Caseyc

FYI, word is that the Chavez folks (owners of Broadway Commons parking lot) have offered the Casino developers $1 or 2 million to go towards retaining a signature-type architect to head up casino design.

There's a lot of stuff on the menu. They certainly have bi bim bap. I didn't focus too much on the other stuff however so am not sure of the breadth of korean options. The bento boxes may have some variety in them.

I was suprised that Mr. Sushi was set up with full bar. I also like how the varied the "drop" of the drop ceiling to sort of break the room up. I was expecting something more spartan. The service, as noted above, was atrocious and unbelieveably slow. Our waiter was like an Asian version of McLovin. I also never heard a waiter say "brain fart" before. But he will get better, I'm sure. They were just slammed. That said, we were on the tail end of lunch rush and still had a 90 minute lunch. Worse than Bootsy's aborted lunch service. We asked for our checks so we could pay PRIOR to even getting our food, that's how slow they were.

Thankyou Johio for sharing. I got news for ya though, I would have been happy growing up in Jenison. I grew up just north of town, Sparta. A big town of 4,000 people. I remember when our town reached it's climax at that time with the opening of a Mc Donalds! Yeeha! It was not until after graduation when we moved to the west side. My grandma used to live in Chauncey, OH (just north of Athens) and so we used to frequent the Hocking hills allot. I have always felt at home in Ohio. Infact, both sides of my family was from that region but one side moved to MI to find work when the auto industry was kicking. Grand Rapids is definitely the place for the bar scene, and it helps to have the river right next door for scenery. That's why you went down there, right? (ha) I have yet to visit Sandusky apart from Cedar Point, but maybe I will in the future. What I want to do is go island hopping. Now that would be fun. just chiming in.....grew up on Spring Lake (near Lake Michigan). Still a lot of friends in the region. Spent many a wild night at both the Reptile House as well as the Intersection.

Looks good, and GR has come a long ways in recent years, but the downtown streets are often void of much in terms of pedestrian life, and these photos bear that out. I remember when that Starbuck's in EGR (first photo) was a men's store, right? Wasn't it the Bagpiper?

Have been in a few of these. One house in particular I thought was located on Cass Park....south of BE...anywho. A lot of these houses have gone downhill fast since these pics were taken.

They poured a big slab of concrete yesterday...and I see the big blue arm out there today. Progress is really starting up now. You can see construction of the south wall which will abut the reconfigured Mehring Way. Also a lot of activity these days on the North platform.

The Caves, Negril, jamaica. Very small, amazing food and drink, no kids, death-defying cliff jumps. Privacy. Very secure. Laid back barefoot luxury. Fantastic staff. Activities. No beach but it doesn't matter. Have been there multiple times. You never want to leave. Check the Trip Advisor reports. all Island Outpost resorts are pretty special. Expensive, but worth it. Also had amazing experiences at Goldeneye.

You got that right boyo! Bucktown will effing rock again soon....just without that horrible slaughterhouse stench. Can't wait for the Bucktown/Casino streetcar line.

The "Northern Liberties" http://www.findlaymarket.org/north_liberties_otr.htm

I am not sure what your point is re Clifton. There is a ton of well preserved single family housing stock north of the Ludlow/Jefferson strip going all the way back to the Northern border and West to Mt. Storm and then down Lafayette etc. Certainly not tenement or college housing..... but we're getting waaaay off topic here so...in any event......carry on.

just walked past the stage setup....Obata was on sidewalk chatting with a few toadies outside the In Between tavern. Sounds like the tiara ceremony in the Spring will have more pomp and circumschmaltz.

The Freedom Center lawn (or what's left of it) is staging ground for the above-ground (i.e. non-platform/parking structure) construction teams. A number of double-wide trailers have been hauled in there in preparation for vertical construction of the actual buildings on the Banks platform. The NW corner (where the office tower would ultimately go) also appears to be where they are massing materials/supplies in anticipation of new construction. I would also note that they have begun construction of a wall on the southern end, delineating between the platform/stucture and the park/reconfigured Mehring way.

I saw where he said they will finally have liquor license this Friday and announcement re Grand Opening will come soon after that.

jeezus. Probably the same clay-eating mouth breathers who pointed to the garage demolition on the QCSII site as evidence that Cincinnati was a wasteland (hat tip to channel 5 for that insight during a Reds game interview with Joe and Bro-ham Shithead-in-the-stands)

is Cincinnati very close to Lakewood? :-) http://www.soapboxmedia.com/features/1110dogabouttown.aspx

Here is the lead article on cincinnati.com right now....amazing that, instead of trumpeting the fact that homicides have steadily declined to their lowest point in 9 years...the Enquirer instead turns it on its face. http://news.cincinnati.com/

No doubt everyone has a wish list. When the demographics and economics are in place to justify those demands, the market will react accordingly. Right now, people are still making money with the bars and clubs. I think Gameworks days maybe numbered. The whole concept is a little dated in the current video game age, as are the Sega games, and the place is starting to show a lot of wear and tear. The bowling joint may spell the end of Gameworks.

I have been to Mynt (I like to pronounce it "Mighnt") and will rarely, if ever, go again. That said, I don't take issue with the superficial "trendiness," and I use that term loosely (as the club is far from trendy, at least in a cutting edge sense). Rather it is a standard, safe middle-of-the-road "club" for those that would like to think they're doing something a little more "special" than peanuts on the floor and Moerlein on tap Think couples and suburbanites who are making a trip into the city for dinner and dancing. Think also out-of-towners staying at a nearby hotel. Whether it is "transient" or not should have no bearing on whether it's existence in our fair downtown is justified. Sure, it's not going to be in continuous operation since 1861, but, then again, most nightclubs are, by their very nature, transient, or at least temporary concepts in a space. Concepts grow stale and need to be retrofitted every 4 years or so (and, by the way, I think Mynt's concept is already well past it's peak). But to each his own. The fact that there is more variety means that the people I don't want to hang out with will be able to find a bar to their liking....in the process ensuring that I won't have to hang out with them. All cities have places like this. If you don't like it, there are plenty of other places to go that will suit you better. But "In crowd" it is most decidedly not.

Melanie Bates' husband Phil...in front of their house in North Avondale just off Mitchell...ironically enough after attending a memorial service for the bartender from Stanley's. I thought there was something sketchy about that Mulligans incident, no?

MOCAD, the contemporary art museum, is located in this district, which is neither sugary nor hilly. They are more focused on redeveloping some of the remaining, still-standing structures as affordable "live/work" spaces for artists, i.e. incubators for the arts. That is more of the impetus for the "arts district" moniker.

I just noticed the Christmas tree with red lights on top of the core, SW corner. Also, the steel frame is rapidly changing shape as they go up. It is now deviating from the norm and curving around the core.

They have removed the fencing and concrete barriers surrounding the completed Phase I platform. Looks like construction of the buildings should begin in the next few weeks.

I think they recycled the soundtrack for the Park Board's Kodachrome slide show presentation on Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point (circa 1976)

PBR has been a hipster staple since at least '02. As such, it is something of a tired cliche. True hipsters have moved on to Blatz.