PhillyEngineer

I remember the Rex - it was on the north side of 3rd St. between Main & Jefferson - it's a parking lot now.

steeber - I grew up in the Dayton area and also lived in Madison Township in the housing development (Westbrooke Village) next to Castlebrook Apartments. The municipal garage was built in the late 1970's. I know because my Dad worked for the City of Dayton.

Elder-Beerman's Northwest store is scheduled to close any day now. The chain is now owned by The Bon-Ton of York, PA

This was my bank when I lived in Dayton. Thanks for the memories.

The Marriott hotel was built inside the shell of the old Watt & Shand department store. They tore down the store but saved the beautiful facade, which you can clearly see in picture #70.

A new restaurant in the Oregon District.... http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/taste/entries/2011/08/29/new_italian_restaurant_to_open.html

Still more good news for the Dayton/Montgomery County region: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/caterpillar-begins-hiring-for-up-to-600-jobs-at-distribution-center-1033096.html

...and yet more good news! http://www.daytondailynews.com/business/boston-software-security-company-to-locate-in-dayton-1031208.html

Finally...some good news for Dayton: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/ge-to-build-research-and-development-center-in-dayton-1010529.html

Great pics of my hometown! I had no idea the new MVH tower was so big.

jmecklenborg is right. The building with the clock tower in the picture that May Day's partner took is Union Station. It is a hotel. Back in the 80's there was a plan to turn the old train shed behind it into one of those "festival marketplaces", like Portside was in Toledo. The plan never became a reality. I think the customs house is the building in the picture that May Day took from his hotel room.

The library is on the site of a shopping mall called Church Street Center that used to connect to Castner Knott. It also connected to the hotel May Day stayed at. At that time it was a Stouffer's Hotel. The mall died in the mid-1990's. That's when they decided to build the library there. I am not sure if they tore down the mall, or if they "retrofitted" it to become the library. That might explain why the library isn't very attractive.

I have family outside Nashville and was just there in August. It's an OK city. Like most city's it's downtown has lost a lot of the retail stores. There used to be 3 large department stores in downtown Nashville. Harvey's was where the PoMo tower is now (across from the Egyptian revival church). Cain-Sloan was at the parking lot that was supposed to be the Signature Tower. Caster Knott was in the older building that you can see in the shot May Day took from the hotel's glass elevator looking towards the Capitol. It's the building just to the left of the rust colored pitched roof. That is the roof of the main library. May Day - your partner must be in really good shape. The walk from your hotel to the Parthenon is almost 2 miles!

Yes, it was in 1990 as a part of the streetscape project I mentioned above.

Back in 1989, I was working at Wolpert in Dayton and we designed the streetscape that is there now, with the island in the middle with the Private Fair statue at the Biltmore and the island by DHP with the "flying" sculpture in it. As a part of that we put in all new pavement. Pavement typically lasts around 20 years, so it is time for it to be completely replaced.

This mall is at Exit 29, meaning that it is 29 miles from downtown Cincinnati. Downtown Dayton is at Exit 54, which is 25 miles from the mall. Shouldn't it be called "Dayton Premium Outlets"? :-D

My parents owned a Laundromat in Easttown during the mid-1960s

There were Beerman stores in all three of these centers, as well as McCook. At the southern end of Northtown across an access drive from the main part of the center was a movie theater. The "neighbor" building north of the center had Chicago Deli, a jewish style deli. Where the Handyman store is now was Mendelson's Sporting Goods.

Are you sure that the buildings in the first picture are on Main Street? The sign on pole says "West 35". That would be W. 3rd St., not Main St :?

The answer to "What are they doing here?": RTA (the local public transit agency) is building a bus/transit center. Unfortunately it's not done yet and RTA is already in court with the contractor, claiming he is way over budget and way behind schedule. The answer to "What's the deal with this place?": It looks like the old Frigidaire/Harrison Radiator plant just east of downtown. The city is turning the site into Tech Town, a office park.

Thanks for the Ardmore pics; that's where I live! :-D

It's the construction of the RTA transit plaza that is replacing the old Admiral Benbow Hotel

Visit the Oregon District's website at www.oregonartsdistrict.com for details on the restaurants and bars.

Yes, it looks like there is finally a real effort to properly promote the district.

The Oregon Arts District finally has its own website. Check it out at: www.oregonartsdistrict.com