Mid-century Reading Road (Cincinnati, Rogers: barbershop, money, business)

[veteran observer]

Originally Posted by Mikey1003

MiddleCincinnati, do you still think that your thread will only be of interest to a few readers? Seems to have a life of it's own and also seems to be one of the highest viewer's threads on this whole site

You've heard the expression "a house is not a home"? By the same token, buildings alone do not make neighborhoods. Its the people. The Reading Road corridor embracing Avondale, Bond Hill and Roselawn was a great place to be and the 1950s and 60s were a great time to be living there. This thread is a reflection of that. Politically incorrect me has noted that while most of the same structures are there, the area has gone downhill from what it once was and I don't have to wonder why.

[Mikey1003]

Somehow, this belongs here...It is both on and off topic...More on than off!!

Do You Remember These

[blockhead]

Hey Vet,

I haven't lived in Cincy for almost 40 years. For me, this thread just brings back great memories. A lot of people who live in Cincy have said the same thing you have--that al ot of the areas along Reading have gone way downhill. Maybe that's why this thread is so popular. It shows us how we need to remember the great things, even as they fall apart.

[goyguy]

I've messaged with MidCin about this very subject matter. My take on this thread's longevity and popularity is that not only are people remembering places from their youth, they're looking back with anger to some extent too. More out of a sense of guilt and regret than a desire to be brutally frank, many parents probably told their distraught kids that the family had to pack up and leave Elizabeth Place or Shenandoah Ave because "Uhhhhh, you'll get a better education in Wyoming," or "The house we bought in Amberley has an extra bedroom for bubbe when she comes to visit." The truth came later, maybe when the kids involved reached their teens and said, "Hey, wait a minute, why did we really move out?"

I caught a whiff of the standard superficial analysis of, "Everything went down the tubes once 'they' started moving in." Few choose to realize that 'they' were being actively steered into Reading Rd corridor neighborhoods by money-hungry realtors who knew that areas heavily populated by Jews were the easiest to destabilize. Cincinnati communities like Hartwell may have been under the same fair-housing laws as everywhere, but their youth stood ready to enforce segregation by way of instigating hallway melees at Woodward, smashing windows and setting fires at any building Blacks dared move into, etc. A lot of homeowners in Bond Hill and Roselawn were easily swayed by scare tactics of "Look at what happened at Reading and Rockdale last year, that's just a couple of miles away;" "This is still a nice street to live on. But I've already signed on three new listings from this block alone. You'd better act now so you won't be selling at a loss in '73." And I can't blame them.

It's not natural or logical to see entire streets undergo near-complete changes in racial composition in the space of a mere year or two. But I saw it with my own eyes on Carrahen, Laidlaw, Lois Dr, in just about any Bond Hill area you care to name. "For sale" signs in yard after yard, with the sporadic MOCK for-sale sign which read, "Notice to realtors: WE ARE NOT MOVING." Hallway and locker-room boasts (in Wyoming) by White "juvies" about the rumble they joined on Paddock Rd the night before against "a whole bunch of [n-word]'s."

Point being, "you can't go home again" strikes a stronger and deeper chord when you had to leave hanging out at Swifton and playing with neighbor kids (including, perhaps, some Negro friends who just moved in) behind. Little remains on Reading, Seymour, Paddock, etc from the not-so-old days at all. I can travel through, f'rinstance, Hartwell and still see houses and businesses from my childhood that are unchanged. For all that's departed or been altered, there are still touchstones to the past which are intact. This is why the fans and message posters on the Reading Rd thread are legion, while the Vine St thread sputters along.

I've enjoyed chiming in with my recollections of the many onetime businesses around there, from Loretta's to Rocket Cleaners, which have vanished without a trace. Memories can only be kept alive when shared. That the nostalgia of the folks who dwelled along those miles of Route 42 is tinged with bitterness only makes it more important that we keep on conjuring up what our aging brains allow.

[Mikey1003]

Goyguy, I think that it is nostalgia.

People have been moving in mass for years. Downtown to Avondale, Avondale to Bondhill/Roselawn, etc etc.

Yes, there were racial overtones. But Jews moved where the Synagogues went. Catholics where the churches went, again etc.

As neighborhoods become older, people move on to newer homes and newer schools. Montgomery, Butler County, Claremont County, and so on.

I just think that this thread hit many nerves at many levels.

And like me, I entered late in the game because another friend from high school emailed it to me. I, in turn, sent it on to many friends who are out of town--but from Cincy originally.

[veteran observer]

Goyguy....

Does Medicare pay for any portion of your psychoanalysis sessions? I noticed you beat the same horse in the "Being White In Bond Hill" forum. Do you have a second trick in your repertoire? Anyone who thinks any neighborhood within the city limits of Cincinnati is the same now as it was in the 1950s and 60s--whether it be Bond Hill, Price Hill or Hartwell--is kidding themselves. Any "anger" or "bitterness" I may have is directed at those who want to blame me. I urge everyone to read the posts of the finger-pointers and excuse-makers in the "Being White In Bond Hill" forum to see examples of exactly to whom I am referring.

[fhiudt]

I think both goyguy and veteran observer are both correct. This thread has brought back great memories. It was in North Avondale through Roselawn that I grew up in. The schools, my after school job in Swifton Center, my high school Woodward. Yes we moved from Roselawn to North Avondale back to Roselawn and then to Amberly. Was it because of the blacks? I don't think so I think it was my father earning more money and wanting better and bigger houses. The move from Avondale to Roselawn was more because of the JCC moving out there. I fell in love with this thread cause when you live 2000 miles away half my life was spent there, maybe more. When I got married my first house was in Roselawn, moving back to the old neighborhood. It was great- Chili Time right around the corner. Hot bagels, my barber, even my shoe repair man who I have known since I was in elememtary school. And thanks to this tread I have contacted old friends and got a copy of my 1960-61 Roselawn school year book. Thanks Barry. This thread should not bring out anger it should bring out smiles and happy tears. It brings back our childhood. Memories of family long past deceased. The love that came from knowing so many people and places. That you could walk from Dana and Reading roads up Reading to Galbraith and know people and businesses. This is the kind of stuff an old North Cresent resident by the name of Speilberg would make a movie about. Crusing Frisch's both lots. Going to the Twin drivein verus the Oakley. Hanging out at the front hall at Woodward or getting a vanilla coke at Frisch's or Carters or Red Barn or breakfast with your father at Sugar n Spice. Getting a room with your fraternity brothers at one of the cheap motels. Take out at Fish Fare cause that's all they had. This thread has been unbelievable as by the number of hits. Let us not spoil it by anger but cherish it and thank the founder for starting it and bringing us all these happy memories.

[Mikey1003]

Originally Posted by fhiudt

I think both goyguy and veteran observer are both correct. This thread has brought back great memories. It was in North Avondale through Roselawn that I grew up in. The schools, my after school job in Swifton Center, my high school Woodward. Yes we moved from Roselawn to North Avondale back to Roselawn and then to Amberly. Was it because of the blacks? I don't think so I think it was my father earning more money and wanting better and bigger houses. The move from Avondale to Roselawn was more because of the JCC moving out there. I fell in love with this thread cause when you live 2000 miles away half my life was spent there, maybe more. When I got married my first house was in Roselawn, moving back to the old neighborhood. It was great- Chili Time right around the corner. Hot bagels, my barber, even my shoe repair man who I have known since I was in elememtary school. And thanks to this tread I have contacted old friends and got a copy of my 1960-61 Roselawn school year book. Thanks Barry. This thread should not bring out anger it should bring out smiles and happy tears. It brings back our childhood. Memories of family long past deceased. The love that came from knowing so many people and places. That you could walk from Dana and Reading roads up Reading to Galbraith and know people and businesses. This is the kind of stuff an old North Cresent resident by the name of Speilberg would make a movie about. Crusing Frisch's both lots. Going to the Twin drivein verus the Oakley. Hanging out at the front hall at Woodward or getting a vanilla coke at Frisch's or Carters or Red Barn or breakfast with your father at Sugar n Spice. Getting a room with your fraternity brothers at one of the cheap motels. Take out at Fish Fare cause that's all they had. This thread has been unbelievable as by the number of hits. Let us not spoil it by anger but cherish it and thank the founder for starting it and bringing us all these happy memories.

Amen!!

[elston]

I lived of Wm Howard Taft Rd on Essex Place, around the corner from Gruen Watch factory and ? Beau Brummel. I was in elementary school when we lived there. There was a dairy if you went to Wm H taft road and turned left. I remember they sold cottage cheese in grey stoneware crocks and the lid was just a piece of wax paper tied on with a string.

I went to Cummings School and somewhere near there was a bakery; I remember the wonderful smell of their bread baking. It might have been Bond Bread or perhaps Wonder Bread. I also remember 12 cent White Castle hamburgers with the dehydrated onions, pickle and ketchup and Frisch's Big Boy.

There was a grey stone church on Essex Place that we went to, Universalist Church and City Temple. I have an original ink drawing of that church that appeared in the newspaper. The church had a round stone tower at the entrance. The streets around us had lots of old brick victorians that had been turned into apartment bldgs.... at that time occupied by the migration of Appalachian people thru Cincinnati on their way to Detroit or points north looking for work and oppurtunity.

I commented on another thread remembering that for very special occassions we went to La Maisonette resturant in the Alms Hotel.

I dont think it was in the immediate neighborhood but a very fond memory was going to a little wild live museum in Burnett Woods for nature classes with two wonderful old ladies. They had a crow named Rosie who could talk.

I went to Cummings school; samuel ach jr high and withrow High school.

I think there was a Sears and Roebucks store near there.....I remember the smell and sight of cashew nuts going round and round under a hot lamp. I also remember stopping somewhere for a cherry or chocolate coke and a bakery that had wonderful pecan rolls.

Another Cincinnati memory (not in the neighborhood) was going with the youth group to a place called The Handlebar Ranch.....they rented bicycles and they also held hay rides.

[blockhead]

Hey elston,

Thanks for reminding me of the Handlebar ranch. I went there with my youth group too. Went on a "date" meaning whatever that meant in 8th grade. While sitting in a shelter there my "girlfriend" saw a big spider and screamed bloody murder. I was really embarrased because I was afraid people would think I was attacking. That was the end of her as a "girlfriend".

Also, I was thinking about the movie theater at the Valley Shopping Center. One of my most vivid memories was having to sneak there to see West Side Story. My father thought it was too violent (watch it now if you want to see how silly that is) so I told my dad that my friend and I were going to the Vogue theater (on Vine St) for their famous Saturday mantinee. Instead we went to West Side Story and I fell in love with Natalie Wood