DES MOINES: I Explored the BEST and WORST Parts of the City - This Is What I Found

We visited Iowa's capital city Des Moines. The city, first settled by French explorers, lies on the Des Moines River at its juncture with the Raccoon River. Situated in the heart of the Corn Belt, it's Iowa’s most populous metropolitan area. While there, I explored the beautiful downtown and the incredible Papajohn Sculpture Park. I then took a drive through the city's most dangerous neighborhood, as well as one of it's safest. With the wife in tow, we toured the state capital building and enjoyed dinner at a cool zombie themed bar.

Travel Vlog 87

[froter]

the area around Des Moines was first discovered by the French and they named the River ..the French were long gone when Des Moines was settled and incorporated

[Amir-qwqp]

I'm born in Iraq and I moved here in 2008 as a refugee and I've fallen in love with this city it's always felt like home and the people are here are the nicest people in the country. I've made some amazing friends and met my gf of 5 years in high school too this place will always feel like home I travel a lot and whenever I go to a bigger city like LA, Miami, New York I always get homesick fast because I love the peace and quiet here and the traffic isn't bad compared to bigger cities it's super clean with amazing people and amazing schools great place to raise your kids and start a family. Also there are a lot worse parts in Des Moines especially on the east and south side and that neighborhood you showed is not considered nice at all compared to some of the modern ones in West Des

[trayceesue]

An interesting fact that wasn't mentioned. The gold on top of the dome is actually gold leaf. If they were to scrape it all off and roll it up into a ball, it would be the size of a softball.

[malyboah]

I moved to Des Moines in 2013 from California. I have to agree you did not highlight some of the best or worst. We’ve been here since and it was one of the best decisions ever. Iowa is such a beautiful place. Plenty of state parks, architecture, it’s pretty diverse, they definitely support locals and art is huge here. So much more to see but never enough time to see it all! Definitely come back and highlight some more landmarks! Iowa is growing for a reason!

[souphypanyanouvong]

Nice video, I was born in Thailand, Relocated here in 1989 been here ever since and tbh I would be lost in any other city so this is definitely my home and I love living here. People are very nice and friendly too.

[MissKittys]

Being from Des Moines and knowing the area pretty well, I’d say you didn’t even come close to the best or the worst. Des Moines and all it’s suburbs contain multi million dollar homes that, I personally would consider the best and based on your video you certainly didn’t hit the worst. There’s some real dumpy areas in Des Moines. Nice documentary though. We have a beautiful capital building.

[schulermarka]

A little history about Kum & Go. The 2 founders of the company are Bill Krause and Tony Gentle, that's why you see a line from the K to the G. I used to work there and the store I worked in had a quote on a plaque by them, it says, "I'd rather have one customer a thousand times than a thousand customers one time." Always loved that quote

[lilyrose]

I have lived here for 70 years and I love it.❤️

[brendakirk]

So embarrassed I’ve lived in Iowa 99% of my years and have never visited the capital building. I would definitely say there are worse parts of Des Moines if you talked to the locals.

[D.R]

My beautiful home! I miss everything about it! I grew up fishing those river banks! They look totally different! Down town as well! Over all Des Moines, Ia is a small beautiful city filled with good hearted people from all back grounds of life! My birth rite! My home! My city!

[alsimon]

From Des Moines. It's nice to see another perspective of the city I grew up in.

[BrianHutzellMusic]

12:15 These two horse sculptures are actually not wood, but bronze made to look like wood! According to the Des Moines Art Center (with which the sculpture park is connected, and also where I happen to work): “The artist [Deborah Butterfield] begins by selecting a handful of substantial branches that are then individually cast and reassembled to form the basic shape for each horse. Butterfield then attaches real sticks to the metal armature until she achieves the gesture and demeanor she wishes to portray. The sculpture is then meticulously photographed and disassembled so the individual wooden elements can be cast in bronze. Finally, the metal branches are reattached to the original armature and a patina is applied to the bronze that enhances the look and texture of wood.”

[YerkYT]

Lol! At 16:25 if you panned the camera to the left while at the corner of e18th st instead of right you’d have looked right at my house! I just bought this place in At the beginning of the year and I love it here. Had absolutely no problems at all! Great neighbors.

[jimmyday]

I enjoyed your video, thank you! A native Marylander, I retired two years ago and relocated from Baltimore to western IA. Housing is more affordable, and the people are friendly. As to the "trash" in the beginning, I suspect it was simply washed up by the river during a high water event. I remembered Baltimore City, and I chuckled, thinking hey, as long as there's no rats in that garbage, no big deal. 🤠 Also, IA has a bottle and can deposit, which seems to keep litter down. And as for the weather, well, the Midwest has it's advantages, but as they say, no one moves there for the weather. LOL. My first winter there, it got to -25 at night, I had never in my life seen anything below zero. The wind is always blowing, too, and I like the fact that IA gets over half it's electricity from wind farms.

[otnesoriginals]

Those guys in the green shirts cleaning the streets are doing a VERY important job.

[el_bee]

Hell ya, The 515! Born, raised and still here! This is awesome, thanks for stopping through 🤘🏻

[iavagabond]

Des Moines is a beautiful city. One of the best and most beautiful capital building and grounds in the U.S as it sits looking over downtown Des Moines. The Asian garden by the river, the statue park, how clean it is for a city, it's definitely a capital city to be proud of plus the beautiful and fancy name of Des Moines.
Also fun fact the original Iowa capital building from 1842 is actually in Iowa City!

[PancakeJake]

Great video, man! I grew up in Des Moines and haven’t been back for over 10 years, so this felt like a free trip home!

[jennifer]

Iowa native and have lived in Des Moines for over twenty years. So interesting that this is considered the worst neighborhood. I was totally expecting the North side; Carpenter, MLK, Mondameon and so on. Those aren't even that bad. Interesting video..

[jcmhanel]

I just called my daughter who lives in a suburb of Des Moines . Her church, Capital Hill Lutheran is in the East Village. I asked about the East Village as well as the neighborhoods. She told me the city of Des Moines has worked very very hard to revitalize the area, that includes the neighborhoods.