Trip 5: Day 31 (Omaha)

Almost six months ago, I was in Omaha and sat the afternoon on the sparsely furnished patio outside Aromas Coffee on Jones Street, drinking tepid coffee and listening to music. It was windy and not terribly warm, but it was also sunny, and it was a nice way to spend what would turn into a rough rest of the week, weather-wise. The next day, a storm came in from the Rockies and dumped 1-2" of snow on the city. Today, I walked away from Aromas toward the Old Market district on the last day of Omaha's cool, dreary spring. Tomorrow is forecast to be in the 70's for a high, which will persist for the next week, at least. I began the winter here and I ended it here. This terrible, terrible winter...

The wifi at Aromas didn't work. My phone connected, but my computer would not, so I futzed with it for about an hour and drank my coffee. About 20 minutes in, a group of about 30 adolescent kids came into the coffee shop and settled into a crowded oval a few feet from me. Then they broke into performance. It turns out it was a "poetry flash mob," which I didn't know existed. What's funnier is how awkward their audience was. If I hadn't clapped after their performance, no one probably would have.

I've always considered myself to be that sort of guy: I lead the clapping. A lot of it has to do with the bands I go see, where I know the songs by heart, so I know when they end and when to clap. Maybe it's arrogance, or maybe it's just impatience...

I also visited an exhibit on the future of Omaha's growth, entitled "Heartland 2050." It was on the second story of an event center, in a room that could have held 500 people, but had one short wall covered by posters and a laptop randomly on a desk, turned on but with nothing on it except a prompt to update Quicktime. The exhibit was more a public presentation of the findings of public meetings. People wanted better use of public funds, less pollution and other obvious things. The maps were nice.

Mary Mattingly exhibit at the Bemis Center

I came across La Casa Pizzaria on my first visit to Omaha. It's likely that one thing that attracted me to Omaha initially was it's similarity in atmosphere to Tucson. The neighborhood west of Downtown, with its abandoned storefronts and neon signs, seems to be stuck in the 1960's. "La Casa," which I had originally assumed to be a cheesy Mexican restaurant based on the name and sign, is one such place, reliably untimely with its sign sporting an unfortunately mustachioed caricature strumming a guitar, and its awkward, lowly lit, red carpeted dining room. It's about as much of an Omaha tradition as there is in a town that's full of traditions, and it serves what is considered to be quintessential Omaha-style pizza: a thin crust with cracker-like exterior surrounding a soft, bready inside. And there's nothing more Omaha than a hamburger pizza, so that's what I got.

Overall, I still like Zio's better. I like the taste of the crust (though the texture is similar, I think) and the sauce there more. Zio's is also a little cheaper.

"Goodwill Reserve" replaced an
antique store

This evening, I continued the Upstream ritual. Upstream is a brewpub in Omaha, with a location in Old Market and another 160 blocks west called "Legacy." I've been to the latter once, but I've come to the Old Market location each of the last seven years I've been in Omaha. I talk my way into samples of the beers, drink cheap happy hour pints when I finally decide on one and watch the crowd at the bar. On my first trip to Omaha in 2007, I sat down the bar from a man with a hook. He was alone at the bar, eating his meal and drinking his beer. I walked down the street to a photography exhibit and found the man with the hook inside; he was the photographer. He told me about the camera he used and encouraged me to continue taking pictures and learning more about photography. I don't that I've learned anything more about photography, but I've certainly continued taking pictures. A trip to Omaha now just is not complete without stopping at Upstream, at least once, even though there are, admittedly, better places to go in town.

At least it wasn't raining today. That's what I can say about it. I had wanted to ride my bike Downtown, but the cold temperatures and strong wind in the morning talked me out of it. The good thing is that it's actually quite easy to find free parking around Downtown Omaha, provided you're willing to walk a couple of blocks. On both Jones and Leavenworth east of the 10th Street bridge, parking is free and unrestricted. There are some timed spots just west of Old Market on those same streets, but the neighborhood is a bit sketchy. I've parked in the area several times, though I do sometimes park at the meters, which are free after 5pm.

I ended the night at Pageturners, Connor Oberst's bar on West Dodge (US 6). I stumbled upon a political fundraiser for a local state representative. There were sleazy men in suits standing behind me chatting with one another and ordering Old Fashioneds and bottles of Stella. The candidate milled about with his wife, working the room. Someone had a brought a very large group of kids, who had moved into a small room adjacent to the bar with a window cut out. From the window, they cat-called the female bartender and tried to order sodas. It was probably the most kids that Pageturners has ever seen. A slightly older (10 or 11) girl came up next to me and silently stole my popcorn, taking individual pieces out and putting them in her palm. I told her that she was welcome to take the whole bowl, which I hadn't eaten, and she muttered something, smiled and left with it.

Tomorrow, I leave Omaha to wait for me for next year.