| Official Name: | Dinkytown |
| Other Name: | Dinkytown, USA |
| Settlement Type: | Commercial District |
| Coordinates: | 44.9808°N -93.2361°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Minnesota |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Hennepin |
| Subdivision Type3: | City |
| Subdivision Name3: | Minneapolis |
| Subdivision Type4: | Neighborhood |
| Subdivision Name4: | Marcy-Holmes |
| Established Title: | Branded |
| Established Date: | 1940s |
| Founder: | Unknown |
| Named For: | Grodnik or Dinkys |
| Seat Type: | City Council Ward |
| Seat: | 2 |
| Leader Title: | Councilmember |
| Leader Name: | Robin Wonsley |
| Elevation M: | 253 |
| Elevation Ft: | 830 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] [2] |
| Population As Of: | 2012 |
| Timezone: | CST |
| Utc Offset: | -6 |
| Timezone Dst: | CDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -5 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Area Code: | 612 |
Dinkytown is a commercial district within the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Centered at 14th Avenue Southeast and 4th Street Southeast, the district contains several city blocks occupied by various small businesses, restaurants, bars, and apartment buildings that house mostly University of Minnesota students. Dinkytown is along the North side of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities East Bank campus.[3]
Notable landmarks include the Dinkydome (a former theological seminary converted to a food court, which sometime later was converted into loft space), the Loring Pasta Bar (formerly Gray's Campus Drug and also the building where Bob Dylan lived in Minneapolis), Al's Breakfast (arguably the city's smallest restaurant), and the Varsity Theater. It's also the location of the second store opened by Richard M. Schulze called "Sound of Music", which later became Best Buy and is now closed.[4]
The former Marshall-University High School on the corner of 14th Avenue and 5th Street was closed in 1982 due to changing city population demographics and was purchased and converted into the University Technology Enterprise Center (UTEC) for startups.[5] The building was razed in 2013, and today the location is home to The Marshall, an apartment building for University students. The Chateau co-op built their brutalist-style 22-story apartment in 1973 at 13th Avenue Southeast and 5th Street Southeast.[6]
The City of Minneapolis' Heritage Preservation designated a portion of the area as the Dinkytown Commercial Historic District in 2015, due to its significance in the history of streetcar development.[7] The historic district covers an area roughly two blocks around, surrounding the intersection of 14th Avenue Southeast and 4th Street Southeast.[8]
The name Dinkytown is of uncertain origin, although it was in definite use by 1948, when the Dinkytown Business Association formed.Stories regarding the origin of the name include