Westside vs. Eastside (Cincinnati, Hamilton, Harrison: houses, high school, college)

[Time2Settle]

Someone please shed some light on this matter. Ever since moving here, people seem to be VERY interested in whether you reside on the westside or the eastside.
West and east of what? 75? 71?
What is the rivalry between the two sides?
Is there that much of a difference? Until I actually took a drive around the 275 loop and explored a little more, it seems to me that the only difference is the ability to expand. The east seems to have alot more room to develop, where as the west is governed by the state border.
Any thoughts?

[Briolat21]

I think almost every region has an imaginary line (or many!) that people like to use to differentiate "us" and "them"...

In Detroit metro - its the East Side / West Side. In Chicago, its NorthSide/SouthSide...

I have only been here a year - so I can't comment too much to the situation here, however I know when I was looking for houses all of the locals (locals to the Cincinnati metropolitan area) spoke of EAST and WEST side. And from what I could tell - I-75 was the divider. I-71 seems to be pretty well ignored.

I was told originally the I-75 corridor (and west of it) was predominantly blue collar originally, and that prompted the differentiation .. but who knows!?!

[aquila]

Originally Posted by Time2Settle

Someone please shed some light on this matter. Ever since moving here, people seem to be VERY interested in whether you reside on the westside or the eastside.
West and east of what? 75? 71?
What is the rivalry between the two sides?
Is there that much of a difference? Until I actually took a drive around the 275 loop and explored a little more, it seems to me that the only difference is the ability to expand. The east seems to have alot more room to develop, where as the west is governed by the state border.
Any thoughts?

There is actually a lot more undeveloped land in western Hamilton County than the eastern section of the county. The eastern section of the loop takes a broader sweep around the entire east side, whereas the west side of the loop dips down into the county before entering Indiana. So when you're on I-275 in the western section of the county, you can't see a lot of empty land that stretches all the way north toward Butler county, and you miss all the space that is out toward Harrison.

As for your other question, the established dividing line between east and west runs along Vine street and Route 4. The "rivalry" comes from the west side of the county being much more conservative than the east side.

The west has deeper family roots and people born there tend to stay there as they grow older. They are more sports-minded than people from the east, and are generally more thrifty in their ways. There is a strong blue-collar work ethic on the west side, and people aren't quite so concerned with "flashy" things.

The east side is more liberal, and more oriented toward singles or young couples looking to start families. There is a greater sense of entrepreneurism in the east, and the people are generally more active in the arts/society/social activism scene.

On the west side, when people ask you what school you went to, they are referring to "high school", whereas if the east side asked that question, they'd be referring to "college". The east side is generally considered more "hip", while the west side is seen as not-so-progressive. Each side has a tendency to be very territorial, and is loyal to its side of the county, thus looking down upon one another.