Indianapolis Monthly December 2024 by Indianapolis Monthly

FRIDAY, JUNE 13

Zoobilation 2025 presented by Citizens Energy Group will be held on Friday, June 13. Individual tickets go on sale Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, at 9am and sell out quickly.

DECEMBER 02, 2024

BEST OF INDY

Have a blast getting to know Indy with our annual guide to the best the city has to offer, from walking tours, to dine-in food trucks, to Indy-themed gear, and see why we think there’s no place like home.

EDITED BY JULIA SPALDING

68 CARRY ON

Fifteen years ago, People for Urban Progress made history when it repurposed the RCA Dome roof. Now the innovative company is running out of Dome material, but never fear: It’s not running out of time.

BY MEGAN FERNANDEZ

UNBURYING THE TRUTH

In the ’90s, members of Indy’s gay community started going missing. It took concerned locals banding together to find a killer on the prowl and nearly 30 years for an official to pay respect to the victims.

BY EVE BATEY

ON THE COVER

Photograph by Tony Valainis. Retouching by Andrew Davis.

Jason Chisham of PUP

CIRCLE CITY

The Breathalyzer was invented by Hoosiers 70 years ago and has saved countless lives since then.

Our Indiana expert glides into cross-country skiing options in Central Indiana.

Outgoing governor Eric Holcomb discusses the end of his tenure and what comes next.

A cabinet first manufactured in Indiana was a precursor to modern kitchen amenities.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema lands in Lafayette Square.

Five can’t-miss events in Indy this month.

GOOD LIFE

These silver toppers turn any cake into a wintry wonder.

Peruse locally made wares or craft your own in classes at Broad Ripple’s Create Art Studio.

Chill out with stylish ice buckets and cocktail shakers.

Relish inVictorian charm with a white picket fence or keep it chic in a moody and modern townhome.

Deck your furbaby out in holiday finery.

Lake Geneva makes for a magically frosty and festive cold weather getaway.

THE DISH

Baby, you can light your fire with Carmel Christkindlmarkt’s feuerzangenbowle, made with sugarloaf, wine, spices, and—naturally— literal fire. 42

Nick Detrich brings what he’s learned on the road to Magdalena, Tinker House Events transforms Provider, and Laura Lachowecki encourages worrying more about how your cookies taste than how they look.

TASTE

Get cozy with a comforting and sweet gingerbread treat.

Jamaican transplant Marlon Llewellyn honors his mother’s memory in the spicy, smoky flavors he serves up at Scotchy Jamaican Grill, Fishers Test Kitchen’s latest offering.

DISCOVER SWITZERLAND, AUSTRIA & BAVARIA

WITH INDIANAPOLIS MONTHLY ’S LIFESTYLE EDITOR CHRISTINA VERCELLETTO

JULY 16–25, 2025

With the holidays upon us, we’re all thinking about what matters most: time with family. This year, consider giving your loved ones a travel experience sure to create lifelong memories. Join us as we tour three wondrous Alpine countries, taking in spectacular scenery, meeting interesting people, and savoring incredible cuisine. Space is limited, so reserve your spots on this one-time adventure today.

Visit indianapolismonthly.com/discover for more information.

Come travel with us!

Join us for our next virtual info session. RSVP today!

EDITOR’S NOTE

Paws and Reflect

I HAVE the cutest dog in the world. Because I have stated it here, in writing, it must be an indisputable fact. You’ll notice I did not say he is the most well-mannered or best-behaved canine. My schnauzer mix, Irving, is not likely to ever win any congeniality or citizenship awards. Not only does he have big terrier energy distilled in a compact, 25-pound body, Irvs is also an accomplished escape artist. He is leash reactive. He takes Prozac. He turns his nose up at even slightly inclement weather. I’m not really mad that Irving starts shivering when outdoor temps drop below 70, because that means I can dress him in little sweaters and jackets. I like to think I’m doing him a big favor when I bundle him up in turtlenecks, but it’s honestly more for my own enjoyment and amusement than for his warmth and comfort. The stink-eye he gives me when I pull a new garment over his head and make him sit for pictures conveys just how he feels about the whole ordeal.

Andrea Ratcliff Editor-in-Chief

There’s a lot for humans to love in our annual Best of Indy cover story (p. 48), from peak places to take the dog for a nature walk, to art classes, to Detroit-style pizza, to vintage fashion, to our favorite WNBA baller. We also capture the magic of winter throughout this issue with a dazzling set of cake toppers (p. 29), travel tips for a Wisconsin road trip (pg. 38), and new takes on traditional gingerbread drinks and dishes (p. 44). But my heart belongs to our Pet Project page (p. 36), where we’ve dressed up our canine and feline friends in their best holiday finery—including my favorite scruffy cutie in a festive green hoodie and striped bow tie. Wishing merriment and joy to you and yours.

( CONTRIBUTORS )

AFTER PHOTOGRAPHING A CREW OF FOURLEGGED FRIENDS FOR PET PROJECT (P. 36), WE ASKED STAFF MEMBERS TO RECOUNT THE WORST THINGS THEIR PETS EVER DID.

“My childhood cat Nutter brought a live snake inside our house just to play with.”

—Maura Broderson, Editorial Art Director

“My new dog wiggled out of her harness and hid under the bed … inside a stranger’s house two blocks away.”

Erika Kovach

Editorial intern Erika Kovach is a St. Louis native and Butler University student. Her love of journalism and affection for music, the outdoors, and learning new things come from her father. She enjoys exploring new stores and restaurants like those in the Best of Indy feature (p. 48) and dragging her boyfriend on thrifting and antiquing adventures.

Digital editor Clay Maxfield has over a decade of experience as a sports journalist and photographer. His interests in writing and photography trickled into a passion for honing in on the intricacies that make sports great. One activity he’s never tried or written about is skiing, but the gentle slopes of Central Indiana may tempt him someday (p. 18).

Photographer and videographer Sam Starnes enjoys capturing a variety of subjects. Covering everything from restaurants, to real estate, to new movie theaters (p. 24), he is always on the move and loves how the variety of work spurs creativity. When he’s not on a shoot, you can find him in his garden, on a walk, or with a glass of his homemade kombucha.

—Julia Spalding, Features Editor

“Completely ate my wallet from 1979 Co., including two $20 bills and my library card.”

—Eve Batey, Food & Dining Editor

“I came home from a work trip and couldn’t ﬁnd our kitten, Whiskers, anywhere. I soon discovered her in the freezer. THE FREEZER!!! She got in behind the drawer and nobody noticed!” (Don’t worry, folks— Whiskers is OK.)

—Jena Jennings, Event Coordinator & Sponsorship Sales

Sam Starnes

Clay Maxfield

FEATURES EDITOR

Julia Spalding

LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Christina Vercelletto

FOOD & DINING EDITOR Eve Batey

MANAGING EDITOR

Camille Graves

DIGITAL EDITOR

Clay Maxfield

EDITORIAL INTERNS

Gabriela Bell, Erika Kovach

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Amy Cecil Nancy Oliphant

EVENT COORDINATOR & SPONSORSHIP SALES

Jena Jennings

PUBLISHER Ivy Bayer

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Andrea Ratcliff

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Vu Luong

EDITORIAL ART DIRECTOR

Maura Broderson

ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR

Christiana Bertsch

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Megan Fernandez, Stephen Garstang, Jeana

Harris, Terry Kirts, Amy Lynch, Sam Stall

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Ryan Johnson, Jes Nijjer, Tony Valainis

BUSINESS

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Missy Beiting

IndianapolisMonthly.com/advertise-with-us

SALES DIRECTOR Holly Whitney

DESIGN DIRECTOR Margo Wininger

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Find a cause you love and show your support during Indianapolis Monthly’s 10-day fundraising challenge, Indianapolis Gives: December 2–December 12

Breath of Life

Invented by an IU professor and an Indiana State Police captain in 1954, the Breathalyzer has saved “hundreds of thousands of lives,” forensic toxicologist Barry Logan says. Here’s how the groundbreaking device came about—and how its technology has changed in the 70 years since.

A PROMISING PROTOTYPE

Indiana University professor Rolla Neil Harger shows off his Drunkometer at the State Police School in 1952.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BREATHALYZER RUNS PARALLEL TO THE RISE OF THE U.S. AUTO INDUSTRY. By the 1920s, the U.S. dominated the world’s auto production market, with Chevrolet, Ford, and General Motors jockeying for consumer dollars. Then factories pivoted to munitions for the First and Second World Wars, but after the troops returned in the late 1940s, vehicle ownership shot up. So did collisions caused by impaired drivers, records from the National Transportation Safety Board show.

BEFORE THE BREATHALYZER, FAIRLY ENFORCING DRUNK DRIVING LAWS WAS AN UPHILL BATTLE. After New Jersey instituted the first laws against drunk driving in 1906, nearly every state in the union rolled out laws against driving while intoxicated. But prosecutions were inconsistent and often unfair, Indiana State Police spokesperson Captain Ronald Galaviz says. Juries were expected to make a character evaluation in the courtroom and to take the word of the arresting officer.

EARLY DRUNK DRIVING BUSTS OFTEN RELIED ON THE CONTENTS OF A BALLOON. Before the Breathalyzer, the main scientific test used to determine if a person had consumed alcohol required suspects to blow into a balloon. “Then you would empty the contents of the balloon through some silica gel,” says Dr. Barry Logan, a forensic toxicologist who heads up Indiana University’s Center for Studies of Law in Action. If the chemical-infused gel changed color, alcohol was likely present in the breath. But it “wasn’t reliably quantitative,” Logan says. All it showed was whether someone had recently had a drink, not if they were too drunk to drive.

THE EARLIEST VERSION OF WHAT WOULD BECOME THE BREATHALYZER HAD A FAIRLY COMICAL NAME. What the world needed was a device that detected blood alcohol content (BAC), as that’s the most reliable indicator of dangerous impairment. In 1931, IU School of Medicine biochemistry and pharmacology department chair Rolla Neil Harger created a device that could do just that. He called it the Drunkometer.

AN INDIANA STATE POLICE CRIME LAB STAFFER KNEW HE COULD MAKE THE DRUNKOMETER BETTER. Fort Wayne native Robert Frank Borkenstein

“didn’t originally have a lot of formal education,” Logan says. A tinkerer who worked at a local photography shop after high school, he got a job with the state police when he was 24. Eventually, he took a position in the department’s crime lab, where he met Harger and learned about the Drunkometer. A bespoke piece of equipment made of “blown glass and rubber tubing” and using caustic chemicals such as sulfuric acid, “it was never a practical device in terms of something that law enforcement could take out into the field to detect drunk drivers,” Logan says. Borkenstein figured out how to refine and scale the Drunkometer to make it both portable and easy to mass produce. That new device was called the Breathalyzer.

DATA COLLECTED BY BREATHALYZERS SHAPED RESEARCH INTO IMPAIRMENT. Once a driver’s BAC could be determined with a quick test, states were free to set a “legal limit” for it. Research at the time suggested that drivers with a BAC under 0.15 percent could safely operate a vehicle, but as the use of the Breathalyzer increased, “we understood more about how alcohol affects people’s driving over time,” Logan says. On October 1, 1998, then-President Bill Clinton signed a national law setting the legal BAC limit for drivers at 0.08 percent. In 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a recommendation that the benchmark be lowered to 0.05 percent. So far, only Utah has made that switch.

IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO BEAT A BREATHALYZER VIOLATION IN COURT.

Blood alcohol content restrictions are known as “per se” laws, a term for laws concerning acts that are automatically considered illegal, without the need for further evidence. In the case of blood alcohol levels, if a Breathalyzer test determines a driver is over the limit, legal proceedings typically center around sentencing, as the suspect’s guilt is considered a given.

THE

MASTER PLAN

Fort Wayne native Robert Frank Borkenstein created this poster to explain his new Breathalyzer.

IN THE DECADES FOLLOWING ITS INVENTION, BORKENSTEIN’S BREATHALYZER FELL VICTIM TO GENERICIZATION. In the way people use “Kleenex” to mean tissue, the word “Breathalyzer” is now used to describe any breath analysis device. Borkenstein and Harger were the “first to market with a practical, commercial device that made a sea change in terms of how alcohol and driving laws were enforced. But the Breathalyzer itself isn’t manufactured anymore and hasn’t been in probably 20 years,” Logan says.

BORKENSTEIN AND HARGER PROBABLY WOULDN’T RECOGNIZE THE BREATH

ANALYSIS DEVICES OF TODAY. Harger passed away in Indianapolis in 1983 and is interred at Crown Hill Cemetery. Borkenstein graduated from IU with a degree in forensic science. He retired from the Indiana State Police and became chairman of what is now IU’s Department of Criminal Justice. In 1971, he became director of its Center for Studies of Law in Action, the same role Logan has today. Borkenstein died in Bloomington in 2002. Bulky devices seen in movies have been replaced by small, fuel cell–powered breath testers. If police get an above-the-limit reading, the suspect is taken into custody to take an infrared technology test. “There are safeguards today’s technologies have that Breathalyzers didn’t,” Logan says, “but the Breathalyzer was the foundation for them all.” —EVE BATEY

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Kick and Glide

Q : DOES CENTRAL INDIANA OFFER ANY WORTHWHILE CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING OPPORTUNITIES? A: The folks at Rusted Moon Outfitters, a sporting goods store that sits within a snowball’s throw of the White River in Broad Ripple, suggest kicking across the frozen expanses of Eagle Creek Park and Fort Harrison State Park. If you prefer a more oppidan setting, you can tackle the Monon Trail—provided you get there right after snow falls; the city plows it like a regular street. Or try out the Central Canal Towpath, which winds its way through both Butler University and the grounds of the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park at Newfields. If you’d like company during your brisk adventure, Strawtown Koteewi Park in Hamilton County offers a group cross-country skiing and snowshoeing experience on three Saturdays in January. —SAM STALL feet at Indiana’s highest point

1,257

( UNSPOKEN RULES )

Bicentennial Unity Plaza

A MANNER-FESTO FOR VISITING OUR VERSION OF ROCKEFELLER CENTER, TREE AND ALL.

To guarantee a spot on the NHL-size, covered ice rink, book your 90-minute slot ahead at gainbridgefieldhouse.com/ bicentennialunityplaza. Plan to arrive 30 minutes early to rent skates or enjoy a hot cocoa, glass of wine, or beer. Do that holiday shopping afterward; there are no lockers. Park at the Virginia Avenue Garage at the northeast corner of Gainbridge Fieldhouse. That’s the closest covered parking, connected by a sky bridge. Snap a selfie in the mirrored alcove just inside the entrance. Warm up inside the Sphere and enjoy art and history visuals. At loose ends on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day? Head down; it’s open.

You won’t need supplemental oxygen to summit Hoosier Hill in Wayne County next to the Ohio border. It’s the highest point in the state, but only because it sits on a massive, gentle plateau. So gentle, in fact, that our tallest peak looks like just another slice of nondescript forest.

ask THE HOOSIERIST

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ASK ME ANYTHING

Eric Holcomb, Governor

PER STATE LAW, THE TWO-TERM REPUBLICAN INCUMBENT COULD NOT RUN FOR A THIRD TERM, WHICH HOLCOMB SAYS IS FINE BY HIM. CLOSING IN ON HIS FINAL WEEKS AS INDIANA’S 51st GOVERNOR, HE’S READY FOR NEW CHALLENGES. HOLCOMB SAT DOWN WITH US FOR A WIDE-RANGING EXIT INTERVIEW. BY MARY MILZ

The end is in sight. How do you feel? It’s bittersweet. I’m very proud of how this administration has conducted our affairs and been focused and disciplined. I’ll really miss place-making [helping communities create public spaces, including plazas, creative use of old buildings, community gardens, pop-up retail, and murals] and watching people come together and

build up a community. I always tell people it’s like that ’70s TV show Eight Is Enough. Turns out, eight is enough for a politician, too. I think it’s good to refresh with new energy, new eyes, and a new team.

What do you consider your top accomplishments?

In general, the way we’ve built connections. That includes roads,

rails, broadband internet, and trails, and also just how residents are interacting with their neighbors. And we can include READI [Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative] in that. It’s a whole new way of thinking regionally.

Any regrets?

I regret not trying to do our health initiative sooner. [Health First Indiana passed in 2023. It divvies up $263 million over two years to county health departments to address core health issues, such as heart disease, maternal and child health, obesity, and tobacco cessation.] If we have healthier, smarter citizens, game over, and we win. The same can be said about any other state, or country for that matter. Healthier states had a head start. When Covid happened, people said, ‘Do not go there,’ but I’m a Taurus. I’m stubborn. I doubled down because I was running out of time. I thought, If we don’t go there now, then when? We were lagging in many multiple health metrics. Health First Indiana is a good start, but we have a lot of catching up to do before it becomes a strength.

What will you miss most about being governor?

I’m the kind of person who likes to be on this side of the desk, not that side [behind it]. Whenever I travel and meet people, I quote a great philosopher—Indiana Jones— who said if you want to be a good archaeologist, you’ve got to get out of the library, do your research, and really get your hands dirty. I will miss being out on the road, number one, and number two, I’ll miss the learning. There’s so much Hoosier ingenuity, so many new ideas and innovations that come off of the family, factory floor, or field that end up at Inari Agriculture, at Beck’s Hybrids, and at Corteva Agriscience. To get to meet those individuals who are blazing trails … I’ll really miss that.

And not so much ... ?

I’m not looking for sympathy, because after all, I ran for this job. But when you’re in it, if you’re an empathetic soul, you tend to personalize other people’s tragedies or challenges. That

PHOTO BY TONY VALAINIS

can come in the form of an evening news report that says severe weather is coming. You sleep differently when you wonder if a tornado is going to rip through Logansport, or Wabash, or Henryville. Or when there has been a shooting or another tragic death in a family, and there’s nothing you can do about it other than show up, be there for them.

Do you think you’ll pine for the governor’s mansion?

I’d be going downstairs with my dog and thinking, You have bedhead, and you better put a hat on because the public may be downstairs, and they’d love to get a picture of this. So, no.

What’s next?

I’ll have to find something I can wake up to and be excited about and still have an impact. But I am going to take two months off. My wife Janet said, ‘This has been eight years. I want two months to watch you deprogram before my very eyes. Fair?’ Folks have approached me with opportunities, but I’ve said, ‘If you need an answer now, I’m not your guy.’ I promised my wife two months. I’m sure she’ll get sick of me in two weeks, but I’m sticking to it.

Do you and Janet plan to stay in Indianapolis?

I think Indiana will always be home. We are looking for a place to lay our heads, but we’re very patient. We’ve looked in multiple counties. We may rent, but we won’t be nomads. I’d like to be within an hour of an international airport. I have a lot of clutter. I’m a hoarder, so I’ll be looking for the perfect place to display my flea market. Or a storage facility if someone else has her way! I have lived abroad, so I will be fine whether it’s Fort Wayne or Stockholm.

The state police drive you everywhere. Now you’ll drive your own vehicle? Yes, and that’s something I’m looking forward to. I was one of the kids in high school who loved to drive, and it wasn’t just because I wanted to play my own music. I just like to drive. I miss that a lot. I’ve kept my truck, a 2013 Tundra with 48,631 miles on it. It hasn’t been driven in eight years.

“I WOULD GO ANYWHERE, TO ANY STATE … I’D STAND IN TIMES SQUARE … AND SAY, ‘WE AGREE ON 80 PERCENT. WE ONLY DISAGREE ON 20 PERCENT. LET’S AGREE TO DISAGREE. IT’S OUR DUTY TO PURSUE PROGRESS, NOT SOME PERFECTION.’”

Do you still have a valid driver’s license?

I’m in good standing, and I very much look forward to listening to Bob Seger, with “Roll Me Away” on maximum volume with the windows down and the sunroof open.

Anything you’re thinking about trying? Maybe pickleball?

Janet recently hosted a pickleball tournament, but no. I’m looking forward to more pleasure reading. I’m trying to get through an older book on Ulysses S. Grant. I’m a history buff. I love biographies and autobiographies, but I’m slow in finishing them because I’ve had to read so much other material every day. So I’m eagerly anticipating devouring pleasure reading again.

Any series you binge watch?

That is my guilty pleasure, if anything, usually late at night, so I can’t do more than one episode at a time. Janet and I like to glob onto something that’s not the Hallmark Channel. Right now, we’re watching Prison Break, which I had zero idea had been out for so long. We’ve barely scratched the surface.

What are people surprised to ﬁnd out about you?

The comments I get everywhere I go are: ‘You’re taller than I thought you were,’ or, ‘You’re younger than you look on TV.’

How old, and how tall? I’m 56 and 6-foot-4.

Is that without the cowboy boots you’re known to wear?

Yes! And right, I wear boots six days a week, if not seven.

How many pairs do you have? I’m not telling. Janet doesn’t know.

More than ﬁve?

Double digits, but not triple … and I never throw them away, ever.

Will you run for office again?

Phew. ... That was a fastball right down the middle! After I’ve walked out, I will be interested in policy but not politics. I’m not looking to be politically active, but I will be focused on and hopefully contributing toward good policy in whatever it is I wind up doing. That might be something around life sciences, whether plant, animal, or human health, or it could even be in defense or in advanced manufacturing.

Any thoughts on the current political climate?

I sat in a meeting with other governors on the subject of immigration. I listened to Democratic governors talk about it, as well as other Republican governors. There was broad agreement among both on the need to prevent illegal immigration, as well as the need to encourage legal immigration. And I said in that meeting that I would go anywhere, to any state … I’d stand in Times Square … and say, ‘We agree on 80 percent. We only disagree on 20 percent. Let’s agree to disagree. It’s our duty to pursue progress, not some perfection.’ I will gladly take the arrows from the left and the right. We need more people to do that.

Do you have advice for your successor?

They may not ask … but if they do, I will say, first and foremost, be true to yourself. Spend time trying to advance the ball, but don’t let the job change you, because it can. You’re here to serve people who both agree and disagree with you. Be accessible by getting around the state. Show up for all of them.

Dutch Girl Hoosier Cabinet

VINTAGE: 1916 Coppes Commons, Nappanee, Indiana

EARLY AMERICAN kitchens were empty, save for the odd table. Preparing family meals was not easy. Then came the Hoosier Cabinet in 1898, with top and bottom sections that included a work surface, a ﬂour bin, and storage. It was embraced so enthusiastically that 130 different companies eventually came to produce it. Most were in Indiana, hence its name. The Coppes Napanee company was the last survivor. (Nappanee is intentionally misspelled; at the time, it was illegal for a business to appropriate a town’s name.) In 2007, the original factory was transformed into Coppes Commons, with a grocery store, a coffee shop, an ice cream parlor, and a museum. The latter is the home of this honey-hued Model A Dutch Kitchenet, tricked out with a meat grinder, bread box, and porcelain sliding table. Advertisements for the Kitchenet introduced the brand’s Dutch girl character, which proved popular. Who she was based on remains a mystery. —MICHELLE MASTRO

ARTIFACT

Photo

STEPHEN HILL

Room designed by Rosalind Pope of Rosalind Brinn Pope Interior Design

The Hot Seat

OUR NEW ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA WILL LEVEL UP YOUR TRADITIONAL DINNER-AND-A-MOVIE. BY

IT TAKES a lot to stand out in the film presentation business, which, boiled down, is primarily about sitting.

But don’t tell that to the folks behind Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, who just opened their first Indiana multiplex/eatery hybrid just west of Lafayette Square Mall. Take in a first-run flick while dinner, snacks, or cocktails are delivered to your seat. While we have movie houses with a similar concept in the area—Living Room Theaters at Bottleworks District, Flix Brewhouse in Carmel, and the locally owned Kan-Kan Cinema and Restaurant in the Windsor Park neighborhood—Alamo brings unique amenities. These include a popcorn refill service, heated seats, blankets for purchase, baby-friendly matinees with a lower volume and the lights turned up, and a VIP room with a curated menu and state-of-the-art sound emanating from your seat. But the biggest improvement to the traditional movie experience may be the strictly enforced no-talking, no-texting policy.

The Austin-based chain has built its reputation not only on such perks

LOU HARRY

but also on special events, including multicourse film and food pairings, nostalgic revivals, mystery-movie nights, sing- and quote-alongs, interactive events complete with prop bags and cue cards, special outside screenings, and celebrity appearances. Nicolas Cage, Quentin Tarantino, and Sebastian Stan have each recently stopped by an Alamo.

“Moviegoers are no longer satisfied with a standard cinema experience,” notes Carlos Robles, the Indy location’s general manager. “Alamo’s curation of cult classics and fan-focused programming appeals to a generation that values nostalgia, interactive content, and deeper engagement.”

To be sure, theaters have taken a hit since Covid. By the time movie houses reopened, folks had grown accustomed to home viewing. Theaters have to up the ante to get them off their couches. Since Sony Pictures Entertainment purchased Alamo in June, they’ve been pumping money into the chain.

Fabio De La Cruz, CEO of Sojos Capital and developer of the Lafayette Square area, fell for Alamo when exploring companies that attracted and retained talent. Meanwhile, Alamo founder Tim League already had

Indianapolis on his radar because of annual visits to Gen Con.

Each Alamo tailors the decor to its location. Here, that means a custom racing simulator, Mario Kart, and an IndyCar photo op, plus race-related movie posters and an oval-shaped hot rod bar alongside 13 screening rooms. (A 14th, dubbed The Big Show thanks to its 66-footwide screen, is coming in 2025).

The theater complex is the largest evidence so far of the transformation of Lafayette Square. “Alamo aligns perfectly with our vision for this area,” says De La Cruz. “We are proud to have it as the cornerstone of our first commercial project in the neighborhood.”

PHOTOS BY VERNAND MEDIA

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: DINNER IS SERVED DIRECT TO RECLINING SEATS; RACE-THEMED DECOR ABOUNDS; INDY LOCATION MANAGER CARLOS ROBLES EXPECTS HUGE SUCCESS

MONTH’S CAN’T–MISS EVENTS

(1) Christmas at the Zoo

Ongoing through January 5

In 1967, the Indianapolis Zoo was the first in the country to offer a holiday light show. Over the years, it’s become much more than twinkling trees and tunnels.

New this year is Santa’s Cottage, an immersive snow globe–esque adventure indianapoliszoo.com

(2) Winterlights

Ongoing through January 5

On the grounds of Newfields, close to 2 million lights shine—and dance to holiday melodies. Lilly House is decked with handmade decorations. Don’t skip the illuminated Big Piñata, a sculpture by Mexican artists. discovernewfields.org/ winterlights

(3) Big Ten Championship Game

December 7

The top two teams in the regular college football season’s standings confront each other at Lucas Oil Stadium

It’ll be the first time in conference history that the No. 1 and 2 teams match up. bigten.org

(4) Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet

December 12

A troupe from countries around the world, including Italy, Japan, Ukraine, England, and Poland, takes the stage at Old National Centre. This year, several reimagined scenes blend classical ballet with avantgarde circus techniques. nutcracker.com

(5) Straight No Chaser

December 14–15

The Indiana University–born a cappella group is known for their holiday renditions. Their Top Shelf Tour coming to Murat Theatre includes those favorites, plus new interpretations of iconic songs through the decades. sncmusic.com

WANTED

Snow Day

Fancy up any holiday-party cake with this decoration set, part of the Christmas Collection by Silver Celebrations. The ﬁve charming pieces include a pair of pine trees, a snowman, and a sled, as well as a log cabin candleholder. Each piece is hand cast in silver plating in London, then gift boxed. These shiny-bright adornments will also make any winter birthday cake special. $110. The Cake Bake Shop, 6515 Carrollton Ave. and Carmel City Center, thecakebakeshop.com —CHRISTINA VERCELLETTO

Photo by TONY VALAINIS

( SHOP TALK )

Cottage Industry

MAKE ONE-OF-A-KIND HOLIDAY GIFTS IN BROAD RIPPLE. BY

SAM STALL

FRIENDS and business partners Alissa Moody and Chrissy Sweigart transformed the charming Broad Ripple bungalow once occupied by Kiln Creations into Create Art Studio, a boutique and crafting center. The storefront is devoted mostly to the shop, with the back serving as classrooms. (The second floor is an Airbnb, often booked by artisans attending festivals.) Classes are offered in everything from printmaking, to painting, to wreath making. The long list serves adults and kids as young as 18 months. First-timers are encouraged. “We host artists with years of experience and those looking to try art as self-care,” says Moody. “This space allows anyone to create without boundaries or previous experience.” Creative juices not flowing? Browse the locally made wares to find oil paintings, jewelry, and the embroidery of Meghan McGovern, among other holiday giftables. Like many of the folks whose handiwork is on sale, McGovern teaches at Create, which can lead to synergies. Not infrequently, class attendees ask instructors to do commissioned pieces.

Create Art Studio

ADDRESS

6511 Ferguson St.

HOURS

10 a.m.–8 p.m. every day

(1) Starter painting kit with Golden acrylic paints, $55 (2) Fan-design hoop earrings in seafoam, $24 (3) Floral Indiana embroidery hoop, $60. Also available with yellow background, $55 (4) Glitter sneaker stickers, $4 per sheet

Olivia West Game Host for the Pacers and Fever

YOUR PERSONAL STYLE IN THREE WORDS?

Comfy, functional, sporty.

WHAT ARE YOUR GO-TO CLOTHING STORES?

MELI and Cargo Streetwear, both in Fountain Square, and Akira in Castleton Square Mall.

WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST TO PEOPLE WHO LIKE ATHLEISURE BUT WANT TO LEVEL UP THAT LOOK?

First, check out Ajani Sportswear. Incorporate some nice Jordans, and if you like jewelry, wear it. It’s really important to plan your ﬁt if you want to make a statement. Last-minute ﬁts rarely make me feel good or make a true statement.

—CHRISTINA VERCELLETTO

DON’T MISS

Chill Seekers

SHAKE AND SERVE MARGARITAS, COSMOS, AND MARTINIS IN STYLE.

(1) Jan Barboglio’s La Sarah Coctelera hammered steel martini shaker sits on a cast iron coaster. $175. El Puro Hielo ice bucket, $415. Addendum Gallery, Carmel City Center, 317-253-3400

(2) This regal-looking, lidded copper ice bucket is outﬁtted with tongs and classically elegant, golden lion head handles. $48. Story by Tiffany Skilling, 1057 E. 54th St., 317-501-7953

(3) A vintage soda glassstyle cocktail shaker in a beautiful rose hue with gilded lid is destined to be a bartop stunner. $20. Surroundings, 1101 E. 54th St., 317-254-8883

(4) The Clairebella Flora Leopard Ice Bucket will stand out on any bar cart. $136. Paired with the Belmont Parisian Cocktail Shaker, $58. Be the Boutique, 5607 N. Illinois St., 317-257-3826

(5) The handsome Match Pewter cobbler-style shaker has a built-in strainer. $468. Matching ice bucket, $439. Charles Mayer & Co., 5629 N. Illinois St., 317854-7428

PHOTO BY TONY VALAINIS

INDY abounds with real estate to satisfy just about any urban dweller. Throughout the city lie pockets of new construction, historical neighborhoods brimming with character, and conveniently located apartment buildings. For those shopping at around the half-million price, two enticing options stand out.

The Victorian Charmer

A red house with a bright green door is festive, and this Fletcher Place fi nd boasts year-round curb appeal. As if the white picket fence and wraparound porch aren’t sweet enough, the delights keep coming when you enter this 1895 gem. The fully renovated interior has an aesthetic that leans cheery and contemporary, with dark hardwoods adding just the right balance to the natural light-fi lled spaces. The footprint allows for several en suites, plus a main-level laundry room. Out back, a surprisingly large deck spills onto a yard dappled with shade from a grand old tree and an adjacent two-car garage.

The Modern Townhome

The rich, ocean-toned exterior of this newly constructed townhome in Kennedy-King is punctuated by stylish black window trim and a welcoming porch. The fi rst floor is long and open, reminiscent of the bygone shotgun style. The seamless flow from the kitchen into the dining and living room areas continues out to the backyard. Finishes are on-trend: grays and whites with sleek black hardware. A walk-in pantry is cleverly concealed behind a pocket door. Yet the primary suite steals the show with a spa-like

closet.

A Site to Behold

REALTY CHECK

As the year comes to a close, fulﬁll your 2024 giving goals by Dec. 31 to have the highest impact while maximizing your personal ﬁnancial goals. Give to organizations that align with your values, interests, and passions with help from your philanthropic adviser at the Central Indiana Philanthropic Collaborative.

Jennifer Turner | Vice President of Philanthropy jennifert@cicf.org CICF.org | 317.634.2423

That’s So Fetch

FASHION MEETS FUR IN FESTIVE FINERY FOR PAMPERED PETS.

BY CHRISTINA VERCELLETTO

“Life is a party. Dress for it.”

Nora

“They said don’t try to pose, just be myself. But I could be a model. You think I should model, right?”

—Butter, Community Heights

Hello Doggie rhinestoneembellished dress. $16. Canine Cloud Nine, Carmel City Center

“I wasn’t sure I could own this. Then I realized everyone is in their own heads, worried about themselves. That took the pressure off.”

Pike Township

hoodie

furb.com; handmade peppermint stick bow tie $12.50. theboldbowtie.com

“Darlings, elegance is a must whilst waiting for Santa.”

“We were worshipped in ancient Egypt. Now what do we have? Fleece? Look away.”

—Celia, Glendale Merry & Bright emerald satin pj’s $15. Also available in crimson. PetSmart, multiple locations

—Peach,

Doggy Parton Evening Star beaded gown with faux fur trim. $45. Petco, multiple locations

—Luna, Zionsville

Merry Makings chunky ﬂeece turtleneck. $18. Petco, multiple locations

—Irving,

Venice stretch-knit

$44.

PHOTOS BY TONY VALAINIS Pet Project

You Really Must Stay

LAKE GENEVA HAS ALL THE INGREDIENTS FOR A SPARKLING WINTER WEEKEND. BY

LOU HARRY

WHEN a town is defined by a lake, you assume the cold months freeze out vacationers. When it comes to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, you’re wrong: The snowy season holds distinct charms. In December, you can dine with Santa at the Grand Geneva Resort (grandgeneva .com). On the grounds that once housed the first Playboy Resort, Mr. Claus also shows up on the slopes. Rather hang out with friends? Book an igloo experience offering food and drink under a clear, heated dome that holds six. Or pile into the warm car and drive through the property’s holiday display of more than 2 million lights. In town, hit Winterfest Lake Geneva (visitlakegeneva .com/winterfest) from January 29 to February 2, where teams from around the country show off their massive snow sculptures. Advice: Arrive a few days early to watch these amazing artists at work.

An epic obstacle course is the centerpiece of the Abominable Snow Race at Lake Geneva Ziplines & Adventures (lakegenevaadventures.com). Cap off the frosty fun with a horse-drawn sleigh ride at Dan Patch Stables (danpatchstables.com). You’ll want to leave enough time to duck into Yerkes Observatory (yerkesobservatory .org). Once a groundbreaking University of Chicago–connected facility for mapping the night sky, it dodged a plan to transition it into condos and emerged as a place where science, art, and history come together thanks to a philanthropic effort. Peopled with passionate staff including engaging guides, it offers an array of special events, from candlelight strolls to observe constellations to behind-thescenes tours. Peer through the Yerkes Great Refractor, a telescope that awed the likes of Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, and Carl Sagan. It’s still the largest refracting telescope in the world.

IF YOU GO

EXHALE An appointment at the Avani Spa (theabbeyresort.com/ lake-geneva-wisconsinspa) includes access to its luxurious indoor pool.

PLAY Dungeons & Dragons was born here and is celebrated with a permanent exhibit at the Geneva Lake Museum (genevalakemuseum .org). The dragon sculpture outside is the best backdrop for a photo.

SNEAK Follow or like the Speakeasy (facebook .com/maxwellmansion) to get a password to enter the subterranean door to the atmospheric 1920s lounge. Lake Geneva, WI

A visit to the magnificent mansion built by industrialist Monroe Seiberling in 1891 in Kokomo is a heart-stirring experience in December. Victorian-era decor and twinkly lights inside and out make CHRISTMAS AT THE SEIBERLING a worthy family tradition. Fittingly, this year’s theme is holiday memories. howardcountymuseum.org —CHRISTINA VERCELLETTO

TRAVELER

THE DISH

SWOON Flame On

Maria Adele Rosenfeld was so inspired by her time in Germany as a foreign exchange student that years later, she launched the wildly popular Carmel Christkindlmarkt. In 2018, she was encouraged to add feuerzangenbowle to the mix, beginning a yearslong quest to bring the drink to Indiana. Made with a burning sugarloaf suspended over glühwein (a warm mix of wine and spices), it’s rarely found in the U.S., so Rosenfeld had to reach out to a maker in Austria to create the special copper kettles used to brew the concoction. Those gleaming pots arrived in Indy this fall, just in time for the boozy beverage to make its Christkindlmarkt debut from November 23 through Christmas Eve. 10 Carter Green, Carmel, 317-559-6608, carmelchristkindlmarkt.com

—EVE BATEY

Photo by TONY

( CHEERS

)

Prodigal Son

A SPIRITS-FOCUSED RESTAURANT OPENS IN A LANDMARK FOUNTAIN SQUARE SPOT. BY EVE BATEY

BEN DAVIS grad Nick Detrich has spent the last few decades building businesses in competitive markets such as New Orleans and London. After family matters prompted a move back to Indy, he decided to bring what he’d learned on the road back home. His new bar and restaurant, Magdalena, opened in Fountain Square in November, taking over the historic space last occupied by craft cocktail bar Thunderbird, which closed in 2022.

Magdalena’s cocktails marry local lore (for example, Hoosier brandies or Indiana persimmons) with present-day polish, while the seafood-laden menu pulls from purveyors Detrich has worked with since his NoLa days. “It’s a menu that’s really focused on thoughtful sourcing,” Detrich says, “and it definitely has a Southern flair.” 1127 Shelby St., magdalena.bar

PINCH WISDOM

“Don’t stress out on making your Christmas cookies pretty. They just need to taste good. Skip the complicated royal icing and just make a good American buttercream. I’m not gonna spend two hours decorating a cookie just to eat it.”

— Laura Lachowecki, owner of Filigree Bakery

(REVISIT)

A New Chapter

Provider’s new food menu was built with its neighborhood in mind.

WHEN EVENT company

Tinker House took over management of coffee shop Provider in May, the first order of business was to “stay afloat,” owner Brian Willsey says. But Valerie Maldonado, the company’s food and beverage director, says, “Almost immediately, I saw ways we could grow if we just listened to the community.”

Six months in, Maldonado successfully launched a new, made-to-order food menu, serving up dishes like eggy breakfast pizzas and stacked turkey clubs alongside the usual coffee shop treats. True to the spot’s name, Maldonado says they just “asked our customers what they’d want, then figured out how to provide it.” 1101 E. 16th St., 317-550-5685, providerindy.com —E.B.

WINTER BOUNTY Broad Ripple’s Farmers Market is one of only a few in the region to run year-round. Visit its indoor location at Glendale Town Center from 9 a.m. to noon through April to support its local vendors. SPINNING OFF Lone Pine, a new restaurant from Beholder partner Josh Mazanowski, is set to open in Carmel this month with a menu of aged steaks “cooked with intention.” —E.B.

TASTE TEST

Posh Spice

THE FAMILIAR FLAVOR OF GINGERBREAD IS A COMFORTING AND NOSTALGIC WINTER MAINSTAY. HERE’S WHERE TO FIND CLASSIC AND CREATIVE ITERATIONS THIS SEASON. BY AMY LYNCH

Command Coffee

Move over, hot chocolate. With pumps of sweet heat and gingerbread syrups, light-roast espresso, steamed milk, and a dusting of cinnamon, Command’s spicy gingerbread latte (which rolls out right before Christmas) might become your new favorite holiday warmer. Multiple locations, commandcoffee.com

DeBrand Fine Chocolates

An R&D experiment with a tasty ending, this Connoisseur Collection confection has a gooey gingerbread center encased in caramelized chocolate and topped with tiny pieces of crispy puffed rice. Best of all, it’s available yearround. 8685 River Crossing Blvd., 317-669-0955, debrand.com

Leviathan Bakehouse

This near-northside bakery makes heavy use of blackstrap molasses, unbleached wheat ﬂour, powdered and fresh ginger, black pepper (!), and stout to turn out fragrant gingerbread loaves, perfect with a cup of coffee, tea, or eggnog. 1101 N. College Ave., 317-493-1879, leviathanbakehouse.com

TeeJay’s Sweet Tooth

A seasonal bestseller, this milkshake brings everyone to the yard by blending gingerbreadspiced ice cream and milk, which is poured into a fancy frostingtrimmed cup and festively garnished with holiday sprinkles and a miniature gingerbread man. 8660 Purdue Rd., 317-744-9764, teejayssweettooth.com.

PHOTO

A Fishers First

MARLON LLEWELLYN BRINGS THE SPICY STAPLES OF JAMAICA TO FISHERS TEST KITCHEN. BY

TERRY KIRTS

PROVIDING northside diners a fresh take on the salt cod fritters, rice and peas, and jerk dishes he grew up loving in Jamaica may be Marlon Llewellyn’s current focus. However, when he was young, the self-proclaimed “certified mama’s boy,” who spent hours at his mother’s restaurant helping with the cooking and baking, set his sights not on a restaurant kitchen but on breaking records on the gridiron.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Llewellyn moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at just 6 years old, where he fell in love with football. The recordsetting inside linebacker chose Ball State University, where he became a star not just for his moves on the field but for the barbecues he hosted for his friends and fellow players. After graduation, he taught high school math, worked as a principal, and took

a recruitment position at Marian University. But the spice-rich, smoky foods of home were always on his mind.

After his mother passed away, Llewellyn decided his life needed a reset. “I went to my journal, and I wrote out the plan” for what would become Scotchy Jamaican Grill, named after the Scotch bonnet pepper found in many Caribbean dishes.

His mother’s legacy lives on at his Fishers Test Kitchen stall, which is the Hamilton County suburb’s first Jamaican restaurant. Llewellyn lends his own spin to the classics, adding crab to his cod fritters and featuring jerk pork in addition to the usual chicken. He’s also honoring his grandfather, who grew most of the family’s food back on the island.

“Nothing went to waste,” he says, “and we made sure to feed our community. It’s all part of our story.” 9713 District North Dr., Ste. 1210, Fishers

FAVORITE THINGS

(1) Jerk pork. “People think of chicken for jerk, but slowsmoked pork gets a great crackly crust.” (2) Mexican food. “I love the carne asada tacos at Los Agaves in McCordsville.” (3) Red Stripe beer. “It’s a great lager with food. I make a great pot roast dish with Red Stripe.” (4) Yaso Jamaican Grill. “They’re my go-to spot on Sundays for ackee and saltﬁsh (pictured), as well as oxtails.” (5) Journaling. “I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the ability to put my thoughts on paper.”

FOODIE

CANDLEMAKINGEXPERIENCE!

nplug Soy Candles, locally owned and foundedby Jennifer and Joe Sturgill, has been the premiere candle-making destination in the Indianapolis area for over 9 years. As a one-stop retail shop in Fishers, Unplug offers more than just candlemaking. It’s all about the experience at Unplug Soy Candles.

Customers love the inviting and energetic atmosphere while pouring candles and shopping. At Unplug, you’ll be sure to find the perfect, gift-worthy items for any occasion, including personalized gift boxes and custom-printed candles. Unplug also has an exceptional fundraising program, Candles For A Cause, giving 25% of sales back to the hosting organization. For the cherry on top, Unplug regularly hosts spectacular (children and petfriendly) interactive events, bringing people in the community together for a memorable experience!

CARRY ON

Fifteen years ago, People for Urban Progress saved a million dollars’ worth of RCA Dome roof fabric from a ll and created a line of bags—plus a new civic brand for Indianapolis focused on smart design and local pride. As the 13 acres of fabric runs what will the city’s trailblazing maker pull out of

CELEBRATED landscape architect David Rubin was speaking at a design conference at the Cummins Global Distribution Headquarters in 2018 when he said what all the high-powered creatives in attendance there were thinking: Indianapolis has gotten a lot cooler in the last 10 years.

Local architect Donna Sink stood up. “I just want to point out that People for Urban Progress is celebrating our 10th anniversary. I think you have PUP to thank,” she said. Sink is a longtime board member for PUP, the Indianapolis nonprofit behind a popular collection of handbags and accessories made from salvaged materials from the RCA Dome. The startup became Indy-famous when it saved the Colts’ former home’s fabric roof from a landfill and began upcycling it from a gritty Fountain Square studio. Locals loved that they could own a piece of Indy nostalgia remade with a modern design aesthetic, and the sensible do-gooder story played well, too. Every hip person in town had one of the boxy white totes or wallets.

That was just the beginning. After saving the roof material from the demolished dome in 2008, PUP founder Michael Bricker grew the organization into much more than a product line. Focused on sustainability and civic design, PUP called itself a “do-tank” and used bag sales (priced from $42 for a wallet to $144 for a duffel bag) to fund community projects like artful bus shelters and urban garden canopies. In the process, PUP established itself as the vanguard of all things forward-thinking and fablooking in Indianapolis.

Bricker was also first in line when other local treasures were up for grabs, like the seats in Bush Stadium and Hinkle Fieldhouse, which were saved based on ideas from PUP employees. PUP turned the Bush Stadium seats into bus stop perches (called PUPstops) and sold the Hinkle seats to fund its work, making PUP a local darling known for its fresh ideas at a time when Indy was all about them—the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, handsome bars like the nowclosed Libertine with its pioneering drinks and mixologists in vests, the downtown condo boom, the rebirth of

Fountain Square, and all the energy and optimism Indy channeled into hosting the hell out of Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. “It was in the air at the time,” Bricker says. “It was the end of the housing crisis. A lot of people had lost their jobs, and they started thinking, What’s my skill set? What can I make happen? When you look at a lot of organizations in Indianapolis that are still around, a lot of them started between 2008 and 2011, and we were in that group.”

In its role as do-tank, PUP did more than its fan base realized, namely driving a conversation around design that reached beyond Indy. The Rubin talk was part of a PUP-sponsored series of events called Daylight, for which thought leaders like Rubin (originally from Philadelphia) and Detroit city planner Maurice Cox had come from around the country to talk about urban design and the “built environment”—buildings, parks, streetscapes, and all the elements that make up a city. The Daylight symposium, as well as a follow-up Season Two focused on equity in design, were signs that PUP was growing up.

But six years later, PUP is located on the quiet Central State campus on the west side, having moved from Fountain Square in 2017. It hasn’t installed a new bus stop or other community

IT’S IN THE BAG

Michael Bricker’s original vision turned material from the former RCA Dome (opposite page) into fashionable clutches, totes, duffels, and accessories.

project since 2019 and hasn’t made a blog post since 2020. There is only one RCA Dome product still for sale online, a credit card holder, and the bags have mostly disappeared from local stores. And the Dome fabric is almost out.

Which has made some trend trackers wonder how PUP—a company founded on the concept of sustainability—will fi nd new life for itself.

THREAD OF AN IDEA

Michael Bricker had a lot on his mind the summer of 2008 when he returned to Indianapolis from Austin, where the Wabash College alum had earned a graduate degree in architecture at the University of Texas. His mother had passed unexpectedly, and he was dealing with arrangements and grieving with his twin sister, Jessica.

One thing broke through the fog: the site of the RCA Dome demolition as he drove past it downtown. Architects are fascinated with raw materials. Bricker wondered what the roof was made of and what would happen to it. He asked around and learned that it was going to a landfi ll east of Indianapolis.

What a waste, Bricker thought. “Purchased new, it would have cost millions of dollars,” he says of the

Bricker wondered what the roof [of the RCA Dome] was made of and what would happen to it. He asked around and learned that it was going to a landﬁ ll east of Indianapolis.

thick white thermoplastic material that had been held aloft by internal air pressure. The new airport’s parking garage roof was in the process of being constructed from the same stuff, so it wasn’t an obsolete product. Bricker wondered if someone could do bett er.

So he pushed. He called city leaders. He tracked down the project management company. “I threatened to make some noise about it,” he says. “Everyone wanted to just not deal with it.”

The demolition company, though, was cooperative. It wouldn’t take much more work to cut it down in sheets than to rip it apart with a big metal claw. The project managers agreed to let Bricker have it if he would haul it away. He enlisted Indy Parks, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, and the Indianapolis Water Company to help with transportation and storage. Some of it was stashed at KIB, and some went into a warehouse near Eli Lilly’s headquarters downtown. Ecomission to save the material from landfi ll accomplished.

Now what?

Bricker wanted to use it to make shade structures for Indy Parks, but they weren’t interested in funding the work. Instead, he bought a sewing machine and played around. The material was pliable enough to work with. He came up with the idea for bags, formed a nonprofit, and dove in with one partner (a friend, Maryanne O’Malley, who would soon step away). They power-washed the fabric in his

backyard, cut it, sewed square bags and wallets, and got Silver in the City on Mass Ave to sell them. PUP was born—a scrappy startup working with literal scraps.

The story of preserving a piece of Indy’s sports legacy scored big, and the minimalist designs were highquality, the roof material proving nearly indestructible. “It’s one of our favorite things to take down and touch and talk about. It’s one of the best stories that we have in the store,” says Silver in the City owner Kristin Kohn.

But it was never easy. Even KIB, a willing but strapped nonprofit ally, threw away some Dome material when it was cleaning house at one

point. Bricker and his partner dove into the dumpster and hauled it away in his Jeep Cherokee. Eight years in, PUP found a semi trailer full of Dome fabric that Indy Parks had stored at the old airport aft er its demolition and, in an ironic twist, had to buy the material back from the city.

From donated studio space in Fountain Square, Bricker bootstrapped enough to hire a few sewers and expand the line to about 20 bag styles. (According to Sink, PUP has always employed stitchers, “the people who make the bags,” on a per-piece basis.) The First Friday crowd came through the Fountain Square shop regularly, and the bags found a powerful fan in Brian Payne,

COLLABORATIVE EFFORT

Stitcher Kelly Gray, resource manager Jason Chisham, and executive director Turae Dabney plan PUP’s projects.

president of the Central Indiana Community Foundation and the visionary behind the transformational Cultural Trail. Payne was able to toss some dollars PUP’s way. A big break came when PUP was one of four local makers featured in a popup shop called Outpost during the Super Bowl.

By then, PUP had gained enough street cred to participate in civic projects, like contributing stadium seats to area bus stops, and to make a play for the NFL’s Super Bowl banners that were hung up around downtown in February 2012. Two days before game kickoff, Bricker got the green light and rode around in a golf cart with an NFL rep to survey the mother lode of material. Even after seeing it, Bricker was floored when the shipment arrived—41 pallets of dirty vinyl stashed at the Circle City Industrial Complex, now the Factory Arts District.

The Super Bowl banners gave PUP some fresh PR and a new look. Locals could buy shower curtains with XLVI imagery, and the colorful fabric was mixed with a litt le Dome material to create the Referee drawstring backpack, a budget-friendly bestseller at $56. The rest was cut up for accent fabric on Dome bags.

Bricker’s ambitions matched the city’s drive to chase a Super Bowl. He envisioned PUP chapters in other cities and an online store, perhaps, selling all products with backstories

PUP

2010 Domeﬂ ake Ornament

PUP’s annual snowﬂ ake ornament has become collectible. PUP hopes to release a set of all 15 designs this year.

2014–17 Executive Handbag

Starting in 2014, PUP expanded its product line with more than 20 new designs mixing RCA Dome fabric and Super Bowl banners.

2018 Amtrak Conductor Weekender

2020 Ignitor Bag

Blue leather from Amtrak trains became PUP’s third major collection. Amtrak occasionally partners with PUP on national promotions.

IMS Tote

An Indy company’s leftover poolcovering fabric became a limited collection of black bags.

After Covid, PUP refocused on corporate partnerships like turning Indianapolis Motor Speedway banners into products that are sold at the track’s museum and the Indy 500 each May.

A TIMELINE OF PUP PRODUCTS

2009 RCA Dome Bags

debuted with three designs made from white RCA Dome fabric— a messenger bag, a clutch, and a wallet.

like the Dome bag. People would know the idea came from Indianapolis. He pitched the idea to local leaders, hoping they would help fund his vision to brand Indy as a place that values sustainability, craft smanship, and innovative thinking. “It’s such a good idea that still no one is really doing,” Bricker says.

As part of PUP’s focus on sustainability, Bricker also wanted to consult on material use in construction and architecture, as he did for IUPUI when they were removing redwood from a building. PUP’s report included the value of the material, an assessment of its usability, and ways to reuse it. “I think if you’re gett ing money from the city, it should be required that somebody comes in [during demolition] and studies the use of that material and how it could go back into the community,” Bricker says. “That’s how I was trying to position us. That was going to be a big part of our next chapter.”

But funding for such a specific kind of service was also hard to secure, Bricker says, because PUP didn’t fit any existing categories of green causes. “We’re not workforce development. We’re not traditional recycling. We’re not energy-based,” he says. “I felt like the city loved to tell our story and take a litt le credit for our success but didn’t really want to help us grow.”

Eventually he became disillusioned with his bigger dreams for PUP and decided to dedicate his energy to his other career. Today, he’s a successful production designer living in Brooklyn and won an Emmy for his work on the Netfl ix series Russian Doll There are no hard feelings. “I still feel

strongly about what we did,” he says, “and hopefully what the organization is still doing.”

CURRENT STITCH

Don’t fret. PUP is healthy. It’s still operating. In fact, it’s doing well. As many of us do as we mature into middle age, PUP has transitioned to something more stable and manageable—corporate sales, making products for clients that supply the material. It’s still pursuing its mission of sustainability. But to the artsy crowd that made PUP popular, it could look

like a sellout. “We were big influencers 10 years ago, and we’ve moved quietly into the deeper issues of public design,” Sink says. “We’re trying to think about the next thing.”

Lately, the “next thing” has been encouraging sustainability in auto racing. PUP has a strong partnership with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, turning its banners into products that are sold at the track’s gift shop and other month-of-May outlets. The process has convinced the Speedway to start making its banners from a more environmentally friendly material. That relationship has led to other

The IMS partnership led to working with racing teams to turn ﬁre suits into bags and oven

The museum’s previous hot-air balloon lives on as

The landmark gave PUP damask curtain fabric for a collection to be sold in its gift shop. The white fabric is the West Indy Racquet Club’s salvaged storm-damaged roof, which mimics the RCA Dome fabric.

The sleek poolcovering material lends itself to PUP’s ﬁrst round bag, an on-trend style that will be released soon.

2023 Flags for Good Collaboration

A colorful Pride collection with the Indianapolis ﬂ ag company’s leftover materials sold out in hours online.

2023

Conner Prairie Balloon Bags

vibrant PUP bags sold in the on-site gift shop.

2024

Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site Bags

COMING SOON Round Crossbody

2021

Aero McClaren Fire Suit Bags

gloves. Unfortunately, most are not available to the public.

opportunities in racing: PUP upcycles Pennzoil’s banners into bags and McLaren Racing’s soft fabric fire suits into gloves and duffels. Because the products go back to the client to give as gifts or to sell, only a few are sold to the public.

Other clients include conventions that come to town, like the National FFA Organization, for which PUP made handbags and backpacks from the group’s event banners and iconic blue corduroy. PUP also works with local attractions, including Conner Prairie, making bags from a retired hot air balloon, and the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, making gift shop products from brocade curtains. “We have saturated the market in Indianapolis with our Dome bags,” current PUP executive director Turae Dabney says. But the nostalgia that made them want to own a piece of the arena is still an important selling point. “Now we have to sell to the corporate client who has a tie to a banner [or other material],” she says.

The transition to relying on corporate partnerships solved a couple problems for PUP. First, the Dome material was never going to last forever. Also, Covid put a damper on PUP’s sales, especially in retail because people weren’t traveling or shopping in stores. And retail is labor-intensive.

At the time, PUP was churning out both its Dome collection, stretching the collection’s life and jazzing up its look by mixing in Super Bowl banner fabric, and its leather Amtrak collection, made from upcycled train upholstery. This meant nearly every bag was one-of-a-kind and had to be designed and photographed. Corporate orders, however, don’t require photography or marketing.

Even before Covid, PUP was taking a turn philosophically. After Bricker left, the leadership changed a couple times, which tends to bring about a shift in direction. Bricker’s successor felt strongly about the speaking series Daylight. Dabney, a first-generation college graduate who previously worked in state and national politics, leans into PUP’s identity as a product company and design educator. Under her leadership, PUP is engaging more with its westside community than with Indy’s creative class. She says PUP helped develop the connectivity of Central State’s master plan and is now the community outreach coordinator for a high-design bridge project over Fall Creek that will link the 16 Tech Innovation District to the medical campus at Indiana University Indianapolis. PUP created a position on its board for a westside resident, too. PUP now brings in high school

interns through Ivy Tech. Last summer, 18 kids learned about the role of design in the world—in terms of fashion and also in terms of sidewalks, homes, and park benches—and as a career. Each student made a bag, learning a valuable skill. PUP is doing the same with eighth graders from Christel House West Academy across the street from its current location. The students will design, sew, and sell their products to classmates, putting together a marketing plan and cost analysis. The process includes broader design education. “We talk to them about what they want Indianapolis to look like,” Dabney says. “That gets us back to the heart of PUP.”

Dabney likes to say that PUP “convenes the conversation” about sustainability. PUP’s work with auto racing, for example, is extending into discussions on the future of the sport. Enormous cars burning huge amounts of gasoline and rubber is not ideal for the environment, but PUP has been working with various racing groups on their initiatives to reduce the sport’s carbon footprint.

Product sales still fuel it all. The Amtrak collection has been PUP’s primary economic engine for the last five years. It started before Bricker left. One of his college friends worked for Amtrak and had a line on 12,000

RENEWED PURPOSE

Blue leather from Amtrak trains (left) and seats from Bush Stadium (above) have been given new life by PUP.

IS IT A STADIUM ROOF?

Is it fabric?

Is it vinyl, mesh, leather, or a ﬂag?

Do you have a lot?

Email shop@peopleup.org to talk about a custom order or arrange a donation. If it’s a stadium roof anywhere, they’ll come get it.

leather seats set to be replaced on the East Coast’s Acela trains. Amtrak donated the material, resulting in PUP’s second collection following the Dome bags. The buttery, brokenin, blue leather was cleaned, cut, and sewn into a line of 11 travel accessories, including the Switchman messenger bag, the Dispatcher Dopp kit, and the Inspector sunglasses case.

The collection was a hit, selling around 2,000 pieces. It even earned an honorable mention in Fast Company ’s 2019 Innovation by Design Awards. Amtrak promotes it to their frequent travelers, letting them trade in mileage points for the product. PUP and Amtrak sold out a rerelease in April, and more inventory is in the works.

NEXT STOP

Inside PUP’s Central State studio, it feels like little has changed from when it first began. The raw space retains PUP’s original gritty vibe. Durable white clutches and handbags mixed with colorful pieces cut out from vinyl banners are displayed on shelves.

Would you like to commission PUP to turn it into something?

Is it a bunch of seatbelts?

No questions asked!

other organizations—such

Behind the shelves, a fabric warehouse overflows with raw materials and workers busy cutting and sewing.

Locals still carry their PUP bags, but it’s hard to find a new piece these days. You have to know where to look. Silver in the City still stocks a few. Conner Prairie’s gift shop sells some backpacks. A Dome piece, aside from the card holders sold online, is the hardest to come by. With the material down to half an acre, PUP is rationing it and won’t make any more Dome bags. But it’s dedicated to using every scrap wisely. It also acquired a similar white material, the roof of the bubble-shaped West Indy Racquet Club that was damaged in a storm; a tennis bag prototype is in the works. PUP has also come close to landing other stadium roofs in Vancouver and Syracuse.

But the PUP spirit of making Indy cooler still smolders. United State of Indiana and The Shop were both T-shirt-making neophytes when they joined PUP at the Super Bowl’s Outpost pop-up in 2012, and they have grown into their own brick-andmortars. USI has a staff of 10 and sells 15,000 shirts a year, and The Shop has

three retail locations. GangGang and Pattern have picked up the torch of putting out ambitious homegrown creative projects at the reinvigorated Stutz Building, and Big Car Collaborative, a community-based arts group that predates PUP, is currently putting $6.5 million into expanding its southside campus. Indy is still plenty indie.

As PUP charts a new course in its post-Dome era, it might not be the visible emblem of our civic fabric that it once was. But it doesn’t need to be.

PUP helped sew some pieces of our identity together and define Indy’s new brand—resourceful, practical, playful, creative, collaborative, industrious, and innovative. No city had ever before reused an NFL arena roof to make accessories that funded community improvements. Of course not! But it made perfect sense—so some Hoosiers stepped up and did it. And beautifully so, harnessing our heritage to move us forward while inspiring others through the examples of heart and hard work. PUP gave us a tangible vision of who we are that we can carry with us every day.

What’s cooler than that?

But

as Indiana Comfort Quilting group (which makes blankets for palliative patients) or the Indiana Department of Corrections (for inmate craft classes)—may appreciate a donation.

UNBURYING

THE TRUTH

For three decades, Indiana’s most disturbing serial killer flew under the true crime radar. In 1996, at least a dozen bodies were found at a Westfield estate belonging to wealthy businessman Herb Baumeister, but it wasn’t until recently that podcasters and filmmakers caught wind of the case. Will national attention heal the scars left by this tragedy? Or will the current obsession with murder turn a vicious Indy predator into a pop culture star?

BY EVE BATEY

PHOTOS

JAY GOLDZ

ARCHIVAL PHOTOS COURTESY

QUEER CIRCLE CITY

“THE HAWKS ARE CIRCLING,”

Hunter Vale tells me from a booth at Almost Famous, a bar on the 700 block of Massachusetts Avenue.

Though he’s just 31 years old, Vale is an archivist of the earliest years of the Indianapolis LGBTQ+ community, posting vintage photos, magazine articles, and other ephemera on his Queer Circle City Instagram account. His role as high-profile historian of the scene means he was one of the first stops for true crime content creators when newly elected Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison announced he was reopening the effort to identify the tens of thousands of partial human remains discovered at the family estate of Herb Baumeister.

The wealthy Indianapolis business owner, who lived with his wife and three kids in a massive Westfield mansion, might have been responsible for the deaths of far more men than police had realized, Jellison said in a 2022 press release. A number of the people whose bodies were found at Baumeister’s 18-acre Fox Hollow Farm were last seen just steps from where Vale and I were sitting during Mass Ave’s golden era as a gay nightlife hot spot.

“That announcement was the first time a lot of these true crime shows or podcasts had heard about Baumeister,” Vale says. “Suddenly, they all came calling. ‘What do you know about the case? Can you get us in touch with any of the victims’ families?’

“A lot of it doesn’t feel good. A lot of it feels like they’re ready to make Herb Baumeister into the next Jeffrey Dahmer or John Wayne Gacy. Into a household name.”

But telling the story of Indy’s missing men might be harder than these content creators think. This isn’t a story that received abundant media coverage while it was unfolding, unlike cases such as California’s Night Stalker homicides or the Son of Sam shootings in New York. Instead, “It started as a murmur that this was happening,” says Lawrence Shepherd. The 53-year-old graduate of Center Grove High School has lived in New Orleans since the late 1990s, but before that, he was a fixture in the Indianapolis gay scene. Then a volunteer at

LGBTQ+ support organization Indiana Youth Group (IYG), Shepherd spent his days assisting minors kicked out of their homes by parents unwilling to accept their sexuality, as well as providing editorial assistance at The Word, a newspaper that catered to the gay community. At night, you could find him at the same bars from which men were starting to disappear—not that anyone realized that quite yet. “Guys were just gone.”

Ted Fleischaker, then the publisher of The Word, concurs. “At first, nobody was looking and nobody was paying attention,” he says. At the time, the obvious assumption when a regular at a bar stopped coming around was that they’d moved or fallen ill (remember, this was also the height of the AIDS epidemic, which claimed thousands of lives across Central Indiana). “We were 21 or 22,” Shepherd says. “People fell in love, or got a job, or just moved on a whim. Nobody’s first thought was that someone got taken by some serial killer.”

And in the 1990s, you couldn’t just text someone or check their social media to see what might have changed. “By the time you got to the point where you’d say, ‘I haven’t seen him since two weeks ago at the Metro,’ they were already dead,” Fleischaker says.

By May 28, 1993, the last day 20-year-

A COMMUNITY IN CRISIS

A sketch of a suspect later believed to be Baumeister ran in local gay papers in 1985 (below); A New Works News cover story on the pattern of disappearances from local bars (bottom).

old John Lee Bayer was seen alive, rumors that men had been vanishing had grown wider. Jeffrey Allen Jones, who went by Jeff, was 31 when his absence was noted a few weeks later, around July 6. Richard Douglas Hamilton Jr., who was 20, was last seen on July 31; Allen Lee Livingston (age 27) and Manuel Martinez Resendez (age 31) were last seen on August 6. All of them had been spotted in and around downtown’s gay clubs, which included the 501 Tavern at 501 N. College Ave., the Varsity Lounge at 1517 N. Pennsylvania St., and the Metro, which is still in operation today at 707 Massachusetts Ave.

The bars’ owners pressured Fleischaker to “find out what’s going on and get this fixed,” he says, noting that many of the bars were also advertisers in his paper. “People were disappearing from the same clubs that were doing business with me. They didn’t want that reputation.”

The more Fleischaker looked into the missing men, the more he saw a pattern, and the more earnestly he believed that—as had happened just a few years earlier in Milwaukee with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer—there was a predator at work in our local bars. He wrote as much in The Word, and coverage of the rumors also appeared in other local gay papers such as The New Works News, which published a first-person account of one person’s escape from an assailant (who in retrospect seemed strikingly similar to Baumeister). Eventually, the publications even ran a sketch of a person of interest in some disappearances. But those who followed the mainstream news remained in the dark.

“It never made the TV news ever,” Fleischaker says, nor was coverage of the growing number of missing men a feature on local news radio stations. The same goes for The Indianapolis Star and the News, both of which were owned by Eugene S. Pulliam, an uncle of Dan Quayle, U.S. vice president from 1989 to 1993. By most accounts, Pulliam’s politics reflected those of most conservatives of that era. So did his papers, Fleischaker says. “I think they were glad to see any of us die or disappear that they possibly could see die or disappear, because that was one less bitchy queen out there calling them up,” he says.

There’s an argument, however, that the lack of coverage was actually a sign of restraint. Elon Green is a journalist and author whose 2021 book, Last Call, is

AN INFILTRATED REFUGE

The 501 Tavern (above, 501 N. College Ave.) and the Varsity Lounge (below, 1517 N. Pennsylvania St.) were two of Indy’s most popular gay bars. Investigators say Baumeister also trolled them for victims.

a nonfiction look at a serial killer active in New York’s gay community during the same years men were turning up missing in Indianapolis. “There’s this assumption that if a killer’s victims were gay or the killer was presumed to be gay, that there would be less coverage,” he says. “But I learned that depending on the paper, that could go the other way. In the 1990s, some papers were inclined to write about it more because they had a bigoted, prurient interest in painting the community that way.” (The Star was sold to the Gannett Company in 2000. Indianapolis Monthly was unable to reach representatives of the paper’s previous ownership for comment.)

Whatever the reason, the mainstream’s

silence continued as more and more men disappeared. Twenty-eight year old Steven Spurlin Hale was last seen on April 1, 1994. Allan Wayne Broussard, who was also 28, was last spotted at an Indy gay bar on June 6. Roger Allen Goodlet, who was 33, spent July 22 helping his mother assemble a bench, then went home to play with his new kitten before going out to a bar. He was never seen in public again.

That same year, a man named Mike Goodyear contacted an IPD missing persons detective named Mary Wilson and told her about an encounter he had with a man named “Brian Smart,” whom he met downtown before traveling with him to a home in Hendricks County.

HIS SWORN DUTY

Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison was elected in 2022 and was catapulted into the spotlight a few months later when he announced he was reopening the effort to identify remains found at Fox Hollow Farm.

“The coroners who had this job before me didn’t act on this case,” he says. “But bringing the dead back home is what I was elected to do.”

“He told me that his experience with the man scared him and that he could have easily been killed during the incident,” Wilson wrote in a letter to a fellow detective some years later. “He thought that possibly the other missing men could have had a similar experience.”

Wilson wasn’t able to determine who Brian Smart was based on that witness account, but the interaction with the survivor convinced her the gay publications were onto something. “She was always interested in what our community was up to,” Fleischaker says, “and she stayed on the case long after almost everybody else put it in a back drawer and moved on.” (Indianapolis Monthly attempted to reach Wilson for this story but was not successful.)

The police had finally taken notice, but in many ways, the community was still on its own. Bar owners began to post signs urging caution during hookups— some using the person of interest sketch, others with more general warnings. “But it was very clear that those signs that were put up were not from the police departments,” Shepherd says. Meanwhile, Fleischaker says, Wilson “would call me periodically and say, ‘What have you heard?’ And we would spend 20 minutes on the phone talking about what the two of us have come up with.”

In the fall of 1994, 13-year-old Erich Baumeister found a human skull on the grounds of his family’s farm. His father, Herb, told him it had come from a medical school skeleton that belonged to his late father, who was once a doctor. (Speaking with People magazine two years later, Herb’s wife, Julie, says she took her husband at his word.) The following year, Michael Frederick Keirn, a 45-year-old who went by Mike, disappeared on March 31. A few months later, Goodyear spotted Brian Smart downtown and wrote down his license plate number. It belonged to a car registered to Baumeister, Wilson discovered, and in November of 1995, police came to Fox Hollow Farm and asked to search it. Herb and Julie refused.

But on June 24, 1996, Julie had a change of heart and told police they could search the estate. Investigators found human remains the same day, and an arrest warrant was issued for Baumeister. But he was in the wind, fleeing to Ontario before shooting himself in a park near Lake Huron on July 3. He left a rambling, three-page note

that expressed regrets about the state of his marriage and that he would leave a mess at the park. He did not mention his alleged double life or any of the crimes he was suspected of committing.

At this point, perhaps, you’re wishing I’d tell you more about Baumeister. His double life, his pathology. The other crimes—some along I-70, others in remote spots in Ohio—that police believe he also committed in the 1980s. That’s not what we’re here to do today, but you’re not alone: In 1996, everyone interested in crime coverage was awash in details of Baumeister’s life. In the checkout line, people shopping for holiday groceries were confronted with “While Julie Was Away,” an in-depth portrait of the Baumeister family that ran in People magazine’s December 23 issue. A Star story headlined “Businessman puzzled people in life and death” characterized Baumeister as “devoted to his family.” A swiftly penned paperback with photos of Herb and Julie on the cover promised “the true story of Herb Baumeister, Indiana’s worst serial killer.”

For a brief moment, Baumeister was the latest Big Bad, the subtextual punishment for anyone who dared leave a bar with a stranger. The news that investigators were able to identify eight people buried at the home using dental records and the DNA technologies of the time was almost a postscript.

Speaking with the Associated Press, Sheriff James Bradbury said then that he considered the case closed. “If somebody has any information, we don’t care who it is, we’d be happy to look at it,’’ he said. “But Herb Baumeister is the only suspect we have in any of them.’’ So, after that initial flurry of attention, investigators—and the world—moved on.

“I’m telling you what, if it had been eight blondehaired, blue-eyed girls from Carmel or Fishers, we’d still be out there today,” Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison says with just a touch of anger in his voice. He’d just been elected to the position in 2022 when he got a call from Eric Pranger, who said he believed his cousin, who’d been missing for nearly 30

years, “was a victim at Fox Hollow Farm and was hoping that [the authorities] might be able to provide the mother with some closure.”

Jellison only had a general idea of the case, so he called Dr. Krista Latham to find out more. Latham is the director of the University of Indianapolis Human Identification Center, which is the only forensic anthropology lab in the state. That means unidentified human remains from anywhere in Indiana end up in her care.

Jellison asked Latham if there were any remains from Fox Hollow Farm that had yet to be identified, “and she said about 10,000 bones and bone fragments. I just remember sitting back in my chair going, ‘You know, wow, that’s a lot.’”

“It essentially represents what we would call a mass disaster situation,” Latham says of the scene at the estate. She took over the forensics lab in 2016 and says the gigantic task of identifying the massive number of remains “has always been on the radar.” DNA testing is expensive and time consuming even in the simplest of cases, but at Fox Hollow Farm, bodies were dumped

“I’M TELLING YOU WHAT, IF IT HAD BEEN EIGHT BLONDE-HAIRED, BLUE-EYED GIRLS FROM CARMEL OR FISHERS, WE’D STILL BE OUT THERE TODAY.”

A MASSIVE UNDERTAKING Forensic anthropologist Dr. Krista Latham is head of the University of Indianapolis Human Identification Center, which has been the resting place for over 10,000 bones and bone fragments found at Fox Hollow Farm. Her work has already confirmed the identities of several victims, but she expects the delicate scientific work to identify the rest of the remains to take years.

in piles, and others were burned—both situations that considerably complicate identifications.

“We’ve been looking at this case for a while,” Latham says, “but there just wasn’t a way to start, especially without resources. That’s where Jeff comes in.”

When Jellison looked into why his office had left so many victims unidentified, he learned that in 1996, “the coroner, and the county attorney, and the county council met and decided that if family members want to know if their loved one was [one of the victims], they could pay for the DNA testing.

“They put the financial burden to determine who was a murder victim on the family. You don’t do that. Nowhere in this country have I ever heard of that,” Jellison says.

“It’s my opinion that the attitude of those involved in the investigation in the ’90s was, ‘This is eight gay men from Indianapolis. What do we care?’”

So Jellison issued the press release announcing the renewal of efforts to identify all the remains. “I was telling folks that if they had a missing person in their family from that time frame to please come forward. And the media did a fantastic job of putting my plea out there,” he says.

The publicity also attracted help from the Indiana State Police and the FBI. Grants and funding for the testing soon followed, ensuring the long-ago burden placed on the families would be lifted.

The media also descended on Vale and Fleischaker, as well as family members of some victims. In the frenzy, some news coverage published photos of men slain by Chicago-area serial killer John Wayne Gacy, confusing them with people identified from the Fox Hollow site.

“It’s like some of them don’t even care,” Jellison says of the true crime content machine. “That’s what these families see when they read that story. That all victims are alike. That their loss doesn’t matter.”

Latham has also been approached by production companies and says they seem disappointed when she tells them the work to identify the bone fragments—some as small as your thumbnail—will take years.

“We try to stay away from those outlets that we know are going to be a little more exploiting of the situation,” Latham says. “It’s so easy to retraumatize a family or create a situation where

it turns families away from wanting to participate in this process.

“We want to create an environment where the families see that our goal is to provide respect to their loved ones that was taken away from them at Fox Hollow Farm,” Latham says.

Using DNA provided by Pranger and other family members, the remains of Allen Lee Livingston—missing since 1993—finally came home. “When I went and talked with Allen’s mother to let her know that we have identified her son’s remains, I noticed on an end table next to the couch a landline telephone. I said, ‘You don’t see that very often anymore,’” Jellison says.

“And she said, ‘Well, it’s the only number Allen has to call me at.’ So for 30 years she’d been sitting beside that phone waiting for her son to call. That’s the closure I’m talking about.

“This is the second largest investigation of unidentified human remains in this country, second only to the World Trade Center,” Jellison says. Coroners can only serve two terms, so if he is reelected, he’ll be out of office in six years. “It will be that coroner’s decision then whether he wants to continue to carry this torch or not. I hope he or she does.”

“WE WANT TO CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE THE FAMILIES SEE THAT OUR GOAL IS TO PROVIDE RESPECT TO THEIR LOVED ONES THAT WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM AT FOX HOLLOW FARM.”

It’s a torch Latham also hopes she can continue to carry. “We have to judge ourselves based on how we treat our most vulnerable in our populations. And most of these individuals were our most vulnerable and our most marginalized,” she says.

“They were mistreated in life. My obligation to them is to make sure that they get that name, that they get the respect, that they get what they deserve to have been given in life in death.”

When I repeat Latham’s statement to Shepherd, he goes quiet. “I hope that whoever makes the big TV series about this feels the same way,” he finally says. “For years, the arc of this story was incomplete because nobody cared enough to fill in the arc. If someone comes in and tells this story to the world without the care and respect those guys deserve, it’ll just break everyone’s hearts.”

Hamilton County coroner

Jeff Jellison urges anyone with a family connection to a missing person to contact his office via email at hccoroner@ hamiltoncounty.in.gov or phone at 317-770-4415.

“I’ll come to you to get a DNA swab,” he says. “It only takes a minute and can bring a grieving family a lot of peace.”

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Photo by TONY VALAINIS

The roasted squash hummus platter at Gather 22 (p. 92)

DOWNTOWN

INCLUDES Fletcher Place, Fountain Square, Mass Ave, Mile Square

Bluebeard

BR 2024

CONTEMPORARY When it opened in 2012, Tom and Ed Battista’s charming little restaurant led the charge in getting Indy’s dining scene on the national radar. A perennial nominee for the James Beard Awards with mentions in the The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, and Bon Appétit, Bluebeard—which takes its name from one of native son Kurt Vonnegut’s novels—still delivers on the hype. The menu has settled into a comfortable groove, starting with shareable small plates such as house-frizzled chips and French onion dip, gourmet bar nuts, and grilled bread from sibling bakery Amelia’s served with a flight of slatherings. Midsized dishes diners have grown to love: chopped salad; fat scallops over celery root puree, topped with pickled apples and jalapeño; and spaghetti tossed with creme fraiche, parmesan, and gremolata. A plate-spanning Faroe Island salmon, beef-and-pork Bolognese, and other larger entrees make for a nice, lingering dinner accompanied by cocktails in a delightfully shabby dining room decorated with shelves of books and Vonnegut-era typewriters. 653 Virginia Ave., 317-686-1580, bluebeardindy.com

V $$$

Bodhi Craft Bar + Thai Bistro

THAI There’s a reason Taelor Carmine’s stylish, funky Thai restaurant Bodhi is always bustling with happy customers. It’s because, while Indy’s Thai food scene is richer and more diverse than ever, this Mass Ave charmer continues to innovate and reimagine what the Asian dining experience can be. The refreshingly concise kitchen menu has always balanced its selection of tasty small plates with hearty, dinner-worthy salads, curries, rice dishes, and noodle plates, all while offering some surprises from other locales, such

as the braised beef massaman curry with naan, the restaurant’s spin on a shrimp cocktail, and a house fried rice enriched with edamame. 922 Massachusetts Ave., 317-941-6595, bodhi-indy.com $$$

Cafe Patachou

CAFE The so-called “student union for adults” continues to draw in the morning crowds and has inspired citywide offshoots. The wait for a weekend table can be brutal (but is worth it), as the cinnamon toast remains as thick as a brick; the produce is still locally sourced; the massive omelets continue to have cheeky names; and the broken-yolk sandwiches are a perennial lunch favorite. 1060 N. Capitol Ave., 317-222-3538, cafepatachou.com V $$

Commission Row

BR 2024

FINE DINING This glossy spot from Indy’s near-ubiquitous Cunningham Restaurant Group is just steps from Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and it reflects its neighbor’s baller vibes with a three-figure seafood tower, caviar service, and an eight-steak menu (which offers add-ons such as foie gras and lobster tail). Sure, you can play small with its excellent burger or sizable salads, but if you do, you’ll be missing the point. Appropriately, its wine list leads with bubbles by the glass or bottle, while its cocktail list boasts eight takes on a classic martini. 110 S. Delaware St., 317-550-2500, commissionrow.com

$$$$

A Cup of Chai

TEAHOUSE Punjab native Pravy Nijjar’s cozy, funky teahouse, which opened in July of 2023 on a secluded section of Shelby Street in Fountain Square, offers a true taste of Indianstyle chai with several different spice profiles. For the genuine article, go for the masala chai, a dairy-forward drink that features ginger, cardamom, fennel, and cloves, equally good hot or iced. Pair that with one of Nijjar’s street food–inspired snacks, such as golden, aromatic samosas or tasty kati rolls (tender paratha stuffed with spiced chicken, paneer, or potatoes). Coffee drinkers can get an espresso or cappuccino, and those avoiding caffeine can

go for a spice-infused golden latte, mango lassi, or minty pineapple lemonade. 1028 Shelby St., 317-998-4463, acupofchai.us $

Julieta Taco Shop

BR 2024

MEXICAN Gabriel Sañudo and Esteban Rosas’ taco shop in the Stutz Building shows the pair’s skill and fine dining experience in little details such as the marinades for meats, tortillas handcrafted from heirloom corn varieties, and surprisingly flavorful vegetarian options. Start with a signature taco al pastor, the meat shaved directly from a rotating spit, and pair that with one of the other tender grilled or braised meats, such as the earthy brisket-like suadero. 1060 N. Capitol Ave. $$

Love Handle

SANDWICHES Daily lunch and brunch features such as schnitzel and waffles and a pulledchicken Hot Brown are the main draw at Chris and Ally Benedyk’s cheeky sandwich shop. The chalkboard menu (which is also updated online) also offers side options in the form of braised greens and potato salad with roasted tomatoes. Fridays often see a fish special, and weekends are a chef’s playground of eggy experiments, satisfying hashes, and sweet sides. 877 Massachusetts Ave., 317-384-1102 $$

Milktooth

BR 2024 BRUNCH This airy diner-style cafe has a playfully gritty vibe and a menu that changes with both the seasons and the whims of its chef. The early morning counter service featuring pastries and coffee gives way to a full-service brunch menu—if they’re serving a Dutch baby pancake, get it. Daytime craft cocktails are also on offer. 534 Virginia Ave., 317-986-5131, milktoothindy.com V $$

Nesso

ITALIAN Highly stylized seafood and meats paired with small pasta courses and shared a la carte sides add up to a sumptuous dining experience inside The Alexander hotel. Pass around a plate of prosciutto-wrapped prunes or crab arancini, but keep the tortelloni $$$$ $30 and up $$$ $20–$30 $$ $10–$20

$ Under $10

entries bearing this icon are among the 25 area spots named to

Restaurants included in this guide are selected at the discretion of the Indianapolis Monthly editorial staff based on food quality, innovation, atmosphere, service, value, and consistency. IM does not accept advertising or other compensation in exchange for dining coverage. Price symbols indicate the average cost of a meal per person (without tax, tip, or alcohol). Due to limited space, this list does not cover every evaluated restaurant. For a more comprehensive guide to Indianapolis dining, visit IndianapolisMonthly.com/Dining. Feedback? Please

and sea bass all to yourself. 339 S. Delaware St., 317-643-7400, nesso-italia.com V $$$

St. Elmo Steak House

BR 2024 CLASSIC Talking about St. Elmo is like talking about the Grand Canyon: You can spend a thousand words on the institution, but you really have to be there to get it. This iconic Indy steakhouse is nationally known as the place for a big slab of aged, Black Angus beef that’s always cooked to perfection; its shrimp cocktail and bourbon list are also in every travel guide to the city. It’s been in operation in the same location since 1902, and we expect it will remain there—with tables regularly full—long after we’re all gone. 127 S. Illinois St., 317-635-0636, stelmos.com $$$$

Shapiro’s Delicatessen

DELI Slide your tray along and take your pick of kosher comfort foods at this family-owned downtown institution. Hot pastrami and corned beef sandwiches on rye have drawn long lines for more than a century. The Reuben is a contender for the city’s best, and heartier fare such as potato pancakes, stuffed cabbage, and matzo ball soup are always satisfying standbys. If you don’t load up on a massive slice of cheesecake or pie, you haven’t really had the proper Shapiro’s experience. 808 S. Meridian St., 317-631-4041, shapiros.com $$

Tinker Street

BR 2024 NEW AMERICAN Diners are in for a delightful treat at this cozy, detailoriented restaurant where the open kitchen almost feels like part of the dining room. The menu changes with the seasons, but the soup is always something lush and vegan, the Duck & Dumplings (featuring duck confit and truffled dumplings) sells out fast, and the person who orders the pork chop will be the most-envied diner at the table. The cocktails are delicate, the wine list well-curated. Don’t skip dessert, especially if it involves a scoop of ice cream. While Tinker Street sets aside some tables for walk-in diners, reservations are available online and are an especially good idea Thursday–Sunday. 402 E. 16th St., 317-925-5000, tinkerstreetrestaurant.com V $$$

Vicino

BR 2024 ITALIAN More than filling Mass Ave’s pasta needs, this modern, colorful trattoria from the owners of The Oakmont measures up to some of the best Italian spots anywhere in the city. New seating and light fixtures add a brighter palette to the sleek former Hedge Row location, and a nicely edited menu offers familiar classics with a few twists for the more daring. 350 Massachusetts Ave., 317-798-2492, vicinoindy.com V $$

EAST

INCLUDES Irvington, Windsor Park 10th Street Diner

VEGAN This longtime standby is under new ownership, which means its familiar and hearty plant-based takes on diner classics have been joined by a few select Indian dishes on

its comfort foods menu. The business, which is located inside a former pawn shop, is best known for tasty fakeouts such as a gooey seitan Reuben, a “chicken” pot pie, and chili that rivals your favorite con carne version. 3301 E. 10th St., 463-221-1255 V $$

Beholder

BR 2024

CONTEMPORARY You never know what to expect from restaurateur Jonathan Brooks’ Windsor Park kitchen, aside from one of the most innovative and wellexecuted meals in town. The menu is difficult to track, mainly because Brooks builds his dishes around seasonal ingredients that are fresh and of-the-moment. Impeccable servers will guide you through the evening’s offerings, which start small at the top of the menu (fresh oysters, perhaps, or pork rinds with kimchi and chicken liver mousse) and bulk up toward the bottom (think wild boar Bolognese or a massive pork Wellington portioned for two). Finish with the most exotic flavor of housemade ice cream. 1844 E. 10th St., 317-419-3471, beholderindy.com V $$$$

Kan-Kan Cinema and Restaurant

JAPANESE You don’t have to see a movie to grab a bite in the Kan-Kan’s 1980s-retrochic dining room (though operators of the nonprofit cinema hope you do). As originally conceived by its owners, who are also behind local gems such as Bluebeard, the Kan-Kan’s restaurant was a borderline fine dining affair. But as of late 2024, it has pivoted to a well-crafted collection of more casual menu items with a Japanese flair. Its cocktail menu remains as robust as ever, though, with a broad bench of movie-themed concoctions; the beer and wine list also shines. 1258 Windsor St., 317-800-7099, kankanindy.com $$

King Dough

BR 2024

PIZZA This industrial-feeling pizza spot from Adam and Alicia Sweet began as a student-friendly Bloomington destination in 2014; now it’s a local mini-chain with three locations. The huge wood-burning pizza oven (it’s named Thunder Dome) is the first thing diners see when they enter the space, and the open kitchen feels like a grown-up version of the exhibition pizzerias so popular in the 1980s. But this is present-day pizza, bubbly and charred, with seasonal toppings such as truffles and imported Taleggio cheese. 452 N. Highland Ave., 317-602-7960, kingdoughpizzas.com. V $$

McGinley’s Golden Ace Inn

PUB For 90 years, members of the McGinley family have been frying up cheeseburgers on the same cast-iron pans John and Ann McGinley bought shortly after arriving in America. Those years of seasoning make for a delicious burger to line your stomach as you try (and fail) to keep up with the bar’s welcoming cast of regulars. Beer, shots, and whiskey are the drinks of the day here, not craft cocktails. That said, their multilayered Irish Flag shot must be seen to be believed. 2533 E. Washington St., 317-632-0696, goldenaceinn.com $

Natural State Provisions

CASUAL Customers order at the counter and find a table inside this former microbrewery. The food is rooted in homestyle Arkansas

cooking from co-owner Adam Sweet’s native state, heavy on the deep-frying and sweet tea–brining, but you shouldn’t miss the daily soft serve ice cream flavor. If the weather is warm, take a seat at one of the picnic tables outside and watch the neighborhood pups frolic in the adjacent dog park. 414 Dorman St., 317-492-9887, naturalstateprovisions.com $$

Open Kitchen

NEW AMERICAN Breakfast specialties, such as light-as-air French toast, biscuits and gravy, and eggs Benedict lavished with crab and avocado, are stars on the menu at Dexter and Toni Smith’s cheery restaurant. But lunch and dinner are equally respectable, especially a generous shrimp po’boy or a crispy chicken sandwich with peppered bacon, onion rings, and barbecue sauce with your choice of spice level. More substantial entrees include a grilled pork chop with apple chutney, with elevated touches owing to Dexter Smith’s Chef’s Academy pedigree. After operating mainly as a carryout spot on North Sherman and later in Little Flower, this location comes with a full bar, which means cocktails—such as the creamy, floral Respect Your Elders with bourbon, elderflower, and lemon—are a must. 4022 Shelby St., 317-974-9032, opennkitchen.org $$

Sam’s Square Pie

BR 2024 PIZZA Jeff Miner’s puffy-crusted Detroit-style pies are unlike any you’ve had before. Sure, they have the standard cheddar edge and sauce and cheese toppings, but Miner’s self-taught process of dough mixing, fermentation, and firing makes for a uniquely fluffy and light crust that you’ll keep thinking about long after your visit. His laser focus on pizza is so intense that the only sides on the menu are garlic knots and cheese bread. Since both are based around Miner’s innovative magic with starches, that’s really all you need. 2829 E. 10th St., samssquarepie.com $$

Sidedoor Bagel

BRUNCH Appropriately dense and chewy with that required crackly sheen, the hand-rolled sourdough rings at Josh and Emily Greeson’s walk-up bagel shop are the stars of the show. The flavor selection varies, but flaky salt, everything, sesame, and poppy are all solid standbys. Order yours sliced and schmeared at the counter, then score an outdoor table or head back home (it’s carryout only). Don’t miss the daily sandwiches, which range from the open-faced Lox & Loaded to the Turkey Bacon Club with Fischer Farms turkey and Old Major Market bacon. 1103 E. 10th St., sidedoorbagel.com V $$

NORTH SUBURBAN

INCLUDES Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, Zionsville

9th Street Bistro

BR 2024 SEASONAL Co-owners Samir and Rachel Firestone Mohammad’s tiny innovator is almost always packed by fans eager for the duo’s globally inspired

Midwestern dishes. In response, the pair has created a community dinner series to allow even more patrons to sample their takes on the local farmstead ingredients that inspire their dishes. Mussels in aromatic broth, house-made burrata with of-the-moment garnishes, and pasta with shrimp and lemony cream sauce still anchor the menu, but it’s better to let the creative duo keep you guessing. 56 S. 9th St., Noblesville, 317-774-5065, 9thstbistro.com V $$$

1933 Lounge

STEAK AND COCKTAILS This clubby cocktail lounge offers a younger, sexier take on its fine dining parent, St. Elmo Steak House. The twist here is that the black-vested servers deliver the oysters Rockefeller and 45-day dry-aged ribeyes to diners tucked into noir-lit corners, where no one can see their faces melt into a brief ugly-cry at that first bite of incendiary shrimp cocktail. The wine list is excellent, the beer options won’t disappoint, and the martinis are exceptional. The Yard at Fishers District, 317-758-1933, 1933lounge.com/fishers $$$$

Anthony’s Chophouse

STEAKHOUSE The interior of this swanky heavy hitter along Carmel’s Main Street has the polished gleam of a new Vegas hotel, with an upper-level lounge containing the salvaged mahogany bar from The Glass Chimney, another fine dining legend. The food has equal flourish. Lobster bisque with a hunk of tempura-fried meat begins a meal that might include a cowgirl ribeye, a flight of filets, or a domestic wagyu burger. Take note—the steak menu also lists a spinalis.

You may never eat another steak this perfect. Black-suited servers and well-composed cocktails keep the high-dollar meal running smoothly. 201 W. Main St., Carmel, 317740-0900, anthonyschophouse.com $$$$

Auberge

FRENCH Brick Street Inn’s classic French bistro installed talented chef Toby Moreno (of The Loft at Traders Point Creamery and Plow & Anchor) in early 2022 and immediately sent him to Paris, where he trained in the kitchens of famed chef Alain Ducasse. Moreno has added that continental know-how to the vintage dishes he makes fresh with as much local produce, meats, and cheeses as he can. That translates to an impressive plate of buttery escargot topped with croutons, seasonal salads, and a deeply flavorful French onion soup with a rich broth. Seafood shines among the entrees, especially crispy-skinned roasted cod, though diver scallops with asparagus puree showered with herbs and toasted almonds also impress. 175 S. Main St., Zionsville, 317733-8755, auberge-restaurant.com $$$$

Bonge’s Tavern

AMERICAN Opened in the 1930s near the rush of the White River and purchased by Charles Bonge a little over 10 years later, Bonge’s Tavern has been a part of Indiana dining history for more than 90 years. In the fall of 2023, Burgess Restaurant Group purchased it and installed Dean Sample as executive chef. The centerpiece of the menu is still the signature tenderloin, appropriately named the

Perkinsville Pork. Other favorites include a stuffed duck breast and a fresh fish entree. Chef Sample inflects his own ideas into the menu, with a Southern influence. It’s worth the risk to order whatever delightful special he adds to the menu. Make sure to grab a reservation long before you plan to go—they go quick—and arrive early enough to tailgate in the parking lot with other diners, a Bonge’s tradition worth keeping. 9830 W. 280 N, Perkinsville, 765-734-1625, bongestavern.com $$$

Convivio

ITALIAN With a menu that traces the geographical regions in Italy, this is not your average red-sauce joint. The pasta, including curled nests of black squid ink spaghetti and purple beet-infused fettuccine, are all made in-house. The torchietti pasta, tossed with dried figs, black olives, basil, goat cheese, and parmesan, has been known to induce deep cravings in the weeks after eating, and the frutti di mare packs a generous serving of mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, and calamari with tonnarelli pasta in a spicy and bright tomato sauce. Beyond pasta, the menu offers Neapolitan-style pizzas served blistered and hot from the imported Italian pizza oven, rotating regional specials, and an easy-to-navigate, Italian-heavy wine list that makes picking a bottle for the table a pleasure. 11529 Spring Mill Rd., Carmel, 317-564-4670, convivioindy.com $$$

Cooper & Cow

STEAKHOUSE Louisville-based Endeavor Restaurant Group’s swashbuckling steakhouse

in downtown Fishers is perhaps distinguished most by its intimacy and calm, allowing diners to actually hear their dinner companions across the table. The 4,200-square-foot space, which was last an outpost of LouVino, has been transformed with well-appointed decor that recalls the swankier saloons of preProhibition days. It makes a great backdrop for surprisingly fresh, well-prepared seafood offerings alongside prime aged filets, ribeyes, and wagyu flank steak. A house wagyu burger is more than dinner-worthy, and sides such as fried Brussels sprouts with roasted garlic and bresaola are excellent for sharing. Save room for a towering wedge of bourbon-enriched chocolate cake with both dark chocolate ganache and milk chocolate buttercream. 8626 E. 116th St., Fishers, 317-288-2801, cooperandcow.com $$$

Field Brewing

BREWPUB This Westfield addition to the local craft brewery scene would be dazzling enough for its mod fixtures and bocce ball court that spans the family-friendly outdoor space, but the daring menu makes for an exciting paring with its impressive list of house brews. Alongside the expected bar bites, the kitchen skillfully prepares standout dishes, such as tender lamb ribs with chimichurri and deeply caramelized Brussels sprouts, served with hunks of bacon, that are some of the best in town. Their event space is simple-chic and full of natural light, available (with reservations) for special receptions and birthdays—or just for big family and friend gatherings. 303 E. Main St., Westfield, 317-804-9780, fieldbrewing.com V $$$

The HC Tavern + Kitchen

CONTEMPORARY The term “tavern” hardly captures this swank addition to the Huse Culinary Group/St. Elmo family. A hit among starters is the Lobster “Cargot” with lumps of lobster meat in garlic butter and melted Havarti. Chops include the supper club darling steak Diane with mushroom cream sauce and horseradish mashed potatoes, though equally regal is the wagyu meatloaf enriched with pork and veal, sauced with a truffle mushroom demi-glace. The Yard at Fishers District, 317-530-4242, atthehc.com $$$

Trax BBQ

BARBECUE Owner Andrew Klein, who has a background in high-end steakhouses, oversees the tender headliners at this no-frills barbecue joint that sits beside the train tracks in McCordsville. You can taste his expertise in the essential meats: brisket hacked into fatty hunks, pulled pork that melts in the mouth, and ribs by the rack, all prepared in a smoker that customers walk past before they hit the front door. Fans of smoked meats order off a menu that covers traditional carnivore territory as well as some creative upgrades, including pulled pork nachos and The Willie brisket sandwich topped with hot liquid cheese and slaw on a brioche bun. 7724 Depot St., McCordsville, 317-335-7675, traxbbq.com $$

Vivante Restaurant & Bar

STEAKHOUSE Carmel’s grand, classic Hotel Carmichael is home base for this all-day restaurant. Breakfast offerings include a range of omelets and crepes, and lunch is a

reliable roster of soups, salads, and sandwiches. Dinner is a wide-ranging list of traditional favorites, including pasta, seafood, beef, pork, and poultry preparations. Cocktails are potent and pretty, and desserts demonstrate Midwestern generosity. 1 Carmichael Square, Carmel, 317-688-1952, vivantecarmel.com V $$$

NORTHEAST

INCLUDES Broad Ripple, Castleton, Geist, Herron-Morton, Kennedy-King, Keystone at the Crossing, Meridian-Kessler, Nora, SoBro

Baby’s

BURGERS This playful, family-friendly joint limits its menu to smashburgers, chicken, milkshakes (spiked or not), and cocktails. Housed in a former drag show bar, it also has fun with the building’s artsy legacy—the house burger is called a Strut Burger, and all the cocktail names come straight from the RuPaul meme factory. Sip a Tongue Pop or a Sashay Away as you polish off the last of the Talbott Street Style fries dressed with bacon, cheese sauce, white barbecue sauce, and pickled jalapeños. 2147 N. Talbott St., 317-600-3559, babysindy.com V $$

Cheeky Bastards

BR 2024 PUB GRUB Indy’s go-to provider of British pub classics such as bangers and mash serves an eye-popping full

English breakfast and some of the most legitimate chip shop–style fried cod in the city. Chef and self-proclaimed Anglophile Robert Carmack also serves up seasonal sandwiches, breakfast “baps,” and an assortment of desserts worthy of a king. Its bar includes an excellent selection of stouts and lagers, a surprising wine list, and a nice cocktail selection. Those seeking a fancier experience might seek out the twice monthly afternoon tea service, a lavish affair that sells out weeks in advance. 11210 Fall Creek Rd., 317-288-9739, cbindy.com $$$

Fernando’s Mexican & Brazilian Cuisine

BR 2024 LATIN AMERICAN A subtle name change in the last year, owing to a legal request from the international fast-food chain Nando’s, has done nothing to diminish the spirit and vibrant flavors of this Broad Ripple restaurant featuring the cuisines of Mexico and Brazil. Enjoying a flight of fruit-infused caipirinhas and a plate of crisp, savory chicken croquettes on Fernando’s spacious sheltered patio is still a warm-weather delight, and dishes like feijoada with fall-apart-tender pork and rich stewed black beans, as well as chicken stroganoff and a delectable Brazilian take on the homey pot pie, remain hearty staples that are hard to find elsewhere. Fare such as queso fundido and arroz con pollo more than hold their own against the best, and refreshing desserts such as an ultra-creamy flan and Brazilian-style guava cheesecake are worth saving a few bites of your entrees to make room for. 834 E. 64th St., 317-377-4779, fernandosindy.com $$$

Gather 22

BR 2024 CONTEMPORARY This colorfully cozy all-day hangout and cocktail spot in Fall Creek Place from Byrne’s Grilled Pizza owners Adam Reinstrom and Pablo Gonzalez draws on Reinstrom’s love of interior design and Gonzalez’s background in innovative mixology. Vibrant wall fixtures by creators such as Bootleg Signs & Murals and revolving works by locals from the LGBTQ+ art community provide a funky backdrop for sipping seasonal elixirs, such as the bracing but balanced Bourbon Renewal. Salads include a wedge with smoked blue cheese and roastedpoblano ranch. Byrne’s original pizzas, crackerthin and charred, are on offer, as are thickercrusted Roman-style oval pies with well-chosen toppings. Fresh takes on shareable plates include crispy-skinned salmon with kale and quinoa and intriguing scallop sliders with Asian-style slaw. On Sundays, the brunch menu features classic egg dishes and French toast. There are also breakfast pizzas such as the thin-crusted Chilaquiles topped with chorizo, salsa, eggs, and fried tortillas. Coffee drinks and a solid sandwich list anchor the daytime menu, and desserts include a luxe take on the Hoosier classic sugar cream pie. 22 E. 22nd St., 317-258-2222, gather22.com $$

His Place Eatery

BR 2024

SOUTHERN His Place’s fast, friendly, and efficient service ensures whatever you order, from the half slab of barbecue ribs to the Red Velvet Chicken and Waffles, arrives as fast and hot as a bolt of lightning. The second bolt comes when you take a bite, as

owners James and Shawn Jones know their way around spices and seasonings, ensuring the kitchen puts out some of the most flavorful food in town. Comforting sides such as slow-cooked collards and three-cheese mac get the same level of attention as the mains, and desserts such as sweet potato cheesecake and peach cobbler come in portions so big you’ll have to be rolled out of the place. 1411 W. 86th St., 317-790-3406; 6916 E. 30th St., 317-545-4890; hisplaceeatery.com $$

Nicole-Taylor’s Pasta + Market + Backroom Eatery

BR 2024 MEDITERRANEAN Since taking over Tony and Rosa Hanslits’ beloved SoBro pasta market, lunch cafe, and private dining spot in July of 2023, chef Erin Kem and partner Logan McMahan have brought their deep affection for Mediterranean flavors to a lunchtime menu that features an assortment of house pastas with seasonal additions. A recent menu included a stunning spring pea bucatini with asparagus, smoked salmon, and dill, while creative sandwiches and salads draw on McMahan’s talent with plant-based cuisine, which, along with the market’s egg-free pasta, have made the shop a bona fide vegan destination. An ever-changing selection of ready-to-eat, deli, and gourmet options make this a great spot to stop for quick, semihomemade supper ideas. And Kem brings her years of experience in the kitchens of local restaurants and in the thick of private events to the market’s highly in-demand small group dinners. 1134 E. 54th St., 317-257-7374, nicoletaylorspasta.com V $$

Wisanggeni

Pawon

BR 2024 INDONESIAN This gem among Indy’s Southeast Asian restaurants offers a full menu of spice-rich and oft-fiery dishes from Indonesia’s islands such as long-simmered beef rendang and comforting nasi goreng—and either are complete meals themselves, served with eggs, rice, and fresh garnishes. But sharing a selection of the country’s savory street snacks is also fun, especially when you start with martabak (a layered omelet served either savory or sweet), dumplings (crispy fried pastel pastries filled with vermicelli and tasty veggies), and battered tempeh mendoan with a piquant soy sauce for dipping. 2450 E. 71st St., 317-756-9477, wpawon.com $$

NORTHWEST

INCLUDES College Park, Lafayette Square, Traders Point

The Loft Restaurant

FINE DINING

With its pastoral setting on the grounds of an artisanal dairy farm, Traders Point Creamery’s farmstead restaurant (housed in one of several restored historic barns) feels like a working model for farm-to-table dining. Some of the ingredients on executive chef Jon Warner’s menu are grown on-site, and it would be a shame to pass on the charcuterie board, an appetizer featuring the creamery’s award-winning cheeses, sweet and savory spreads, crunchy cornichons, and locally cured meats. Grass-fed Niman Ranch steaks, seasonal fish and seafood, and house-made yeast rolls are always solid choices, as is the burger made with 100-percent grass-fed beef. For dessert, grab a scoop or three of their ice cream, perfect if you just want to go a la mode. 9101 Moore Rd., Zionsville, 317-7331700, traderspointcreamery.com V $$$

Oakleys Bistro

CONTEMPORARY The meticulously plated fare at Steven Oakley’s eatery hails from a culinary era when sprigs of herbs and puddles of purees provided the flavor, and every single element on the plate served a purpose. The presentations are wild, with menu descriptions giving little more than clues as to what might arrive at the table. Heads-up on anything that appears in quotes, such as a creative “Coq au Vin.” 1464 W. 86th St., 317-824-1231, oakleysbistro.com V $$$

SOUTH SUBURBAN

INCLUDES Bargersville, Greenwood

Baan Thai Bistro

THAI Roxanna Williams’ cozy Thai eatery, which she opened in a former house and hair salon in late spring of 2023, is a welcome addition to Wanamaker’s dining offerings, bringing aromatic flavors and artful presentations to dishes like the lightly breaded and fried Son-in-Law Eggs (Kai Look

Keuy), which is drizzled with earthy-sweet tamarind sauce, and generous summer rolls that come with a trio of tangy dipping sauces. Less expected starters to split include rich and flavorful Isan Thai Sausage with just the right amount of spice, served with a not-too-hot dipping sauce and a darling bamboo basket of sticky rice; a Crispy Rice Salad that crackles and pops; and airy steamed dumplings. Hearty Boat Noodle Soup and Crispy Pork Belly Ramen with a light mushroom-scented broth are good bets for main dishes, as is the kicky Crying Tiger Steak. A sumptuous mix of whole chicken drumsticks and sweet curry noodles makes for a comforting supper. 8705 Southeastern Ave., 317-759-8424, baanthaibistro.com V $$

Cafe Babette

BR 2024

BAKERY At this Garfield Park bakery, walk-in customers line up in a dim, curtained room as trays of items are hustled out on the hour. (Where you eat them is your decision; this is not a sit down and nosh cafe.) The business’ Instagram stories are a look straight into visionary/co-founder Cheyenne Norris’ brain, announcing new offerings in a near-compulsive fashion. A muffaletta here, a passion fruit doughnut there, or an eggy pizza, or a croissant babka, and on and on—the only way to try everything is to come back more than once. It’s almost impossible to follow, but her spouse and helpmate Ryan Norris does, keeping things on track so his wife’s mad brilliance remains unimpeded. 2627 Shelby St., cafebabette.com $$

Cafe Euclid

COFFEEHOUSE Vino Villa owners Paul and Laura Jacquin opened this cozy cafe in a smaller restored home behind their popular wine bar in Old Town Greenwood in July 2022, and southside coffee lovers immediately lined up out the door. Lattes and espresso drink specials top the caffeinated offerings, and bagels sourced from Bloomington’s Scholars Inn Bakehouse get dressed up with Italian meats, smoked salmon, or avocado and veggies to complete your morning pickme-up. But house-baked cinnamon rolls and generous chocolate chip cookies with flakes of sea salt are alone worth the visit. Colorful murals paying homage to the Greek mathematician Euclid, repurposed wood accents, and plenty of patio seating make this a soothing daytime sitting spot before heading for adult beverages next door. 357 Euclid Ave., Greenwood, 317-360-9887, cafe-euclid.com $

Mr. Patakon

COLOMBIAN The name of Diana Moreno and Brenda Sánchez’s cheerful, authentic southside Colombian eatery comes from the popular Latin and South American dish patacones— flattened, fried plantains filled with everything from shredded barbecue chicken criollo to cheese, corn, and shredded beef. Or try the Super Perro hot dog, which is topped with every meat in the kitchen, quail eggs, and a special house sauce. Mazorcada (heaps of sweet corn topped with meats, cheeses, and potato sticks) is a delectable side dish. Fruit drinks and desserts, especially obleas (wafer cookies filled with dulce de leche and cheese), offer a flavor experience like no other in the city. 7415 U.S. 31, 317-692-9829, mrpatakon.com $$

Richard’s Brick Oven Pizza

PIZZA When husband-and-wife team Richard Goss and Meg Jones first fired up their restaurant’s massive brick oven in 2009, chain pizza ruled the Central Indiana landscape, either delivered within 30 minutes or served in a cavernous room with a singing, mechanical rodent. Franklin was a risky place to launch their vision of high-quality Neapolitan pizza made with fresh, often local ingredients—but the gamble paid off, and 15 years later, it’s become a destination for diners from far beyond Johnson County. With a tightly edited menu of pastas, you’re not restricted to the thin-and-bubbly-crusted pies; the restaurant also offers custom calzoni and lasagna. 229 S. Main St., Franklin, 317-738-3300, richardskitchen.com V $$$

Yokohama

SUSHI In this restored arts and crafts–style home, sushi rolls run the gamut from the traditional to eclectic (the Las Vegas roll mingles unagi with sweet potato and lotus chips). Don’t miss the Fire Dragon roll made with tuna and avocado and topped with more tuna, mango, eel, and tempura crunch, a sprawling concoction that balances spicy, sweet, tangy, and unexpected. Purists will be pleased by the sashimi and nigiri menus. Those who eschew seafood are also well-served with a dinner menu that weaves in hibachi-grilled steak and chicken. There’s also a separate vegetarian menu of udon and tempura dishes. 67 N. Madison Ave., Greenwood, 317-8591888, yokohamagreenwood.com V $$$

WEST

INCLUDES Brownsburg, Pittsboro, Plainfield

Abyssinia

ETHIOPIAN This spot—where diners use a spongy sour flatbread known as injera in lieu of utensils—provides a thorough introduction to Ethiopian cuisine. Aficionados of East African food will be impressed by the seasoning of the stewed lamb, beef, and spicy chicken; vegans and vegetarians will appreciate the greens, lentils, and chickpeas. 352 W. 38th St., 299-0608, abyssiniaindy.com V $$

Borage

BR 2024

ALL-DAY CAFE Josh Kline and Zoë Taylor’s long-awaited all-day cafe, dinner spot, and market took years longer to open than they expected when they chose its Speedway site. Some even despaired that the couple in business and life—who met while toiling in the kitchen at Milktooth— might never see their dream realized. But suddenly this summer, Borage threw its doors open, and all worries vanished. Every menu lineup, from breakfast to dinner and everything in between, is a collage of standby ingredients, such as polenta or milk bread, reimagined into well-portioned small plates that will fill your table. Mussels float in kimchi-flecked coconut broth alongside a meatloaf sandwich made with brisket and bacon. Every aspect of the restaurant, its bountifully stocked bakery, and the attached retail space feels thought-through

and intentional. Borage was worth the wait. 1609 N. Lynhurst Dr., 317-734-3958, borageeats .com V $$

Che Chori

ARGENTINEAN Marcos Perera-Blasco’s colorful drive-thru restaurant offers a delectable intro to Argentinean street food. The focus of the menu includes a selection of traditional butterfliedsausage sandwiches and warm empanadas filled with seasoned meats. Make sure to pick up the house-made dulce de leche, which is sold by the jar, as well as the churros and specialty Argentinian shortbread cookies. And don’t overlook the cook-at-home sausages, from Spanish-style chorizo to Argentinean black sausage. 3124 W. 16th St., 317-737-2012, chechori.com $$

Negrill Jamaican Restaurant and Bar

JAMAICAN You’ll need to come early to this spirited island spot if you want to score some of the day’s tender, rich oxtail stew or aromatic curried goat, served up in “lickle” (little) or larger portions dressed with rice and peas, steamed cabbage, and sweet fried plantains. Beef patties, fried or “escovitch” fish garnished with tangy veggies, and soups, depending on the day, round out the menu. 3701 W. 10th St., 317-602-8553, negrillrestaurant.com $$

Rick’s Cafe Boatyard

SEAFOOD You don’t have to be a Parrothead to appreciate the pontoon-life allure of Eagle Creek’s waterside restaurant, with its breezy dining room on stilts over the Dandy Trail boat slips. The menu gets creative with all the casual

dining tropes, mixing smoked salmon nachos and chicken cordon bleu fingers in with jumbo shrimp martinis. With a full menu of mules, tropical cocktails, and nonalcoholic concoctions, this is also a great spot for a couple of snacks and a drink or two at sunset. 4050 Dandy Trail, 317-290-9300, ricksboatyard.com $$$

Rusted Silo

BARBECUE Nestled between I-74 and the railroad tracks in Lizton, you’ll find this barbecue joint with only six indoor tables and a line out the door. Pitmaster Robert Ecker smokes, cooks, and bakes some of the best Southern-style pit barbecue, sides, and desserts in Indiana. Grab a beer from one of the floor-to-ceiling coolers as you enter and get ready to make your way down the menu. If you can’t decide between the pork butt or a slice of the fork-tender brisket, go ahead and get both and try them with one (or all) of the four house-made sauces on deck. The ranch beans are creamy and well-seasoned, and the three-cheese mac is made from scratch. The cheese grits might be the star, though; sourced in Kentucky and ground at Weisenberger Mill, they leave other restaurants’ grits in the dust. 411 N. State St., Lizton, 317-994-6145, rustedsilobrewhouse.com $$

Shiba Pho

VIETNAMESE Deep bowls of the namesake aromatic noodle soup get top billing at this no-frills Brownsburg spot, with a special vegetarian broth for its plant-based offerings. Starters such as spring rolls and dumplings set the tone, while deep-fried wings (served

with three sauces) are standouts even in our chicken-rich region. Don’t miss the Chef’s Specials (including Vietnamese steak and egg with pate) or the sensibly stuffed banh mi sandwiches served on fresh baguettes. 578 W. Northfield Dr., Brownsburg, 317-286-7018, shibapho.net $$

Theo’s Italian

ITALIAN Hearty pastas and puffy, pizzalike Roman-style pinsa flatbreads top the menu at Cunningham Restaurant Group’s Italian spot. Named for restaurateur Mike Cunningham’s grandson, the restaurant incorporates some colorful whimsy into the decor, though the cocktail and wine list (which includes bottles and glasses) are quite adult, as are the sophisticated takes on otherwise homey Italian American fare. Dinner includes several rich pastas such as a luscious bowl of lobster tortelloni and a toothsome lasagna, as well as sandwiches including a hot chicken Parm and a generous Italian hoagie. 2498 Perry Crossing Way, Plainfield, 317-203-9107, theositalian.com $$$

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WEALTH MANAGEMENT & TRUST

Christian Theological Seminary

A BUTLER-TARKINGTON INSTITUTION OF RELIGIOUS HIGHER EDUCATION CELEBRATES 100 YEARS AS A BASTION OF CULTURAL PROGRESS, WHILE ITS EXTRAORDINARY EDIFICE MARKS 60. BY CAMILLE GRAVES

WHEN IT OPENED its doors in 1924, Indianapolis’ Christian Theological Seminary welcomed all students on equal ground, including women, people of color, and international students—in direct opposition to Indiana’s thenthriving Klan. Though it was originally founded as Butler’s school of religion, it was so well attended that it became independent in 1958. In 1964, renowned Columbus, Indiana, industrialist and influential ecumenical layperson J. Irwin Miller commissioned architect Edward Larrabee Barnes to build a home for the seminary. Barnes’ minimalist design—a sprawling, mostly one-story, concrete structure with huge

windows, long corridors, and monumental sightlines looking outward onto the natural landscape, with a cloister-like courtyard hiding a peaceful lawn—called for the use of light, space, and texture to “create a sense of quiet mystery.” Simple but elegant details add intrigue throughout the building, like original oak shelving and furniture, rooms with sunken floors, a set of six small staircases along one wall leading up to second-floor offices, windows made of diachronic glass cubes that throw spectacular light across the chapel in the early evening, and an abundance of original contemporary artwork chosen for the space by Miller and his wife, Xenia.

From left: Jay Brant, CEO, Derek Jones, STAR Senior Commercial Banker, Wally Brant, Executive Director, and Anne Hays, Executive Vice President, Indiana Oxygen Company