Step inside the city where Prince's legacy still pulses

In that second, had you pinched me - heck, even given me a titty twister - I still may not have believed what was happening. "Who wants to play?" Jeff asked. He was our guide on this hot Sunday morning. Everyone looked down, avoiding eye contact. "I will," I said, then caught the attention of a woman wearing a T-shirt depicting The Kid. "Come on, have a go."

We picked up paddles and started playing ping-pong. Not particularly well, but here's the thing: we were playing on Prince's table. In Studio B. At Paisley Park. For this Gen X music lover, it was a dream come to life.

Next April marks a decade since the superstar died at the age of 57 of an accidental fentanyl overdose in his home's lift. Less than six months later, Paisley Park opened as a museum and place of celebration.

Now, fans - from the mildly curious to the rabid - pay to stroll the ground floor, where he lived, worked and partied for nearly three decades. Among locals - Paisley Park is in Chanhassen, half an hour from Minneapolis - stories of his gatherings are still traded.

"People would see the purple light outside or get a call from a friend of a friend of a dancer and they'd open the doors at midnight for about 120 people," Jeff says. "He might play or there'd be a DJ." Despite living in Minneapolis, Jeff never went. "It was always late, and I had work." He shrugs.

"One night, though, after the Minnesota Lynx won the WNBA championship, Prince invited them all over," Jeff continues. "It went all night [and] his private chef cooked pancakes." This party, like all of them, ended the same way: with Finding Nemo on the big screen. It was Prince's favourite movie, and the cue to leave.

As in his lifetime, phones aren't allowed at Paisley Park. They're locked away as you walk the hallways, rooms and studios, where guitars, costumes, art, motorcycles, awards and his writings are displayed. At the end in the NPG Music Club, where he and his band played - and where Lynx players once had a dance-off - phones are released.

Prince was born in Minneapolis, lived there most of his life, and his presence is still felt everywhere. At a gig at 7th Street Entry, adjacent to First Avenue - the historical theatre that was his main hometown venue and featured in Purple Rain - Dylan Chenfeld of Rebounder told the crowd he likes playing songs connected to each city. Then he launched into a lo-fi When You Were Mine, much to the crowd's delight.

Outside, among the silver stars painted on the wall, Prince's is gold. On the next block, a 30-metre mural by Hiero Veiga, the artist chosen by Prince's estate, dominates the skyline.

Historian Kristen Zschomler has worked to have two Prince-related sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places and, with journalist Sarah Lee, developed SoundAround, an app with in-depth Prince tours.

We drive to the city's north side, where Prince lived as a child. On a leafy street, Kristen points out two houses. "That's where Andre Cymone lived - Prince's best friend and bass player." Terry Jackson lived in the other house. Together, the three of them formed Prince's first band, Grand Central.

Andre's mother Bernadette Anderson became a huge influence. Eventually, Prince, who'd been bouncing between relatives, moved in with her family. "She welcomed him and said, 'Go for your music. Just do your homework and behave,'" Kristen says. "She really nurtured Prince."

Soon we're outside the Capri Theatre, where he played his first show after signing with Warner Bros in 1979. "Execs flew in and said, 'You're not quite ready for prime time,'" Kristen says. "He was frustrated, but went back to the studio and made his second album, Prince." On it was his first hit, I Wanna Be Your Lover.

No Prince tour is complete without a stop at the Purple Rain house. "Prince bought it in 2015, a year before he died," Kristen explains. "A lot of people were like, 'Huh, for the guy who says he doesn't look to the past, that's kind of interesting.'

"Prince was never really here. Yeah, he drove his motorcycle outside it. But when I take people on tours, this is the place that often gets them. We associate that imagery from the movie with him so much."

The house, still owned by his estate, was recently refurbished and briefly offered on Airbnb.

Back in the car, we talk about the Purple Rain musical, debuting in October in Minneapolis. Kristen has a friend on the production. "People ask who's playing Prince, but he says, 'We're not casting Prince; we're casting The Kid.'"

The writer was a guest of Meet Minneapolis and Cathay Pacific