The Varsity Cinema near Drake University is reopening its doors to the community after being closed for four years. The historic Des Moines theater features “a variety of programming including prestige new releases, the best of art house & international, curated repertory series and classics, upscale genre and late-night movies, kids and family series” according […]
Des Moines history
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Jordan House Museum is home to art, opera, Shakespeare and Iowa history
As we celebrate the arts in this issue, it’s only appropriate to recognize a growing trend in this region. The power of unity can be used in the arts as it is in other facets of positive community growth. As creative community contributors, cultural organizations have a growing responsibility to work smarter to integrate their […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Forty years after the Johnny Gosch disappearance, fear continues to fuel conspiracy theories in Iowa and beyond
Listen an audio version of this article here, or using the player at the bottom of the page. On Sept. 20, 1984, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech in Cedar Rapids as part of his reelection campaign. In it, he advocated for slashing taxes and “the simple values of faith, family, neighborhood and good, hard […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
‘It’s just the most Iowan thing’: A day at the Iowa State Fair with fair mega-fans, the Stumps
Since his freshman year of high school in 1969, Gary Stump has not missed an Iowa State Fair. “I had a girlfriend whose father worked at the fair and he got free tickets for everything,” Stump recalls. “And then when I was in college, a friend of mine worked there and he was able to […]
Posted inCentral Iowa, Central Iowa Community/News, Community/News
Deep in a Des Moines golf course sits a haunted observatory with a far-out history
The Drake Municipal Observatory is probably the only scientific facility of its kind more familiar to local golfers than local school kids. Since 1921, it’s sat between the green on the 17th hole of Waveland Golf Course and the tee of the 18th. It’s an anomalous presence among the fairways and the nearby tennis courts, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Before I-235, Des Moines’ Center Street district was a bastion of Black commerce and culture
By the time its final section opened to traffic in late 1968, I-235 was already part of the fabric of Des Moines. Cutting across the city and running just north of downtown, it’s the most traveled roadway in Iowa. But like many stretches of highway built through cities, the construction of I-235 did damage that […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Photos: Monuments to women’s history in Des Moines
This Women’s History Month, Little Village explored some of the DSM spots dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in the city. Photos by Britt Fowler Evelyn K. Davis Center For Working Families Evelyn Davis (1921-2001) supported working families in Des Moines by providing affordable childcare for 23 years. She was an advocate for families, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Remembering Varnum v. Brien, the case that brought marriage equality to Iowa
How a divorce helped kick-start marriage equality in Iowa By Paul Brennan The path to marriage equality in Iowa started with a divorce. Kimberly Brown and Jennifer Perez traveled from their home in western Iowa to Vermont in 2002 to be joined in a civil union, a substitute for traditional civic marriages Vermont created for […]
