If you live in Iowa City long enough, you’re bound to discover the work of local historian and preservationist Marybeth Slonneger. A native of Chicago who came to the University of Iowa to study art in the 1980s, she has made a career of researching and publishing her writing on the history of Iowa City […]
Iowa City history
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The brief time when Iowa City was in the Guitar Hero business
For a brief time in the ’00s, Guitar Hero was the king of party games. And for an even briefer time, some entries in the bestselling series were developed in an office on South Linn Street in Iowa City. Budcat Creations, a high-budget game development studio owned by Iowa natives Jason and Jeremy Andersen, relocated […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Keith Haring left his mark on Iowa City. Thirty-five years later, it will go on public display for the first time.
From kindergarten through sixth grade, I spent countless hours staring at a wall in the Horn Elementary School library, daydreaming while an adult read a book to the class. Far more compelling than a fire alarm or a poster of LeVar Burton, I would fixate on a massive mural mounted on the wall of the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
LV Recommends: Harry’s Bar & Grill is an old-school diner with distinctly Iowa City DNA
Like its seasonal student population, Iowa City is constantly in a state of change. Brand-new downtown diner Harry’s Bar & Grill (116 E Washington St) is offering a chance to step back in time to Iowa City in the ’60s and ’70s, when a beloved and campy landmark bookstore called Epstein’s Books still existed. The […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘They’re devastated. I’m shocked’: Iowa River Power Restaurant is closing
Iowa River Power Restaurant is closing its doors in November. And while it’s possible the restaurant may reopen after the owner of its building finishes a major renovation project of the property, the restaurant’s owners, staff and Sunday brunch beloved by local diners over the past three decades will never be the same. Iowa River […]
Posted inRecreation
Fossil Gorge, uncovered 30 years ago, preserves a 375 million-year-old ocean floor in eastern Iowa
Sixty-five million years? Please. You want to see something old, head to the Coralville Dam. It’s not the dam that’s old, though it has survived almost seven decades and two near-apocalyptic floods. In fact, it was the first of these floods in 1993 that breached the 712-foot spillway and inundated the campground below, washing away […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Unsung heroes from Iowa City’s LGBTQ history
By David Leshtz, Iowa City Congratulations on your excellent series examining the history of LGBT activism in Iowa City. The third installment brought back many memories of other friends and allies who deserve mention: Attorney Duane Rohovit did the heavy lifting of writing the bylaws for the Iowa Center for AIDS Resources and Education. ICARE […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘No one believed that it would ever come to this place’: Fear and hatred clouded efforts to care for Iowa’s early AIDS patients
This is the second article in a three-part series examining the legacy of HIV/AIDS in Iowa City. Read part one here. It’s October 1980, and Jack Stapleton is treating a 19-year-old girl diagnosed with a rare lung infection: pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Stapleton, then an internal medicine intern in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, became interested in […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Forty years ago, volunteers pulled off the first Iowa Arts Festival. Summer in Iowa City has never been the same
What started 40 years ago as a volunteer-led labor of love is now a downtown Iowa City institution: the Iowa Arts Festival. Back in the summer of 1983, Joyce Carroll and Kristin Summerwill helped organize a multi-day event on the Ped Mall that brought together artisans, visual artists, poets, local musicians such as Greg Brown […]
Posted inFood & Drink
100 dishes from bygone Iowa City-area restaurants, remembered by LV readers
In March, Little Village asked followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, “What are some of your favorite dishes from bygone local restaurants?” The posts received hundreds of comments from nostalgic (and clearly hungry) current and former locals, recalling restaurants long gone and recently deceased. Below are 100 of those responses. Do you know the recipe […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Time Capsule Dale: Craving Roxie’s scalloped potatoes and ham
Meet LV’s newest columnist — a Gen X townie who goes to bed in the ’90s and wakes up in modern day IC/CR. It had everything a southeast side Iowa City resident would ever need: happy hour specials and the best damn scalloped potatoes and ham in Johnson County. I’m talking about Roxie’s on the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Time Capsule Dale: Laundry day at Duds N Suds
Meet LV’s newest columnist — a Gen X townie who goes to bed in the ’90s and wakes up in modern day IC/CR. The early months of 1996 have been a whirlwind for Hawk fans. Carver once again proved to be a menace to Bobby Knight and his gang of Hoosiers on Sunday as Russ […]
