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    Open Book

    4.7 (49 reviews)
    Open 9:00 am - 9:00 pm

    Services - Open Book

    Post-event cleaning services

    Venue rental

    Open Book Photos

    OPEN BOOK ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Outdoor seating
    Dogs allowed
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - Open Book

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    Reviews With Photos

    Cyann L.

    I love how this building has so many things to it. Not only is it a gallery, but a local book store and coffee shop. I adore the artwork that was displayed and how they use two air purifiers. Customer service was great and parking was no problem. It is street parking so do have the app ready

    Unique art work displayed at Open Book

    This uniques establishment has an awesome coffee bar, gift shop, art gallery, and paper making library. You will be amazing by the creativity this place showcases.

    Cole Asong Nfonoyim-Hara
    Michele B.

    I enjoyed a triple author reading on a Friday night. They have a parking lot right next to the building which was a delight for this suburbanite in the city! An open spaces coffee shop is on the right as you enter the main doors and a book store is on your left. After asking the security guard where to go I saw the sign for the Open Book readings at the bottom of the cool curved staircase. Upstairs had a cozy area with some chairs and couches for reading. For the event they had tables set up to sell books by the author's from Maher's & Quinn booksellers ( a wonderful bookstore!), for snacks I found out later, and the ticket table. Purchasing my ticket online beforehand made it quick and easy to check in. There was ample seating and a good turnout! I was actually glad I showed up about 10 minutes late because I initially felt like I was crashing a private meeting. The announcer was listing off names of people in the audience. I gathered it was for the writing workshops they do at the Loft Literary Center which is a part of the Open Book. I really enjoyed each author's reading of their own works. They were all so talented! Vulnerable and yet strong in telling their personal stories in their prose! I would definitely attend another one! I was a bit uncomfortable during the Q&A, yet briefly considered beginning a writing career of my own. I almost asked how one procures a mentor through their mentor workshops anyway! I decided to just turn a notebook into a journal when I got home and see how I often I would write first. My Yelp reviews and Facebook posts might get more interesting...Or entertaining! Afterwards I made a mad dash for the lobby to purchase the short story collection that had drawn me here in the first place. I was taken aback with the fancy sammies, wine, and water offered. I again felt like I was crashing someone's graduation party or something! I think because it seems to be such a close knit, supportive community of artistic writers I felt a bit out of place. But I would definitely venture into this fascinating world again for another peek!

    Manu P.

    A quirky establishment for sure! A great range of drinks with a lot of cool and unique options. Food and drink options were very reasonably priced in comparison to a lot of MSP coffee places, and no sacrifice of quality or quantity was made. The seating fills up super quickly so watch out for that. Pictured below is their vegetarian (can be made vegan) reuben. In place of the meat, they used tofu. The sandwich was like $7-8 and came with a side of chips. I've never had a reuben (i don't eat pork or beef) but it tasted just fine.

    Amir S.

    The in-between is always better than one or the other. The first floor common area at Open Book is an ideal in-between place for people who want to study and work outside library or workplace: it's neither a full-blown coffee shop nor (although all about books) a library study place. Have you ever dreamed of a coffee shop with low noise levels and absolutely no music playing? Have you ever dreamed of a library study place that's more relaxed than a real library? A place that doesn't remind you of all your sleepless exam nights? Open Book is the realization of your dreams! It's quite but not solitary confinement deep quite. It's well-lit, has large windows and high ceiling. Parking is free. Coffee is good. Displays and artwork are nice to watch when you want to take a break. The Minnesota Center for Book Arts shop is fun to explore and the Internet speed is acceptable. What's your excuse now to not get your work done, Amir?

    Annie W.

    I've heard a lot of great stuff about Open Book/MCBA for awhile but I was never motivated to check it out until recently. I found out that my future faculty advisor at MCAD was having his work shown there in conjunction to some other graphic design specific events and since nothing beats starting a fresh new school as the over enthused bordering on stalker student I decided to check it out. One star for parking and a bazillion more stars for how fantastic the space is. There's a great coffee shop inside and a cute book store where you can find awesome handmade books, prints (awesome ones from Aesthetic Apparatus), and book making material. There seems to be a lot going on, definitely more than meets the eye. I think you can even rent out studio space, I'm not sure. This is the kind of place I can imagine myself holing up in during the winter cold, sucking up their wifi bandwith, and drinking endless amounts of hot coffee.

    Sarah J.

    Open Book is home to the Loft Literary Center, which hosts literature readings, educational series for readers and writers, and sponsors the McKnight Prize for Writers. Also in the mixed-use center is the cooperative Rosalux art gallery, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (very cool! you can take book-making classes and they often have exhibits up), a non-profit publisher, Milkweed Editions, and the Coffee Gallery. The space is BEAUTIFUL. High ceilings, wide plank floors, a really cool spiral staircase. You can rent the "Book Club" room for meetings - it has a deck! There's also several other classrooms and meeting rooms, for public lectures and meetings, and a performance hall for book and poetry readings. The little coffee shop is an excellent place to work, read, write, or socialize. You can look out onto Washington through the huge windows. Delicious sweets like Special K bars. Soup, sandwiches, coffee. Open Book should be on your radar if you have any literary inclination. And the space is a must-visit for folks wandering along Washington, or looking for a place to sit down in the Mill District.

    Poverty gumball machine
    Jenna P.

    Very cool place to be. I enjoyed looking around at everything. I also tried the poetry gum ball machine. Which is a gum ball machine filled with poems. I loved how welcoming and warm the energy was in the store. It felt very personable there. Definitely found my happy place.

    the view from the deck :-)

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    Ask the Community - Open Book

    Review Highlights - Open Book

    I don't remember the specific hours, but try to go when the Minnesota Center for Book Arts shop is open.

    Mentioned in 5 reviews

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    The Trailhead - The main hall area.

    The Trailhead

    4.7(7 reviews)
    3.7 mi

    What a fantastic community space and outdoor recreation center! Totally makes winter in Minnesota…read moreeven better. I'm new to discovering The Trailhead at Theodore Wirth Regional Park, but believe me when I say I'll be back many more time. In the winter, they offer cross-country skiing and lessons. (You can rent a full set of gear for about $30- no need to have your own to experience skiing! They also have à la carte options for cheaper if you only need poles or boots, etc.) Besides skiing, outdoor winter activities also include snow tubing, snowboarding, snowshoeing.... You name it. (I haven't been in fall or summer yet, but I also hear great things about their mountain biking and trail running options.) Inside The Trailhead, there's food and drink concessions, ample seating, lockers, bathrooms, and even rooms for rent. The last time I was there, a family was hosting a young child's birthday party in the multi-purpose room. Altogether, there is an amazing assortment of services here to come and check out. Can't wait for next ski season!

    We have made a tradition of coming here the day after Thanksgiving. I am from out of town, visiting…read morefamily and friends. The building is a perfect space for bringing a large group together for games, chatting, eating, and sledding on the snowy hills just outside the doors. They used to serve hot food, but they no longer have that option. The food was not consistent or anything all that special, but it was a nice option. This time we brought Thanksgiving leftovers and some breakfast bagel sandwiches. The space is well maintained and clean. It is spacious and has lots of room for young kids to run around and not be a disturbance. Always look forward to coming here.

    Photos
    The Trailhead
    The Trailhead - Little lounge area near entry way to sip your hot beverage or fuel up.

    Little lounge area near entry way to sip your hot beverage or fuel up.

    The Trailhead

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    Nord Room - The tastefully-decorated private event space called the Nord Room is great for small weddings and receptions!

    Nord Room

    4.4(7 reviews)
    2.2 miUptown

    We hosted our cocktail style Wedding Reception here in June and felt it was woefully mismanaged…read morefrom start to finish. We booked all three rooms back in Fall of '23 and paid our deposit and were excited to get planning come May this year. We got to a month before the event and hadn't heard anything from the Event Coordinator regarding current menu, bar, timing, anything. Three weeks prior to the event we reached out and heard nothing for a week. Two weeks out we followed up and found out the Event Coordinator had changed from the one we booked with and the new one was out for an indeterminate period of time with a family emergency. We worked as best we could with the Event Captain but ended up with incorrect menus and pricing and were finally told the Event Coordinator would be back the Monday of our event week and it would be handled then. We got finalized menus and pricing 36 hours before our event. This was extremely stressful, however, we empathized with the Event Coordinator and were assured the event itself would be great. On the day, we arrived and the staff setting up was unsure how many chairs we wanted. They didn't know which equipment we had paid for to use that needed to be set up. They didn't know what the event was for. They were all very nice and let us know they had extremely limited information about our event which was very concerning for us. The Event Coordinator was present for about 5 mins to ask us about a backup wine if ours ran out and that was it (it did run out because there was only one bottle). There was no Event Captain, and the Coordinator was not on hand and (according to staff) unreachable during the event. We had agreed upon several things including a finite amount to pay for "open bar" and then switching to card after that point and we found out only AFTER we met our minimum that they were never told/weren't prepared to take cards. At that point, our options were no drinks (N/A or otherwise) for the last 3 hours or so of our event or we could just keep paying. So we ended up paying much more than was quoted/agreed upon due to lack of communication/oversight. We were told that guests could visit the attached Blue Stem bar, but it closed two hours before our event ended. We also had guests with dietary preferences/restrictions and had ordered vegan options and gluten free cake. We had asked if these could be explicitly labeled to avoid confusion and were told "yes" and on the day it did not happen so many of our guests were unaware there was anything they could eat at our reception. We were also told we could take our leftovers home and we only got cake when there was a lot of food left when they took it away. The sternos were out for some period of time and we couldn't find someone to help with that. The bar was left unattended. The bartenders were serving and refilling alcohol table to table (which we did not want or ask for), and did not pass appetizers as agreed upon. We reached out to the owner, twice, following our event to discuss our concerns to no avail. We LOVE French Meadow and are just heartbroken to have had this experience with them. Posting this (very lengthy) review in hopes no one else goes through this expensive disappointment.

    We were married and hosted a reception for twenty two guests in the Nord Room/French Meadow Bakery…read more& Cafe. It was so fabulous and we cannot say enough positive things about our experience! All of French Meadow's staff were so lovely to work with. Briana and the entire catering group were so helpful from Day 1. As most wedding couples do, we had a lot of questions about logistics and planning. They answered every one of our questions in a timely manner and were thorough in coordinating all of the details of our special day. The day of our wedding, everyone there was immensely helpful and went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. We truly owe them the world for making our wedding day so special! The room is perfect. We added floral centerpieces, but the room itself was setup exactly how we wanted, the chairs outside were moved once for our ceremony and then again for our first dance. The lighting both inside and out was more than we could have imagined. We were able to play our own music (a friend just had to manage the playlist), which was super easy! The FOOD, OH MY GOSH THE FOOD! So superb, we got so many compliments from our friends and family about how wonderful the food was. We got to choose 4 food options for our guests and only heard wonderful things about each entree. The cake was also super wonderful and delicious. We would recommend the Nord Room to anyone looking for an intimate wedding location. It was such an easy day (seriously, nothing went wrong!) and we couldn't have asked for a better staff or location. We had a beautiful day and we owe much of that to the wonderful folks at French Meadow!

    Photos
    Nord Room - Enjoying delicious French Meadow Bakery wedding cake in the Nord Room

    Enjoying delicious French Meadow Bakery wedding cake in the Nord Room

    Nord Room
    Nord Room

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    The Van Dusen Mansion - AVEX Production

    The Van Dusen Mansion

    4.6(17 reviews)
    1.5 mi

    The Van Dusen was the perfect venue for our wedding. We loved that we could enjoy all the different…read morespaces throughout the day - the getting ready rooms upstairs, the basement, the top-floor kitchen. And our guests loved the progressive style event, enjoying the ballroom, courtyard, mansion ground floor (with live piano!), and carriage house throughout the evening as the story of the day unfolded. We planned our wedding remotely and appreciated that the Van Dusen stands on its own. Unlike many venues, we barely even had to think about additional decorations. The natural elegance of the venue was enough to set the mood and the tone. Bellagala was a professional organization to work with and Monica, the venue lead, was an excellent communicator before, during, and after. All staff we worked with were helpful, positive, and pleasant. Guests especially loved the Carriage House for the live band (5 members, Bluewater Kings Band). The dance floor felt perfectly packed all the time because of its size for our 120-person wedding. The open second floor gave people enough distance while still making people feel part of the action. Booking our venue was our first major step in wedding planning. We couldn't have been happier with our choice of the Van Dusen!

    Fascinating tour and the grounds are exquisite. In particular, they have the greatest fig tree in…read moreexistence...a tree the Swiss Family Robinson would envy.

    Photos
    The Van Dusen Mansion
    The Van Dusen Mansion
    The Van Dusen Mansion

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    Open Book - venues - Updated May 2026

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