourist.” I quickly looked around us and asked, “Where?” My friend could only laugh at me, and I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.