Rough Hewn

Are you over flip-flops, baseball caps, and gauzy summer skirts? Well, it’s high time you left your 50th & France or Grand & Victoria turf. That was our realization, after we got an eyeful of downtown Minneapolis nightlife recently. There, we found bold bicep tattoos, curvy chrome two-wheelers both motorized and human-powered, and heads wearing the most daring of chapeaux! But what is the requisite tough-on-the-town fashion statement? No, it’s not the gang-inspired “I’m down with the Midwest!” sign, as flashed by the blond bicyclist cutie here. It’s sunglasses. After all, as Petula said of downtown, “The lights are much brighter there.”