Noce cabaret, Merle Hay Mall, global photos

By Hailey Evans

For almost 10 years now, Noce has drawn crowds of all ages to Walnut Street to see local and national acts spin out classic jazz, blues, big band tunes and even soul and gospel. Its wide range of artistic styles grows even wider on Friday, when the club debuts a new cabaret starring local drag queen Domita Sanchez.

“The Domita Show featuring Travis Ness” was co-created by Travis Ness, who performs in drag as Domita, along with composer Paul Lichy, Noce owner and singer Max Wellman and fellow Noce performer and show co-producer Napoleon Douglas.

Ness has been performing drag for a decade, notably as one of the Saddle Gurls at the Blazing Saddle, as Lola in the 2023 run of "Kinky Boots" at the Des Moines Playhouse and as an opener for Chappell Roan during her concerts last year in Iowa. Before that, Ness was a cheerleader and theater kid in high school, and he studied theater at Drake University. Ness, Wellman and Douglas have been friends since their school days and their tight-knit friendship and talent is evident in the fun, artistic show they've created to spotlight Ness.

Wellman said conversations for “The Domita Show” began shortly after last year's success of Noce’s “Voix de Ville” cabaret, which featured Domita as well as drag queen Tyona Diamond and Ballet Des Moines dancers Logan and Amelia Hillman. “It was clear to me that there was a lot more Travis could do,” Wellman said.

This show will differ from a traditional drag show. It's a variety show in every sense of the word, with comedy, dancing and a 10-piece band playing arrangements of pop songs and jazz standards. Ness will sing live, both as himself and as Domita.

"In the past, it was frowned upon for drag queens to sing because crowds didn’t want them to have these low, masculine voices,” Ness said. “Now it’s kind of changing. It’s cool to see them showcase that talent.”

For some, the notion of listening to jazz at a live jazz club may feel intimidating, but Wellman challenges that idea with shows like this one. “Cabaret, the art form, is such a great space for creativity and thinking outside the box," he said.

“The Domita Show” is currently slated for two performances, at 7 p.m. this Friday and June 13. But the creative team hopes to continue the show with updated performances throughout the year. Tickets are available online.

David McLain photographed Kame Ogido harvesting kelp near her home in Japan. (Photo: David McLain)

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Globe-trotting photographer focuses on longevity

Photographer David McLain has spent more than 15 years chronicling the five places in the world where people live the longest: Loma Linda, California; the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; and Okinawa, Japan.

He plans to share his findings in a show-and-tell talk called “The Blue Zones: Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Des Moines Civic Center. Some of his ongoing work with author Dan Buettner has already been published in a book, a best-selling cookbook and stories for various publications, including the Smithsonian.

Part of McLain’s working strategy is to immerse himself in the areas he explores. Throughout his career as a photographer — for National Geographic, Sony, Apple and many notable nonprofits — he’s worked with all kinds of people in all kinds of places to produce the best photos possible. He’ll show off just a few of his best during his visit to Des Moines.

The Week Ahead

“Corn-Fed Jazz: The Next Generation,” 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Turner Jazz Center. The Turner Center Jazz Orchestra plays tunes by homegrown jazz composers and arrangers who follow in the footsteps of Bix Beiderbecke, Glenn Miller, Herbie Hancock and other Hawkeye State legends.

Optik, opening Friday, Cowles Commons. Twenty interactive, gyroscope-like sculptures will be displayed through May 26. Visitors can move them to play with light and make musical sounds.

First Friday at Mainframe, 5-8 p.m. Friday, Mainframe Studios. A new exhibition called “The Environment” features 99 works from 84 local artists, all curated by Diane Kunzler, who owns Kunzler Studios and Gallery in Valley Junction. Stick around for presentations at 6 and 7 p.m. by this year's Iowa Artist Fellows: Ali Hval and Vi Khi Nao of Iowa City, Jillian Moore of rural Cedar County, Rachel Morgan of Cedar Falls and local artist Jill Wells.

International Women’s Mountain Bike Day, 11 a.m. Saturday, Denman’s Woods. The local chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association shifts into gear for a women’s group ride, with raffle prizes and snacks, on the woodsy trails south of the Des Moines Art Center.

Cinco de Mayo, noon-10 p.m. Saturday, Fifth Street in West Des Moines. The annual fiesta celebrates the Valley Junction’s past and present connections to Latino culture with live entertainment and plenty of delicious food.

"& Juliet," opening 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Des Moines Civic Center. In a new version of the Shakespeare classic, Juliet doesn’t die for Romeo. Instead, she goes on a personal journey powered by modern pop songs like “Since U Been Gone” and "Can't Stop the Feeling!" The show runs through May 11.

Tunes and blooms: The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden starts up its Music in the Garden outdoor summer concert series on June 5. Tickets are on sale now, with options for season passes and individual nights. The concerts run Thursdays at 6 p.m. through Aug. 7.

Family fun: Des Moines Performing Arts announced the lineups for its 2025-2026 Family Series, which includes bilingual musical “Sugar Skull!” on Nov. 8 to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Tickets are on sale now.

dsm Inclusion: Join us the morning of May 20 as we bring our newest Inclusion publication to life at the Krause Gateway Center. We’ll celebrate the release of our annual publication with a breakfast and Q&A discussions with a few fascinating local folks who are featured in the magazine. Limited tickets are still available for free.

Just over a century ago, in 1923, St. Gabriel’s Passionist Monastery was established in northwest Des Moines on 47 acres of serene gardens with a grotto. The city grew up around it over the years, and in 1955 the rector, the Rev. Ignatius Bechtold, got a call from a Chicago real estate developer named Bernard Greenbaum, who was considering seven possible locations for a suburban-style shopping mall.

So begins the story of Merle Hay Mall, the granddaddy of Iowa shopping centers.

Today, as the mall pushes onward with more than 70 stores, restaurants and entertainment options and a new plan to attract nontraditional users, it’s worth examining how the mall started and how it has endured.

Three words explain Merle Hay Mall’s success: focused, consistent ownership. The same family has owned it from Day One. And while that can be a recipe for inaction, that’s not the case here.

A year after that first phone call to the rector, Chicago investors paid $550,000 to purchase the monastery on the northwest corner of Merle Hay Road and Douglas Avenue.

Greenbaum and lead investor Joseph Abbell were recruited by Chicago-based Sears Roebuck & Co. and Des Moines-based Younkers Department Stores to build shopping centers in both Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. But when zoning disputes tangled the project in Cedar Rapids, the team focused on Des Moines, where the monastery property checked all the boxes: developable land, a good location at a major intersection and, most important, proximity to the proposed Interstates 80 and 35.

The original name was Northland Shopping Center. But in 1957, a few months before construction on the $8 million project began, the name was changed to Merle Hay Plaza to honor the young man from Glidden who was the first Iowan killed in combat in World War I.

At opening day in 1959, six buildings offered 615,000 square feet of retail space, with parking for 4,000 cars. The bookend stores were Younkers and Sears with 30 smaller shops and restaurants in between, including Bishop’s Buffet, a Safeway grocery store, a drug store, a dime store, two jewelry stores, three shoe stores and a bowling alley. A retail economist later said it was like someone dug up an Iowa Main Street and transported it to the edge of Des Moines.

The open-air mall was enclosed in 1972. Many evolutions and expansions followed, along with a major tragedy.

On Sunday morning Nov. 5, 1978, before Younkers had opened, a bizarre explosion and flash fire involving mechanical equipment and bad wiring swept through the two-story store and killed 10 employees. Two days later, Abbell, the mall owner, assured customers the store would be rebuilt. It reopened 11 months later.

By then, Abbell, an accountant and lawyer, was the mall’s majority investor and chief spokesman. When he died in 2000 at the age of 89, leadership passed to his granddaughter, a Chicago attorney named Elizabeth Holland.

Her biggest challenge came in 2004, when Jordan Creek Town Center opened in West Des Moines. In all 150 retailers, including 12 anchor stores, filled 1.3 million square feet.

Merle Hay Mall responded and grew to 1.2 million square feet and added new amenities. Today, a $26 million expansion plan includes entertainment and hotel options, along with recreational venues for pickleball, indoor soccer, ice skating and volleyball.

As Holland has explained, the goal is to “massively expand the universe of potential users.”

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