If you are like me, I love to have a good sit down breakfast on the weekends. There’s nothing better than have a leisurely brunch with friends on Sundays or a quite breakfast on Saturday with the newspaper. I’ve lived downtown for one year now and realize how hard it is to find a good breakfast/brunch place downtown on the weekends.

We have no chain restaurants downtown such as a Perkins or iHop. We have a couple of hotel restaurants, but they are kinda of pricey and just okay and most of our really good restaurants downtown, don’t open for breakfast on the weekends. So to try and help myself and others find what do have, I enlisted the help of some of the forum members at AbsoluteDSM.com to help me catalog our weekend breakfast / brunch joints.

This map contains the places we found and what information I could easily find about their breakfast hours and menu options. I made this map editable, so that our community can make updates and add any news places they find.

CommunityWalk Map – Weekend Breakfast/Brunch Downtown

Here’s our February update of what Netflix DVDs downtown residents are watching this month.

A lot of cities have problems with graffiti, but in my opinion the City of Des Moines has done a great job to curb that here. I’m out and about a lot downtown and have very rarely seen in examples of graffiti. I have lived in other cities throughout the South Eastern US where graffiti is more common.

According to some recent studies, graffiti vandalism and litter lead to more crime. A recent study that finds graffiti vandalism, litter, and other signs of disorder create an environment in which people are more likely to commit street crimes, such as stealing.

The best graffiti prevention programs include education and prevention, along with eradication or rapid removal of graffiti vandalism, and enforcement of laws. Again, I think Des Moines has done a great job with this. See the example photo of the Please Walk Your Butt to the Can ad below. Another ad I found when researching graffiti that I thought was quite clever is the bus example show here to the right. I’m not sure if it’s a problem on our city buses but this would be good a prevention ad.

Here’s some facts about graffiti from the Graffiti Hurts website:

• Graffiti cleanup takes a big chunk out of municipal budgets. The city of Minneapolis spends about $4 million a year.
• Graffiti is the most common type of property vandalism (35%) according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
• Immediate removal – within 24-48 hours – is the key to successful graffiti prevention
• There are four types of graffiti-hip-hop, gang, hate, and generic (non-threatening messages like “Bobby loves Suzy” or “Class of 2003″).
• About 80% of graffiti is hip hop or “tagger” graffiti. Another 5% are “pieces”. Nationally, gang graffiti makes up about 10% of graffiti.
• Most studies show the majority of “taggers” are males between 12 and 21 years old. Approximately 15% of graffiti vandals are young females.
• Arrest data from 17 major cities shows that 50% to 70% of all street-level graffiti is created by suburban adolescents, predominately males between the ages of 12 and 19.
• Community paint-brush murals are rarely defaced by graffiti and instill a sense of pride among those who live nearby.
• There are four primary motivating factors for graffiti vandalism: fame, rebellion, self-expression, and power.
• Getting the media to publish photos and videotape of graffiti is often the ultimate fame for graffiti vandals.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 6, 1913. Mary Johnson, 21 years old, the most popular and prettiest secretary in her office in downtown Des Moines is about to leave her desk to catch the trolley home. Suddenly, two co-workers, George and Sara, have walked up to her desk and invited her to go to the movies with them this evening. Sara, the boss’s secretary, is her usual indecisive self. She says that Des Moines has too many choices. Well, her confusion this time is justified. Downtown Des Moines does have a vibrant, thriving theater district with many choices. Just some of the few choices at the many theaters …

At The Casino, 3 movies are playing. A newsreel by Pathe’s Weekly; also playing, The Crazy Prospector, and, Vitagraph’s Cinders.

At The Family Theater, The Indian’s Secret , and Billy’s First Quarrel. The Unique Theater is playing, Children of St Anne and Her Sister’s Secret.

Being the most popular in the office also makes you the leader. Mary is not in the mood for newsreels or westerns this evening. She’s a small town Iowa girl who has moved to the big city of Des Moines. She wants to experience and see things that she never could in her small town. Mary opts for the movie that is playing at The Colonial. Admission is going to cost 10 cents. It’s a hefty price for an overworked-underpaid secretary, but it’s worth it. It’s a 5 reel, European film called Satan. Only once before has Des Moines had a 5 reel movie. It was called Queen Elizabeth and it was boring.

Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Flickr user, Eric a.k.a Fearless Fagin and is of the Scott Avenue Bridge with the ice and snow backed up under it.

Eric says: “As far as shooting in Des Moines, I would say that there are limitless possibilities for photo opportunities. Considering the great mix of architecture and venues for entertainment makes a photography a natural downtown pursuit. I have so much fun just exploring and finding something I haven’t seen before.”

Check out previous pictures in of our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week.

Living downtown has it’s perks! One of them being that you are just a few blocks away from a night out on the town, Broadway Style. Don’t Google “Broadway Avenue” though on Google Maps, because Broadway Avenue in Des Moines is no where even near downtown, our very on “Broadway” is at the corner of Walnut and 3rd Street in the heart of downtown.

The Civic Center is the performing home of the Des Moines Symphony, Drama Workshop, Stage West, and the Civic Music Association. The Civic Center has also been host to major Broadway touring companies, performers and groups since it’s opening. Since I don’t get to New York City that often, I enjoy the Broadway shows right here in my neighborhood. 

This week I’m looking forward to the opening of Legally Blonde. I loved the movie and can’t wait to se the new smash hit musical. If you for some chance never saw the movie, Legally Blonde follows sorority star Elle Woods, an underestimated blonde who doesn’t take “no” for an answer.  When her boyfriend dumps her for someone more “serious,” Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.

Read the rest of this entry »

It just got a little easier to get to the west coast. Yesterday, Allegiant Airlines announced a new non-stop flight to Los Angeles beginning May 24th.

Allegiant Airlines will fly a 150-seat jet twice a week from Des Moines, on both Thursdays and Sundays, between the two cities.

Flights will depart Des Moines at 8:20 p.m. arriving in Los Angeles at 9:50 p.m. Flights leaving Los Angeles will depart at 2:25 p.m. and arrive in Des Moines at 7:40 p.m.

Regular one-way tickets will start at $119, but to kick things off, Allegiant is now offering a $99 introductory fare, which must be purchased by March 11 for travel completed by Sept. 30. The offer is not available May 22-25 and July 2-6.

Allegiant also provides nonstop service to Las Vegas and Orlando and Tampa, Florida.

This will bring the total non-stop flights out of Des Moines to 18 per the Des Moines International’s website.

Our city just got some great national recognition again. This time, Des Moines was listed as the highest-rated Midwestern market for small business vitality by the American City Business Journals Inc.

Des Moines ranked 22 out of 100 largest metropolitan areas based on a six-factor formula that includes population growth, job growth, small-business growth and small-business concentration.

For more details check out: The Best Places to Start a Small Business at BizJournals.com.

 
In January, 1937 Heloise Martin, an 18-year-old sophomore majoring in psychology at Drake University took stock of her unusual physical advantages by becoming the most famous coed in America.

In January, Heloise’s undergraduate career was suddenly interrupted when a photographer by the name of John Naegle, received an assignment from College Humor Magazine for a set of pictures on the daily life of a coed. The pictures were taken in a shower of the Delta Gamma House, around the campus, in a classroom.

In March, 1937, College Humor appeared with its four-page spread of eight pictures on “A Day in the Life of a Co-Ed.” Heloise was shown climbing out of her double-decker bed , showering behind a transparent curtain, taking notes in class, and wiggling into a dress.

Heloise Martin instantly became known as America’s First Lady of Shower and Bath. Heloise also had a great sense of humor. When she visited visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in April 1937, she was asked what she thought of the school. Heloise replied “it’s ok MIT me.”

More adventures of Heloise:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757435-2,00.html
Photo attributed to:http://www.galbreath.net/bill/20-60swim.htm

Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Flickr user, Liz a.k.a LizzardJoe and is entitled 4th of July. I love the perspective of it with the Capitol right behind Lincoln.

Liz says: “I enjoy photographing Des Moines because it is where I live and there are so many interesting places and things going on. It is great when I see other photos of places in Des Moines because it shows me how much there is to do and see here. It is a great delight to be able to have a picture of mine show someone something they haven’t seen before or seen it the way I did. Photography is a way of showing others the way you see the world.”

Check out previous pictures in of our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week.

I’ve been playing around this past weekend trying to teach myself both new photography techniques (high dynamic range photography) and learning more Photoshop CS3 skills. I designed a couple of images for my computer desktop that I wanted to share with you. Both are available at Flickr and can be downloaded in the following sizes: 1900×1200; 1344×840; 1280×800; and 1024×768. I hope you enjoy them, they are some of my first attempts and I know I have a learning curve to conquer.

You can download them at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10563628@N04/sets/72157613539506625/detail/

One of my favorite sites to browse is AbsoluteDSM.com, so I am excited to tell you about their sleek new look. Josh, Ryan and others spent the last several months building the new site. Their hard work and effort really shows off. Below are some screen shots from each of their main pages and a brief description of what you can find.

To begin with check out their new home page! The home page features a new search engine; and six tab groupings that make navigating the site a breeze. On the home page you can easily see the last three forum posts, the five most recent project page updates and even the latest blog posting from LivingDowntownDesMoines.com. 

Read the rest of this entry »

One would not usually associate a civil war battle having been waged hardly 5 miles from downtown Des Moines. This was not a battle between union and confederate soldiers. This was a battle to save lives and give freedom to those who were imprisoned and enslaved by the confederate states.

James Cunningham Jordan is considered the first white settler in West Des Moines and the chief conductor of the underground railroad. Jordan grew up on a farm in what is now West Virgina. It was an area where slavery was the norm for the economy and everyday life.

When he was in his teens, he joined a party hunting for escaped slaves from a nearby plantation. After the slaves were caught, no matter how much the slaves begged for mercy and deliverance, they were dragged, if need be, back to the masters homes and a life of slavery. The sickening experience changed Jordan forever.

Jordan’s 1850 Italian Gothic house in West Des Moines had six rooms. Jordan made the decisions about when it was safe for the slaves to leave his house and move along a safe route to freedom. Escaping slaves on their way to Canada usually stayed in the kitchen or hid in the basement of the six room house. At one time as many as 24 slaves were in the house at the same time.

The famous abolitionist, John Brown also stayed at Jordan’s house on December 17, 1858. Several slaves were traveling through Tabor, Iowa with their masters when Brown helped them to escape. In February 1859, Brown again stayed at the house while he planned a raid on the arsenal at Harpers’s Ferry. Ten months later he would be hanged for leading the raid.

The Jordan House serves both as a museum for West Des Moines and as the office of West Des Moines Historical Society.

Continuing with our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week, this week’s picture comes from Flickr user, Jeff Tweedy a.k.a Photo Logic and is of the Scott Avenue Bridge with the ice and snow backed up under it.

Jeff says: “The reason that I enjoy photographing Des Moines is that everything is so accessible. From the riverwalk to the skywalk system and all of our public parks rich in wildlife and activity. You can just get out there and take a walk and be inspired at every turn.”

Check out previous pictures in of our series, Des Moines Picture of the Week.