Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Indianapolis Monthly

Just about everyone with a job dreams of doing another job—for better or worse, it’s part of the human condition. But what’s far less common is the individual who risks everything for the possibility of absolutely nothing. Ben Roe did that. In December 2016, the Indianapolis native and Herron School of Art graduate left his job as the senior manager of arts at Indy Parks & Recreation to make leather goods in Mexico. If the prospect of doing something like that gins up your anxiety, please also consider that Roe was essentially a hobbyist who had taken a smattering of leatherworking classes and was not fluent in Spanish. But great plans do not always appear great on paper, and the end result is a line of goods called Spark Leatherworks.…

NOW OPEN The emerging remodeling studio and Instagram influencer House Seven Design just added on, creating a lifestyle brand through its first boutique. House Seven Shoppe in Meridian-Kessler will carry the local company’s own furniture, lighting, rugs, ceramic kitchenware, and artwork, previously available only to its clients. If you love high comfort rendered in a soft, creamy color palette with pops of black, natural materials, and industrial accents, expect to stay a while. 111 E. 49th St., 317-384-1068, housesevendesign.com…

THE TURF Owen County FUEL UP Take your pick from two corner coffee shops offering tasty food and drinks. At the quaint Main Street Coffee (1), sip on a dirty chai tea and indulge in a Belgian waffle. If they’re serving tamales, stay for lunch. Just across the street is the Spencer Coffee House (2), where all of the food is made to order. Pair some java from Cadillac Coffee Company in Fort Wayne with a muffin or try the lunchtime soup and sandwich special. Main Street, 1 N. Main St., 812-821-6169, facebook.com/mainstreetcoffeespencer; Spencer, 3 E. Franklin St., 812-652-5014, facebook.com/spencercoffeehouse SUPPORT When the Spencer Pride CommUnity Center (3) opened in 2016, it made Spencer the smallest town in the U.S. with an LGBTQ+ hub. (It also has a Pride festival.)…

This is a game changer: THE PRICE IS RIGHT LIVE, coming to Brown County on March 22, is a theatrical version of the TV show, complete with Plinko and the Big Wheel. You could get picked to “come on down” to play for prizes, the only difference being that it takes place off the air. But who wants to go viral for face-planting in Bidder’s Row anyway? $43 and up. Brown County Music Center, Nashville, browncountymusiccenter.com…

Cheers If last year saw the emergence of craft cocktail spots in some unexpected corners of the city, none were as surprising—or as welcome—as the spiffy watering hole Chad Johnson and Tiff any Obrecht-Johnson introduced to Bates-Hendricks in November. Installed in a turn-of-the-century house at the heart of this near-southside neighborhood, the Johnsons’ 1718: The Bates-Hendricks Housebar has the comfy cred of a long-established tavern with the sleek style of a modern lounge. Nowhere is that more evident than the backroom bar, where glowing shelves illuminate the Indy skyline sketched on the wall. A brief kitchen menu offers deli classics such as a turkey Rachel and a dolled-up ham and cheese with Gruyère on Amelia’s city loaf, as well as daily soups and a loaded potato. An outdoor patio with…

A PLACE LIKE 101 Beer Kitchen need only click on its “Now Open” sign to become an instant hit. Diners are drawn to this bustling restaurant appointed with the familiar elements of casual communal eating—horizontal wood paneling, soft caramel-colored leather booths, open shelves of branded growlers—by some primal desire to drink craft beer and share fried cheese curds. How nice to feel not judged for requesting extra honey-mustard sauce (so sharply sweet and essential to the molten cheddar experience) and to know that no one here will scoff if you eat the hand-cut fries first. In a world that sometimes feels as if it has given you too many forks, this is a safe place. A tightly configured 4,400 square feet of deep booths and window tables tucked into conjoining…

YOU MIGHT HAVE heard we’re electing a new president this November, and though the candidates started campaigning a decade ago, I still haven’t decided who I want it to be. I know for certain who I don’t want it to be, but that has only narrowed the field by one, which isn’t much help. As I write this, there are almost a dozen Democrats vying for the presidency, and a few Republicans, including a man named Roque De La Fuente, who sold used cars in California, then owned 28 car dealerships before transitioning into banking and assisted-living centers. I’ve had extensive dealings with car dealerships, banks, and assisted-living centers, and haven’t enjoyed any of them. I’ve quite possibly found the one presidential candidate worse than Donald Trump. On Rocky’s (that’s…

THE HOME Designed by local architect Avriel Shull—the queen of midcentury modern—this condo in Ladywood Estates on the northeast side retains its righteous charm with original wood paneling and period furniture. Interior design has changed a lot since the 1960s, but Shull’s style has aged gracefully. As she once said, “Beauty is the only thing that lasts.”…

“Unhappy Days: The Erin Moran Story. After her Hollywood star burned out, the former child actor who struggled with addiction and mental illness—too unhinged for even reality TV—lived her final, sad, hard-partying days in a trailer park in Corydon, Indiana.” —JULIA SPALDING, DINING EDITOR “Major Taylor is a fascinating and often overlooked figure in Indianapolis history. It’s time we pay him the recognition he deserves.” —JOSEPH BALL, DIGITAL EDITOR “Feel The Burns: the story of facial-hair legend General Ambrose Burnside.” —DANIEL COMISKEY, DEPUTY EDITOR “I would totally watch a Netflix cooking series hosted by Axl Rose called Appetite for Destruction.” —MARGO WININGER, ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR…

Brian Bosma, the longest-serving House Speaker in Indiana history, steps down from that role when the legislative session draws to a close this month. A look back at some of the GOP powerhouse’s highlights and lowlights. Brian Bosma’s Last Hurrah BOSMA PRESIDED OVER SOME OF INDIANA’S BIGGEST FIGHTS. He was speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives when Democrats fled the state over right-to-work legislation in 2011. He was also the guy wielding the gavel when Hoosiers fought over a proposed same-sex marriage ban, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the education-reform wars that turned Indiana into the state with the biggest school-voucher system in the country. HE DID IT BY CHANGING THE WAY THE INDIANA GENERAL ASSEMBLY THOUGHT. Former Governor Mitch Daniels explains that, prior to his own election…

WHAT’S THE MOST COMMON, CONSTANTLY REPEATED MISTAKE YOU SEE IN SCIENCE-FICTION MOVIES? I have an entire category of those, which I call “mistakes I’ve given up on.” The biggest is where you actually hear explosions in space, or hear spaceships whizzing by. There’s no air in space, so there’s no sound. The original Alien got it right when its marketing materials said, “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Well, no one can hear your spaceship, either. SO YOU MUST BE A REAL WET BLANKET AT THE THEATER. I’m not the total a-hole that people think I am. My goal is to enhance your movie-going experience, not to be the annoying person who says, “That can’t happen.” I’m stereotyped as someone who sort of nitpicks science facts. But my…

The carnitas nachos at Madera Tex Mex BBQ & Tap perfectly exemplify the mashup of bold flavors that co-owner Peter Watson, a former Buffalo Wild Wings franchisee, serves at his new northeastside joint. Salty, fried-to-order corn tortilla chips stay crisp under toppers like queso, charro beans, lime crema, and pulled pork prepared in an all-wood smoker. It’s a great prelude to the house specialty: Texas brisket that cooks up to 16 hours over Madera’s combination of red and white oak logs to a delicious end. 5711 E. 71st St., 317-845-1336, maderatexmexbbq.com…

SARAGA is located at 3605 Commercial Dr.…

Stars Align Jonathan Nesci and Christopher Stuart both have furniture designs in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s permanent collection—and they’re working right here in the museum’s backyard. From their studios—Nesci’s in Columbus and Stuart’s in Carmel—comes deceptively simple sculptural furniture that’s sold through art galleries for tens of thousands of dollars. Nesci became established in Chicago as a designer who pushes the boundaries of digital fabrication in collaboration with master craftsmen, while Stuart is a native eastsider who can weld and learned to design on the job at Thomson Consumer Electronics; he later graduated from Herron School of Art & Design, and can keep a lot of fabrication in-house. When Nesci moved to Indiana, he and Stuart discovered a mutual ambition and mindset. “We both work in collectible design, which…

“Hair is power.” Those words help kick off the first episode of Netflix’s four-part miniseries Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker. They also foreshadow a scene early on, which sets the tone for the entire story. Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer plays earnest, hardworking Sarah Breedlove, a domestic servant washing other people’s clothes for pennies in the early 1900s. It’s years before she would gain fame as one of the wealthiest female business owners in the country, Madam C.J. Walker. She’s in the St. Louis salon of Addie Monroe, played by the luminously beautiful Carmen Ejogo. Monroe has used her own hair-growth product to help Breedlove overcome a serious struggle with hair loss, trading tins of her scalp treatments for free laundry services. Breedlove sees Monroe as a…

DOWNTOWN INCLUDES Fletcher Place, Fountain Square, Mass Ave, Mile Square, Windsor Park Bazbeaux PIZZA As some of Indy’s most celebrated restaurateurs open pie places all over town, we haven’t forgotten where we first found artichoke hearts and goat cheese on our ’za. Bazbeaux has changed little since 1986, when it opened in Broad Ripple, and it hasn’t really needed to. Flat crust baked crunchy. Toppings you won’t find at Domino’s, like pine nuts and prosciutto. And the cheese—mounds of mozzarella blended with provolone and pecorino. 333 Massachusetts Ave., 317-636-7662, bazbeaux.com Beholder CONTEMPORARY A former car-repair shop just outside Woodruff Place sets the stage for a daring piece of performance art that has featured pig-skin noodles, granita-topped uni designed to melt on the tongue, grilled cucumbers, and other transfigured meats and…

Megan Fernandez After 15 years of covering interiors and cool products for IM, director of editorial operations Megan Fernandez has come to believe that design is underappreciated here. Even the creative thinkers who make it, such as those in this month’s feature (p. 54), rarely become household names. “A lot of the best designers here are unknown in town,” she says, “but incredibly successful in their fields.” Eric Deggans NPR’s TV critic Eric Deggans is a bit embarrassed about how much of his knowledge of history comes from television. That’s why he found the liberties producers took in the new Madam Walker miniseries so interesting (p. 72). “Of course, you want the narrative to be engaging,” he says. “But you can’t avoid the reality that many people who see that…

’80s Hairbangers Ball and Saved by the ’90s promise the best throwbacks, minus the house dancers on platforms from decades of yore. Dressing for the theme is encouraged, Reminder: black shirt, ripped jeans, braided belt. There’s also live video gaming these days. So if you want to freak out your grandkids by showing up at their hangout, Wednesday it is. Once your concert tickets are purchased, check the follow-up email. You’ll want to add a VIP table—one of the more recent improvements. No line and table service? Sold. In case you can’t remember, there’s a coat check. Movie Mondays take the historic theater back to its roots. Hoosiers plays on March 16. Don’t get caught watching the paint dry.…

IT WAS KIND of like trying to legislate the Earth into being flat, or decreeing the sky was no longer blue. But in 1897, Indiana came perilously close to legally changing the mathematical value of pi. Edward J. Goodwin was a Hoosier physician who liked to do math in his spare time. He decided to tackle the (nonexistent) debate on whether you could square a circle. Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, which we all know as the infinite number 3.14159265 … and so on. Pi has been recognized as a constant for almost 4,000 years, though its value has changed slightly over time. Ancient Babylonians and Egyptians had rough approximations of pi, and the first calculation of it as a literally endless string of…

Painters often turn to nature for a muse, soaking in breathtaking vistas and gorgeous snowfalls. Or perhaps they draw from the quotidian, finding solace in depicting still-lifes or expressing interior feelings. Inspiration manifests itself in a different way in Cory Robinson’s modernist paintings. The furniture designer and Herron School of Art + Design professor was exploring new patterns for his work when he realized his new table leg designs also worked on paper. Looking at the squat curvature of the shapes, it’s not hard to imagine the connection. However, the sharp colors and ingenious positioning of the forms make these paintings entirely individual—perfect if your current surroundings follow the modernist trend or could stand to be kicked up a notch. Starting at $200, coryrobinsonstudio.com…

WHAT’S THE WRITING ON YOUR HOODIE? Arabic calligraphy. It means “cool grandma.” BUT YOU’RE NOT A GRANDMA. I just love elders and how cute their relationship is with their grandkids. I’ve always wanted to be a cool, funky, wise grandma that brings the community together. DO YOU INTENTIONALLY WEAR MODEST CLOTHING? My religion is Muslim, and I’ve been wearing the hijab since seventh grade. In general, I just like being comfy and not showing skin. WHAT INSPIRES YOUR STYLE? I’m still discovering it. If I see a bowl of fruit and those colors go the way I like, then I’ll try the same ones. There’s also a lot of Muslim girls on Instagram who I follow. HOW DO YOU DRESS FOR BEING A TEACHER? My second-grade students call me “Ms.…

New in Town WHEN CURT AND Sarah Tappendorf bought a dilapidated home in 2017, they planned to fix up the property and rent it. But when they learned it used to be a school (known in 1900 as Schoolhouse 7), they came up with a new plan. “There’s so much history we’ve been able to unravel through the Indiana Historical Society,” says Curt. “It made us realize there’s something special here.” The couple restored the building, exposing the floor-to-ceiling brick walls, and leaned into the theme for Schoolhouse 7 Cafe. “Core Subjects” are all the coffee drinks, from drip to lattes to nitro, with sizes starting at Freshman (12 ounces). Head to the “Extra-Curriculars” on the menu for smoothies, sodas, and blended drinks, and the “Cafeteria” section for food. Family…

Love Handle Mass Ave’s most adventurous sandwich shop hypes its Friday-evening fish fry year-round, but the daily chalkboard menu also lists a fried whitefish sandwich slathered in house mayo and served in a basket of schmaltz-tossed popcorn. 877 Massachusetts Ave., 317-384-1102 The Historic Steer In A thick slab of beer-battered cod spills out of the bun at Irvington’s blast from the past, where the standard sides are a mound of crinkle-cuts and a saucer of creamy coleslaw made from the generations-old establishment’s original recipe. In classic diner form, the fish sandwich here comes topped with a slip of American cheese and a generous glob of tartar sauce. 5130 E. 10th St., 317-356-0996, steerin.net Tried & True Alehouse Two little fried cod sliders might be the cutest way to feast on…

YOU’RE A DEMOCRAT. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO RUN FOR OFFICE IN ZIONSVILLE, WHICH HISTORICALLY HAS BEEN CONSERVATIVE? I believe we get better government when we have contested elections. It raises the bar for whoever ultimately wins because it raises the community’s awareness of what that particular politician does. I’m a Democrat, so I ran as a Democrat. A number of people I spoke to beforehand strongly encouraged me to run as an Independent because we are such a strong Republican community. But for me, it really wasn’t about winning the election. The whole point of doing this was about running. It was about the conversation that happens between announcing and voting. I didn’t think I had a chance, but I decided that wasn’t the calculation we should be making…

MADAM C.J. WALKER PLAYED BY Octavia Spencer (The Help, The Shape of Water) BASED ON The matriarch herself, whose birth name was Sarah Breedlove. Born on a cotton plantation in Louisiana, Walker began losing hair at a young age and ultimately developed a line of African-American hair-care products. ADDIE MONROE PLAYED BY Carmen Ejogo (True Detective, Selma) BASED ON Annie Malone, a rival of Walker’s who ran a competing hair-care products company in St. Louis. In real life, Malone was no villain. She founded the cosmetology school Poro College and gave Walker her start. C.J. WALKER PLAYED BY Blair Underwood (L.A. Law, When They See Us) BASED ON Walker’s third husband, Charles Joseph Walker, who sold newspaper advertising in St. Louis. Although he was never as ambitious as his wife,…

IF YOU HAD a globe in your classroom growing up, chances are it was made in Indianapolis. The George F. Cram Company manufactured millions of them on Georgia and LaSalle streets from the 1930s until 2005, and put Indy on the map as the industry leader. While the business sold every variation imaginable, from Garfield-themed globes to Chinese-language versions, this moon globe was as far as it ventured into space. Capitalizing on the excitement over the lunar landing in 1969, Cram stocked the model for a few years before it was discontinued. Jennifer Gerow, whose grandfather purchased the company during that period and whose family ran it for nearly 40 years, grew up surrounded by globes. But the moon version was special. “It was the one I always wanted to…