Ask CITYVIEW

When was the first CITYVIEW Best of Des Moines poll?

The answer doesn’t appear to be as cut and dried as one might think. We dug deep through our archives to find the answer. The oldest complete copy we could find was from 1994. The answer was not spelled out plainly, so we had to do some more searching. One helpful clue came from a Pizza Hut ad.

“For 5 years, you’ve called for the best… and we’ve delivered!!!” 

That would put the poll starting in 1990, if Pizza Hut, noted local chain, as the winner of Best Delivered Pizza since the award’s inception. 

Another hint, in the intro to the 1993 readers’ poll, it states that 1,500 ballots were received in the mail. It also stated they were adding several businesses into the Best of Des Moines Hall of Fame for winning a category three years in a row: Hy-Vee, Hull Avenue Tap, The Metz and The Tavern. But the pages containing the results and that year’s Hall of Fame were missing. Onto a 1995 edition we went.

Another hint. An ad placed by another Hall of Famer, Movies To Go Entertainment Superstore, which once featured locations in Ames, Ankeny, Cedar Rapids, Centerville/Iowa City, Des Moines, Urbandale and West Des Moines, said thank you for voting them winners for seven years in a row. That would take us back to 1988. Another ad from Waterfront Seafood Market & Restaurant thanks voters for choosing them since 1988 as well. 

We thought we had figured it out. Then we flipped a few more pages, and we found yet another clue. Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant took out a thank you ad for being selected for nine years in a row. Now, we’re in 1986. 

At that time, CITYVIEW was The Skywalker. Unfortunately, we did not have any copies of The Skywalker in our archives, so voting in 1985, heading into 1986, is the best we can place the first Best of Des Moines poll. Just keep that in mind the next time you see one of the many new “Best of Des Moines” plaques or awards located around town. That black and white giant BEST has been around since the mid 1980s.