The Pet Sounds Recording Studio (sometimes called Pet Sounds Studio or Pet Sounds, after the Beach Boys' album of the same name) was a recording studio orginally located Denver, Colorado. Founded by Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo and Jim McIntyre of Von Hemmling, several Elephant 6 albums were recorded in the studio, including the critically acclaimed Neutral Milk Hotel album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and several The Apples in Stereo albums.

Pet Sounds Studio is sometimes referred to as The Elephant 6 Recording Company in the liner notes of albums from bands within the Elephant 6 collective (a group of like-minded musicians creating independent music). Several of the musicians are also involved with the Orange Twin Records label.

The house that the studio was located in was demolished in 1999.

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Located across the street from the Walker Art Center, the 11-acre Minneapolis Sculpture Garden was opened in 1988 in cooperation with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. The sculptures are laid out in a grid system, with wide walking paths and landscaping intended to encapsulate and display the individuals works.

The most prominent piece is the Spoonbridge and Cherry, created by Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen from 1985-1988. This work has become iconically associated with Minneapolis. There are numerous artists represented here, including works by Alexander Calder (Octopus, 1964, The Spinner, 1966) and Frank Gehry (Standing Glass Fish, 1986).

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The Walker Art Center is considered one of the top modern art museums in the nation. Originally founded by local lumberman Thomas Walker at the current location in 1927, it was the first public art gallery in the Upper Midwest.

The current Walker building was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1971. Barnes studied in the Bahaus minimalist-style of high modernism. The building's unexciting exterior is outweighed by the interior functionality of several art galleries spiraling around a central core.

The new addition to the Walker was done in 2006 by the Swiss team of Herzog and de Meuron. The boxy, irregularly-shaped structure is coated with embossed aluminum mesh panels. The exterior skin and general shape of the addition evokes an image of an enormous robot head preparing to devour Hennepin Ave.

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Completed in 2006, the downtown branch of the Minneapolis Public Library is part of the collection of modern architecture superstars in Minneapolis. Designed by César Pelli and the Architectural Alliance of Minneapolis, the library boasts an abundance of natural daylight, a 5-story tall atrium as you enter, a rooftop garden, and a protuberance that I can only assume is intended to elicit thoughts of suicide or flight.

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The Guthrie Theater, completed in 2006, is the first completed American work of French architect Jean Nouvel. Large, dark, and ominously industrial, the Guthrie Theater is the preeminent destination for modern theatre in Minneapolis.

With a cobalt-blue steel exterior that rises against the Mississippi River skyline, the Guthrie features a large cantilevered walkway (nicknamed "the endless bridge") that projects out towards the river.

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