First Fridays/Urban Nights thread (lawyer, promotional, college)

[weatherphotographer]

Today's post from DMM

March 7 First Friday to Feature Art Exhibits, Live Music, Derby Day Preview Party, Pete Seeger Tribute, Elvis, Bicycle

[SWOH]

Anyone end up going?

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by OHKID

Anyone end up going?

Nope, it was on too short of notice, I didn't have anyone to go with, and in any case I spent Friday at the Greene (where I did have people to hang out with). Only real bummer is if I were to draw a map of all the friends I've managed to make since moving to Dayton, it would look like a banana - all of them live off I-675 between the Greene and the Fairfield Commons mall. There's only a few outliers - a few near UD, a few in Kettering, but that's about it... 80+% live on the other side of the county line.

It's impossible to get any of them downtown.

[Dayton Sux]

Anyone end up going?

Yes, first Fridays is when I and a friend trade dinners. We meet at a downtown bar and then go from there. But I came earlier so I could go to the Missing Peace Art Space/Peace on Fifth fair trade shop as they had an opening....and I wanted to buy stuff.

Also stopped at Clash since they had gallery opening too. Also pretty busy. As was that Brim hat place (considered buying a straw boater, but dont have any seersucker to go with that)..... I think that this was sort of the break in the weather that was bringing people out

After that it was to 5th Street Pub, for a beer...they were slammed! VERY busy! Ended up briefly talking to a couple who were visiting Columbus and giving them a rec on Warped Wing, since they were parked next to Toxic Brew.

After that dinner at Hickory BBQ on Brown (first time Ive ever been...opened in 1963 and hasnt changed since...totally retro inside, but a cozy front bar), then afterwards I went to that Pete Seeger tribut (literally no one there except the handful of performers that showed up)...then took bus home.

I can see as the weather warms up things will pick up.

[Dayton Sux]

in the past I know the photo contest was very successful, they did tours of the inside of the Arcade, tours of downtown condos, etc. Seems like it would be a great showcase for Charlie Simms, the OD, the guys renovating the Centre City building, Crawford Hoying and Water St., Caresource could do some type of community benefit, the library could show off their future plans, etc.

Hah...yes I recall that well...I was one of those "Friends of the Arcade" helping give the tours. I was only supposed to do that for an hour or two but ended up all night since they had such a huge line of folks wanting to take the tour.

But you are correct about "open house" , That is indeed what Urban Nights was doing. A number of the lofts and that "Litehouse" development on Patterson had open houses and models set up for the visitors. There was deffo a real estate promotion concept going on along with the other stuff.

The folks I know who also live downtown have agreed about that). It's funny to think of classifying anything in downtown Dayton as "spread out" like out "very spread out." A walk from Riverscape to the Oregon district is just over 1/2 a mile! When I lived in NYC or Boston, I routinely walked five or six times that distance in per day. The nearest subway to my place in BKLYN was the distance from Riverscape to Oregon; that's about 15 minutes or 20 if you're really strolling. I DO understand, though, that walking 1/2 mile in Dayton feels VERY different than walking 1/2 a mile in cities with heavy foot traffic, but HOPEFULLY events like these will encourage that, and allow folks to see what a walkable city Dayton can truly be. I've walked to my house in East Dayton from Sinclair and that's ~2 miles. That's nothing! I hope to do a lot more walking in the nicer weather...and biking too. I didn't know about the bike event tied into Urban Nights, and think that's a GREAT idea. I'd love for this to become a more bike friendly city, and hope (think?) it's on it's way. For one Urban Nights, there were also events at the art gallery by the St. Clair loft, which allowed for a "stop" between Riverscape and Oregon, making it more "connected." That feeling of connectedness is SO important...

yeah, sure, me too..walking and cycling not a big deal for me. But that bolded thing is close to what I meant. The quality of city-space---the physical charactersitics of the built environment--- downtown is almost suburban, as in uniform and bland with a lot of blank walls/facades and parking/open space and the very wide streets (almost as wide as four lane highway) and such....hence things seem a slog when they are really not.

[AndyMac1407]

Originally Posted by weatherphotographer

Amazing that some users can't bother to use the search feature. This thread was readily available

Or that some dig up their own buried thread just to type that.

[Amandarthegreat]

Originally Posted by AndyMac1407

Or that some dig up their own buried thread just to type that.

He never quite takes the hint, does he?

[weatherphotographer]

So much for RTA's idea of bussing the little punks home directly. I don't think they ever got on a bus, hanging out at Third and Main and ruining Urban Nights is not behaving...
Gun seen, arrest made during Urban Nights | Dayton, OH News | www.whio.com

[weatherphotographer]

Does anybody think we need a CCW to go to the next First Friday? It's a serious question too

[Dayton Sux]

...hmm...there was some sort of disturbance on Jefferson (I think I saw the tail end of it) when I was walking to my bus, but sounds like this was on Main. The Main St side of the bus hub seemed pretty quiet.