I am in DM for Good Guys a few days early. What should I do / see before Good Guys starts? I am here with my family (wife, son-13 and daughter 15) but we are all car people (my wife has 100's of hrs in painting her 57 Caddy). Are there any cool shops, funky second hand stores or anything else interesting not on the touring website? Thanks. Carmak Riverside, Iowa
Man if your goin west on the interstate keep lookin off to the north! Jeesh wait til the nite crew get on here they ll tell you the strait cuz i just drive there n im not sure of streets lol im lucky to find des moines!
ZZ Top is in town on Tuesday night. http://www.examiner.com/article/zz-top-brings-the-gang-of-outlaws-tour-to-des-moines-on-june-26
I love the Brass Armadillo! I also go to Collectamania (3200 Delaware Ave, Des Moines, IA) and the diecast farm toy store (that also has some interesting car stuff) on University about a block east of the fairgrounds. I LOVE tenderloins so Smittys is now on the list. Thanks all! Any more? Carmak
Try Iowa Beef around 14th and Euclid. It opens at 5:00 PM I think. Great steaks and pork chops. Cooked over charcoal. Great sauteed mushrooms also. Later, Dick
if you l;ike cars ?go see ?karls kustom race shop" north of i-80 /just east of e. 14 th st./5936 n.e.industry dr ,saylor township, when you are at-" i-80 & east 14 th st"- go north to "inland truck parts" ,next intersection -north -turn right -{east} go to first street- turn north -its about the second building on your left -notice the nice vehicles in lot & the chrome post in ground to protect the overhead doors- he takes the new corvettes and puts a 1963 vette front and rear on them -really neat -plus there is several builder cars bin shop ! enjoy ! dave carnock is in charge !" have fun "
Hey Craig! Definately check out West End Architectural Salvage, one of the coolest stores in Des Moines. www.westendsalvage.com It's not a automotive salvage yard but almost as good. Old 5 story building downtown full of tons of extra cool "stuff". Some as they found it, some turned into new "re-purposed" items. Lots of great restaurants etc. downtown in both the Court Avenue area & in the "east village" area around the Capitol building. -Paul
I hate to say it but.... I've often said I'm not sure why we have a tourism bureau in Iowa, there isn't really much here. I also give my dad heck... why in the hell did our ancestors settle here???? If you are into baseball you can go west of DM to Van Meter where Bob Feller's museum is... or Northeast to Dyersville to the Toy Museum and the Field of Dreams. Hope this helps!
I've been away from iowa for a while, but there was a great little antque shop in west des moines that specialized in 40's-50's stuff. Cosmic closet or some such thing. Lots of great heywood wakefield furniture, vintage clothes and other decor stuff. fellar museum is decent and the state state historical society has a nice museum downtown. threre was a good thai place close by, but I don't remember where or what it was called. if you're up for road trip there's a great Frank Lloyd Wright house in Quasqueton (near UNI) owned by the department of natural resources called cedar rock--but it's a few hours haul round trip. there's another wright house in Marshalltown in private hands if you're into that stuff and a few others sprinkled around the state. might make a good drive around. marshaltown also has a great steakhouse (on the north side of town if you're headed from there to cedar rock) and the original made right sandwich shop (if it's still open). you can also go check out the John Wayne birthplace (a little south of town if I remember), and there's a number of covered bridges floating around the region--lots of picturesque prairie stuff--make the most of that. the one from the clint eastwood movie was burned down by arsonists a going on a decade ago--don't know if they rebuilt it. there's also Pella. another short drive. neat little town, dutch bakeries everywhere. I'm in tourism--tried to get to know the area while I was there. you can also make it to the spam museum just over the MN state line straight up the interstate. there's tons of random stuff around, but nothing huge and it's often scattered about. you just have to look for it. there's also a great retaurant called Chat Nior in the historic district. Was one of our favorites. just around the corner there's a men's hat shop (classic hats for men) run out of the parlor of an historic home. great selection of hats and really nice owners (I'm a hat guy). hope this helps some.
Man if you're in desmoines just head downtown. In my opinion desmoines has the best downtown, full of neat little shops and interesting places to eat. There's even a classic car dealership on the west end of down town call American Dream Machines (I think) mostly muscel cars, but still cool to look at. You really don't have to worry bout "bad eggs " walking around at night either.
Thanks for all of the suggestions!! I think we will head downtown today before this plase turns into a furnace on Wednesday and Thursday (high's near 100 with Iowa style humidity). West end salvage will be the first stop, the State historical museum and the capitol also on the list. I think Kar's was on the poker run a few years ago. Very cool place! We are going to stay fairly close to DM but we might try to hit Winterset. As a life long Iowan I have been to a lot of the destinations around the state sucn as Pella (and the Knoxville museum just down the road from it) and I actually make business trips to Dyersville (Evers toy store is gone and the Ertl is a shadow of it former glory). I really like steak also. There are 285lbs of me to prove it. We are staying near Pleasant Hill (east side of DM) so Iowa Beef is close. If any of you are at Good Guys I will be wearing a bright ORANGE shirt with "Cermak Automotive" on it. If you see please say hi! Carmak
Check out Sunset Beach[salvage yard]....south of fairgrounds next to Sams riverside....its the one with the Vietnam era Helecopter in frt of it....Some of the guys there are on the HAMB
There is a Jethro's in Altoona-just up the road from PleasantHill, or SmokeyD's is a great BBQ place also-right across the street from Majestic Lion.
Jethro's in Altoona is decent but not what I'd recommend. I'd more likely send an out of town guest to the Machine Shed in Urbandle near Living History Farms. Or if you want a greasy spoon landmark that still has carhop service, go to George the Chilli King's ... although my wife won't go there because it's too run down.
If you're there on a weekend, check out Knoxville sprint car races & museum (already mentioned) Not sure which direction you're going, flying or driving, but if you're going thru Nebraska you got to hit Speedy Bill's awesome museum in Lincoln. I liked it better than Garlits, & that was awesome too. Be forewarned you can't go by yourself, guided tour ONLY, I think at 2 pm. I missed it a couple of times, waited 2 days, it was definitely worth it. Some rooms are engines only, all sorts of homemade (well, small manufacturers) OHV & OHC flathead conversions, etc.
Thanks again guys. My week has been full and I am ready for the car show to start tomorrow. Some of the stuff I missed thie year I'll try to hit next year. I hope this thread has helped out others headed to DM this week! Carmak
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