‘Des Moines punches above its weight’
There’s more to Iowa than corn, starting with its amazing capital city
I didn’t exactly go to Des Moines, Iowa, expecting cornfields, but I didn’t want to miss them, either. One night in the capital city this summer, I drove 30 minutes northeast of Des Moines and joined a weekly bike ride in the rural town of Maxwell. Our small group pedaled along quiet farm roads, past corn and soybean fields and over idyllic rolling hills, just as I had pictured. A small plane buzzed overhead, playfully looping and rolling, and I slowed to see grazing cows and a small cemetery. We finished our ride as the fiery sun set. Only then was I ready for the big city.
Des Moines, or DSM to locals, is a laid-back, easily navigable city with an impressive network of bike trails, one of the most beautiful and interesting capitol buildings I’ve toured and an emerging food and cocktail scene. Locals I met were kind and welcoming, probably more informed about presidential candidates than many of my Washington, D.C., neighbours and proud to host the country’s first caucuses during election season. Next year, the city will unveil the largest skate park in the country (with an 80-foot-long, totally skatable “WOW” sculpture) and host its first Ironman competition. It also plans to create a whitewater destination on the river with a surfing simulator for extreme paddlers.
Go
LOCAL FAVES
The colder the winter in a city, the more joyful the summer market-goers. I haven’t substantiated this claim, but in Des Moines, folks are downright gleeful about the Downtown Farmers Market, which attracts 25,000 to 40,000 people each weekend through October with 300 vendors, live music, street performers and a bike valet. The Saturday market, criticized by some for selling too much nonlocal produce and Wisconsin cheeses, still sells plenty of Iowa sweet corn, local jam and hot sauce. But the scene itself is the biggest draw. Go for people-watching, and eat your way through the market (pupusas, juices) or hit a nearby brunch spot.
GUIDEBOOK MUSTS
Driving into town with the majestic five-domed Iowa State Capitol on the horizon, I thought I was approaching a kingdom. Come to find out, this kingdom is magical, with free parking and free temporary tattoos. On a tour, I learned that the ornate building was completed in 1886, constructed over 15 years by day laborers. It originally housed all three branches of government and was built without electricity – which was thought to be a fad. The gold leaf on the dome, the guide told us, is as thin as ash. The highlight was a marblewalled, five-level law library with white wrought iron railings, spiral staircases and a spectacular view of downtown. It houses more than 100,000 books, including titles on the state’s railroad, prairie plants and baseball.
DES MOINES ART CENTER
“You might hear people say, ‘Des Moines punches above its weight,’” a local told me. “The Des Moines Art Center is a big example of how.” For starters, the museum – a complex of three designer buildings (Eliel Saarinen, 1948; I.M. Pei, 1968; Richard Meir, 1985) – is showing Queer Abstraction (until Sept. 8), the first exhibition in the center’s 70year history to focus exclusively on queer sexuality and gender identity. The permanent collection includes modern and contemporary masterpieces by Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti, Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol and the New Shelton Wet/Dry Triple Decker from Jeff Koons’s hermetically Above, cyclists ride along the High Trestle Trail Bridge in Madrid, Iowa. Right, the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park, part of the Des Moines Art Center, features work by 24 artists. Below, a Des Moines gift shop T-shirt reads: “Iowa! For some reason you have to come here to be president!” Bottom, the Downtown Farmers Market in Des Moines attracts up to 40,000 people each weekend through October.
sealed vacuum series. Stop at the restaurant, Tangerine, and the museum’s fantastic four-acre sculpture garden park downtown. Museum and park admission are free.
Eat
LOCAL FAVES
The avocado toast craze has hit Des Moines, and judging from the orders at St. Kilda, locals are all in. The small, two-year-old cafe offers breakfast, lunch, coffee and cocktails with full table service.
I loved Hello, Marjorie even before I learned it was named after one of the owner’s grandmothers, who drank sloe gin by the glass and smoked cigarettes by the pack.
My own 99-year-old grandma Marjorie enjoys her cocktails and would feel right at home amid the bar’s mid-century mod furniture. Located in the former Des Moines Register building and designed to look like your great aunt’s house (gold velvet curtains, brass clock collection), Hello, Marjorie is the city’s go-to cocktail bar. For other themed watering holes, try El Bait Shop, with hundreds of craft beers on tap; Iowa Tap Room, which specializes in Iowa beers; and High Life Lounge, a doppelganger of your ‘60s rec room, where patrons inexplicably enjoy Spam and egg sandwiches with Miller High Life and Schlitz.
If you love greasy spoon diners, politics and servers who call you “Sweetie,” Waveland Cafe will make your ticker tick just a little faster. If Waveland’s not your jam, you can’t go wrong at beloved La Mie, where the spread of housebaked breads and pastries is so vast it’ll force your calorie-counter app into submission.
Shop
LOCAL FAVES
Men who hate shopping, Fontenelle Supply Co. may turn you. Built by guys who blog about camping and motorcycle trips and made for guys who appreciate well-made (read: pricey) items like Japanese selvage denim, Filson shirts and jackets, work boots that look like they’ll last a generation, safety glasses for hazardous manly activities, restored and hand-sharpened vintage axes and motorcycle helmets.
Valley Junction in West Des Moines has been down on its luck in recent years, but the buzz and lure of new retailers and restaurants is making this eight-block shopping strip DSM’s Comeback Kid. Once known for its dozens of antique and vintage shops, the compact neighborhood (about five miles west of downtown) still has some old-school survivors, like Atomic Garage (polyester pants, disco dresses and go-go boots) and sister shop A OK Antiques (jukebox, mid-century furniture).
Popularized by HGTV’s West End Salvage reality show, West End Architectural Salvage is a treasure-hunter’s paradise, with inventory from across the nation and four floors of fabulous finds. On the ground floor, grab coffee (or a Bloody Mary, if it’s that kind of morning). Strolling around the century-old building, you’ll find an old amusement park car and carousel animal, a barrel of old yardsticks, vintage metal lockers, Underwood and Smith Corona typewriters, stained glass, a metal cowboy bathtub, old motel signs, a bench from the Des Moines airport, tin ceiling tiles and doors, license plates, a bench made from the back door of a flatbed truck and window grates from an Iowa jail. You’ll also find tables made from reclaimed barn lumber.