Getting the flavor of...A touch of California in Iowa

A touch of California in Iowa

People don’t always believe me when I say that Dubuque is “the San Francisco of the Midwest,” said Dave Hoekstra in the Chicago Sun-Times. But one run through the following checklist might make you a believer. “Trolley car? Check.” The Fenelon Place Elevator Co. dates to 1882 and runs its cars up a short, steep track to a hilltop that affords views of Illinois and Wisconsin. “Water views? Check.” Except here you’ll overlook the Mississippi River rather than the ocean. “Cool farm-to-table organic restaurants with a guy singing James Taylor songs? Check.” You’ll find that at L. May Eatery downtown. Although this “City by the Hay” hasn’t been immortalized in a Tony Bennett song, it’s not lacking in romance. On a cable car, I met an English couple who’d been married 41 years. They were so taken by Fenelon Place that they planned to come back at night for a more intimate cable-car ride.

Tracing Boardwalk Empire’s terrain

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Much of old Atlantic City, N.J., lives on, said Helen Stapinski in The New York Times. Just as the hit HBO show Boardwalk Empire suggests, this ocean-side city thrived during Prohibition, largely because of illegal activities. Somehow when “glittering” casinos began springing up, the wrecking ball passed over places like the Irish Pub, “a memorabilia-crammed restaurant and boarding house” that still offers $25 rooms. The 1912 Knife and Fork Inn is owned by the same family that owns Dock’s Oyster House, the city’s second-oldest business. The oldest is the James Candy Co., founded in 1880, which still makes taffy at a factory right on the boardwalk. Down the way stands the former Ritz-Carlton Hotel, now a well-preserved condo. South of the boardwalk, you can even find Lucy the Elephant—a six-story beast made of wood and tin. Lore has it that lamps hung in Lucy’s eyes once gave bootlegging boats the all-clear signal.