And it doesn’t end with pizza! Michello’s also serves calzones, sandwiches, salads, and more. A small dining room is offered for eating in, along with carryout and delivery service. And if you’re eating late, you’ll be delighted to find that Michello’s Pizzeria is open most nights until 4:00am!

Karen Merrick of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, in recent discussions about the alleged decreasing Iowa workforce, implied that one way to bring more employees to the area is to increase innovation in the area. This is probably true, but what exactly counts as innovation, and what can we do to foster its growth in Cedar Rapids?Perhaps unfortunately, not a lot of innovation tends to come out of established companies, and even more rarely does it come out of the more junior-level employees at such companies. Why? Established companies work by known formulas with their primary goals being reliability and profitability. Innovative work, on the other hand, is often out on the fringes, and is more risky to implement. For this reason, innovations in technology tend to come out of small startup companies rather than large established companies.

So here’s a suggestion for Cedar Rapids: the city, or the city with help from local companies who wish to encourage innovation, could fund the creation of small technology startup companies in the city, a la Paul Graham’s Y Combinator. The grand total cost to the city would likely be around $150,000 each year, depending on the details. Would some of the startup ventures fail? Probably. But some will also likely succeed, and the very opportunity to participate in such endeavors may draw innovative people to Cedar Rapids, to do innovative things.

Westdale Mall has been on the decline for years. Circa 1993, it was a nice place to be, but after the demise of Montgomery Ward, everything started going downhill. Today, many shops are vacant and closed up. One of the busiest spots seems to be the city’s lone Chick-fil-A franchise, with many customers entering the mall for the express purpose of eating at this restaurant.

Ironically, the areas directly surrounding Westdale Mall have built up tremendously over the same time that the mall has been floundering. The past decade has seen the addition of new Target and Wal-Mart stores, a new movie theater, and multiple chain restaurants such as Steak-n-Shake, Taco Time, and Texas Roadhouse (one of the most popular restaurants in the city).

What happened to the mall? Can it possibly recover? Should it recover, or is the era of brick-and-mortar shopping malls so far gone that it’s not worth it any more?

The United States was very different in nineteenth century than it is today. Back then, if you wanted to start your own city, all you had to do was find some reasonably vacant land and declare it to be yours. This was, in fact, what Mr. Osgood Sheperd did in 1837 when he showed up and constructed a tavern on a plot of land that we now know as Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. J. Wilbert Stone showed up and began building a trading post and town, which he called Columbus, to the south of Sheperd’s tavern. Stone eventually moved west across the Red Cedar River, establishing Kingston City, which was named in honor of the first man to operate a ferry across the river, David W. King.

Five years later, in 1841, several pioneers led by N. B. Brown purchased rights to Sheperd’s land, and began formal plans for the town of Cedar Rapids, so called because of the red cedar trees which grew along the banks of the river. Cedar Rapids officially became a town in 1849, with Kingston City following four years later in 1853.

By 1856, town government filed the necessary paperwork and received approval from the citizens to incorporate Cedar Rapids as a city. At this time, more than one thousand people running thirty-three businesses made Cedar Rapids their home.

Subsequent work began to construct bridges across the Cedar River, linking Cedar Rapids with Kingston City. A bridge at present-day Seventh Avenue was constructed in 1856, but was destroyed several months later by flooding. Another bridge was built at present-day First Avenue in 1857, but was destroyed by ice in 1858. A second attempt at this bridge was completed in 1859, lasting twelve years before it too was destroyed by ice. It wasn’t until the 1870’s that sufficiently robust bridges were constructed, including the bridge at present-day Sixteenth Avenue, which still stands today.

Finally! Guitar Center has opened up shop in Cedar Rapids! I had been to one of their stores in St. Louis several times, and was always impressed with the quantity and quality of in-stock merchandise. The store in Cedar Rapids seems to be about the same size, and nearly as well-stocked.

I look forward to many more happy times spent in this lovely store.

Being something of a camera nerd, I tend to a more-than-average amount of photography equipment. I usually shop mail order, especially from B&H Photo in New York. But this weekend I decided to support my local camera dealer and buy a new lens from them. I’m very happy that I did, as I got to witness God’s favor upon some other customers.

A mother and her teenage daughter walked in just after I dropped off some film and headed over to the lens counter. The daughter put a small camera case on the counter and explained to the store owner that she was a photographer for her high school newspaper. The school wants all of their photographers to start using digital SLR cameras, and she wanted to trade her Nikon film SLR camera for a digital.

The store owner looked at her camera, and then showed her what Nikon DSLRs he had in stock. The price for a new Nikon DSLR kit here started at $1000, a price which surprised both the mother and daughter. They continued to talk, and my interest in the matter grew as I watched the owner explain digital photography to them. It was clear that they didn’t want to spend $1000 on a new DSLR.

Then the owner remembered something, and went into the back room. He returned with a Nikon DSLR box, in which, he explained, was a nearly mint-condition Nikon DSLR that a doctor friend of theirs had recently bought, then sold back to the store in exchange for a more expensive model. This camera would be perfect for this aspiring photojournalist, and they only wanted $500 for it. All of the original packaging was in the box, neatly repacked by the medical professional.

This price was much more bearable for the mother and daughter, especially coupled with the money gained by selling the film SLR camera. They got a wonderful deal, and I got a free pen with the store logo on it for being so kindly patient. 

(I told the store clerks several times that I wasn’t in a hurry, and wanted to see how these other customers’ shopping adventure turned out.)

Buying mail order is great, but you don’t get to see things like this over the phone!

This past Monday, the new Red Robin restaurant opened in Cedar Rapids. This is a new branch of a national chain restaurant, so not something totally original, but nevertheless it’s good to see more big chains open up shop here in Eastern Iowa.

The atmosphere is a little dark and noisey for my tastes, although it reminds me more of a true big-city restaurant than any other place I have been to in the area, and I enjoy that.

Even if the overall atmosphere could stand improvement, the food is excellent. I tried the crispy chicken “burger,” along with sampling a bacon cheeseburger cheese dip and unlimited (i.e., very filling) steak fries.

The food doesn’t seem quite low-calorie, but that’s okay. It’s not something I would want to eat every day, or possibly even every week, but I certainly expect to return.

Oh, and the price? Well, there was a mix-up in getting us seated, so our meal ended up free of charge. The prices didn’t look much higher than your average non-fast-food restaurant, so I see nothing to complain about.

Performance venues include the U.S. Cellular Center, host to a variety of public events such as music concerts and craft fairs; the Cedar Rapids Paramount Theatre, which has in recent years offered performances ranging from Russian ballet to local talent to Bill Cosby; and Theatre Cedar Rapids, specializing in local productions of plays.

Downtown Cedar Rapids is also home to the Quaker Oats factory. Public tours are no longer offered, but you can drive by the plant with your car window rolled down and smell an odor suspiciously not unlike that of fried chicken.

Just across Interstate 380 from the Quaker Oats plant is the Tree of Five Seasons Statue. Cedar Rapids has long been known as the City of Five Seasons, with the fifth seasons being time to enjoy the other four seasons. Some citizens disagree, suggesting that the fifth season is an additional season of winter. Either way, in the 1990′s the Tree of Five Seasons monument was built to commemorate the notion.

I was once downtown photographing the monument and the surrounding area when a man walked up to me and started a conversation. Among other things, he opined that the final cost of $3.5 million was way too much to spend on the monument. I can’t say that I disagree with him.

The downtown area is also home to several museums, including the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, the Cedar Rapids History Center, and the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library. The NCSML is located in historic Czech Village along 16th Avenue SW, one of the city’s more renowned tourism spots, especially for Czech and Slovak people visiting from Europe.

The city is divided into quadrants, namely, northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest. Every street name in Cedar Rapids includes a quadrant designator, except for First Avenue, which divides the northern and southern quadrants and has only an east or west designator.

Depending on where you are from, you will likely be either awed by how large Cedar Rapids is and how much there is to do, or awed by how small Cedar Rapids is and how little there is to do. For those in the second category, you may find that, in exchange for having less to do, you get much less traffic and generally safer neighborhoods than you might find in larger cities.