An Iowa Bar Has Been Named One of the Best in the United States

Can you imagine being hired to find the best bars in the United States? Doing nothing but traveling from state to state, sampling drink after drink, soaking in the atmosphere at some of the best watering holes this nation has to offer. The food journalists with the USA TODAY Network got together and compiled their knowledge and crafted a list of the USA TODAY Bars of the Year 2024, and one Iowa bar made the select list!

There are just 27 bars on the 2024 list, and the bar from Iowa is like stepping into a time machine back to the 1950s. Hello, Marjorie is located at 717 Locust Street in Des Moines. The Des Moines Register reports that the retro lounge is located in the former Des Moines Register and Tribune Building. Hello, Marjorie features carefully crafted conversational seating areas decorated with retro couches, old chairs, globes, and lamps, according to the Register. A pink neon sign hangs over a fireplace with a quote from Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel 'On the Road'.

Aside from the amazing decor, Hello, Marjorie also serves some of the most amazing cocktails in the Midwest. The Register suggests ordering their namesake drink. Hello, Marjorie is made with elderberry and spiced pear with vodka. And if you're daring enough, at the back of Hello, Marjorie sits a separate little speakeasy called Good News, Darling with its own drinks and menu, according to the Register. 

Open since 2017, Hello, Marjorie was named for the owner's grandmother whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack, according to the Register. Marjorie Anderson then raised her three daughters alone and reportedly loved a slow gin and a cigarette.

Hello, Marjorie is open 7 days a week at 4 p.m.