Innehållsförteckning för March 2018 från Indianapolis Monthly

Game Changer Do your children or grandchilden play video games into the wee hours of the morning? Do they speak of “levels” and “bosses” and “downloadable content” until you want to jam an ice pick into your eardrums? Star in their own YouTube videos, which have, inexplicably, garnered thousands of clicks from peers who are actually interested in hearing them do the same? Don’t fret. You probably have a budding professional athlete on your hands. This is one of many takeaways that I gleaned from talking to Megan Fernandez over the course of her reporting for an eye-opening feature story in this month’s issue (“The Changing of the Guards,” p. 82) that demystifies the NBA’s and Indiana Pacers’ leap into the world of esports. Okay, maybe it’s more like wishful…

SMASH SOCIAL 600 E. Ohio St. smashhq.com A coffee shop/coworking space/ping-pong hangout in Lockerbie Square. Bring Your: Penchant for wicked backhands that barely skim the line. That’ll come in handy when what starts out as a genial game evolves into a fierce battle. But Leave Behind: The shabby paddle from the table you had in college. Smash provides three types of hardware. Satisfaction Meter: Medium. Make that high if you beat your smug, trashtalking opponent. Danger Level: Low. But watch out for potentially ankle-twisting wayward balls from other games. Pre-Game With: One of the local brews on tap, such as Central State’s Table. Cost: $10–$12 per person. for unlimited play. KOTEEWI ARCHERY RANGE 11909 Koteewi Dr., Noblesville koteewiarchery.com Outdoor bow-and-arrow shooting in a quiet wooded setting. Bring Your: Sharp eye.…

While pregnant in 2010, Nicole Daksiewicz started making quilts and pillows for her son’s nursery, an affordable way of decorating in the style she loved. It was her first foray into serious sewing, skills she honed by watching YouTube videos. Now Daksiewicz creates quilts and other home accessories out of her northeastside home under the label Modern Handcraft. You won’t see pastel florals or traditional blocks on Daksiewicz’s work. Instead, solid fabrics in bold shades, unexpected color pairings, and geometric patterns combine for contemporary throws. We’re guessing the only person who wouldn’t want one is her son. “He has so many quilts now, he doesn’t want to see another one in his room,” Daksiewicz says. Full-size quilt, $600. modernhandcraft.com Wanted Talking rock-androll, style, and social statements with makeup artist Danelle…

THAT LEOPARD JACKET IS A DEFINITE HEAD-TURNER. It is. It’s a Zara piece I picked up a few years ago. I love it because it’s so versatile and never goes out of style. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR ROCKAND- ROLL TEE COLLECTION. It’s pretty impressive—or out of control. This one is The Rolling Stones No Filter 2017 European tour shirt. I saw them in Paris on my birthday. FAVORITE STONES LYRIC? “Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind” from “Ruby Tuesday.” YOU ARE VERY POLITICALLY ACTIVE. HOW ARE YOU MAKING A DIFFERENCE? I directed a documentary called Our Love Story, a collection of interviews with diverse couples on how they fell in love. We had a zero-dollar budget so that we could donate every cent to the Human Rights…

Test Drive IF YOU WANT to spice up your health routine, look no further than halotherapy. Popular in Eastern Europe since the mid-1800s, the practice is said to offer a host of benefits that have only just recently been embraced in the United States. At Bloomington Salt Cave— one of Indiana’s only “active” therapeutic salt environments— seasoned health enthusiasts ensconce themselves in what looks like a life-sized Himalayan salt lamp and relax to the gentle whoosh of a halogenerator. The device aerosolizes pharmaceutical-grade sodium chloride particles, which when inhaled are said to clear airways by absorbing pollutants, allergens, and other debris. To boost mood-lift ing negative ions, a three-inch-thick blanket of heated salt crystals covers the floor and salmon-pink salt panels glow along the walls. During a 45-minute session, up…

With its mix of recent renovations and empty lots, the corner of 17th and Bellefontaine may feel a bit like the Wild West. But when a trio of enterprising distillers (David McIntyre, Blake Jones, and Julian Jones) landed their sleek, plank-sided whiskey tasting room in this neck of the Kennedy-King neighborhood in late fall, they showed they knew more than just how to age Indiana corn whiskey in old bourbon barrels or infuse it with aromatics such as cinnamon stick and dried chilies. It’s a perfect backdrop for their subway-tiled, exposed-brick urban saloon, where product-use specialist (aka barkeep) Nate Purcell pairs West Fork’s catalog of whiskeys with such intriguing flavors as beet juice and amaretto or a complex, tangy sweet-potato-and-balsamic shrub. 1660 Bellefontaine St., 317-672-7468, westforkwhiskey.com Our flaky, breaky heart…

NEAL WARNER QUICKLY became the darling of the local third-wave coffee scene—a label ascribed to an industry heavy on pour-overs and sleek spaces— by doing things un-third-wave-like. For starters, you won’t find pour-over coffee, with its required special equipment and deep wells of patience, on the menu at Coat Check Coffee, the downtown shop he opened in 2017. Old-school filtered, drip coffee is the unsung hero of Warner’s approach, which can be summed up as thoughtful execution, hold the pretension. “We wanted a kind of breezy service style, where baristas didn’t get gummed up doing pourovers for five minutes and customers wondered what’s taking so long,” says Warner, who opened the business with his brother and sister-in-law, Paul and Audreyalice Warner. Even the snobbiest of coffee snobs have been won…

SOME MALLS would love to have Circle Centre’s problems. More Dawn of the Dead than designer labels, Lafayett e Square and Washington Square seem destined to join the third of all such retail centers expected to close nationally in the next 10 years. Locals call the former “Lafayett e Scare” because of its reputation for danger. Multiple shootings have taken place around and inside the westside mall since the late ’90s. The opposite side of town hasn’t fared much bett er. When developers built Washington Square in 1974, they had high hopes due to the area’s manufacturing sector. But factory aft er factory pulled up stakes in the early ’80s, leaving the region in a lurch from which it never recovered. Developers say the hardest space to save is a…

Indianapolis Public Schools When IPS sold the historic Coca-Cola Bottling Plant on Mass Ave ($12 million) and then the Ford Plant ($1.65 million) on Washington Street last year, some people were surprised to learn the organization owned the properties in the first place. In the last two years, the shrinking school system has unloaded nine properties (five schools and four other offerings), with a 10th—a facilities-management headquarters at 16th Street and the Monon—now on the market. And that’s to say nothing of Broad Ripple High School, which will close in May and become one of the highest-profile redevelopment projects in the city. ANGI Homeservices Inc. A product of the Angie’s List/HomeAdvisor merger, this entity is trying to sell the massive Angie’s List campus on Washington Street, with former CEO Bill…

A CASTLE COMBINED WITH A MOUNTAIN home. With glamour.” That’s how Ashlee Wheat envisioned the next abode for her family of four, and thanks to her own knack for design, that’s exactly what she got. When you look at the 6,500-square-foot two-story ensconced in Zionsville that she and her husband, Benjamin, created with the help of Christopher Scott Homes, it’s uncanny how spot-on her vision turned out. The gray cedar exterior, complete with a turret, is fit for King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. So are the soaring 20-foot ceilings that draw your chin up when you step inside. But the stuffed mountain lion who greets you at the front door—a remnant from a natural-history museum that was going out of business, says Benjamin—stepping out from a little thatchet of faux…

CARING FOR AN OLDER PARENT AND making the decision to place them in a senior living center is already a difficult task—one that’s made even more complicated when your parent has dementia. A variety of diseases can cause dementia like Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, or a stroke, but of course the most common cause is Alzheimer’s. It’s a widespread symptom, affecting nearly one in three seniors in the United States. Many senior living communities have created Memory Care units to provide the type of personalized and specific care that dementia patients need. EARLY SIGNS One of the first steps is understanding and recognizing the signs of dementia. Diseases that cause dementia are often progressive, so patients lose a little bit of functionality each day. It’s not like a heart attack or some…

“I want to organize travel for low-income kids. When you know you can move about the world, you’re more likely to dream big and pursue your goals.”—MEGAN FERNANDEZ, DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL OPERATIONS “I would create a job where I’m doing exactly what I’m doing but I get paid twice as much.”—SUMMER DAILY, SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR “Dog-walker/freelance graphic designer.”—MEGAN MAGUIRE, ADVERTISING ART COORDINATOR “Beer critic. Wait, I actually get to do that sometimes.”—DANIEL S. COMISKEY, DEPUTY EDITOR “I would be the Senior Vice President of Cheese and Cats, and I’d be astoundingly successful.”—JENNA KIENLE, DIGITAL STRATEGY DIRECTOR…

“Weird Al” Yankovic gets all keyed up at the Palladium this month, p. 27. Sports Legends Experience INDIANA IS FAT. Nearly one in three adults is obese, good for 10th in the nation in 2016. And Indianapolis? It’s been America’s unhealthiest city two years running, according to the American Fitness Index. THE PROBLEM? Hoosiers didn’t want to listen to a health-class lecture. “In our surveys about what exhibits members wanted, health and fitness always placed last,” says The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis CEO Jeffrey Patchen. “People would much rather see something related to space or Hot Wheels.” ENTER CELEBRITIES. The museum coaxed 92-year-old golf-course guru Pete Dye out of retirement. Signed Colts quarterback Andrew Luck as a spokesman. The Colts, the Pacers, the Fever, the Indians, the Fuel ... at…

THE THREAD IN LIKE A LION Plaid suits and blue tuxedos show up in the spring collection at J. Benzal (22 E. Washington St.; Carmel City Center). FOR KICKS Love Your Body (1726 E. 86th St.) adds to its stealth shoe game with Nubikk sneakers. The fashion line spices up footwear with ruffles, cheetah print, and glitt er. OPEN H. Josephine Home (6516 Carrollton Ave.) COMING SOON Accessories boutique Alex and Ani (The Fashion Mall) later this month. Get the Hot List of great buys on Wednesday mornings at Indianapolis Monthly.com…

CHUCK BRUCE has something close to X-ray vision. The Indiana Artisan, who has been creating inlaid silver jewelry for almost 20 years, says he can glance at most stones and “see” what’s inside. “Beautiful rocks are what make the inlay work,” Bruce says. Before cutting cross-sections, he’ll look for fracture lines, indicating potential bland spots of color or unwelcome changes in a stone’s composition. Among his favorite varieties to work with? Labradorite, dinosaur bone, and pietersite. Bruce didn’t plan to become a rock whisperer. “In college, my degree was in interior design—until I flunked a required class,” he says. Eventually, a silversmithing course he took for fun set him on the lapidary path, and, later, he became an instructor himself. He now teaches at the Indianapolis Art Center. When not…

Dr. Dunk has joined a new team. Named the first SRAM All-Star cycling ambassador, DARNELL HILLMAN has set a goal to help older or sedentary sports fans get off the couch and onto a bicycle. The two-time ABA champion and 1977 slam-dunk contest winner is no stranger to bikes. Not only did he enjoy riding as a kid in San Francisco, but during his Pacers playing career from 1971 to 1977, he would oft en pedal more than 25 miles to and from Eagle Creek Park. But the 68-year-old Hillman admits he doesn’t get enough exercise today, spending his time teaching basketball instead of playing. Low-impact cycling helps supplement his activity because it’s easy on the joints. The 6-foot-9 former power forward rides one of the largest production bicycle frames…

WHILE THERE’S NO universally agreed-upon definition of “ancient grains,” the term generally refers to grains that have been passed down through the centuries unchanged, unlike modern wheat that has been hybridized and modified to the point that it bears litt le resemblance to its original self. Earthy morsels like farro, einkorn, and spelt are finally gett ing long-overdue att ention from chefs looking for wheat alternatives that are naturally gluten-free. (Diners with sensitive tummies, rejoice.) Heritage cereals like sorghum, chia, and millet fit the bill, too, as do quinoa, buckwheat, and amaranth. Ancientgrain porridge (above) is a staple on the menu at Milktooth, with spelt berries, Chinese black rice, and Indiana oats, while chef Audrey Barron at Ezra’s Enlightened Café uses them in her sweet potato–quinoa burger wrap with cashew…

THERE IS NOTHING delicate about fried chicken. Eating it— as it should be eaten, that is—requires a degree of abandon. You hold the bone in your bare hands and tear into it with your teeth. The deed is greasy and unpretty, but it helps if you are not the only person in the room who is really getting into your food. That’s why a place like Southern-suave Crispy Bird, the latest addition to the Patachou restaurant family, feels like a safe haven for those who appreciate this complicated, delicious medium. A snug 56-seat dining room with a full bar and counter stools that tuck right up to a bustling prep area serves as chef David Hoover’s second act in Indy. After launching Bar One Fourteen across the street (arguably among…

I’VE BEEN WEARING clothes for 57 years, which, next to breathing, makes it my most enduring habit. I take a half-hour bath each morning, but other than that I am clothed. I have a friend who slept in the nude until his house caught fire. When he ran outside and found his neighbors standing in the street watching his house burn, he wished he had worn pajamas. Sleeping in the nude sounds like a great idea until you have a house fire. I’ve probably owned a thousand pants and shirts, though I can only recall a fraction of them. During a recent visit to Conner Prairie, an employee there told me the average Hoosier in 1830 had one outfit for warm weather, another for cold weather, and a third outfit…

Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development NUMBER OF PROPERTIES OWNED 740 TOTAL ACREAGE 165 RANGE OF PROPERTIES Abandoned houses managed by the city’s Land Bank, vacant industrial properties prime for renovation and reuse, and “legacy” properties such as Union Station, the Canal, and the Indiana Repertory Theatre building. AREAS OF CONCENTRATION Citywide, with most of the legacy properties located downtown. IN THE WORKS The DMD has acquired vacant properties near Rural and 10th streets to create a Teacher’s Village in partnership with Indianapolis Public Schools. The goal? To create quality, affordable housing for local educators. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis NUMBER OF PROPERTIES OWNED 129 churches, 68 schools, six Catholic charities, and various offices. TOTAL ACREAGE Unknown. One of the largest nongovernmental landowners in the world, the Catholic Church is kind…

BUILDING AND RENTING around The Fashion Mall has long been a luxury. Like a Brooks Brothers suit, it was once for an exclusive crowd: high-end retailers. During the last seven years, however, swanky hotels (Ironworks), luxury apartments (Quarry), and ostentatious offices (River North) have bought in—a total of $250 million in investment. So what exactly happened in 2011? Wes Podell, senior vice president of development at PK Partners, says a decades-long vision for the area finally came to fruition. His company set records with the sale of the River Crossing office buildings just before the recession. Not surprisingly, a cavalcade of developers swooped in aft er the economy recovered. The area’s position near the city’s northern suburbs became even more advantageous as the population grew in affluent Hamilton and Boone…

WHEN THE Speak Easy opened in SoBro six years ago, many locals saw Indy’s first coworking space as a curiosity. The reclaimedwood walls and beer on tap were fun, but how many gig-economy workers and small tech businesses could there possibly be to fill it? A lot, as it turns out. Today, The Speak Easy has 1,000 members. Similar coworking boutiques such as The Bureau (Fletcher Place) and The Hatch (Broad Ripple) have opened in the intervening years. And all of them face new competition from national players. Chicagobased Level Office, which has locations in 15 cities, bought Circle Tower in early 2017 and plans to devote a quarter of the historic 14-story building to coworking space. New York–based Industrious, which operates in 25 cities, opened late last year in…

BROAD RIPPLE “IT’S GOING TO be very interesting to see what happens in Broad Ripple and SoBro the next few years. Food is a big driver for development, and the Kimbal Musk restaurant is going in at 46th and College. I don’t think it hurts that the Red Line will pass through there. As we compete for new businesses, we’re up against cities with more developed public transportation. In Broad Ripple proper, my former company, Browning, developed The Coil. The Fresh Thyme there is one of that chain’s top performers. Browning made its mark in the area with that project, but it was a long process. Right now, they’re enjoying watching everyone else add to the neighborhood. I live in Broad Ripple, so I have a personal att achment to…

DOWNTOWN INCLUDES Fletcher Place, Fountain Square, Mass Ave, Mile Square 1913 Restaurant UPSCALE COMFORT Farm-to-table standards get a glossy do-over at this hotel restaurant tucked just off of 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 topped with bacon marmalade, and half a chicken roasted to a juicy, rosy hue and plated with succotash and a little pan of sweet-corn “milk” for dipping. The sides—such as macaroni-and-cheese pie and sautéed brussels sprouts—get passed around the table. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. 40 W. Jackson Pl., 317-634-6664, omnihotels.com Bakersfield Mass Ave TACOS & BOURBON This hip spot done up with splintery timbers, steel…

BLOWN BY THE Fairmount Glass Company of Indianapolis, this 10-inch-long screw-top bottle that held Eli Lilly & Company’s Lofoten Cod Liver Oil hooked customers from the start of its 1922 drugstore debut. Known as the “Cod Bottle,” the distinctive container had only been on the market for a few months before earning plaudits in National Association of Retail Druggists Journal: “Dealers who display the bottle in their windows and on the counters say it is easy to sell. Eli Lilly & Company reports an unusual demand.” While the Cod Bottle was a bona fide success, its origin could be a bit of a marketing fish story: The amber-colored vessel was supposedly suggested by Colonel Lilly’s widow, Maria, as a way to distinguish the pharmaceutical giant’s product from the competition. Have…

Lili Wright When freelance writer Lili Wright’s novel, Dancing with the Tiger, was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America, she went to the group’s annual conference and met Mystery Mike (p. 56). “I’ve always been interested in collectors,” she says. “Mike is a treasure hunter who rescues rare books and finds them new homes. It makes me happy when old things are valued.” Eric McAfee Like most who grew up in the ’80s, freelance writer Eric McAfee is no stranger to malls (p. 77). “I shoveled popcorn at a Greenwood Park movie theater,” he says. “But I never grew to really care about the shopping centers until I noticed that many of them were dying.” With master’s degrees in design and urban planning, he writes…

Gen Con: a salute to tabletop and roleplaying games. Comic Con: comic book characters, voice actors, and artists. Pay a compliment. Costumed cosplayers put hours into creating outfits. But beware: Nerdy ain’t always nice. Some villains and troublemakers get a litt le too in character. (Looking at you, Deadpool.) Steak ’n Shake is the best spot for hero-watching. Or come on in and say a proper goodbye to dad-joke-incarnate Bob Newby (Sean Astin) from Stranger Things. Bring a Sharpie, and snap a picture of the person signing items. It helps with verification if you decide to sell later on.…

EST. 2002 Because Legos are not just for kids anymore. IN ANOTHER ERA, these people might have made model train sets, perhaps in the image of real train tracks in a real town. But this isn’t that era. So the members of IndyLUG, a Lego club for adults, dream up other things. Samara Shackelton likes to create elves. Bill Bartley makes submarines. Scott Wright builds historical pieces and scenes from movies. Or he makes stuff that’s just plain fun, such as a tyrannosaurus versus triceratops showdown. Just do not, under any circumstances, show up to one of IndyLUG’s monthly meetings with an out-of-the-box Lego kit. Unless, of course, you want to get laughed out of the room. Wright did buy some Pirates of the Caribbean kits for his first display—a…

CIVVIES 1134 E. 54th St., 317-653-1169, facebook.com/ shopcivvies DON’T MISS Baby Foot, a trendy peel for tootsies with startling results ($25) “CIVVIES” IS SHORT for “civilian clothes,” as in what the students at Culver Military Academy wear when they’re not in uniform. A boutique in Culver that took the same name recently opened a SoBro location with a mix of youth and fine fabrication that must appeal to the private-school crowd and their parents. With women ages 23 to 59 handpicking each item on buying trips, the selection ends up more varied than at many boutiques. For every fun “Send Noods” sweatshirt (ramen, not racy photos), there’s a chic, flowy pinstripe jumpsuit. The common thread is that the women look for small, mostly American brands with a social conscience and…

HUNT Habitat for Humanity ReStore (1) is the philanthropic—and messier—version of Lowe’s. Home-reno materials on the cheap range from light fixtures to scuffed-up appliances to boxes of Ann Sacks subway tile. 1101 E. 22nd St., 317-777-6140, indyrestore.com THE TURF Near-north side RESPECT Martin Luther King Jr. Park (2) might as well be the spiritual center of Kennedy-King. A statue commemorates the speech Bobby Kennedy delivered about MLK hours aft er his assassination—50 years ago next month. On March 13, three local witnesses take you back to the famous oration during IndyFringe’s Jabberwocky. And on April 4, Civil Rights pioneer John Lewis and RFK’s daughter, Kerry, will speak at the park. 1701 Broadway St., kennedykingindy.org/the-park REMINISCE Hit Kountry Kitchen Soul Food Place (3) for Southern cooking that has fed celebs (Barack…

Revisit From the day she opened it 10 years ago, Shari Jenkins’s colorfully appointed Noah Grant’s Grill House & Oyster Bar was the hottest table to land in Zionsville. While Jenkins broadened her culinary ambitions with the more casual Salty Cowboy in 2014, regulars who crowded her original chophouse and raw bar still ached for a little more elbow room. They got it last November when Jenkins unveiled a new Noah Grant’s location one block over, in a former antiquetoy museum. Plenty of hardwood surfaces make its whitewashed new home just as boisterous as the last, but the move has sharpened the kitchen offerings. Crispy wontons stuffed with beef short ribs and topped with a horseradish crème make for a satisfying starter. A frequent special of grouper, now a menu…

Check out THREE CARROTS’s full description on page 197.…

IT’S A COLD night in Indy, but inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the players on the floor sweat heavily as they zip up and down under LED lights. The Pacers and Celtics are joined by 16,000 fans, plus one more slice of humanity: the sportswriters. Most media types don’t sit courtside at the Fieldhouse. Instead, they occupy some tables and chairs up by the luxury suites, and tonight there are journalists from the AP, The Indianapolis Star, a few local TV stations, and the Boston outlets still sending writers on the road. Almost all of them have their laptops open and tuned to TweetDeck, but one scribe sits with only a legal pad. His name is Kelly Dwyer, he lives in Lafayett e, and he can honestly claim to be one…

Strategic Capital Partners No one can accuse SCP of thinking small. The local investment firm led by former Duke Realty execs bought Precedent Office Park with Philadelphia-based Rubenstein Partners in January for $132.7 million. The enormous property near 96th Street and Keystone Avenue includes 19 buildings and a 38-acre lake, which they believe is underutilized. Tentative plans include adding restaurants, shopping, and other amenities around it to create a more urban feel. The two companies also recently purchased Parkwood Crossing at I-465 and Meridian Street for $162.9 million with similar upgrades in mind. City of Fishers Property owners rebuffed the suburb when it offered nearly $10 million for 70 acres along Geist Reservoir last year, but Fishers doesn’t do a lot of losing these days. The city exercised its eminent-domain…