Graduate Lincoln

We’ve long been cheerleaders for the boutique-hotel world’s expansion beyond the big coastal capitals and into the smaller cities of the American heartland. As it happens, quite a few of these cities are college towns, and the Graduate hotel group is on the case. It doesn’t get much more “heartland” than Lincoln, Nebraska, frankly — and the Graduate Lincoln is the hotel we always hoped we’d someday see in the Cornhusker State.

Of course, we couldn’t have predicted that it would look quite like this. The Graduate hotels are all painstakingly tailored to their locations, and the Graduate Lincoln is no different — behind the facade of what was once a Holiday Inn is a hotel that’s positively stuffed with minutely detailed Nebraskan arcana. It’s also stuffed with contemporary boutique comforts like Malin + Goetz bath products. We won’t spoil all the surprises for you, though we will reveal that some rooms come with vintage arcade games.

And then there’s heartland food culture. Graduate Lincoln’s restaurant and bar, Single Barrel, serves classic comfort-food dishes as well as tiki-themed cocktails and a well-selected list of beers. Get there early on game-day Saturdays as you’ll be joined by a throng of pre-gaming Huskers fans.