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The Kitchen Post Closes in Downtown In a major an unexpected setback for Downtown and Youngstown's food scene, the owners of the Kitchen Post announced it will be closing down. I'm not sure why as it seemed like they did great business and were a very popular restaurant around town - the owner basically says he was burnt out and didnt enjoy it anymore. It was one of the few "hip" and unique restaurants in the city, something which Youngstown lacks compared to other cities. It's a shame to see this news for sure... I hope someone fills in the void this leaves. I am a bit confused though - it kind of looks like they are planning on reopening but only focusing on their pizza. Not sure if they're staying in the same spot or even staying Downtown, but their pizza is pretty good and unlike most pizza joints in town, so it will still be good. However, Downtown really needs some more "hip" places. Im still upset that Branch Street Roasters coming to the DoubleTree building never panned out as hoped for. https://www.wkbn.com/news/local-news/the-kitchen-post-in-youngstown-officially-closed/ One good piece of news is that the North Phelps Pedestrian Mall construction begins next month - I'm shocked it actually ended up happening honestly. For some reason, the owners of Gallery on Phelps and One Hot Cookie oppose it but it seems like everyone else is on board. It clearly will be a huge asset once it's finished. Gringo's Tacos is currently under construction in the old Commonwealth Building and will open this spring. I also heard that the food court inside 21 Federal might open a storefront or two to the new pedestrian mall. Specifically, Eman's Lebanese Restaurant wants a storefront opened so it can function as more of a real restaurant than just a food court shop. And again, still sad that Kitchen Post wont be able to be a part of this new pedestrian street project anymore.

I don't know any details, but according to this article, CommonWealth plans to build a mixed use development of "four rowhouses with retail space on the first floor" on Elm Street in the Wick Park neighborhood. This sounds like an awesome development, but I'm not sure where they plan on doing it. If anyone has any info on this, that would be great! Furthermore, they plan to work on an "Ecovillage" in the future by renovating seven large historic homes. https://businessjournaldaily.com/common-wealth-develops-business-on-elm-street/ Honestly, if Elm Street gets a few more shops/restaurants/galleries and receives some mild streetscaping improvements, it will be on it's way to being Youngstown's version of Highland Square. Obviously, this would include making the neighborhood a bit less sketchy (which is already happening luckily), but the necessary parts are all there. Plus, it's within walking distance of YSU and most YSU dorms/apartments are within a block or two of Elm Street already. It's exciting to see things are finally moving along well on Elm Street!

If anyone cares, I made a blog post/article about Indian Village Historic District, a neighborhood in the South Side, using the photos I posted earlier this year in this thread. I plan to eventually write articles like this about other neighborhoods as well (whenever I'm not super busy with college that is...?) Here's the link to the article My goal for this year is to get some pictures of some of the many beautiful homes in the South Side (around Uptown especially) which are increasingly being lost to demolition, arson, ect. I'll post them here when I get them!

There's a ton of potential for the Summit Lake and Kenmore area of Akron. I hope to see some a lot of revitalization in that part of the city. Having a lake like that in the city is definitely an asset that should be taken advantage of!

I'm aware that the neighborhood has a bad real estate market, but given the proximity to YSU, the large neighborhood park, and the new walkable restaurants on Elm Street, it seems like the YNDC should realize there's some opportunity there. If there was a few solid strategic renovations by them, I think it would make the neighborhood into a nice walkable and desirable area, especially if it is marketed better. Also, that's depressing that they couldn't help him with that house. Broadway is an important street to Youngstown and every house lost on it makes the whole North Side look worse in my opinion.

Great photos! Nice to see some events and stuff happening on Elm Street.

What a cool restoration project that would be, to bring back that old facade! I'm sure it's not quite like the original look though. And it would feel weird removing the 'modern' facade that the theater is known for. I really just hope someone saves it before it burns down or something. I envision it being a small "boutique theater" similar to Akron's Highland Theater or something that could show indie movies, older movies, and some new movies. Maybe even include a restaurant or something in it or a coffee shop in the old bar next door. Obviously that's a total pipe dream given the neighborhood. Hell, the best hope is probably seeing it get turned into a Boost Mobile or some crap ?

Oh god. I can't stand the fact that the green house will probably get torn down now. I hope he just tries to keep it standing and hope someone comes along to fix it. I also really liked that burnt down apartment building but it was bound to come down sooner or later. There's good things happening in the area on Elm Street and the park itself, but that's it. I can't stand watching all these houses come down. I wish the YNDC or something would start renovating houses like this. Maybe the owner of the green house should contact them. Worth a shot. Also, very sad about Philadelphia Ave, I wondered why it was so blighted, even compared to the surrounding blocks. The slow death of the Wick Park neighborhood just depresses me.

Im anxious to see what this is all about. It seems to be a commercial project and considering how much they're building it up, I'm going to guess it's not just a Dollar General or something. I hope it really is something big. That part of Mahoning Ave. could be a nice walkable area if people began investing in it. The neighborhood isn't bad, it's close to Downtown and Mill Creek, and there's plenty of old commercial buildings that could be made into new businesses. It's time Youngstown starts investing back into the neighborhoods.

Uptown Theater, 1926: Here's the Uptown Theater before it received its renovations to make it more mid-century modern looking. The building to the right still exists but again, received a rather horrific renovation. The larger building next to that (I believe it's called the Hess Block) was unfortunately burnt down back in fall of 2015 - it's a shame because it was one of the nicer old commercial buildings on the block. It also looked very similar to how it originally did - but as you can see in the present photo, it's just a piece of grass now. The only building to exist now that didn't then is the small one story building to the left of the theater. TODAY:

1960s - The corner of Market & Indianola, the center of Youngstown's "Uptown" district: Here is the same corner today. The buildings are all still there (but the Gray Drug store building is set to be demolished I believe) however, there was certainly much more life in them back then!

Mocha House opens Downtown location in Eastern Gateway Community College Campus https://businessjournaldaily.com/mocha-house-will-open-downtown-location-monday/

Boscov's Department Store coming to Eastwood Mall https://businessjournaldaily.com/boscovs-coming-to-eastwood-mall/

Beautiful photos! Great to see all the progress in Cleveland.

1400 Market Street Redevelopment Plans: An Arizona couple have submitted their plans for the 1400 block of Market Street in Downtown. The buildings, which are in very bad shape, were recently stabilized by the city using ~$300,000 in tax money. The city is selling these buildings to this Arizona couple which hopes to open a furniture store and "med-spa" run by them as well as a private residence on the upper floors of 1433 Market Street. They also hope to convert the rest of the space into a gym and apartment units. Overall, the project will cost $2.5 million with around $800,000 being given in historic tax credits and other city incentives. Hopefully this project pans out well, these are beautiful buildings and I'd love to see them saved! It amazes me how aggressively the Mayor of Wheeling has been pushing for historic preservation and smart urban planning within the city. He got a lot of backlash for the tax money going towards these buildings, so hopefully it pans out well and opens the door to similar projects. Grow Ohio Market: More good news for Downtown Wheeling is the opening of the "Grow Ohio Market" inside the Robert C. Byrd Intermodal Center (The arena parking garage.) It's not a full grocery store by any means, but considering that Wheeling's riverfront neighborhoods are very much food deserts, this helps a lot. It's within walking distance of most neighborhoods nearby as well as Downtown residents. Flatiron Coffee Company: Lastly, the Flatiron Coffee Company opened up in the first floor of the recently renovated Flatiron Building. The space was once occupied by the short lived "Flatiron Deli." The building's renovation turned out super nice and the apartments here are beautiful with amazing views of the river. This is actually the building adjacent to the Grow Ohio Market and right behind the 1400 Market Street project. So overall, this side of Downtown has been moving in a great direction recently.

The shot of Downtown from the B&O Station is so cool!

Im glad to see new housing developments like this, but sadly I think they still are using that horrendous design. If they are, it'll have the potential to be somewhat of an eyesore in all honesty:

Downtown Warren's looking great these days! It has a nice main-street vibe now. Some great restaurants down there and a nice coffee shop. I hope Warren continues to work on Downtown - the courthouse square and riverfront are great assets to have. I'm very happy to see the Robins Theater back in operation! I'm also excited to see the renovations of the nearby Packard Apartments.

Here's a glimpse into late 1970s Uptown. This is an old news report that goes over how the city was cleaning up and revitalizing the Uptown area; as we all know, these efforts were clearly very successful.... ?:

Great pictures! Seems like such a weird city. I know their neighborhoods in particular have a lot of new infill but almost all of it blends in terribly with the surroundings. Also, I'm visiting Nashville next month for a few days; are there any historic neighborhoods worth photographing there besides parts of Downtown?

I totally agree. I've been trying to research a lot on the neighborhood recently. I went to high school right by that neighborhood for four years and I could never believe that the area was a huge entertainment district once because today it's almost entirely vacant. It was without doubt the largest neighborhood business district in Youngstown. It thrived from the 30s - 70s and had lots of department stores and popular restaurants. It's also the site of the famous "Youngstown tune up" which was a mob hit in the parking lot of Cicero's (a restaurant owned by Cleveland mob) which is right across the street from Colonial House (owned by the rival Pittsburgh mob). The second of which, the building is still standing today. However, the neighborhood always had a 'seedy' vibe to it. Think of it as Youngstown's version of Pittsburgh's Carson Street. It was a bizarre mix of bars, strip clubs, national chain retail stores, and some of the city's most exclusive restaurants. The Uptown Theater in particular was a popular neighborhood theater that still stands but obviously is very endangered. The neighborhood probably peaked culture wise in the 60s and early 70s. Mickey's Bar for example was a huge mainstay and hosted lots of 60s & 70s Ohio rock bands such as The Raspberries and the Human Beinz. There's a video of Uptown in the 70s on Youtube, I'll try to post it here soon. The neighborhood declined hard in the late 70s (as did the whole city) after a big upshoot in crime. However the neighborhood's entertainment district never died, it just got seedier really. In the mid 90's there was a spark of life that came back when a theater company bought the Uptown Theater and many restaurants came back in. Sadly though, the owner's vision of turning it into Youngstown's version of Highland Square or Coventry Village never panned out and the neighborhood is all but dead today.

Aerial view of Downtown in 1928: First National Bank Building in the early 1960s (I think): The old G.C. Murphey on the corner of Market & Indianola in Uptown in the 40s. This one is sadly on the brink of demolition today:

I came across this really cool picture of Boardman Plaza when it first opened back in the early 50s.

It's just a bizarre plan and honestly it is coming from a development company that is seemingly brand new so I'm a bit suspicious. However, I will say that Wheeling's renaissance has been quite impressive thus far so who knows maybe it could work.

It's amazing how successful the project(s) to revitalize Downtown were. Opening Front St. to vehicle traffic helped so much. It went from a ghost town to a very vibrant neighborhood in only a year. It's already one of the best 'main streets' in NE Ohio in my opinion.