How to See All 73 of St. Paul's Chroma Zone Murals in One Day
With stops for spicy Thai food, revelatory used records and killer Vietnamese coffee
Whether you’re searching for sculpture parks, astounding roadside attractions or towering wooden trolls, Minnesota has no shortage of stellar public art.
One of its most impressive outdoor collections is scattered throughout St. Paul’s Creative Enterprise Zone. An epicenter of cultural expression and entrepreneurship between University Avenue and Vandalia Tower, it’s peppered with contemporary murals from the annual Chroma Zone festival that started off strong in 2019 and returns for another round of live painting and related programming on Sept. 17-19.
To get a sense of the event’s scale and scope, we decided to spend a day wandering the neighborhood in search of the 73 (!) pieces currently on display, as well as nearby restaurants, stores, small businesses and brands that share their independent spirit.
Better put on your plushest pair of sneakers; we’ve got some walking to do. Don’t feel like you literally need to see everything in one day, though. While we gladly gave it a go, the CEZ has plenty of reasons to circle back another morning, afternoon or evening. Here are a few we enjoyed firsthand.
– Andrew Parks
8:30 a.m.
Grab breakfast at Trung Nam French Bakery
Before hitting the ground running with a fully charged smartphone, may we suggest a round of robust Vietnamese coffee (properly iced and sweetened with condensed milk) and pristine French pastries from Trung Nam? A family-owned Frogtown favorite since 1989, it specializes in flaky, buttery croissants that can be enjoyed au naturel or gussied up with generous fillings of fruit, coconut, almond, and chocolate.
Trung Nam also excels at baguettes that crackle beneath your teeth before giving way to a soft, pillowy interior. They can either be stuffed with a classic bành mì combo (pork, cilantro, jalapeño, mayo, pickled carrots and pâté) on-site — a savory breakfast staple in Vietnam for a reason — or saved for later in long or short loaves.
Trung Nam French Bakery
Address: 739 University Ave W, St Paul, MN 55104
Hours: Open 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Closed Sunday.
Good to Know: Trung Nam’s baguette game is so strong that Asian Duck, Trieu Chau and The French Hen have all logged their fair share of wholesale orders.
9 a.m.
Park and walk, rather than ride
There’s no right or wrong way to rock Chroma Zone’s clusters of international street art. Start by opening the organizers’ custom Google Map — dots are broken down by year in the side panel — and picking a starting point surrounded by official murals.
To get your steps in and work up an appetite, look for legal street parking near the intersection of Raymond and University avenues. Thanks to the neighborhood’s sleepy industrial stretches, it’s easy to find a space within reasonable walking distance of enough murals to keep you busy for a couple of hours.
Our favorites include the wrap-around ivy web of Chroma Zone co-founder Mike Davis (a tip of the spray can to nature outlasting all of us, including graffiti), the bold colors and cartoon-like creatures of Birdcap (“Flowers for the Friends Who Picked Me Up”) and Jose Dominguez (“Clubhouse City”) and the intersecting Hmong and American experiences of Kao Lee Thao’s “Our Common Threads.”
Don’t miss the one-two punch of Hend Al-Mansour’s “Coming Home” and Danielle SeeWalker’s “Dakȟóta Ancestors”, either; they brighten the same building and reflect the artists’ respective Islamic and Indigenous roots.
11 a.m.
Cool off at Workhorse Coffee Bar
If you end up mural hunting on a day as humid and/or hot as we did, head straight for the refreshing specials at Workhorse Coffee Bar. This summer has featured such immediate standouts as a raspberry-and-hibiscus fizz, a hand-squeezed lemonade hit with house-made blueberry syrup, and a vanilla-kissed Thai iced tea.
We were personally thrilled to see a switchel on the menu — a bright, not-too-sweet balance of ginger, apple cider vinegar, water, and honey.
Workhorse Coffee Bar
Address: 2399 University Ave W, St Paul, MN 55114
Hours: Open 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday; 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Good to Know: Don’t miss the Smallest Museum in St. Paul on your way out the door. Kept in a vintage fire-horse cabinet, it’s quirky but never corny exhibits have spotlighted “Weird State Capitol Souvenirs,” the “Joys of Jell-O,” “LEGO Mosaics,” and many other microcosms of art, history, and idiosyncratic Atlas Obscura-isms.
11:30 a.m.
Dig for dynamite vinyl at Agharta Records
Everything you need to know about Agharta Records is right there in its name, a reference to the restless live record Miles Davis released in 1975. Critics either loved or loathed the double LP; Robert Christgau deemed it “angry, dissociated [and] funky,” and Robert Palmer compared Pete Cosey’s chaotic guitar to “a noisy machine shop.”
Gnarly jazz nod aside, Agharta is not the St. Paul version of the vicious store in the Nick Hornby novel “High Fidelity.” Much like the many other members of the Twin Cities’ strong vinyl scene, owner Dylan Adams is warm and welcoming, not jaded and judgmental. If anything, he seems driven by an innate desire to share albums we can all agree on, and a wide-ranging wealth of wild sounds.
Depending on the day, the new-release cubbies may include everything from welcome reissues of David Bowie, New Order, and the Ramones to the latest studio efforts from The Strokes, Charli XCX, and the Rolling Stones. Not to mention choice selections from the store’s considerable avant-garde collection.
As for its seemingly endless aisles of used vinyl, they can feel like a true treasure hunt. During our visit, we spotted a numbered box set from Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, long-out-of-print LPs from Tyler, the Creator, Aerosmith, Moby, Carly Simon, and the hardcore band Every Time I Die, and 7-inch singles from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Iggy Pop, Father John Misty, and Lizzo.
Agharta Records
Address: 2512 University Ave W, St Paul, MN 55114
Hours: Open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Good to Know: Agharta updates its Discogs store regularly; browse its listings for a broad overview of what’s currently lurking within its crates. Adams also accepts trade-ins if you’d like to unload some old LPs and search for new sounds.
12:00 p.m.
Climb the Scoville rating scale at On’s Kitchen
Anyone who assumes “Minnesota spicy” begins and ends with a dash of delicate black pepper needs to experience the explosive Thai food of On’s Kitchen. Longtime chef-owner On Khumchaya isn’t kidding with the 1-to-10 range of hurt that’s offered throughout her sprawling repertoire. Go with a four if you’d like a little kick, a seven if you’d like a tongue lashing, and a 10 if you have something to prove and don’t mind the kitchen laughing about you later.
To be clear, On’s isn’t a gimmicky restaurant that makes you sign a waiver. They’re more interested in cooking incredible food than pushing your pain threshold. They offer a sliding pepper scale simply because that’s how Thai people eat — adjusting flavor profiles (a little fish sauce here, a little chili vinegar there) to one’s own preferences. And more importantly, they prepare both crowd-pleasers (pad thai, khao soi, fresh spring rolls) and rarely seen recipes with pride.
We typically run, don’t walk, to the special dishes section of Khumchaya’s menu. Today’s lunch revolved around generous portions of pad eggplant (stir-fried with pork, shrimp, bell peppers and Thai basil in a dark soybean sauce) and pad sa-thor (a Southern Thai star made with bitter stink beans, pork, shrimp, rainbow-hued bell peppers and a scintillating red curry sauce).
Other palate expanders include nam prik pla too (deep-fried mackerel with a Thai chili relish and steamed vegetables), kaeng som bae-saa (a tamarind-tinged, hot-and-sour, coconut-free curry), and pla louee suan (deep-fried tilapia draped in a bright mango and herb salad).
On’s Kitchen
Address: 1613 University Ave W, St Paul, MN 55104
Hours: Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Good to Know: Khumchaya’s daughter and son-in-law (Sa and Joel Krupinski) now run her business and operate a side hustle in St. Paul called On’s Thai Express.
1 p.m.
Wander the wondrous aisles of Ax-Man Surplus
On’s shares its block with one of St. Paul’s most iconic retailers: Ax-Man Surplus, a clearinghouse for curiosities that could be used in a scrappy indie film, psychedelic art project, or questionable science experiment. We’re talking dirt-cheap reflectors, switches, magnets, cords, hooks, containers, beakers, signs, corks, motors, and maybe a functioning iron lung and several other medical or industrial oddities.
Dig through the detritus long enough, and you’ll quickly realize that this isn’t where failed products and forgotten machinery go to die. For more than six decades now, it’s where they find a new life and become the epitome of repurposed humanity — a fitting detour for a mural-centric itinerary, really.
Ax-Man Surplus
Address: 1639 University Ave W, St Paul, MN 55104
Hours: Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday.
Good to Know: If you can’t get enough of its eccentricities, Ax-Man also has locations in Fridley and St. Louis Park.
1:15 p.m.
Snap a selfie in front of the world’s largest loon
Speaking of the street art we’re here to herald, here’s one last stop before sparking another round of urban exploration: “The Calling,” a skeletal Andy Scott sculpture that stands 32.5 feet tall and 89 feet wide in front of Allianz Field.
A toast to Minnesota’s haunting state bird and its MLS squad’s loony mascot, it’s one of those must-be-seen-to-believe monuments. More than just a big ol’ bird, it’s a feat of engineering — 5,000 individually welded stainless-steel feathers that welcome fans to the burgeoning neighborhood Minnesota United owner Bill McGuire is building with millions of his own investment dollars.
While it’s mostly a site for soccer games right now, construction is well underway on United Village’s boutique hotel, diner, pizza joint and office space. Definitely a corner to keep one’s eye on in the months and years ahead!
Allianz Field
Address: 400 Snelling Ave N, St Paul, MN 55104
Good to Know: Minnesota United FC’s schedule runs through November, which means that, yes, they sometimes play in the snow, leading many fans to literally shout “he’s just cold!” when opposing teams complain about fouls.
1:30 p.m.
Complete your crawl
Now that you’ve had a chance to eat, shop and hydrate, it’s time for the main event: a sweeping east-to-west survey of any essential businesses and murals you may have missed in the morning.
Start near Hampden Avenue and the Vandalia Tower complex, which boasts such beloved local ventures as Lake Monster Brewing, Hackwith Design House, the Scandi-inspired SK Coffee, and menswear mecca BlackBlue. It’s near such transformative stunners as Cadex Herrera’s “Pitzik’ Q’ij: Courts of the Sun”, a widescreen celebration of Maya culture; Biafra Inc.’s comic book-caliber “Crisis”; and “Celestial Embodiment: X,” a larger-than-life piece by Northern Arapaho and Kickapoo artist Missy Whiteman.
Smaller in scope but more suitable for everyday collectors are the many different styles and mediums Khanh Tran features throughout Dow Art Gallery on University Ave. The custom framer/curator packs more than 3,600 square feet of original work into St. Paul’s largest private space for paintings, sculpture and photography. Its latest exhibition, “A Prairie Stroll,” opens on Sept. 12 and promises an “immersive multimedia installation featuring dozens of hand-dyed panels of silk, linen, muslin, organza, and cotton gauze.... Visitors’ physical presence causes the panels to undulate, simulating the experience of walking through a tall grass prairie.”
Before leaving the east side, be sure to check out work by former Minnesotan Ewok (now based in Orange County, he is an internationally recognized graffiti artist whose work has shown up in Seoul, Tokyo, Dubai and Taiwan); local printmaker and Burlesque of North America co-founder Wes Winship; and WUNDR & Ryoe, who teamed up on a takeover of the Creative Enterprise Zone’s main office building.
The rest of your route should take you west and north towards the Wycliff complex — a space for local innovators within St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood — and the day’s last stop, Bang Brewing. Be sure to stop and stare at a significant mural by hip-hop heavyweight Cey Adams. The founding creative director of Def Jam used to roll in the same circles as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, which explains why Chroma Zone made “Love” its first official commission.
Other can’t-miss photo ops include Rock “Cyfi” Martinez’s “Spirit of Misi-zibi,”, Chuck U’s “Maritime Law,” Mariela Ajras’ massive “Motherhood and Migration,” and Max Sansing’s “The Magic Hour,” a vivid menagerie of flowers, saturated colors, and both realistic and abstract forms.
5 p.m.
Toast a day of photo taking at Bang Brewing
The Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota are so chock-full of craft breweries that it can be easy to overlook a smaller operation like the labor-of-love that Sandy and Jay Boss Febbo launched in 2013. In a move that was practical, symbolic and striking, the dynamic husband-and-wife duo built their organic brewery around a custom-built corrugated grain bin and a sustainable property of native prairie plantings, rain gardens and wind power.
Waste is also reduced by giving spent grain to a local farmer and packaging Bang’s small-batch beer in reusable glass bottles that help retain its natural carbonation and highlight its fresh, unfiltered character. Kernza — a perennial grain developed by the University of Minnesota and supported by the major outdoor brand Patagonia — is a cornerstone of their rotating ales, lagers, pilsners and IPAs, too, making Bang one of the state’s most progressive (and tasty!) breweries.
That mission carries over to Farina Rossa’s kitchen, which churns out chewy, wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas every night Bang is open. Look out for signatures like the Kirby (house-made sausage, marinara, pepperoni, basil, hot honey, jalapeño, parmesan, and a sublime cheese blend), farmers’ market reflections like Mushroom and Asparagus, and the minimalist tomato-and-cheese masterwork that is the Capreza.
If you’d like to down a non-alcoholic drink alongside your pizza, Bang shakes things up with sparkling water and Misfit Coffee Co. mixers that bring out the brash flavors typically found in a well-made shandy, michelada, or margarita. Not a bad way to wind down after walking through one of the Midwest’s most ambitious public art projects!
Herbst Eatery & Farm Stand is also in the area if you’d rather tease your appetite at Bang and settle into a long sit-down meal afterward. It’s seasonal, locally sourced eating that actually lives up to that long-overused tag. Chef Ben Moenster’s peak-of-summer plates have included a tomato tartine with whipped ricotta, mint pesto, chermoula, and Peruvian-style huacatay; Wild Acres duck breast with radishes, red wine jus, and a nettle and spinach purée; and a French curry made featuring grilled snap peas, hickory nuts, pea tendrils, and Shepherd’s Hope cheese.
And for dessert? How about a sponge cake starring lemon thyme mousse, blueberries, and buttermilk ice cream? Sign. Us. Up.
Bang Brewing
Address: 2320 Capp Rd, St Paul, MN 55114
Hours: Open 4-9 p.m. Wednesday; 3-9 p.m. Thursday; 3-10 p.m. Friday; 1-10 p.m. Saturday; and 2-9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Good to Know: If you’d like to do a quick craft-beer crawl, Urban Growler — Minnesota’s first women-owned microbrewery — is right next door to Bang, and the IPA icons over at BlackStack Brewing are just a five-minute drive away.
Excellent article! So much work went into this ❤️
Fabulous write-up on a much maligned University Ave. I'm a former Frogtowner who remembers the days of Tiger Jack and his shack off of 94. It's so great to see all the good things happening.