Posted December 04, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
I have very few fears in this world. My vertigo kicks in when I am inside a tall building and looking down (or looking up, for that matter). I also have a fear of being buried alive. In movies where there is a black screen and someone strikes a lighter
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Posted November 06, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
I’m coming out of left field for this, but the story is too good not to write about. Since it’s the month of November, we often read about Thanksgiving, family and traditions. I am going to be tradition and family adjacent with a long-forgotten, all-male camping/party spot called “Racoon River
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Posted October 02, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
Haunted house season is here. I remember being a kid and going to some questionable attractions when I lived in the Quad Cities. There was an old water and power company building near the bridge and dam that connected Rock Island and Milan on the Illinois side. It was the
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Posted September 04, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
In my July column, I mentioned that I went on the walking architecture tour downtown. I wrote about the first and only “death by elevator” event in Iowa history, which I learned about while on the tour when it was by Fourth Street and Court Avenue. About 45 minutes earlier,
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Posted July 31, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
I recently participated in an architecture walking tour of downtown Des Moines. I went with my mother and a handful of her friends for the southern tour of downtown that goes from the Civic Center to the World Food Prize and then makes its way around Court Avenue until it
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Posted July 03, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
The Midwest is one the best places to be to celebrate the Fourth of July. No matter what faith you follow or orientation you swing, you can usually come together for our country’s Independence Day. As a kid in the 1990s, I remember my dad picking me up from my
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Posted June 05, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
With another Pride month here, I have dug deep into the history books of the gay lore of Des Moines. In November of 2022, I wrote a column on the Blue Goose and the P&S Lounge, two gay bars with origins dating back to the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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Posted May 01, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
The year was 2011, and I had been in Des Moines for four years. My first feature documentary, “Brent Houzenga: Hybrid Pioneer,” premiered at the Des Moines Social Club at its former location at 1408 Locust St. that previous November. It was now April, and the weather was finally breaking.
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Posted April 03, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
I moved to Des Moines from Denver, Colorado, in 2007. If you asked the 22-year-old me why I did so, it may not have made a lot of sense. If you ask the 38-year-old me the same question, it would be a different answer but probably still wouldn’t make a
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Posted March 06, 2024in Des Moines Forgotten
Iowa film industry lore is a niche topic that captivates my interest. If I hear anyone telling a story about the old days of film production, I stop what I am doing to join the conversation. My early Des Moines Forgotten articles included stories on the Varsity Theatre, filming a
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