Best of Des Moines, IA. Never before seen shots!!!

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up-close 801 Grand
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Des Moines' first skyscraper, The Equitable Building
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Des Moines is one of those midwestern cities that most people would bi pass, but I have been there a few times and always felt it was worth a look, even for its state capitol building alone

:cheers: Beautiful pictures. Nice place. The perfect American soul!:cheers: :cheers:

Des Moines is one of those midwestern cities that most people would bi pass, but I have been there a few times and always felt it was worth a look, even for its state capitol building alone

Thats so true. Same thing happened when Harry and Lloyed (off the movie: Dumb and Dumber) bi pass the city(even though you dont actually see that in the movie but they do take I80 from east to west which crosses through Des Moines):lol:

I like Des Moines :P

Des Moines is one of those small american cities where you can enjoy a beautiful skyline!

Great city. I remember driving all over Des Moines when I was down there on business. I wanna go back to Adventure Land in Altoona this summer. The west end of the city over by the new Jordan Creek mall definitely feels more suburban than the eastern and southern sides.

WOW!!! I've never seen anyone use so many exclamation marks writing about Des Moines!!!! Good thread!!!!

It's a nice city. If only it wasn't dead at night (or during the day for that matter) and invested in a decent transit system.

I'm really impressed. Nice buildings, cool city.

WOW!!! I've never seen anyone use so many exclamation marks writing about Des Moines!!!! Good thread!!!!

It's a nice city. If only it wasn't dead at night (or during the day for that matter) and invested in a decent transit system.


it is kind of dead at night. epecially in downtown even on weekends. all you see there are kids cruzin going around the "loop"

Jay, go to Drink and Snow in Clive....those are the only hoppin' places I could find down in The Monks....

It looks dead, dead, dead!

It looks dead, dead, dead!

Im not saying this is "the city that doesnt sleep" but i can tell you that its not dead dead dead either.

Some of those shots portray Des Moines as a very dead, boring city(in downttown of coarse) but,
1. those shots were shot during working hours (not during rush hour or during weekends) when everyone is inside in their little computers and
2. Des Moines has skywalks so you will see hardly any pedestrians outdoors.

I defenetely dont compare this 200,000(population) city to the almost 3 million people city of chicago but,

Last time i was at the loop near the sears, it was dead. and i mean dead around 11pm where in des moines those are the "going around the loop" hours!!! LOL

NO WONDER DES MOINES LOOKS DEAD!

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EVERYONE IS WORKING!!!!
LOL

Nice pictures, I really miss going to Des Moines to visit my grandmother. Growing up in Iowa, I can say people were very proud of Des Moines. The Quad Cities were shared with Illinois, Omaha was on our west border. Des Moines was our ONLY real city to call ours.

Thanks for the pictures!

Des Moines is like an Oasis among all the endless cornfields of Iowa!

I didn't think the city center was that big. It seems pretty nice actually.

Is there maybe a shopping thoroughfare that constitutes the "busy" area downtown? Because yes, of course, not all areas are busy during the day because people are working!

What's up with all those skywalks????? Is there really a purpose for all of them?

Skywalks take the life away from the streets. Thats why it looks so dead. The city has a decent looking skyline.

I totally agree with you. Des Moines has a small located in the HUB building which is the highrise with the green top.
This mall attract pedestrians using the skywalks.

Plus the skywalks are confortable to walkthrough and warn specialy in the cold winters of Iowa.

The city has 4.8 km of Skywalks that connect dozens of blocks downtown. The winters in Iowa are cold, so they connected all the office buildings together and put in over 150 retail shops and lots of eating places. That way people don't have to spend as much time outside.

Of course this took a lot of the street life away from the downtown streets, but I guess during all those cold months of the winter you would really appreciate the system.

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The city has 4.8 km of Skywalks that connect dozens of blocks downtown. The winters in Iowa are cold, so they connected all the office buildings together and put in over 150 retail shops and lots of eating places. That way people don't have to spend as much time outside.

Of course this took a lot of the street life away from the downtown streets, but I guess during all those cold months of the winter you would really appreciate the system.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/Candrson/skywalk.gif

Wow thanks for the map. Very informative. I love going on the skywalk. Eventhough it has its closing time but the doors will always remain open so you can walk in there even if its 2am.(wouldnt find a reason why but...)

Nice skyline, but not really my type of city.

Maybe the City looks dead because everyone is on an Slipknot concert :-))))

Maybe the City looks dead because everyone is on an Slipknot concert :-))))


lol:lol:

The skywalks connect hotels and offices and what retail there is down there, as in Minneapolis, which is famous for the second-story walkways. It's either blazing hot or bitter cold much of the time in the upper Midwest, so these passageways are useful. You don't see them in other American regions on this scale.

Des Moines, where I've been in the summer and the winter, actually has some good restaurants and hotels downtown; the state capitol area is not far from the high-rises and there are some big companies in banking and insurance there. I think these pix were taken on Sunday mornings or something, when all downtowns of this type of city are pretty empty. I had Raleigh, N.C. all to myself and my bike once on a summer Sunday, and nobody thinks Raleigh is dead. Quite the contrary..

JK in Baltimore

There is a lot to do in Des Moines other than just in Downtown.

yeah...I'm afraid the skywalks are a necessary evil in Des Moines. It is true they take away from street level foot traffic, but in reality a lot of the 72,000+ people who work downtown (yet live in the 'burbs) probably wouldn't transact as much business downtown if it weren't for the skywalks to shield them from the weather.

i agree