Union Depot — Attraction in Saint Paul

Attended a wedding here recently. Was a cool venue but had some oddities. It is actively used as an Amtrak stop, so you have transients and homeless people hanging around your venue. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but it does make for an an interesting juxtaposition and reminds you of movies depicting de jure segregation of ancient history: people at the party get to use a certain bathroom, while passersby must use the one downstairs. It is also a security issue, because your guests are bound to have interactions with them at some point. Again, nothing patently wrong with this, but necessarily presents a heightened risk of something going awry. Security has a pretty big presence, and mostly enforces the separate-but-equal bathrooms, but nonetheless, you still might share the space with drug addicts (I did). It would probably be better if the space was more removed from the train stop, but it's not, so you have this juxtaposition.

Another odd thing is the artwork. At some point in (recent) time, they commissioned someone to paint a bunch of murals for the space. The artwork is hilariously akin to communist propaganda artwork of the Cold War era from the USSR and stuff you might see in the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea". I'm sure it's supposed to be something stupid like "Minnesota's transportation history", but it was hard to get past the communist stylization, which really has no part in Minnesota's history.

Finally, the acoustics are terrible. They should really install some sort of acoustic panels in the space in a way that wouldn't detract from the natural beauty of the building. It is really a beautiful space--great views of the river, the train tracks, downtown, and the bridge to Harriet island. But the space just gets too loud and echo-y, and for that reason you can't really hear anything being said over a microphone, or even from your neighbor nearby at the table because all of the sound is drowned out. I couldn't imagine how terrible it'd be if you were hard of hearing or relied on...

I didn’t know the depot had a museum located on the 2nd floor. It was nice to see all the beautiful history in this building it was great to see what kind of growth in it and around the area. Many things for your convenience located inside the station a restaurant, store, free library and shoe shine. The weekend has the farmers market just a block away with a great selection. Very great staff helping my daughter on her first train ride. Train was on time. The staff said they work hard to make sure the flow goes well. They are great directing people to the section they need to go. I also was pleased to see how they also use the location for local community activities. This weekend they were having an art fair, many vendors filled the area. For the most part I think this looks a little like it is still frozen in time. The restoration that was done looks great. One sad thing…The parking was disappointing even on the weekend the parking below always says full and are not available because they have now rented out to people for monthly spots. There was a vendor for the fair that had to go two blocks with her inventory because the parking for the visitors of the depot is not available. She still had to pay the $4 even though she wasn’t there 5 minutes to be able to turn around. I have handicap tags he almost didn’t let me go in either. He would not even look at my disabled plates without me insisting to look. I have plates but because my daughter was traveling she had her tag with us. Then when he did let us in he gave me attitude and followed us to make sure we parked in the ADA approved spots. My vendor friend was not able to park there even thought we saw 20 + open spots. Those are not left available for people using the union depot, that is very disappointing. I would have given a 5 star except the parking issue and that staff working it had a poor attitude. Once we were in the building everyone was...

A beautiful building. It reminds you of z time long ago and it a great place to visit, however my second visit was unplanned as I returned from vacation with my backpack and rolling suitcase and my planned ride fell through, so I had to wait 2 hours for my son to get off of work to pick me up. I ended up dosing off and was awakened by a very large, rude security guard asking me if I was waiting for a train or bus. I replied that "no, I was not." And that's when his demeanor changed. He told me that it was against the Union Depots "code of conduct" to fall asleep and that if he saw me sleeping again, I would be forced to leave and unable to come back. It took a few moments for me to figure out that he thought I was homeless. I wasn't about to explain to him that I was not homeless and that I was waiting for a ride. I am certain that is why he treated me so rudely because shortly after I had arrived another security guard had asked a man who had dozed off the same question. The man's answer was "yes" and he presented his bus ticket to the security guard and guess what?????? That man did not get the "code of conduct " lecture and he dozed off again right after the guard walked away and was able to doze without another interruption. Absolutely disgusting. Not all homeless people are alcoholics and drug addicts, problem causers and all the rest. Rules are rules, and should apply equally to EVERYBODY. A note to the large security guard- How would you like to be be called "a fat lazy pig" because you weigh so much? Not all large people are lazy or pigs. That rule applies to the homeless as well. You should be ashamed of yourself for YOUR disrespectful,discriminating behavior. Shame on...