Hey all!
I'm a Cyclone fan looking for new ways to keep up with Cyclone news and I understand podcasts are a great way to do that. I'm historically not a big podcast listener, so seeing all the options out there can be a little overwhelming. If you were to recommend one Iowa State podcast for good, all-around coverage of the teams, what would you recommend?
Up/Down is a sculpture that sat in the old bridge court area of Merle Hay Mall (approximately the lower level of where Flix Brewhouse is now). He was there from 1974 to ~2000, so a whole generation of Central Iowans walked by him every day while they did their shopping.
He sat in storage for a couple years after getting removed and ended up getting purchased by a woman on the east side, who kept him in her yard for several years. That woman later donated him to the City of Johnston and he now sits near their City Hall. I recently found out about this and made my way to pay Up/Down a visit! This brought back some great memories of the old Merle Hay Mall.
If you've lived in Central Iowa for any period of time, you probably know what I'm talking about, but here's the commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d89dD-U-WPY
It's definitely from the 90s and it shows Merle Hay Mall back when it had the upper level with stores (where Flix is now), but I can't pin down exactly what year it was made. Also, does anybody know what store is featured in the commercial? Looks like a nice, large department store, so maybe Younkers, but I don't know for sure.
I remember going on a field trip to an old indoor ice rink downtown in the summer of 2001. It was on its last legs then with the roof dripping and it being warm inside for an ice rink. It seemed like an old building with a couple old bleacher structures.
I never remembered going to it anytime before or after and I'm guessing it closed not too long after. It wasn't the Metro Ice Sports Facility in Urbandale or the Des Moines Bucs arena and this was before Brenton opened up and way before the RecPlex. I'm not 100% certain it was downtown, but that was my recollection as a 7 year old.
Any help knowing the name of the ice rink, where it was located and when/why it closed would be helpful.
This used to be Champp's and later became something called Union 29 for a short time, but has otherwise sat empty. It seems like it would be a prime spot for a restaurant - right at the entrance, lots of space, outdoor seating, etc. Why haven't they ever found someone to fill the space? It's the one place at Jordan Creek that I think has consistently not been filled.
I know I do, probably about once a week. So many great memories and it sucks knowing it will never be what it once was.
I feel like most cities keep their strip clubs off the beaten path in areas that are out of sight and out of mind. But I was recently driving through Cedar Rapids, Iowa and there was a strip club right on the side of the freeway, big sign and all.
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Are there any other cities that have this?
I was talking to a woman from Dallas recently and she made a comment like "the western suburbs are sooo much different than the eastern suburbs" in Dallas and talked about how each area was so different and had their different stereotypes.
My question is do we have that in Des Moines at all? Is there some significant difference between WDM/Clive/Urbandale and Ankeny or any others? Do we have any unique stereotypes for the western, northern, eastern, southern suburbs?