Visiting Cincinatti July 12-16 (Cincinnati, Dayton: appointed, best neighborhood, apartment)

[ScranBarre]

Good morning, my neighbors in the Buckeye State! If my employer ever approves my vacation time, I plan to head to Cincinatti from July 12-16 to visit my college friend who recently relocated out there to work for
General Electric. I know it's going to be a pretty lengthy drive, but I'm totally excited about getting to visit your city!

Please let me know of some attractions I might not want to miss, festivals/events going on during that week, etc. in Cincinnati, Covington, and their suburbs. I'll be staying just to the north of the city with my friend and her boyfriend's family in the suburbs, but I'll have a car with me. I've already made it known to them that I definitely want to hit up the aquarium in Kentucky, as well as possibly a Reds game if they're in town. However, I might also want to branch off on my own for a little bit to do a photo tour of historic architecture in the city---any suggestions for that?

I've read about all of the major crime/racial tensions in Cincinnati---is a white guy wandering around downtown with a camera likely to be mugged? Overall, I'm counting down the days to this MUCH needed break from the monotony of working, and I'd appreciate any and all feedback you could provide to me! Thanks!

[yayoi]

Hi Scranton,

I would definitely visit Mt. Adams. It's a trendy spot with a lot of great architecture. Also if you want to take pictures, visit Columbia Tusculum. They have a lot of great Victorian homes there. You shouldn't have any problems downtown during the day ('cept parking on the weekdays). Try visiting the Carew tower observation deck (I think it's about $10). There are some great views from up there. When you're downtown, just keep in mind that anything north of Central Parkway will put you in Over the Rhine (OTR). If you decide to visit, don't look too much out of place. It can be dangerous there. Although a lot of it is run down, OTR does have a lot of Italianate architecture and it's slowly becoming more gentrified. There is also the Findlay market in OTR. I belive it's one of the oldest continuously running open air markets in the country. It's always bustling on the weekends and there is a police presence there so you never feel unsafe. If you get a chance, visit the Comet in the Northside. They often have some great live music and the burritos are really good (even though they are the size of a small baby ).


Here are some websites that might help you out. Hope you will enjoy your stay here in the ‘Nati!

Cincinnati USA

City Beat

Events at Cincinnati.com

[zorst]

Originally Posted by yayoi

Hi Scranton,
There is also the Findlay market in OTR. I belive it's one of the oldest continuously running open air markets in the country. It's always bustling on the weekends and there is a police presence there so you never feel unsafe. If you get a chance, visit the Comet in the Northside. They often have some great live music and the burritos are really good (even though they are the size of a small baby ).

I can't believe the Comet on Hamilton Avenue made the internet. They didn't even take credit cards until recently. Sunday night at the Comet is bluegrass night. Newport on the Levy has a Thursday night music festival right next to the Aquarium. I'd google Newport on the Levy for details. If you like plants the Krohn Conservatory is pretty cool. There's an observatory that is sometimes open to the public. <cincinnatiobservatory.org> might be the web site. Clifton gaslight district has pretty cool houses and it's located just down the street from the Comet. I saw some cool old houses in Newport recently they had curved glass windows, that actually slid open. They were located just east of the Hofbrau Haus.

[Ohiogirl81]

I just returned from a weeklong vacation in Cincinnati and am working on a shockingly verbose response to your questions ...

[Ohiogirl81]

Oh, and this?

Originally Posted by ScrantonWilkesBarre

I've read about all of the major crime/racial tensions in Cincinnati---is a white guy wandering around downtown with a camera likely to be mugged?

NO!

BTW, y'all, I'm still trying to figure out if I like the new Fountain Square. Moving the fountain away from the street certainly makes the street more open and airy, but you can't see the fountain from the street.

And the new owner of my old house in Madisonville painted it a really fugly color.

[movingsoon2007]

PLEASE don't worry too much about being mugged. Despite what you hear in the news, Cincinnati really is a relatively safe city (just remember to keep in mind what was said about Over the Rhine earlier). Just be smart, and maybe stay away from Over the Rhine at night...

Okay... things to do:
Speaking of good architecture (and OTR)... check out Music Hall in Over the Rhine. Absolutely one of the most gorgeous buildings in the city. The Cincinnati Museum Center (Union Terminal) is a great building to see, even if you don't want to visit any of the museums inside.

Eden Park is also one of my favorite spots... there is a FREE art museum, FREE Krohn Conservatory, and absolutely gorgeous views.

You might want to catch a play/musical at Playhouse in the Park or the Aronoff Center. A Reds game is always fun if they're in town, like you said.

While you're at the Newport Aquarium, check out the entire Newport on the Levee. There are some really great restaurants there and a comedy club, as well as nice views of the Cincinnati Skyline (and walk on the Purple People Bridge while you're there!)

Fountain Square has changed recently, but you should definitely go see it... the fountain is beautiful and it's right in the middle of all the city action!

I've never been to Finlay Market, but my parents absolutely love it... might be worth the visit!

If you want some really STRANGE architecture, might I suggest the fungus house in Hyde Park?? It's on the corner of Erie Avenue and Tarpis, not far from Rookwood Commons (your friends will probably know how to get to Rookwood, just off I-71). It's definitely unique...to say the least... plus there are some great little shops and restaurants in the area. Here's a link with pictures... it's DEFINITELY worth a visit: Mushroom House

If you're into gardens and parks, Cincinnati is a great place. Like I said before, Eden Park is very nice, and so is Ault Park. You can find many by doing a quick google search.

Cincinnat is definitely known for some of it's food. Why not try some Skyline Chili, Graeter's Ice Cream, or Montgomery Inn ribs? (Skyline is not always enjoyed by non-Cincinnatians, but I can almost guarantee you won't be disappointed with the other two)

Check out cinweekly.com or citybeat.com before coming... you can find out about any events that might be going on that week.

That's a lot to read, but I hope it helps. Enjoy your visit! Cincinnati is a great place (and is often overlooked, in my opinion)... I'm about to move and I'm going to miss it a lot!

[Ohiogirl81]

The art museum is still free? Thank God for Lois and Dick Rosenthal!!

[Ohiogirl81]

I’m writing a lot here, but judging from the lengths of some of your posts, you appreciate detail and trivial tidbits.

This is a link to Cincinnati’s historic neighborhoods:

City of Cincinnati -National Register Historic Districts in Cincinnati

And here are some great photos:

Cincinnati Photo Gallery by Jayson at pbase.com

Cincinnati is very much a city of distinct neighborhoods and housing pockets. You can parachute down anywhere in the city, walk in any direction for 15 minutes, and you’ll wind up in a neighborhood with different housing and residents, with a completely different feel to the area. Some of my favorites are:

• Columbia-Tusculum, a few miles east of downtown off Columbia Parkway (U.S. 50). From downtown, turn right on Tusculum Avenue and wander in –- painted ladies in a mix of Victorian/Queen Anne styles. This neighborhood was a dump up until the late 80s, with houses going for less than $10,000 and many of them made available by the city to buy for $1 if you promised to live in them for at least two years and fix them up. There’s a great restaurant in the neighborhood called Allyn’s Café; another, the Precinct, is decidedly more pricey, has been around for more than 20 years, and has the city’s best steaks. It’s owned by Jeff Ruby, the guy who wouldn’t serve OJ Simpson at his Louisville restaurant after the Derby.
• Dayton Street Historical District, north of downtown, is Cincinnati’s version of Millionaires’ Row, with homes built by the wealthy in the mid-1800s. This isn’t exactly the best neighborhood, but fear not. The best houses are on the 800 block, where the Hauck House museum is.
• West Ninth Street and West Court Street, between Vine Street and Central Avenue, restored brick townhouses. Easy to get to; not far from the ballpark.
• Clark Street (between John Street and Central Avenue north of West Court Street) – This neighborhood, also known as Betts-Longworth, is small, consisting of only a couple of streets (Clark, Elizabeth, Chestnut) but you turn the corner from Central Avenue and it’s like you’re not in Cincinnati anymore, more like a well-to-do neighborhood in New York or Boston. Nearby are townhouses built in the 1990s. A few blocks away on Linn Street is where the infamous Laurel Homes housing project was demolished to make way for mixed income housing.
• Prospect Hill, also known as Liberty Hill, just south of Liberty Street and Over-the-Rhine, east of Sycamore Street. More brick townhouses, some Queen Anne, many Italianate.
• If you want to see a collection of 1920s-era Sears, Roebuck kit homes, go to my old neighborhood in Madisonville called Eastwood. It’s a small area of three or so streets off Madison Road between Red Bank Road and Oaklawn Drive, and many of the homes were built from kits because of cheap land and proximity to rail lines. Madisonville is about 10 miles east of downtown; if you keep driving east on Madison Road, turn right on Whetsel and then right again on Erie, there are about a dozen very large Victorian-era homes built by railroad barons, who built their homes “in the country” at the end of the rail line.
• Riverfront homes in Covington – a small neighborhood east of the Roebling Suspension Bridge between Fourth Street and the Ohio River. These poor folks get flooded out about once every 10 years …
• Mariemont (pronounced Mary-mont), a 1920s planned community about 10 miles east of downtown on Wooster Pike. The old town square at Oak and Chestnut streets, a block north of Wooster Pike (U.S. 50/the main drag) is lovely to walk around in. The older part of the village, around the old town square, is made up mostly of small Cape Cods, brick townhouses, and four-family apartment buildings. There’s an indie theater on the new town square at Plainville Road and Wooster Pike, and a couple of yummy restaurants.
• Lebanon (10 miles north of Mason) – If you’re staying in Mason, Lebanon is a short hop up U.S. 42, or a train ride if the train is running. It is a stunningly beautiful city. So many gorgeous Victorian homes, and a well-preserved historic downtown. Oh, if I could just take you there myself! You’d get the not-approved-by-the-chamber-of-commerce tour that includes all the gossip I picked up from working at the local newspaper for five years. Heh. The bigger homes are on the south side of Turtle Creek – Wright Avenue is named after the family of postwar designer Russel Wright, whose grandmother, Louisa, was superintendent of the Lebanon school district in the 1800s. Other great houses are on South Broadway, South Mechanic Street, and Orchard Avenue. The smaller, working-class homes are on the north side of the creek, east of Broadway, including east Mulberry, Silver, Warren and Main streets (I lived on East Mulberry). The Golden Lamb on Broadway is the oldest inn in Ohio; unless things have changed radically in the past five years, the food is still lousy but it’s fun to have a drink there and wander around the upper floors of the hotel. The Village Ice Cream Shoppe, just across Broadway from the Golden Lamb, was featured in Milk Money and Harper Valley PTA (both pretty lousy movies, but still …), and is a former hangout of Neil Armstrong, who used to live just north of town until his wife divorced him and got the house. The ice cream is good, the food is fair. The Best Café on E. Mulberry is a better choice for food. Broadway and Mulberry Street have lots of novelty and antique shops.

Places to wander before/after the game/aquarium visit:
Walk across the Roebling Suspension Bridge – the prototype for the Brooklyn Bridge and featured in RainMan – into Covington, Kentucky, and back. It’s fun just to walk across it. If you like to walk, turn left onto Fourth Street in Covington. Turn left again, and wander through the riverfront historic district – lots of older townhouses and single homes, many beautifully restored. Get yourself back onto Fourth Street, and turn left again. A lesser bridge will take you across the Licking River into Newport, Kentucky. Follow the walking path along the Licking River – you’ll be on a bluff overlooking the river, and there’s a park below. The path will take you directly to the Newport Aquarium and Newport on the Levee. On the other side of Newport on the Levee is the Purple People Bridge (it has another name, and previously known as the L&N [Louisville & Nashville Railroad] Bridge, carrying trains and cars -- it was a white-knuckle drive!). The Purple People Bridge will take you back into Ohio, onto Pete Rose Way (right up there with the Ronald Reagan Highway in stupid names for roads in Cincinnati). Hang another left and walk either on the street or through the riverside park called Sawyer Point/ Yeatman’s Cove and walk along the Serpentine Wall; that will get you right back to the ballpark. There are weekly concerts and Party in the Park on the riverfront. Even if there’s not a ballgame, you can walk around the perimeter of the park and poke around.

The Aquarium is very cool, but rather small, and it won’t take you more than a couple of hours to get through it. The shark tunnel and the penguin/crocodile exhibits are highlights. You might be able to get discounted tickets at Kroger stores, or from AAA. It’s part of Newport on the Levee, which is really just another of those lifestyle centers that are popping up like weeds, right down to the chain restaurants like Johnny Rocket’s and Bar Louie. At least it has better scenery, with the novelty of being on the river. Dewey’s Pizza, however, is a local chain and is pretty good (I recommend the Green Lantern pizza). Jefferson Hall is a fun night spot – it used to be in Over-the-Rhine, but after the riots in 2001 that whole scene faded quickly, alas. You’re still as safe in downtown Cincinnati as you would be in any other large city. A lot of the complaints lately have been about roving groups of school kids; when I was downtown last week, I didn’t see any more than one or two kids waiting for the bus at Government Square.

Look around town for remnants of the Big Pig Gig, based on the Cow Parade in Chicago, where artists decorated fiberglass pigs. Many still can be seen, mostly indoors in building lobbies, etc., as can pieces designed for another competition, “Bats Incredible”, where artists built sculptures out of baseball bats.

Places to eat in/near downtown:

• Skyline Chili There’s one on East Fourth Street, and another on Vine Street at Seventh, I think. And another one in Covington. OK, there’s a location in every neighborhood. I prefer a 5-way myself, but if you’re shy about trying Cincinnati chili, there’s plenty of other stuff. Greek salads are awesome. A famous not-chain chili parlor is Camp Washington Chili in the Camp Washington neighborhood (duh!), a few blocks west off the Hopple Street exit on I-75, at Colerain Avenue.
• The Machine Room inside Great American Ball Park (or, Great American Small Park -- aka GASP – because of its achievement in enabling home runs). Good burgers.
• Izzy’s Deli, E. Sixth and Main (closest to GASP), or W. Eighth and Elm – killer reubens and potato pancakes.
• Italian food – Campanello’s between W. Fourth and W. Fifth on Central Avenue. This is a hike from the ballpark, but if you walk west on Fourth Street you’ll be in the old textile district. The building I used to work in at Fourth and Elm is in fact called the Textile Building, and many of the buildings in the area are former textile factories rehabbed into offices, condos, etc., and there are a number of art galleries on the street level. Campanello’s has zero atmosphere, but isn’t that where the best Italian food is always found?
• Pompilio’s at Sixth and Washington streets in Newport – much more atmosphere than Campanello’s, and the food is better, but it’s a bit of a walk from downtown although parking is plentiful. Site of the toothpick scene in RainMan. There are a couple of bocce courts out back.
• Great bar food – Tina’s at W. Fourth and Central (only place in town you can get decent pierogi) or the In-Between Tavern at E. Third and Sycamore, but that gets crowded before/after games
• Middle Eastern – Mejana on W. Sixth Street
• German – Wertheim’s on Sixth Street in Covington
• Graeter’s ice cream (multiple locations –there’s one in Mason now but the downtown store closed) (black raspberry chip – I’m just sayin’ …)
• White Castle – multiple locations, and not native to Cincinnati, but the nearest White Castle to us is in New Brunswick N.J. (yes, I’ve researched this …) The locations with the best local color are in Newport or Norwood. Home of the slider. Eat one and a few hours later you won’t have to ask what I’m talking about.
• ·Hofbrauhaus in Newport. If you like beer … this is the place!

[movingsoon2007]

I went to the art museum last year and it was free... I hope it still is!!

And I gotta agree with the black raspberry chip... you're missing out if you don't try it

[ScranBarre]

Thank you all very, very much for your helpful, insightful information! I was so impressed by how gracious you all were to take some time out of your busy days to reply to some goofy tourist that I just about wet my pants! I haven't checked out any of the links that were posted just yet, but the Mushroom House sounds interesting, as does the free art museum. I also can't wait to check out OhioGirl's link to the neighborhood information. What I like most in a city is sauntering in and out of unique, independent neighborhoods (which is why I like Pittsburgh and Scranton so much), and I hope Cincinnati will offer me much of the same.

With that being said, even though I'll have my own car, I'll be staying in the north 'burbs with other people and probably won't get any free time to myself to do an in-depth historic home walking tour with camera in-tow. Nevertheless, I can't wait to come back onto this forum after July 16 to post the photos of what I hope will be a wonderful trip!