James Lileks

Home
Bios

James Lileks

Columnist | Metro

Phone: 612-673-7858

James Lileks writes a metro column and is an anchor/producer for NewsBreak, the webcast on startribune.com. He also blogs under The Blog O'Things.
Follow @lileks

Lileks: Tradition has it that Minnesota loves a winner, even a stadium

Of course we have a stadium. This was never in doubt. I don't believe it'll take until 2016 to build it; I think it's been sitting in a warehouse somewhere since 2010, and once the Dome's been blown to rubble, the foreman will say, "OK, boys, get 'er on the truck," and voila.

Updated: May 11, 2012, - 12:06 AM

When post office delivers Sunday ...

Today's the day the post office delivers empty medicine bottles to 37,000 households in the metro area. Yes, today: Sunday delivery for the first time since 1912, and you're getting nothing.

Updated: May 05, 2012, - 06:56 PM

Lileks: Nobody steals Nice bikes in the land o'Nice

Next time you have a cynical friend from a Big City come to town, take him to a Nice Ride station. Explain how people can take a bike and drive it around for as long as they want.

Updated: May 03, 2012, - 05:55 PM

Finding a niche in the niche brewery world

If you'd told people 100 years ago that local beer was coming back, they'd wonder what you meant. Isn't it all local?

Updated: April 28, 2012, - 09:33 PM

Lileks: From soil to fridge, state has us covered

Lester dirt is now the official state soil, according to our new Omnibus Agriculture Bill. I've actually read it. The deft prose, the lyrical turn of phrase -- why, it's almost like a Broadway show tune lyric. Let's all sing along:

Updated: April 28, 2012, - 04:07 PM

Lileks: 'Spoonbridge' defacers and other crimes against art

Two ways to describe the situation:

Updated: April 26, 2012, - 11:06 PM

Lileks: No shiny dome, OK. But NoDak has oil

It's hard to concentrate on building a replacement for the Metrodome when the Capitol Dome is bouncing chunks off your desk. So the Legislature took up the question of funding repairs.

Updated: April 21, 2012, - 07:11 PM

Lileks: Mating mysteries are unveiled at U

Thanks to vital scientific research at the University of Minnesota, we know now that dieting females may, in some cases, prefer food to sex. They also tend to stuff food in their cheeks until they bulge out and bury it under the fluff for later.

Updated: April 19, 2012, - 07:52 PM

Lileks: Suggestions to help reclaim Best Buyers

Best Buy has appeared alongside the word "troubled" in recent stories, as if the company were sitting in a dark bar looking pensive, playing country-western songs on the jukebox. It is a tough business: Competition from the Internet has hammered brick-and-mortar stores -- even the ones that sell brick and mortar. Amazon gives free shipping with a 40-ton order.

Updated: April 14, 2012, - 04:18 PM

Lileks: Another voice for preserving our past - the good and bad

As a rule, I'd rather preserve than destroy, especially since Minneapolis has leveled so much of its history that it's a miracle the Foshay wasn't knocked down and replaced with a four-story indoor shopping mall. But it'll generate more taxes! And maybe have a Chili's! Right.

Updated: April 12, 2012, - 08:03 PM