ONE-TRACK MIND
The Indy 500 is the largest single-day sporting event in the world. The race is held each year on Memorial Day weekend and attracts more than 400,000 fans to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But it’s not the only reason to visit this historic track. Here are five other things to do at Indy.
Play a Round
The Brickyard Crossing golf course has an inviting and well-maintained layout, and it’s a bargain to boot. Plus, the four holes located on the infield of the racetrack make a round here a truly one-of-a-kind experience. The other 14 run alongside the stadium.
brickyardcrossing.com
Pound the Pavement
Part of the month-long annual 500 Festival leading up to the big race, the Mini-Marathon draws 35,000 runners and is the nation’s largest half marathon. The course offers something no other footrace does: a lap of about two miles on the Indy racetrack. This year’s Mini-Marathon is sold out, but the festival features other events, including a parade on May 24.
500festival.com
Take Stock
On July 27, open-wheel Indy cars are replaced by stock cars racing to claim what’s become one of the most coveted trophies in NASCAR. The Allstate 400 at The Brickyard is almost as popular as the Indy 500, but it’s slightly less crowded (with an average of 300,000 fans in attendance). Tickets start at $70 and are usually available right up through race day.
allstate400atthebrickyard.com
Cycle Up
The first race ever run at Indy (in 1909) was on two wheels, not four. Now, after a decade-long hiatus, motorcycle racing is back. MotoGP, the sport’s most competitive professional race series, will visit The Brickyard for the first time on September 14 at the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP. redbullindianapolisgp.com
Start Your Engines
The Indy Racing Experience lets you don a racing suit and helmet and climb inside a modified Indy car for three laps around the track with a professional driver. At speeds of up to 180 mph, you’ll feel the same g-forces that Indy 500 drivers experience. You can even choose to pilot an Indy car yourself, up to around 90 mph. The experience is offered on select days through early October. The cost is $399 to drive or $475 to ride. Reservations must be made in advance.
indyracingexperience.com
— Larry Olmsted
Map by Laura Coyle
NEED FOR SPEED
Charlotte is NASCAR central this month as the Coca-Cola 600 roars into Lowes Motor Speedway. But professional drivers backed by a gaggle of sponsors aren’t the only ones who can enjoy the adrenaline-pumping excitement of racing around a track. The Pit Indoor Kart Racing in nearby Mooresville lets kids and adults get behind the wheel of a state-of-the-art kart and speed around a 70,000-square-foot track. The largest of its kind in the country, the track has 20 turns and is over a third of a mile long.
The karts here may not have the 8-cylinder, 750-hp engines of most NASCAR vehicles, but they can hit 40 mph — far more exhilarating than typical theme-park go-karts. To make the experience even more like the real thing, a computer timing system measures your lap speed down to one-thousandth of a second. The Pit also has a game room with billiards and a laser-tag arena. Check it out at meetatthepit.com.
Mooresville is also home to the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame, which has more than 35 race cars on display, as well as racing history films and drivers’ uniforms. Learn more at ncarhof.com. In addition, many NASCAR teams, including Hendrick Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt Inc., have opened their race shops to the public, providing a behind-the-scenes experience. For more, log on to the Cabarrus County visitor’s bureau at visitcabarrus.com.
— Sam Boykin
LAS VEGAS
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MARQUEE EVENT
Sprinkle a little Hollywood tinsel on Las Vegas and you get CineVegas: ten days of film premieres, movie stars, and A-list soirees held each June in and around the Palms Casino Resort. Now in its tenth year, CineVegas has become one of the fastest-growing film festivals in the U.S. This year CineVegas rolls out the red carpet June 12–21.
The list of celebs who have been honored at the festival over the years reads like a who’s who of Hollywood superstars: Laurence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn, Sylvester Stallone, Charlize Theron, Christopher Walken, and more. Dennis Hopper is chairman of the festival’s Creative Advisory Board, and he helps decide which actors, directors, and producers will be honored each year. This year, Don Cheadle will be on hand June 20 to accept the CineVegas Half-Life award.
Several films that debuted at CineVegas in years past have gone on to enjoy mainstream success, including Hustle and Flow, Land of the Dead, Napoleon Dynamite, Ocean’s Thirteen, and Penelope. Some of the films that are scheduled to premiere this year include:
Your Name Here, a comic journey into the life and mind of Philip K. Dick, one of sci-fi’s most brilliant authors, starring Bill Pullman
Big Heart City, a story about a small-time gambling addict starring Seymour Cassel
Dark Streets, a drama/thriller starring Gabriel Mann and Bijou Phillips
Happy Birthday, Harris Malden, a film from a Philly comedy troupe about a man who fakes his own facial hair
For info on screenings, tickets, the latest news, and more, visit the festival online at cinevegas.com.
— Dean Blaine
boston
FOR ART LOVERS
Boston’s South End is heating up, and not just with the promise of warmer weather. Over the past decade, hip restaurants, upscale shops, and luxe condominiums have popped up amid the Victorian row houses and former mill buildings to infuse the neighborhood with new energy. The area has also become the epicenter of Boston’s art scene, particularly in SoWa, a strip of blocks south of Washington Street where a profusion of studios and galleries are stealing the artistic thunder from Back Bay’s Newbury Street.
The SoWa Artists Guild at 450 Harrison Ave. is home to more than 50 studios and 15 galleries. Guild members and other local artists open to the public each month for First Friday events. Area gems include the Bernard Toale Gallery, a showcase for contemporary art that moved to SoWa from Newbury Street in 1998; Claygo, a studio that designs, produces, and sells ceramics for gourmet dining; and Boston Sculptors Gallery, a landmark venue featuring contemporary work by area sculptors. For more info on First Fridays, visit sowaartistsguild.com.
The SoWa Art Walk will be held May 17–18. Artists invite the public into their studios, while boutiques and restaurants host artists who display their work on the premises. In conjunction with the event, the SoWa Open Market at 540 Harrison Ave. opens for the season. Every Sunday until October 26, artists, jewelry designers, and purveyors of vintage clothing converge under tents with antique dealers, winemakers, and farmers. Learn more at sowaartwalk.com and southendopenmarket.com.
— Jaci Conry
Art by Chris Masci
las vegas
ALL IN
Some of the world’s sharpest card sharks will ante up for the 2008 World Series of Poker at the Rio Convention Center from May 30 to July 16. If you want to watch, the event is free, but for those who want to play, buy-ins range from $1,000 to $50,000. This year’s tournament includes eight $10,000 championships, and several variations of poker are played in these tourneys — everything from Texas hold ’em to seven-card stud. Last year’s event drew more than 54,000 participants of all ages, 21-year-olds to 94-year-olds, competing for a piece of the $160 million prize pool. This year promises to be just as big a draw. For more info, check out worldseriesofpoker.com.
— Julie Moore
cleveland
MONUMENTAL DISCOVERY
A cemetery might not be your idea of a tourist attraction, but Lake View Cemetery is not your average graveyard. The final resting place of several famous people, including 20th U.S. president James A. Garfield, crime fighter Eliot Ness, and oilman John D. Rockefeller, Lake View attracts about 400,000 visitors each year.
But celebrity graves are only one reason to stop by. This 285-acre urban haven has spectacular gardens, hills, ravines, creeks, and an array of monuments and mausoleums that are truly works of art. Founded in 1869, Lake View’s design pays homage to the great garden cemeteries of Victorian England and France.
In May, the dogwoods, rhododendrons, and flowering pears are at their peak, and red arrows mark a driving tour of the showiest blooms. Visitors can also stop at one of the cemetery offices for a CD- or cassette-guided tour, or they can pick up a map and take a five-mile walking tour. May events include a horticulture walking tour on the 10th and a Mother’s Day visit to the cemetery’s famous women on the 11th. Other tour themes include Angels of Lake View and Other Sculptures, Geology, and Legendary Personalities.
While you’re there, don’t miss Wade Chapel. This tiny gem of a building features a huge window designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany called “The Flight of Souls.” Inside, walls, benches, doors, floor tiles, lamps, chandeliers, and the ceiling all bear Tiffany’s designs. There are also free lectures on the chapel’s art and history. Learn more online at lakeviewcemetery.com.
— Kristin Ohlson
phoenix
SCREEN GEMS
A staple of late-night TV, infomercials (along with the products they sell and the people who pitch them) have developed something of a cult following. The spots, which run anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 minutes, always seem to sell things that fix a problem you didn’t know you had — from chopping veggies to turning an ant farm into a thriving metropolis. Now you can get a closeup look at these amazing gadgets, thanks to Sandstrom’s As Seen On TV Store. With a small prototype now open at Paradise Valley Mall, about 20 minutes from downtown Phoenix, shoppers get the chance to test the products that entice insomniacs at 3 a.m. The Vidalia onion chopper is a top seller, as is Jack Zatorski’s Push Up Pro exercise device. Virtually everything infomercial pitchman Billy Mays promotes is available, including his popular Hercules Hooks. The store is organized into personal care, tools, home, family, and kitchen departments, so even if you’re there to test the Kiro travel pillow, you can also pick up some Moon Sand for a friend. Oh, and the average price of products? You guessed it: $19.95. For more info, call 602.324.8996.
— David Tyda
washington, d.c.
ON THE CASE
America’s fascination with crime, criminals, and the justice system is getting a formal recognition. The National Museum of Crime & Punishment — the only one of its kind in the world — opens this month in D.C. The museum provides an unvarnished, unromanticized history of criminals, police detectives, the courts, and incarceration. Hundreds of historical artifacts, including Jesse James’ revolver, Al Capone’s shaving cabinet, and a reproduction of a 16th-century guillotine, fill three floors inside. The museum also invites visitors into interactive galleries where they can try out the forensic techniques of fingerprint, DNA, and dental identification. Wannabe crime busters can also hone their skills in police car and shooting range simulators and in a mock-up CSI lab. With a stated mission to help fight crime, the museum is also becoming a resource for real investigations: It houses the television studio of John Walsh’s America’s Most Wanted, where operators take calls from tipsters every Saturday night. To find out more, visit crimemuseum.org.
— Judith Ritter
pittsburgh
FRESH-AIR FLICKS
This year marks the 75th birthday of an all-American tradition: the drive-in movie. What better place to celebrate than in Pittsburgh, where you’ll find more than a dozen drive-in theaters within an hour of the city, most offering first-run flicks? Best of all, these spots are date-friendly, kid-friendly, and wallet-friendly.
Twin Hi-Way Drive-In
Reopened last year, Twin Hi-Way is just ten miles from downtown Pittsburgh. John Butya, a second-generation owner of the theater, grew up next door to it and fondly remembers hearing Godzilla eating Tokyo from his bedroom. He says the effort to update the equipment and restore the old sign to its original 1950s glory paid off the first night they were back in business. “I got a chill. What a wonderful feeling to see a movie on that screen again.”
5588 Steubenville Pike, McKees Rocks
412.494.4999
twinhiwaydrivein.com
Dependable Drive-In
Roll in to the Dependable for a snow cone, but don’t be a stranger once the summer blockbuster season is over. This aptly named theater is open year-round and attracts plenty of business through the winter months. What’s cozier than watching a movie with a blanket and a thermos full of cocoa?
500 Moon Clinton Rd., Coraopolis
412.264.7011
dependabledrivein.com
Hi-Way Drive-In
This screen in the quiet farming community of Latrobe is a wholesome spot that’s ideal for tots (no R-rated movies). The only exception is October’s “haunted drive-in” horror screenings, when local ghouls haunt the grounds. Aside from the occasional smear of face paint on your windshield, it’s good clean fun.
225A Route 30 East, Latrobe
724.537.7418
hiwaydriveinlatrobe.com
Kane Family Drive-In
Catch a flick old-school style: Sip on a hand-dipped milkshake while the kids run loose on an old-fashioned metal playground by the screen.
2971 Kane Rd., Aliquippa
724.378.1970
kanefamilydrivein.tripod.com
— Elaine Vitone
vancouver
FRESH FACE
Once known primarily for dilapidated storefronts, sketchy restaurants, and convenience stores, the area in and around Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood has reinvented itself as hipster central. Walk along the stretch of Main Street between Broadway and 21st Avenue, and you’ll encounter a number of cool little boutiques, galleries, and vibrant sidewalk cafes.
Start your adventure with a freshly brewed cup of joe at JJ Bean, then meander over to a delightful little store, The Regional Assembly of Text, where they feature all sorts of stationery, note cards, and funky handmade rubber stamps. At Smoking Lily you can stock up on T-shirts, wallets, and scarves with whimsical prints of bugs, sea horses, and other creatures. Down the street at Hum you can score one-of-a-kind dresses, organic cotton and hemp tops, and tote bags made with military surplus and vintage fabrics — all created by emerging Canadian designers. Come dinnertime, The Cascade Room is the place to go for thin-crust pizzas, wild salmon burgers, and beetroot risotto paired with a microbrew or a glass of local wine. Don’t leave without having mixologist Nick Devine pour you a classic cocktail.
— Celeste Moure
Map by Laura Coyle
Philadelphia
FOOD IMMERSION
Locals know that Philly’s culinary offerings far surpass the iconic cheesesteak. Visitors can discover the rest of the best by taking one or more of these tours run by chefs and local foodies.
Center City Food Lovers’ Tour
A spin-off of City Food Tours in NYC, the Philly version offers walks that focus on wine and aphrodisiacs. The three-hour Food Lovers’ Tour covers the basics, stopping at specialty stores like Di Bruno Bros. and Naked Chocolate Café, where passionate cheesemongers and chocolate makers wax poetic while offering up samples. The company also plans to add Fine Wine and Micro-brewed Beer tours.
cityfoodtours.com
Chef’s Tour of the Italian Market
The country’s oldest outdoor market dates to the early 1900s, when immigrants sold goods from carts. Today, tiny shops housing spice emporiums, pasticcerias, and charcuterie and cheese vendors line several blocks in South Philly. Cookbook author Louise Cianfero Simpson introduces you to the delicacies and the characters who sell them.
215.772.0739
Wok and Walk Culinary
Tour of Chinatown Chef Joseph Poon’s two-and-a-half-hour tour begins with a four-course meal at his Asian fusion restaurant. Then it’s out to the sidewalks where the chef leads charges into a fortune-cookie factory, an authentic fish market, a Chinese bakery, and more.
josephpoon.com
Taste of Philadelphia Food Tour
It’s a common rookie mistake to arrive at Reading Terminal Market, gorge yourself on cannoli and pizza in Aisle 1, and ruin your appetite for the ice cream and burritos that await you in Aisle 3. Do yourself a favor and take this 75-minute tour for an overview of the market’s history and of its 80-some vendors before digging in. Tours are offered every Wednesday and Saturday.
readingterminalmarket.org/events/tours
— Caroline Tiger
travel trend
CREATURE COMFORTS
If you can’t bring your pet on your next trip, check out one of these spots where creatures great and small are on hand to charm the guests. You’ll never have to go without a little puppy (or guppy) love while on the road.
Canines
Guests of Colorado’s Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch resort near Vail can book hikes or snowshoe treks with Bachelor, the resident yellow Lab, as part of the hotel’s popular Loan-a-Lab program. Catie, a black Lab who lives at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, is a little less adventurous (she only goes on city walks), but she holds the title of Canine Ambassador, and she’s the main character in a children’s book, Catie Copley.
Country Critters
Play the verdant Whistling Straits golf course at the American Club resort hotel in Kohler, Wisconsin, and you’ll see Scottish blackface sheep grazing nearby. At the Tubac Golf Resort & Spa in southern Arizona, where cattle ranching once ruled, Herefords munch near the Rancho course’s greens. The scorecard warns: “Ball landing on cow pie, pick, lick, and place no closer to the hole.”
Feathers, Fins, and In-Betweens
Ducks get the red-carpet treatment at the Peabody Memphis Hotel: Twice a day, they march through the lobby on one to the tune of John Phillip Sousa’s King Cotton. After 90 days on the job, the ducks retire to a farm and are replaced by a new crew. At the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa, penguins are the attention-getters. Don’t worry about them getting too hot: They’re the black-footed variety and are native to Africa. Gracie, a harbor seal who lives at the Bahia Resort Hotel in San Diego, provides guests with their own private Sea World–like experience as she frolics in her marine pool. And at Kimpton’s Hotel Monaco locations (San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and D.C.), guests can have a goldfish delivered to their room. The hotel says watching fish swim can calm nerves and lower blood pressure.
— Edie Jarolim
new york city
HOUSE CAT
In the walnut-paneled world of Manhattan hotels, the concierge is a figure of legend. The century-old Algonquin Hotel embodies this tradition, but things here differ slightly. The master of the lobby is not a man in a suit, but a lady in fur. Rather than presiding over a mahogany desk, she prefers to lie on the luggage cart. And if you hold out your hand, don’t be surprised if she licks it. Consider yourself lucky: You’ve just met Matilda, feline concierge.
The Algonquin has had an official chat de la maison since the 1930s, when owner Frank Case adopted a stray that wandered in off 44th Street and made it clear her stay would be permanent. Matilda, however, is no sponger. She not only has a job (schmoozing guests), but her own station (a daybed by the front doors) and her own email address. (It’s matildaalgonquincat@algonquinhotel.com, and yes, she will reply.)
“The best part of my job is meeting new people,” the bushy-tailed hostess says via email. “The worst part is having to be nice to people who bring their dogs.” Matilda also concedes it would be nice if guests tipped every so often. If only she had pockets.
— Robert Klara
Illustration by Jon Flaming
- THE 9TH ART / by Julia M. Klein
- ALTER EGO: TUNED IN / by J. Rentilly
- WATER WHIRLED / by Kelly Bastone
- VERBATIM: DENNIS FARINA / by J. Rentilly
- 9 HOLES WITH… ANNA RAWSON / by John Maginnes
- MATERIAL WORLD
- OUR DIGITAL LIFE / by Dan Tynan
- FOOD FROM THE EDGE / by John T. Edge
- SAVE MY CAREER / by Donald Asher
- SMART BUSINESS / by C. J. Prince
- DEPARTURE
- ALL OVER THE MAP
- CROSSWORD PUZZLES
- GREAT DATES
- CEO LETTER
- LETTERS
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
