CINCINNATI is More (East Coast) than "Midwest" or the apart of the South (Cleveland: apartments, living in)

[abr7rmj]

Originally Posted by Wahl_Wrighter

Oh ok. Makes sense. Yeah, whenever I go to Cleveland, I notice once I'm around the people long enough, talking to them and getting a feel for the area, it feels significantly more east coast than Cincinnati. Pittsburgh looks east coast, but if you spend enough time there, it's easy to notice that it's not east coast culturally.

Although Cincinnati looks east coast, culturally speaking, it feels mostly southern, with a mix of midwestern flair. The accents of the natives is what definitely gives the area a more southern feel. A lot of Cincy natives claim they do not, but most have a noticable southern twang, with some having full blown southern accents.

Cornhole also makes the area feel southern, although I'm not sure if it's southern culturally or not. Its something I never heard of until I moved here. It's difficult to say exactly what Cincinnati is because there are quirks that you will find here and hardly anywhere else. Saying the word "please" for someone to repeat something is another example of a discovery I made upon moving here. Again, I don't know if that is a southern attribute or not, so its hard to say exactly what Cincinnati is culturally.

Cornhole originated in Cincinnati, not the South. And much of what you perceive as a slight southern accent in Cincinnati are probably the remnants of when Southerners moved to Cincinnati and Dayton for work in the factories and plants in the 1940s and 1950s. Many of them stayed and their children picked up a tinge of their accent despite growing up and living in Ohio.

But it surely doesn't originate here. There may be neighborhoods or pockets where it remains, but it isn't widespread.

[abr7rmj]

Originally Posted by Traveler87

Cincinnati is built like an eastern city. The densely built downtown with the tight streets and density of the buildings with few surface lots in the CBD itself. Also, you have a lot of the rowhouses and brick built environment. The famous parking on the streets with any parking towards the back or center of buildings... very popular in OTR; the new Mercer Commons is very evident in this. The neighborhoods throughout Cincinnati feel very eastern to me.

Ohio is an interesting state. We are at the crossroads of eastern and midwestern. I really think Midwest is such a broad term, and there are a lot of subregions in it. There should be a Great Lakes region, and Ohio would fit that bill perfectly. In my opinion Ohio has nothing in common with Iowa and Nebraska. Ohio has a lot of defining characteristics of both the NE and Midwest, that is why we always have these discussions about what exactly Ohio is. They have it is the city vs city section too. Ohio always gets mentioned being too far east to be called Midwestern. It's a toss up, and I like it like that. Coming from Indiana which seems purely Midwestern, it's nice to have a state with some variety in it.

Great post!

[Matthew Hall]

Cincinnati's OTR is 'famous' for its parking its "tight" streets? I had no idea about these things.

[escilade18]

Originally Posted by Traveler87

Shocking a Pittsburgh forumer has something to say about Cleveland. Don't you talk about Cleveland enough in your own forum?

I'm not selling anything, so I don't care if you're buying it or not. I have lived in both cities, Cleveland feels more eastern in its culture and way of thinking.

Now, back on topic.... I don't detect a southern accent in Cincinnati at all unless they are from generations passed that are from Kentucky living in the Cincinnati area, and considering CVG is in Kentucky, that might explain the accent.

First off, I love going to Cleveland nothing quite like going to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame and eating lunch as White Castle. I just am curious about why you think Cleveland is east coast, I have spent extensive time in cities such as Philly and NYC and Cleveland gives off a different vibe. But if you don't have an answer that's cool too

[abr7rmj]

Originally Posted by escilade18

First off, I love going to Cleveland nothing quite like going to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame and eating lunch as White Castle. I just am curious about why you think Cleveland is east coast, I have spent extensive time in cities such as Philly and NYC and Cleveland gives off a different vibe. But if you don't have an answer that's cool too

If you're eating at White Castle in Cleveland, that says more about you than it does about the city. There are a ton of great places to eat in and around downtown, like the Great Lakes Brewing Co. (Pittsburgh's hideous IC beer can't possibly compete), Mallorca, Bluepoint, etc. Or you could jump over to Little Italy and have some amazing Italian, delis everywhere, great ethnic foods, top-notch New York-style pizza, etc.

Really, if you are settling for fast food in Cleveland, you're not even trying.

[kjbrill]

Just because Cincinnat is the oldest city west of the Alleghenies, and its downtown topography conducive to a compact neighborhood reducing the cost of urban infrastructure and construction of the times does not make it Eastern. A couple of centuries old architecture does not define a City, and particularly the entire metropolitan area.

For a city to be truely Eastern, it has to embrace far more than just architectural traits. The overall cultural characteristics and the daily living pattern have to be a match. This is where I believe Cincinnati is definitely not Eastern, and also definitely not Southern.

I have the same feeling about Pittsburgh, and why I believe it is also not Eastern, even though people comment about its row houses. When you are hemmed in by rivers, what else do you expect as to architecture?

[Chemistry_Guy]

I think Cincinnati gets its east coast vibe architecturally because it is really a European-built city. Most of the buildings and planning of the city center and inner urban neighborhoods were build by first or maybe second generation immigrants, much like the eastern cities.

Demographically, Cincinnati is very midwestern. A huge chunk of the population is only a generations or two removed from farmers who moved to the city due to industrialization. When I talk to Cincinnati natives my age (early 30s) I often hear "...my great grandfather's farm..." or "...grandmother moved to the city after the depression...". In fact, my father has studied this phenomenon in fairly great detail and for west side family names he is often able to identify the approximate decade that their ancestors immigrated from germany(or Ireland and sometimes Italy, but that is a separate project) , and then what counties in Ohio they settled. Apparently, the degree to which the original german was anglicized and some other nuances are very predictable.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

Just because Cincinnat is the oldest city west of the Alleghenies, and its downtown topography conducive to a compact neighborhood reducing the cost of urban infrastructure and construction of the times does not make it Eastern. A couple of centuries old architecture does not define a City, and particularly the entire metropolitan area.

For a city to be truely Eastern, it has to embrace far more than just architectural traits. The overall cultural characteristics and the daily living pattern have to be a match. This is where I believe Cincinnati is definitely not Eastern, and also definitely not Southern.

I have the same feeling about Pittsburgh, and why I believe it is also not Eastern, even though people comment about its row houses. When you are hemmed in by rivers, what else do you expect as to architecture?

How do you specifically define eastern and midwestern cultural characteristics?

[wpipkins]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

abr7rmj... I agree state lines are not always indicative of the culture.

In fact, even though Pittsburgh is in a definitely eastern state, Pennsylvania, I do not consider it eastern. Over my travel experiences the differences between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are night-and-day. I found everything in Pittsburgh, and I spent a lot of time there over a span of years, to be very similar to Cincinnati. For a long period of time when Pittsburgh had the monikor of the Steel City (Steelers get it?), and Cincinnati a combination of Pork Capital and Machine Tool Capital, I drew direct correlations between the two, most specifically the work ethic of their inhabitants.

To me, cities like Philadelphia, Hartford Connecticut, the venerable Boston, up to Bankor Maine, NYC, Jersey City, down to Baltimore, these are Eastern cities.

If you go directly north from Cincinnati, you eventually hit Detroit. That is about as Midwestern of a city as I can describe.

Sorry to disappoint your cousins, but Cleveland is not an eastern city. They may be a 90-minute drive from Pittsburgh, but as I said it is not all that eastern either. Now if they want to cite Buffalo, it is far more of an eastern city than Pittsburgh.

To me, a more definitive definition of Midwest has to do with the Rust Belt, or the prior large steel producing and manufacturing region of the US. This is why I place Pittsburgh there, where else would the Steel City be? This is also why Cincinnati and the majority of the cities in Ohio belong there. Detroit, definitely. Minnesota - where do you think the iron ore came from? Wisconsin, where the lake steamers to move the ore were built. So to me the 12 census designated states of the Midwest are right on, and some close neighbors such as Pittsburgh belong there.

Pittsburgh has NEVER been midwestern. I do not think Buffalo is any more eastern than Pittsburgh. Baltimore and Philadelphia were major steel and manufacturing centers as well. Baltimore is considered a rust belt city and is not midwestern.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by ram2

How do you specifically define eastern and midwestern cultural characteristics?

Just encounter anyone from Boston and you will know what I mean, with Hartford Connecticut and NYC running close behind. Whenever you consider yourself superior to the rest of the country, that is a noticeable trait. It is for the same reason I consider Texas an island unto themselves.
It stems from all points of life, but certainly emanates from such as the Universities. To be a true Easterner you first of all have to be a social and intellectual snob. The old my family came over on the Mayflower bit. The rest of the country owes their existence to us.

The Midwest, specifically Cincinnati and Ohio were fueled by dirt poor immigrants who came here looking for an existence. I am not saying the East did not start that way, but by the time the mass immigration was developing the Midwest the East had been Gentrified.

That is why I do not consider Pittsburgh eastern. Those immigrants who provided the labor to support the steel industry were dirt poor, back breaking laborers. The only ones worse off were the coal miners in West Virginia.

Cincinnati fared a little better than some. The large number of German immigrants who rapidly expanded this city either already had a skilled trade when they arrived or quickly adapted to learn one.