traveler

A little off topic for the thread -- sorry! -- but does anyone know why Macy's/Shilito's abandoned their interesting Art Deco-faced turn-of-century building for the totally bland Fountain Place? Was it just too expensive to renovate the old building for modern retail needs? I bet that atrium was nice back in the day...

I'm sure the suburban skeptics were waiting for a disaster, what with open-air beer sales and free movies. Every time I walked through the square on movie nights on my way home from work, I'd stop and catch a good chunk of the second movie. Never witnessed any misbehavior. Big win for downtown!

Okay, technically that might have been Kennedy Heights. The 4 Ridge Road goes up pretty far, then comes back down to Highland and Ridge. I took that line to a Motel 6 labeled "Norwood" though it's actually in Cincinnati, and I took the line again to the Time Warner office at Highland Plaza -- good scenery along the way (OTR, Walnut Hills), but very slow, strange, U-shaped route.

I'm at the Phelps -- thanks for the tipoff, Alabama. It is a very good deal (and I almost crossed it off my list because the website omitted the efficiencies). I have Lytle Park, the P & G gardens, a private garden, and (when warmer weather comes) a rooftop patio all at my doorstep, and several snooty private clubs and the Taft Museum as next-door neighbors; it feels like an awfully genteel place for what I'm paying. But then everything else in downtown is still very accessible by foot, which keeps me in good shape! Gov't Square is a few blocks, too, although these buses seem incredibly slow for getting to neighborhoods beyond downtown. An hour to Norwood! Fortunately, I can confirm that downtown and OTR (at least from Vine-Main) are hardly the warzone that various suburbanites and out-of-town visitors have described to me. In fact, just a couple hours ago (about 11 PM) I went on a leisure walk up Walnut to Liberty and back down Main. I've already crossed basically every street block in the CBD at all times of day and night and I haven't encountered anyone more menacing than your typical panhandlers who want a "bus fare to get back to Beechmont," etc. I can understand family-oriented people being overprotective of their wives and children, but any dude who can't go downtown after dusk is seriously wussy.

I'm relocating from Champaign, Illinois, ExPat. You're so right about the pick-up truck! I'll be coming to Cincinnati with a rented van and my dad to help, because I'm tired of wasting money on furnished apartments. Thank you all for your suggestions. My price range is pretty much rock bottom, unfortunately, but it's good to hear that there are some options downtown. I roamed around the CBD mainly, and a bit of downtown Covington and Newport, when I was in town a few weeks ago (I liked all these areas), and I heard some dire negativity about downtown from random people I chatted up -- suburbanites, of course. I don't know why I bother to listen to them!

I'm moving to Cincinnati very soon, and will be working at the Delta call center downtown at 7th/Plum. Because I will not have a car, and expect to work a lot of late (after bus hours) shifts, I'll need a cheap apartment in safe walking distance. The places I'm looking at right now include Lytle Tower (4th/Broadway) and a few places in Over-the-Rhine, within the Main-Walnut, 13th-14th area. In terms of stuff to do (bars, restaurants, shopping), safety (for walking late at night), and general vibe, which area would be my best bet? Thanks!