Tomorrow, our own downtown ice skating rink will be opening for the season. Brenton Skating Plaza is located officially at 520 Robert D. Ray Drive along the Principal Riverwalk.

For more information, visit http://www.brentonplaza.com. Below are some more awesome pictures of Brenton Skating Plaza from RDG, the company that was in charge of designing the skating rink.

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closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Google has just added image archives from LIFE Magazine, the storied American photo journal, to its image search. Google Images has launched a special page for the collection, allowing you to browse photos by specific topic like Marilyn Monroe or Winter Olympics, or places like Des Moines. You can also now append “source:life” to any Google Images search to see photos from the magazine.

Most of the photos actually didn’t appear in LIFE, but rather, were gathered from “dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints.”

According to Google, there are roughly 10 million photos in total, about 2 million of which have been put online so far. Time Inc, which owns the rights to the LIFE Magazine content, also plans to launch Life.com next year.

Here’s the link to go straight to the Des Moines archive: http://images.google.com/images?q=des+moines&q=source%3Alife.

The photo that appears here is from the TIME Magazine cover for August 28th, 1995 on the 20th Century Blues. Detail of painting “Automat” (1927) by Edward Hopper; from the Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collection.

Here are a few other pictures from that collection that I liked.

closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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The Plaza

300 Walnut Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Neighborhood: Downtown Core

Pricing: $99,500+

Units in Project: 192
Floors in Building: 25

Property Features:
• Built in 1984/1985
• Association dues are based on square footage
• 24-hour gym
• On-site tennis and basketball courts
• On-site sauna, jacuzzi, and tanning 
• Heated roof-top pool
• Community party-room
• Underground parking

The Plaza was one of the first downtown condo offerings and offers the ultimate urban lifestyle conveniently located in the heart of downtown with premier skywalk access. Balconies on most units offer supreme city skyline views, Nollen Plaza Park and its beautiful mature trees, the river, Wells Fargo Arena & much more. The Plaza offers a convenient living style with all the amenities.

The reason this property is being featured right now, is because so far this year, it’s been one of the most sought after downtown condo buildings, just look at the sales results below.

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closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Nathan Wright of Lava Row from Ignite Des Moines shares 20 Things Des Moines Needs Right Now, from a better airport to graffiti artists to a bike garage.

closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(3 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

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As much as I hate the cold weather, and yesterday morning it was very cold and windy, I stood outside of City Hall with about a hundred other residents of Des Moines to join hundreds of cities across the country in a protest rally against the passage of Proposition 8 in California which took away the civil right of marriage in California. I’m still confused on how a majority is ever allowed to vote for a minorities rights, or why the idea of two people in loving committed relationship that want the same 1,138 rights afforded to straight-married couples is such a divisive issue. No one is asking for any church-recognized marriage, just the same civil-marriage that is required by law to be recognized as a marriage.

At least here in Des Moines, and in Iowa we may have a chance to show that we are still a progressive state on civil rights issues. On Dec. 9, the Iowa Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in Varnum vs. Brien, which will determine whether gay marriage is legalized in Iowa.

You may not know it, but Iowa has a long history of being very progressive on civil rights issues. For example:

• Iowa public schools were desegregated a century before 1954’s Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka. 
• Iowa was the first to admit a woman to the bar, in 1869 – three years before the Supreme Court ruled that states could deny women the right to practice law. 
• Iowa abolished slavery a generation before the federal 13th Amendment. 
• Iowa had the the first black Miss America contestant. 
• Iowa had the first black athlete’s at it’s major universities. 

 
State Senator Matt McCoy said it best yesterday, “This is the civil rights fight of our time.”

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closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)

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Several readers have pointed out resources to historical Des Moines post cards. I think it’s amazing how pictures can really capture a point in time that generations from now will look back on with amazement.

One site with great vintage post cards is USGenWeb Iowa Archives. Here are a couple of cards from their site that I particularly enjoyed.

Also be sure to visit the other site at WebShots.com there are several albums of great old post cards there.

closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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I grew up in the suburbs of Des Moines, and after too many long drives back to Waukee from a night out, I decided to move downtown. I’ve lived downtown since the fall of 2005, and haven’t regretted it.

While I work clear out on the western side of West Des Moines, I really don’t mind the commute. It’s a reverse commute that takes about 20 minutes.

Living downtown is awesome because there always seems to be things available to do that aren’t too far away from where I live. There are shops, dining, entertainment, and fitness opportunities available within the downtown area. Having these cultural amenities near me was a big selling point when I chose to live here. While living in the suburbs, everything was really spread out, and the houses were practically the same. I never really met the neighbors, and my car was a necessity to do anything outside of the home. Downtown offers interesting architectural elements and plenty of things to look at while going on a walk, jog, bike ride, or even just looking out the window.

Since moving downtown, I have lived in three neighborhoods: Downtown Core, East Village, and Western Gateway. Downtown Core offered me protection from the elements when I used the Skywalk system to travel around to my destinations. Living in the East Village was a blast, and I felt really connected to the city when I lived above locally owned shops and hung out with the shop owners. So far, living in Western Gateway has offered me quick access to Gray’s Lake, the public library, and Western Gateway Park. While each neighborhood has its own unique features and charm, they unite as downtown. Kinda weird but at times, I feel that downtown is a city within a city. Within this city I can find most of what I need on a day-to-day basis, and that’s why I live downtown.

closeAuthor: Kristofor Name: Kristofor Vokes
Email: himself@kristofor.net
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About: Grew up in Clive, Iowa. I now live downtown and commute to work in West Des Moines.See Authors Posts (1)

(4 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)

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As many of you may already know, I’m a gadget geek and I love technology, hence the blog and the job with Wells Fargo Financial technology. One of my favorite gadgets, and one that I never leave home without, is my iPhone. I’m one of “those” that got one day 1 over well over a year ago. I use it for all kind of things in addition to making and receiving phone calls. In since this blog is about Downtown, I wanted to share a few ways that I use my iPhone around downtown as well as talk about some of the exciting things other cities around the country are creating for “location-aware” devices, primarily the iPhone.

To begin with, let me share with you one of the most innovative ideas I’ve seen a city come up with to promote their city and to provide free tools to their residents. The city I’m speaking of is Washington, DC. Their Mayor and the cities’ Chief Technology Officer (I’m not sure if the City of Des Moines even has this position?) developed an innovation contest and gave away up to $20,000 worth of cash prizes to take the cities’ data and build applications that use that data to benefit residents and tourist of the DC area. Wow! What a great way to get creative tools built. Can you image if Des Moines sponsored a contest like this? The Des Moines area is full of creative technology folks and with all the technology jobs here in our area, we would be sure to have some great innovations submitted.

So what has been submitted thus far:

DC Location-Aware Realtime Alerts - iPhone users can download this free app from the App Store to see the location and type of crimes that have been committed near them in near realtime. They can also see the nearest metro station based on their current location, including the next two inbound trains in each direction.

More applications… Read the rest of this entry »

closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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As of today’s lookup, below are the sales that have been registered in downtown condos since the beginning of this year. Once a month I will try to update this list as a new posting as well as update the Real Estate page.

A summary of 2008 downtown condo sales:

• Number of Sales: 46
• Highest Sales Price: $529,000
• Lowest Sales Price: $96,500
• Most Active Month: May
• Most Sales: The Plaza
• Total Dollars Sold Y-T-D: $10,205,080

It appears that 4th & Court Condominiums were the hot place to buy in October, they sold three units last month.
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closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(3 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Continuing our series on Des Moines Downtown Neighborhoods, today we will take a look at the Western Gateway Neighborhood. Des Moines is currently made up of to six diverse and distinctive urban neighborhoods. Each of the neighborhood’s rough boundaries appear on this map below.

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closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(4 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)

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As the holiday shopping season starts, I encourage each of you to try and find a gift for someone at one of our downtown business. In this tough business economy, we need to make sure we support the local stores that we have, so that they will continue to thrive and bring more businesses downtown. I for one know that my friends from Atlanta and Florida will be getting t-shirts from Smash, and local friends gift certificates to downtown restaurants.

Back in 2004, the Buy Into the Circle program was launched to encourage Greater Des Moines area businesses to shift just five percent of their current out-of-area spending back into the local economy. It was poised as “not about spending MORE money, but about keeping the dollars you already spend local.” I think this applies not only to business but to us as individuals as well. 

Buy into the Circle TV Commercial

closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(5 votes, average: 3.8 out of 5)

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Earlier this past week there was some chatter about a an article that appeared in the Kansas City Star. The article, KC Can Learn from Downtown Des Moines, by Kevin Collision, compares what Des Moines has done for downtown compared to what Kansas City has done. Here are a few excerpts from the article.

Bottom line: Anybody in Kansas City who believes we’ve done enough revitalizing our downtown over the past few years had better wake up. Regional cities such as Des Moines have been striving too, and, more importantly, they’ve been doing it consistently over a longer period of time.

It was 20 years ago that Des Moines civic leaders hired Mario Gandelsonas, a Princeton University scholar of urban design, to help the city come up with a plan to foster its downtown revitalization. The results have been impressive.

More than $2.8 billion has been spent downtown since 2000, much of it aimed at making the area more appealing to that educated, younger adult crowd with an appetite for urban living.

Factoid: While metro Des Moines is much smaller than metro Kansas City, 525,000 vs. 1.95 million people, its downtown has 77,000 workers vs. 100,000 in KC. The city can thank major employers, including the Principal Financial Group, Meredith Corp., Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., Wells Fargo Financial and the state of Iowa, for its downtown employment base.

With this article in mind, here are a couple of videos I found on YouTube that talk about what people like about Des Moines.

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closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(5 votes, average: 4.2 out of 5)

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In case you haven’t heard of co-working before, coworking is a global movement of localized mobile / remote worker communities coming together to share their otherwise independent work experiences and spaces. Co-workers tend to be remote workers, telecommuters, independents and freelancers, who for either economic or social reasons want to co-work together. It is an emerging trend for a new pattern for working.

Typically these work-at-home professionals, independent contractors, and people who travel frequently end up working in relative isolation and as a result become lonely. For most people working from home seems great, but for a lot of peole, it simply isn’t sustainable based on their personality types or professions. For example, if you are the creative type you simply cannot be as effective in your solitude as you could be surrounded by other people being creative.

Coworking is about the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share basic values and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space. Coworking is all about the community.

The first downtown co-working community opened up just a couple of months ago and it’s called, Impromptu Studio. According to the group’s web site, Impromptu Studio aims to foster connections between local business owners and entrepreneurs. Their members will have a diverse pool of resources to draw from in the communtiy since every coworker with have a different specialty and level of experience. This dual pronged approach of community integration allows members to become acquainted at multiple levels with individuals and businesses that can help them succeed for the years that follow.

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closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(6 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)

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Budweiser has decided to brew a new beer, the Budweiser American Ale. The beer is brewed with caramel malted barley and has a ‘noticeably citrus aroma’. If that has you thirsty for a cold one, you can use the new Bud Map to find the nearest bar in downtown Des Moines that serves the ale.

To use the map just enter your zip code and the nearest bars will be shown on the map. The map should help you find the way to your nearest bar - although there are no promises that you will able to find your way home again. Please remember to drink responsible, and call a cab when needed.

closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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(5 votes, average: 2.6 out of 5)

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Well, low and behold, it just started snowing outside. This is our first snowfall of the season.

closeAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
Email: admin@livingdowntowndesmoines.com
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(4 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5)

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