Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i Indianapolis Monthly

Six-and-a-half years have passed since we last dedicated a cover story to downtown. That’s a relatively short time for any one thing to go through monumental change, and yet that’s just what happened to the area in and around the Mile Square. In that bygone issue, we assessed the potential of some big projects—then, nothing more than renderings— coming down the pike: the JW Marriott, the Indiana Convention Center expansion, the Georgia Street “Super Bowl Village,” and the Cultural Trail. These days, I can barely imagine the landscape without those four additions, but you could argue, quite rightly, that without the Cultural Trail, the downtown of August 2009 would not be so different than that of March 2016. And yet here we are, with neighborhoods linked and revitalized because of…

More than a few readers stopped by to read Philip Gulley’s column on being a challenging neighbor (“Annoyance Next Door,” December). “Thanks for the fun read. The world would be a better place if everyone had a Brian in their life.” —PAUL BATURA via Facebook “I think your neighbor Brian needs an attorney. Big settlement coming!” —MIKE DROOGER via Facebook “Our front porch is always open for visitors.” —KELLY NICHOLS via Facebook “Sending this to my mother. She always enjoys a good neighbor harassment story.” —JEAN RHOADES AMBROSE via Facebook Love it? Hate it? Send us your feedback to letters@IndianapolisMonthly.com, or post a comment on Facebook (Indianapolis Monthly) or Twitter (@IndyMonthly). Letters and social-media posts may be edited for length, style, or clarity. Please include your full name for the…

IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW BETTER, you might mistake it for Hoosier modesty. When this month’s issue of Playboy hits stands, the magazine’s 63-year tradition of completely bare beauties wraps up like a bunny after skinnydipping in the pool. And longtime local ScottFlanders is the guy handing out the robes. Flanders grew up on the west side of Indy, where his family attended the extremely conservative Chapel Rock Christian Church. “Of course that made it inevitable that I would become CEO of Playboy,” he says, laughing. “It was a family environment not that different from the one Hugh Hefner grew up in a generation earlier in Chicago.” When Flanders took the reins of the Beverly Hills company in 2009 after stints as CEO of an Indiana tech company and a California…

YOU’VE SAID YOU WANT THIS TOUR TO “BANG THE DRUM ABOUT OUR DEMOCRACY.” HOW DOES OUR DEMOCRACY LOOK TO YOU AT THE MOMENT? It’s not incredibly healthy. There was an article in The New York Times recently about how well protected the wealthiest are from taxation. The rest of us are paying a larger percentage of our incomes than they are. And on top of that, we’re not voting as well as we could be. WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT FROM THIS SHOW? The three of us are going to participate in each other’s music onstage. They’re really talented women. It’s political, but it’s nonpartisan and everyone’s welcome. UNTIL RECENTLY, YOU WERE PERFORMING WITH YOUR EX-BOYFRIEND ROBERT PLANT. HOW DIFFERENT WAS THAT FOR YOU—BOTH MUSICALLY AND BEING IN THE SPOTLIGHT DATING…

LOVE INDY? Michael Stout wants you to say it with flowers. After making his mark on Cincinnati’s soil, the Greenwood native has returned with his business, VisuaLingual, which makes adorably bagged seed bombs for guerilla gardening, or the practice of planting without permission. The compact balls of soil and seeds can be launched into neglected lots to create pop-up plots. As a teen, Stout used to hang out downtown. “I painted a lot of graffiti and was really involved in thinking about the city as a place where creativity happens,” he says. “There’s this dialogue between places and the people who live in them.” Eventually he put down the spray can in search of a different way to make his mark on the urban landscape. In 2009, just after earning…

Test Drive FIRST THINGS FIRST: There’s no way to climb into a pod at the Better Being Float Center without feeling like Mork (Google it, kids). Picture a giant alabaster egg filled with salt water and soothing periwinkle lights—yeah, we live in the future. Space-age as it sounds, the float tank blocks out external stimuli, allowing you not only to unplug, but to briefly unexist. At Better Being, which accurately bills itself not as a spa but as a sensory-deprivation experience, $59 gets you 90 minutes in body-temperature water that holds you up by magic. Okay, and a little science—900 pounds of dissolved Epsom salts increase the water’s density, and up goes your body like a buoy. Getting your Zen on does require some decisions, though, such as whether you’re…

Trend “Rightsized” houses might not enjoy the buzz, blogs, and bingewatching that tiny homes do, but well-designed spaces under 1,500 square feet are trending, too. Here, three charmers: 506 N. ORIENTAL ST. $200,000 1BR/1BA, 1,388 sq. ft. SELLING POINTS Cottage Home, adjacent to Mass Ave; repurposed wood floors; new HVAC; custom kitchen with stainless-steel farm sink; backyard chickens and coop available. CONTACT Agent Kim Farinella, Nottingham Realty Group, 489-3441 602 N. STATE ST., GREENFIELD $159,900 3BR/1BA, 1,408 sq. ft. SELLING POINTS Lots of updates (furnace, central air, deck, gutters, on-demand water heater); enclosed front porch with wood ceiling; walk-in closets. CONTACT Agent Timothy Yazel, RE/MAX Realty Group, 512-1533 5016 N. GUILFORD AVE., UNIT 1 $178,499 2BR/1BA, 988 sq. ft. SELLING POINTS SoBro rehab; detached two-car garage; fireplace; walk-up attic with…

The dressed-up duck breast on Cerulean’s newly expanded lunch menu follows an unusual flight pattern, p. 48. Don’t call them barbecue. Broad Ripple Chip Co.’s new Sweet & Spicy variation is much more subtle than that, tasting lightly sugared at first bite with a flavor that fades into a slow burn thanks to a little kiss of habanero. The recipe, inspired and tested by owner Mark McSweeney’s sons in Bloomington, offers the same satisfying crunch as the original artisan chip, but gets tumbled with a new blend of seasonings for a fresh spin that is just as addictive.…

Cheers Though it ranks as one of the key players in the tiki-drink canon, the mai tai—which takes its name from the Tahitian term for “very good”—struggles with an identity crisis. Traditionally presented as a simple mixture of dark and light rums shaken vigorously with orgeat syrup, triple sec, and lime juice, it is, in its most classic presentation, a brown drink poured over crushed ice and garnished with little more than a cherry, lime, or sprig of mint. Purists who abhor tooty-fruity add-ins can find original takes at places like Tini, where bartenders experimenting with highend, barrel-aged rums have concocted a rendition with grapefruit, cinnamon, and the almond-ginger spice of falernum syrup. Versions that have rotated through the cocktail lists at Libertine and Revolucion (pictured here) play fairly straight.…

Your dining bucket list begins on page 129, with IM’s exclusive Restaurant Guide BETWEEN THE standing-room-only crowds, pounding honky-tonk backbeat, and nightclub-decibel chatter bouncing offevery distressed-wood and exposed-brick surface, Mass Ave’s fashionably scruffy newcomer, The Eagle, could send a person into sensory overload on a busy night. Even the house-pickled peppers–topped Bloody Mary has a lot going on—its smoky, spicy depths darkened with Guinness and a peppery grit. As we sipped spiked tomato juice and took in the busy scene inside the former Front Page watering hole, our bartender swooped in and offered a moment of clarity: “If you’re going to order the fried chicken, don’t mess around—get the whole bird.” It’s a gutsy move, serving fried chicken to a Hoosier audience raised on Hollyhock Hill and Gray Brothers Cafeteria,…

THERE WAS A MAN in Danville when I was growing up who loved America more than everyone else. He never came right out and said it, but that was the feeling one had when talking with him. He passed out little flag pins, doing so in such a way that it made you feel like a traitor for not owning one in the first place. “I see you don’t have a flag pin,” he’d say, pulling one from his pocket and sticking it on your shirt. There was never a war he didn’t support, though never quite enough to go himself. He wrote letters to the Danville Gazette urging us to be American, as if we were on the fence and thinking of going over to the Finns. He included…

Californians would call the change coming to the Mile Square’s eastern edge “the big one.” The old Market Square Arena site has been poised to rumble since the building came down in 2001. Now seismic transformation is here—in the next two years, the area’s population will increase by a few thousand people once the Downtown Transit Center, a Cummins headquarters, 360 Market Square tower, Whole Foods, and the 21c Museum Hotel all cut their ribbons within a few blocks. The destruction metaphor isn’t apt, of course. Yes, there will be challenges. A population explosion and new public greenspaces bring security concerns for businesses like City Market, for instance. But the overwhelming effect will amount to perhaps the most urbane pocket of the city. Modern architecture will push Indy’s staid aesthetic…

SCAMS A growing population means more marks for creative crooks. Watch out for these tourist-zone fake-a-roos. The Balloon Bust In a park or plaza, a jolly band of students entertains you with silly antics, eventually tying a balloon around your wrist—then hostilely demands to be paid (handsomely) for it. The Helping Hand At a bus or train station, a person kindly offers to assist you with luggage and escort you to the correct platform. Once there, the “porter” won’t unhand your bag without an unreasonably large tip. The Slip-and-Fall A pedestrian has an “accident” next to your car as you pull out of a parking garage, hoping you were looking the other way and will believe you hit the scammer. For some cash, the “victim” won’t call the police.…

Peaceful, Easy Feeling As housing boomed and population grew, key crime stats in the IMPD’s Downtown District actually remained flat or even dipped—with one notable exception. Window Shopping “Property crimes are the most common type,” says district commander Karen Arnett, “specifi-cally thefts from vehicles.” Not surprising, given the 90,000-plus parking spaces downtown. Say When Mom always believed nothing good happens after midnight. She may be right: In the last half of 2015, crimes (likely) involving booze—public intoxication, OWI, battery, disorderly conduct, resisting police—tended to happen late. Source: IMPD incident reports Crash Course Rush-hour traffic is a fact of downtown life. So are hit-and-runs. This list of the worst streets from six months last year might make you change your route come commute time—when (big surprise) a third of those wrecks…

In the Cultural Trail’s early days, planners talked up a detour behind a few Mass Ave pubs as a “little pocket of Europe.” Just after the Park Avenue stoplight, the trail curls right then left, over a buried device that releases a perfume of English roses, into a quiet canyon of old brick buildings, past restaurant patios, and onto College. Enchanté, indeed. That hidden-in-plain-sight allure now extends to a trail-adjacent triangle formed by Mass Ave, College Avenue, and New York Street, plus a few adjoining blocks. For years, commuters sped through this area via College, not giving a second thought to the patchwork of warehouses and boardedup buildings just outside historic Lockerbie. Developers did, though, realizing that Mass Ave didn’t actually offer many places to live. Under-the-radar townhomes and rentals…

“An Economic Improvement District (EID), which is used in every other downtown in the country. It’s a way to collect a dedicated reserve that would be used in the district to stay competitive on maintenance, beautification, etc. The EID could fund a circulator, like Nashville, Tennessee’s.” —CATHERINE ESSELMAN, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR “Turn Georgia Street into a true pedestrian district: shops, outdoor markets, cafes, and restaurants spilling into the street.” —ERIKA HINSHAW, PLANNING AND DATA MANAGER “Move the freight traffic out of downtown and convert the CSX rail line to something like The High Line in New York.” —SHERRY SEIWERT, PRESIDENT “A garden to attract monarch butterflies and pollinators. Development destroys native habitats for these important species.” —ANNE MASCHMEYER, BEAUTIFICATION DIRECTOR “More activities in downtown parks. Large, interactive, vibrant art…

RCA Dome fabric lanterns WHERE East 10th Street’s I-65 underpass WHO Storrow Kinsella Associates for the East 10th Street Civic Association, Indianapolis Fabrications SUTTON SAYS “This is my favorite repurposing of People for Urban Progress’s RCA Dome fabric.” GET THE LOOK Indianapolis Fabrications’s varied portfolio includes a custom bed frame and a BBQ trailer—a perfect hire for a one-of-a-kind element at home. indianapolisfabrications.com “Pipe Down!” installation WHERE Circa apartments WHO Kipp Normand, Nick Allman D+F SUTTON SAYS “This quirky mystery machine is comprised of an old air compressor and a tangle of corroded pipes, valves, and fittings that were salvaged from the Mitchel & Scottbuilding.” GET THE LOOK Normand accepts commissions for “whimsical assemblages” that reimagine historic objects. harrisoncenter.org/kipp-normand Merrill Street platform WHERE Cultural Trail in Fletcher Place WHO Luur for Keep Indianapolis…

But I like playing in the house with these girls, I thought as my grandmother urged me to go outside and roughhouse with my male cousins. I was a 9-yearold named Greg, and it was the first time I realized I might be a little different than the other boys. It’s not that I felt like a girl—I didn’t yet know what that meant. The girls just seemed safer to me somehow. Boys were intimidating and wild. ¶ As a Christian kid growing up in a small Midwestern town in the 1960s, these were strange feelings. Our family’s faith undergirded everything: morals, discipline, punishment. Striving to be a good boy was the only conceivable course of action. As the years went by, however, conforming became harder and harder. Sixth grade:…

NEW & UPDATED Marrow................................... 132 Thunderbird.......................... 135 Meridian................................... 140 Recess.................................... 140 DOWNTOWN INCLUDES Fletcher Place, Fountain Square, Mass Ave, Mile Square 1913 Restaurant UPSCALE COMFORT Farm-table standards get a glossy do-over at this hotel restaurant tucked just offof the polished marble lobby of the Omni Severin. The dining room, all dark lacquer and leathery browns, feels a bit stuffy, but diners easily warm up to a menu that includes a root beer–cured pork chop as big as a catcher’s mitt, topped with sweet bacon marmalade; and half a chicken roasted to a juicy, rosy hue and plated with succotash and a little tin pan of sweet-corn “milk” for dipping. The sides— such as macaroni-and-cheese pie and sauteed Brussels sprouts—get passed around the table, and vintage cocktails come courtesy of skilled…

INDIANA THE TOP 50 An alphabetical listing of the lawyers who ranked top of the list in the 2016 Indiana Super Lawyers nomination, research and blue ribbon review process INDIANA THE TOP 25 WOMEN An alphabetical listing of the women lawyers who ranked top of the list in the 2016 Indiana Super Lawyers nomination, research and blue ribbon review process THE LIST BY PRIMARY AREA OF PRACTICE The list was finalized as of September 2, 2015. Any updates to the list (for example, status changes or disqualifying events) will be reflected on superlawyers.com. Names and page numbers in RED indicate a profile on the specified page. THE LIST BY PRIMARY AREA OF PRACTICE The list was finalized as of September 2, 2015. Any updates to the list (for example, status…

THIS DRONE IS SUPER COOL. WAS IT ALSO SUPER EXPENSIVE? When they were purchased a year ago, the price tag for the DJI Phantom 2 drone, the camera gimbal, the GoPro Hero 4 Black, and a video downlink came to around $2,000. You can buy the equivalent for less now. ARE THERE A LOT OF REGULATIONS? There are some federal rules including, most recently, registration of any drone weighing more than a halfpound. For these photos downtown, I had to get permission from authorities at the heliport and abide by a set maximum altitude of 110 feet. SOUNDS FAIR. DO YOU THINK WE’LL SEE A LOT MORE OF THESE IN THE NEAR FUTURE? Yes, I imagine selfies are going to get much more epic.…

Even with all of Brown’s accomplishments, she still has goals. Chief among them: introducing the world to her new jewelry line, It’s a Diva Thang. The pieces are large, colorful, and born from her years on the road with delicate jewelry that would get broken in transit. SHE GOT HER START LIKE ARETHA—SINGING IN THE CHURCH CHOIR. Brown always assumed she would have a career in gospel or musical theater. She sang at her church, had musical roles on stage at Crispus Attucks High School, and majored in music at Oakwood University in Alabama. AN ALL-TIME GREAT GAVE HER A WAKE-UP CALL. As a grad student at the IU Jacobs School of Music, she got a “kick in the butt” from famed soprano Virginia Zeani. Zeani recognized a remarkable gift…

Chic trinkets are all over the map at Carmel’s Clay Terrace mall, p. 36. Irvington-based Inhabit took its housewares to new dimensions in 2004 with the launch of Wall Flats, a textural 3-D wall tile that’s installed at Google’s headquarters and on Big Brother’s set. Last fall, savvy owners Jennifer Masten and Mike Tuttle made waves in the design world again with the launch of Cast, a waterproof counterpart to their famed invention that’s ideal for bathrooms and outdoor entertainment areas. This sculptural, lightweight concrete (displayed at the showroom) has already made its way into haute Silicon Valley residences. Now that’s a rock-solid reputation. $20–$22/square foot. 211 S. Ritter Ave., 636-1699, inhabitliving.com…

LOVE YOUR BODY 1726 E. 86th St., 663-8440, loveyour bodyboutique.com DON’T MISS The city’s biggest selection of Bed Stu footwear, including leather riding boots and gladiator sandals ($110-$270). IF YOU’RE CONSTANTLY on the run, then you’ll want to take a breather to peruse Nora loungewear shop Love Your Body, where owner Lisa Berry’s mantra is “downward dog to date night.” The yoga instructor, dancer, and mom practices what she preaches—she embodies the trendy “athleisure” look of the shop, oft en sporting a Tees by Tina cashmere wrap ($110) with the floral Kira Grace tights ($98) she donned at that morning’s sweat session. Berry wants to make over your comfort-centric wardrobe with similar haute-cozy basics you can mix and match for the studio or a girls’ night out, ranging from Kendall…

WALLS Taylor selected “coral reef” paint for this room. “Everybody looks good in this color,” he says. “So when we entertain, everyone looks their best.” CURTAINS Ornate Chinese fabric inspired the room’s bright color scheme. ART Taylor has an affinity for 18th-and 19thcentury portraits, like this one of famous mariner Sir John Salt’s mother. PORCELAIN He’s an avid collector of rare European heraldry plates, which depict a family’s coat of arms. Italian Countess diNardi gifted Taylor a selection of 1800-era designs when he was working for a menswear company in Italy. HUTCH The Hulman family used to own this early-20th-century wooden piece. Taylor plucked it from Midland Arts & Antiques Market in Carmel. TRINKET Taylor’s wife bought this decorative box at an Elizabeth Taylor auction in New York. “It was…

Discovery SOMETHING ABOUT ADULTHOOD convinced us that cake is for special occasions only. Good news! Every Friday is a special occasion at 10 Johnson Avenue, where owner Greg Wolfe launched Cake Night as soon as he opened his cafe in Irvington last fall. With sweets on the counter, dimmed lights overhead, and live music on the stage, Wolfe aimed to create what he thought was missing in the neighborhood: a dessert stop for grown-ups. “There are places that are well-lit, cheery, and great for families, but not ideal for adults who are on a date,” he says. To the delight of diet-restricted patrons used to watching Indy’s cake scene from the sidelines, every dessert on the counter is also gluten-free. “My mom has been gluten-free for 20 years, before it…

THREE DAYS AFTER the happy groundbreaking of the Tarkington Park redevelopment this past September, 10-year-old Deshaun Swanson sat inside a home two blocks away. Deshaun, who played football at the park once a week, had come with his mother to pay respects to an elderly woman whose wake was being held at the home. A car pulled up outside. Bullets zipped through the house. And before anyone knew what was happening, Deshaun crumpled to the floor, the 93rd homicide victim of a record-breaking year. As the shooters disappeared into the night, they took with them an unknown motive and whatever sense of security neighbors had left. If there was any doubt that Butler-Tarkington was in the middle of a crime wave, Deshaun’s death eliminated it. Six people had been killed…

1930s Cocktails Repeal 630 Virginia Ave. Bubble Gum Joe, made with Jamaican bitters, grapefruit juice, gin from on-premise distillery 12.05, and Aperitivo Cappelletti. It’s surely the only drink in town garnished with a bubble-gum swizzle stick. Craft Beer Chilly Water Brewing Company 719 Virginia Ave. One-Hop Wonder IPA for hopheads; Built to Last Pilsner for everybody else. Distilled Spirits Hotel Tango 702 Virginia Ave. Housemade gin packs the punch in the Gin Bravo, while the muddled berries and basil deliver the flavor. Divey Longnecks The Dugout 621 Virginia Ave. Miller High Life— watch your street cred soar. THE OBSTACLE Resistance to Nightlife Used to the area’s peace and quiet, a group of residents thwarted chef Neal Brown’s plan to open a taqueria with live music and late hours. Other homeowners…

BEST DAY OUT Some cities introduce bikeshare before there’s anywhere fun to use it. Indy did it right by completing the Cultural Trail first. Do museums in the morning, lunch and shopping on Mass Ave, and cocktails in Fletcher Place—all for an $8 daily pass. BEST APARTMENT TREND Who needs historic charm when you have a rooftop swimming pool? The sunniest deck is at Artistry (451 E. Market St.), where residents can lounge on a submerged tanning shelf and drink in a wide-open skyline view. BEST APARTMENT LOCATION Captivated by the flashy cars at The Conrad’s entrance, most fail to notice the apartments right next door. Residents of 26 West (26 W. Washington St.), where one-bedrooms average $1,020, enjoy the most primo spot in the city, hands down. BEST OFFICE…

Rachel Simon, daughter of Herb Simon, has put 14,321 books into circulation on the streets through a program of free micro-libraries called The Public Collection. “Harvesting Knowledge” (pictured below) at City Market lets users operate a machine to simulate the process of unearthing reading material from the ground. “There has always been a love of reading in my family—Dad especially. Everywhere he went, he had a book under his arm. We still do our trips to the bookstore, now with my daughter. I appreciate that I have that, and I realize it’s not the case for many kids. I also have a passion for education and equality in the sense of resource allocation. You’re going to reach a lot of people with a project like this—and you don’t run across…

I vividly remember peering out over Georgia Street and seeing Al Roker. He kept saying the sweet-sounding word “Indianapolis” on national TV. Moments after the game, everyone was hugging. Indy had just pulled offthe unimaginable—a 46-degree, zip-lining, media-applauding, Jimmy Fallon– attending Super Bowl. A dream if you’re in the business of marketing a city, as I am with Visit Indy. The community spent four years planning the Super Bowl, then rode the wave of goodwill for weeks after the confetti fell. The game had galvanized us. Then reality set in. The mood turned frigid, gloomy. In 2015, a chance to host the 2018 game pepped us up again, then NFLowners nodded at the wrong “-apolis,” awarding the Super Bowl to Minnesota instead. The clouds rolled back in. Sitting around tables…

It’s the moment a cyclist fears: While riding my squeaky Cannondale through an intersection at the corner of Michigan Street and Senate Avenue, a half-ton Dodge Ram T-boned me. My path near IUPUI had come to the crosswalk then, but I had the right-of-way. The truck driver’s carelessness led to mangled steel, an ambulance, and a neck brace. Yet I have become a strident bikecommuting advocate in the five years since—and the city is catching up. Former Mayor Greg Ballard ushered in the Cultural Trail, 200 miles of bike lanes and greenways, and a progressive Complete Streets law, which mandates that every new and remodeled road consider all forms of transit, including bikes. The most prominent result is the recent Pennsylvania Street redesign, which moved parking away from the curb…

As a Carmelite who commutes downtown almost daily, I have found a lot of joy in witnessing the transformation of Indianapolis. Indy’s core is bursting with enthusiasm and vibrancy. But ever since Nordstrom fled Circle Centre, it seems that the majority of Indy’s fashionistas have abandoned downtown as a viable shopping destination for apparel. Style-loving souls like owners of Boomerang BTQ, Lux & Ivy, and Righno continue to try and plug the gaping clothingboutique hole downtown, but the harsh reality is that making money as a small business is incredibly difficult. As I write this, Pattern Workshop is shedding its retail operations and switching our Mass Ave storefront into a maker co-op of sorts. For every person who is excited about “made in Indiana,” 50 end up shopping at their…

A neighborhood can’t consider itself trendy without an indie coffee shop and microbrewery, so it’s a good thing the west side of downtown has both in Quills Coffee and Two Deep Brewing, each new additions. The one-two punch of IUPUI’s growth and the Cultural Trail brought other new life to Senate and Capitol avenues between Michigan and 10th streets in the form of swanky apartments (Axis has a rooft op Sky Bar and courtyard pool; 800 Cap offers compact loft s), which complement established amenities like Mo’Joe Coffeehouse, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, Italian-ice emporium Fresco on the canal—and the beloved waterway itself. The canal is “one of our best assets in the city,” says Catherine Esselman, Downtown Indy’s real estate development director. But only recently has the surrounding area…

Everyone needs a place to play—a spot to watch TV, stream the latest movie, or curl up in front of the fireplace. In Mark and Jenny Vyain’s basement, you can do all those things in one room with plenty of space for friends, family, Charlie the Labradoodle, and Felix the cat. The Vyains recently gave their basement its second remodel since moving into the Hamilton County home seven years ago. The couple liked the space’s open floor plan, but the area needed a facelift. “The basement was old and dingy,” Mark says. “But one of the things we liked about the basement was how open the space was. We wanted to be able to have friends and family over without being separated.” The initial remodeling project included three shades of…

Kate Franzman An urban farmer and beekeeper, freelance writer Kate Franzman knows a thing or two about pollination. So naturally, she connected with seed-bomb maker Michael Stout, the subject of her piece this month (“Petal Pusher,” p. 33). “The idea of planting flowers as a political act really resonates with me,” she says. “I feel the same way about growing food and setting up beehives.” Linda Vaccariello Freelance writer Linda Vaccariello attended a halfdozen plays in a weekend for her spotlight on Louisville’s Humana Festival (“Curtain Call,” p. 40). And she looks forward to her annual trek to Derby City for another reason: brunch. “Louisvillians love their breakfast joints, and there are a lot of them,” she says. “In that way, the town is a lot like New York City.…

The downtown parade kicks offat 11:30 a.m., but go early for the block party on Vermont Street between Meridian and Pennsylvania. IndyGo (Bragh) is a nice alternative to Uber’s surge-pricing shenanigans. Layer. It’s March in Indiana. Skip the corned beef and cabbage. Mass Ave’s Nine Irish Brothers serves an authentic Irish breakfast, all day. Sit near an announcer’s stand (Meridian and Vermont, and the east side of the War Memorial) to best see the dancers jig and reel. Don’t panic if someone asks “where’s the crack?” In Ireland, craic means fun. Speaking of the native tongue, when you raise a pint to the Old Sod, say sláinte (slan-cha).…

THINK BACK to the jump-roping you might have done in school—all that playground thudding and criss-crossing, while you intoned a few little rhymes. Now add spins, twists, multiple airborne teenagers, and some light breakdancing, and you’ve got the Indy Air Bears. Boys and girls both get into it, and it’s among the more democratic sports. “Any kid can do this if they work hard enough,” says founder Niki Glover, who launched the group 30 years ago as a phys-ed teacher at Arlington Elementary on the city’s southeast side. “You don’t have to be a super-athlete.” We’ll take her word for that, as the group’s history of halftime shows and YouTube videos is a treasury of flips, backbends, two people doing splits, dozens of kids leaping in unison, and this one…

Marie Webster is to quilters what Peyton Manning is to Colts fans—the standard by which all others are measured. In fact, she has an advantage over Manning: Her former home in Marion, Indiana, houses the Quilters Hall of Fame. So you can imagine the excitement in the sewing world when the Indianapolis Museum of Art announced A Joy Forever: Marie Webster Quilts, which opens March 4. We asked Heather Givans, the sassy owner of the Mass Ave quilt shop Crimson Tate, to pick six blankets from the show and tell us what she thinks. Iris (1910) “Look at all those pieces! It’s really impressive. I assume she started with a hunk of the design and then repeated it over and over. It’s so ornate—to be revered, for sure.” Bedtime (1912)…

THE THREAD NEW DIGS Lingerie boutique Pillow Talk has relocated (3933 E. 82nd St.) and revamped its racks with men’s loungewear by Swedish brand Bread & Boxers. TRENDING Good things come in small packages—that’s the theme in designer handbags right now. Michael Kors interprets the mini trend with little leather backpacks decked out in studs. DISCOVERY Vintage 54 Collective (5335 Winthrop Ave.), a recently opened antiques mall, stocks chippy, handpainted furniture and Lux & Ivy thrift ed clothing. Get the Hot List of great buys on Wednesday mornings at Indianapolis Monthly.com…

Zade Barham, Hoverboard Master WHERE DID YOU GET THAT HOVERBOARD? My mommy (Hailey-Brooke Barham, owner of House of Z boutique)! You use it when you don’t want to walk. IS WALKING HARD SOMETIMES? Yes, especially for Grandpa and Granny because they’re too old and tiny. If they got this scooter, they could zoom off! CAN YOU DO ANY TRICKS? I put my knees on the black part—it’s kind of like a little slug going fast. Then I put my elbows on the ground and slide around like a termite. HAVE YOU EVER FALLEN OFF? Yep, but my back protected me like a shield. WHAT DO YOU WEAR WHEN YOU RIDE? My shark-booty pants. The pockets are teeth, so when I put something inside, it’s like the shark eats it! WHO…

ADDRESS 912 Forest Blvd. North Dr. FINAL PRICE $318,000 AGENTS Nicole and Paul Scherrer, United Real Estate Indianapolis DURING A TIME WHEN 77 was the average number of days on the market, according to MIBOR Realty Association, this midcenturymodern house in the Windcombe neighborhood on Indianapolis’s north side sold in just four days. How? The Realtors zeroed in on the target buyer: someone with an affinity for midcentury design. In the listing, Paul Scherrer, co-owner of United Real Estate Indianapolis, highlighted the home’s “unadulterated” state and focused on the original floor plan and period features like the laminate countertops in the enclosed kitchen and bathrooms, and maple built-ins in the library/den. Not every home has such an obvious target buyer, but Scherrer says every house does claim a “point of…

“To keep your vegetables from getting mushy, use high heat to start, and be sure to use enough oil or butter in the pan. And take them offjust before they’re done. Carryover cooking is true of vegetables, as well as meats and starches.” The Loft Restaurant’s sous chef, who joined the team at Traders Point Creamery’s farmstead restaurant in October after stints at Restaurant Tallent and Plow & Anchor THE FEED SIDE DISH Peter George and Thomas Main of Tinker Street plan to transform a former taco shop across from their popular Herron-Morton spot into an Italian-themed restaurant. TASTE Smoking Goose shows us how the sausage (and pate) is made during its Full-on Forcemeat class on March 24. UPDATE Zionsville summer favorite Patrick’s Kitchen and Drinks has shifted its dinner…

AVOCADO TOAST Three Carrots City Market, 403-5867, threecarrotsindy.com. A simple schmear of buttery avocado is sprinkled with cracked pepper and brightened with lemon juice, emphasizing the fruity overtones of this satisfying City Market breakfast bite. CRAZY TOAST Tulip Noir 1224 W. 86th St., 848-5252, tulip noircafe.com. This riffon cinnamon toast elevates mom’s traditional breakfast treat with a mound of apples, walnuts, and streusel crumble atop a piece of crunchy whole wheat. TUSCAN TOAST The Garden Table 908 E. Westfield Blvd., 737-2531, thegarden table.com. Among the creative ways bread-loving chef Ian Rossman tops toast, a rich Tuscan version establishes a base of pesto and then layers on arugula, goat cheese, and lamb bacon. Cherry tomatoes add color, and the optional crispyedged fried egg gives the presentation that classic diner-style flourish. NAUGHTY…

FIRST RACE SINCE THE ACCIDENT—READY? Every driver is excited to get back behind the wheel, but I don’t think there’s any doubt that my desire to get back to St. Pete and back to racing is going to be higher than everyone else’s. ARE YOU A LITTLE NERVOUS OR ANXIOUS? It’s not something that I’m worried about. I’m excited. I think, fundamentally, drivers are wired wrong. At some point every driver will experience something that would give a normal person pause. We’re wired in a way that, even if something happens in the car that takes us out, the first thing we’re thinking about is how and when we’re going to get back in. YOU’VE SAID BEFORE THAT YOU DON’T REMEMBER THE ACTUAL WRECK. DO YOU THINK YOU REPRESSED IT…

HOTSPOTS 62 FLETCHER PLACE 64 CITYWAY 68 MARKET EAST 72 COLLEGE AVENUE 74 THE CANAL HIGHLIGHTS 63 A BLUEINDY USER’S MANUAL 64 HACK YOUR NIGHT OUT 69 Q+A WITH STARCHITECT DEBORAH BERKE 70 OUR SUPER BOWL HANGOVER 71 BIKE LANES: I WAS RUN OVER BY A TRUCK 73 ROOFTOP PARTIES WHAT’S NEXT? 66 6 BIG DEVELOPMENTS 68 OBSCENE RENT 70 PANHANDLING CRACK DOWN 72 THE COCA-COLA PLANT MAKEOVER 75 MOVIES ON THE CANAL…

The CityWay Bark Park on the north side of the property provides a surprisingly fertile breeding ground for meet-cute moments. The Alexander’s bar, Plat 99 (333 S. Delaware St.), is typically full of attractive people. If it’s an offnight, you can always admire the beauty of renowned L.A. designer Jorge Pardo’s swarm of vivid pendant lamps. Happy Hour Thursdays (georgia streetindy.com), a few blocks away on Georgia Street, allow residents to mix with other downtowners over cocktails in a laid-back, al fresco environment. The brand-new, glassed-in YMCA at CityWay (430 S. Alabama St.) offers a full slate of classes and sports leagues (such as five-on-five indoor soccer, called “futsal”)—a stimulating way to stay fit while meeting other singles. THE OBSTACLE The Train Trestles Bulky tracks with dark underpasses make pedestrians…

The Demand Downtown rent is nearly double the city’s average, and occupancy is at 97 percent. 1) The one where IUPUI students live 9 ON CANAL 9th Street and Senate Avenue $1,321 (535 sq. ft.) 9oncanal.com 2) The one we confuse with the Stutz Building 800 CAP St. Clair Street and Capitol Avenue $1,100 (675 sq. ft.) 800capapts.com 3) The one that burned down during construction COSMOPOLITAN ON THE CANAL Michigan Street and Senate Avenue $1,265 (653 sq. ft.) cosmopolitanonthecanal.com 4) The one above the new Marsh AXIS Michigan Street and Capitol Avenue $1,415 (741 sq. ft.) indyaxis.com 5) The one by Andrew Luck’s place 333 PENN Pennsylvania and Vermont streets $975 (958 sq. ft.) 333pennapts.com 6) The triangular one MILLIKAN ON MASS Mass Ave and Michigan Street $1,160 (690…

These projects are not your introduction to Indianapolis. I designed a house in Indianapolis more than 20 years ago, and I am currently designing one there. But I have worked in Columbus, Indiana, and in Cincinnati and Lexington and Louisville. I say this with affection: I see this collection of cities as actually having better architectural history than they themselves acknowledge. What I am seeing in Indianapolis that I love is the revitalization of old buildings that represent the fabric of the city. The Indianapolis streetscape is quite beautiful. The worst thing about Indianapolis is too many goddamn parking lots. There isn’t enough urban fabric for the streets to feel as rich and varied as they should. The Cummins Indy Distribution Headquarters (pictured above) your firm designed will be replacing…

[Hears a cup jingle] I just spent $15 at Patachou for the third time this week. I can afford to give someone who’s apparently hungry a couple bucks. I should share. But they’ll just buy alcohol. That old excuse. This person sits here every day and has never appeared drunk. I’ve heard these panhandlers make a couple hundred bucks a day and give a cut of it to a pimp. It’s lucrative, or they wouldn’t do it. You’re being conned. IMPD’s Homeless Unit says panhandlers by interstate ramps might be coordinated, but those downtown are often genuinely needy. Last year, 16 potential conventions cited panhandling as a reason for going elsewhere. That was $24 million in business. I get it. Indy’s brand is friendliness, cleanliness, and safety. But we’re also…

Saturday Mornings You wouldn’t believe how many 5Ks and other runs take place in the city center. Monitor street closings on Downtown Indy’s blog (blog.downtownindy.org/traffic-alert). Mass Ave At night, cars crawl as drivers search and wait for available meters. Don’t bother—whip into the Pulliam Square garage (350 N. Delaware St.; $7 daily max), which is one block away and never full. On the east end, park at your own risk in the large Center Township Trustee surface lot (863 Massachusetts Ave.), behind Homespun boutique. Some businesses give their customers a green light to use the lot on weekends, when it tends to be unmonitored. Pacers Games Duh. Avoid the area between Bankers Life Fieldhouse and Monument Circle. Get in and out via Washington, Maryland, and Alabama streets east of the…

KEEP DREAMING DONE DEAL BUSKERS Welcomed, as long as they follow rules (passive asks, no impeding the right-of-way). There might be more spots for them at the April 24 Canal Awakens, a new festival to celebrate the opening of the season. PLAYGROUND Fundraising is underway for a fancy “playspace” with climbing structures and slides at the Walnut Street basin, right offthe Cultural Trail. OUTDOOR MOVIES Whether floating below Buggs Temple or suspended from the 10th Street bridge, a screen likely will be erected later this year in the north basin (already terraced for prime viewing) to test waterfront films. BEER GARDEN There are some strings attached— temporary alcohol permits, access issues, ID checks—but Schultz says a space for sipping cold ones could be on tap in 2016. FLOATING BAR The…

FORT WAYNE Suburban Safari Now through April 10, young adventurers can grab their vests and put on their safari hats at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory. At Dig This! kids can dig for dinosaur bones, uncover fossils, and discover cool gemstones and minerals. Visitors can see how coal was formed in ancient bogs and which plant fossils might hide in coal deposits. Even though you are still in Indiana, you’ll feel miles away surrounded by lush tropical plants in the middle of this active learning garden. 1100 S. Calhoun St., 260-427-6440, botanicalconservatory.org Ticket to Learn The invisible forces of nature spring to life at Science Central’s Roll, Drop, Bounce exhibit running through May 29. Play hard, learn hard with the hands-on exhibits that teach kids about Newton’s laws of motion, kinetic…

DEAR SHARK TANK, If you do not take me seriously, I will have no choice but to hand my creative concepts to your competition. I regret that I haven’t yet appealed to your TV panel of billionaires about my great business ideas. However, with no patents, prototypes, or profit, I feared you would-be investors would not invest and, even worse, call me a cockroach. I’ve heard that epithet hurled on the show, and it might hurt my feelings. Here’s the deal. Two Hoosier inventions have hit the big time, and my concepts are better. I mean, would you buy potato chips flavored like Southern biscuits and gravy? I’d sooner eat filet of genetically altered salmon. The lady who cooked those up is from Noblesville, Indiana, and only 25 years old,…