neilworms

At the same time there should be some serious effort to make this a tourist attraction! Other cities would kill to have an asset they can sell to tourists like this! Look at how successful the Seattle underground is for instance.

Guess what I just learned: http://www.cincymuseum.org/programs/heritage This is something that city should be working hard to PROMOTE not bury. I don't know the reason or rationale behind this study, but I smell a Rat I mean a Cranley.

Yes in Los Angeles and San Fransisco east bay cities.

Come to Chicago if you want to see this building in its former glory... Ravenswood Sears (which might close soon anyways).

Chicago is starting to loose a few of its fake (or converted real ones run by polish people) dive bars in Wicker Park, the thing is that Chicago is far enough behind San Francisco that there are still PLENTY of them around. I'd argue that Chicago has way more of a dive bar focus than Cincinnati does even, something about the upper midwest and its more working class orientation that creates this. Plus all those fake dives in Wicker are now moving to Logan and there are waaay more neighborhoods to conquer before Chicago reaches a SF level gentrification crisis. Not only that but policies IMO are starting to align such that we are going to work to prevent this from happen by densifying areas around transit station and growing the skyscraper district downtown. See: http://www.metroplanning.org/work/project/30/subpage/4?utm_source=%2ftod-ordinance&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=redirect and: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-rahm-emanuel-neighborhood-development-20160217-story.html The fruit of this is a bazillion mid rise buildings with staggered windows, and while I don't like the design I like the policy. The south part of OTR is an example of it right now believe it or not, though its artificially happening due to the presence of 3CDC do a streetview of Vine Street from Central to Liberty street to see what I'm talking about (and compare between 2007 view and 2015). I think it could happen in Cincinnati or Columbus just not on the scale or pace of SF (despite what the absolutely baffled Cincinnatians say who are convinced the city with its one slice of this is on the verge of a major affordability crisis - they just aren't used to things going up in value so fast and can't comprehend it :P). Cincinnati's biggest hurtle is not economy (its regionally a much better performer than northern Ohio) but culture - its culture is too suburban/conservative to really embrace lifestyle changes that come with urban living though with shifts that have been happening lately keep watching it, you may be surprised by the results - in some ways its healthier than Chicago with stronger schools and less corruption it just needs to embrace the urbanitiy it has, build transit to connect it, and accept outsiders a bit more to really shoot for the stars. Columbus is way more progressive, but it doesn't have the level of existing urbanism that Cincinnati has, a lot more of its development is going to be infill/new construction in deadzones which a lot of time are surprisingly close to the center city. Because of this I doubt it would reach crisis levels anytime soon. Columbus always picks up on cultural trends faster than most of the rest of the midwest, a new trend takes hold in Chicago, in a few years it will hit Columbus then several years later wind up elsewhere in the midwest...

Yeah this looks great! Still don't know what they are thinking on that Shakespeare building.... :/

I've never heard these parks are going to be temporary, in fact I'm pretty sure they are a permanent thing unless you have information to the contrary? Also I mean Cincinnati likes its parks more than it likes its urbanity. Look at that stupid plaza in Clifton which took out some admittedly unexciting commercial structures and replaced them with a plaza that IMO is always dead even in good weather in the summer (and there is a park right down the street complete with a plaza surrounding a statue where I actually see people hanging out).

These: http://tinyurl.com/govwv78 This streetview is from 2014, in the time since they've put a pocket park in front of the vinyl side. It would have been fine if these were hidden by a nicer building on the main drag...

There are about 6 or 7 of these staggered window buildings that I know of either planned or being built in Chicago. It is totally a trend, even to the point where on Streetsblog Chicago there was discussion about how Milwaukee Ave will be known as the staggered windows corridor (and other people were able to even articulate why I don't like it better than I did)... I would be worried given how much its been embraced in larger cities where the prestigious architecture firms are located: Here are a few with the first one being what I talked about: http://chi.streetsblog.org/2016/02/16/proposed-development-would-make-the-blue-lines-grand-stop-a-tod-hotspot/ http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2015/08/04/new-apartment-tower-xavier-scheduled-to-open-this-fall-embraces-cabrinigreen-name.php http://chicago.curbed.com/tags/tower-of-pizza-hut http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2016/01/21/western-blue-line-tod-heads-to-plan-commission-for-vote.php http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/12/large-logan-square-development-receives-dramatic-makeover.php .... There are more. :/

They were torn down recently, however I don't think all of them (esp. not the original greaters building which was further down the street) were unsalvagable. I think that the WHRF has given up on making the area a really urban place that it was and should be. There is the bones of a neighborhood like Chicago's wicker park here and they threw much of that away. I feel this way in part because of what they've proposed to replace the torn down buildings, too many pocket parks and a handful of really badly designed infill buildings (a few have been built, which sadly IMO are not hidden by the main drag but highlighted because they decided to put a pocket park in front of them :P.) I don't think all work they are doing is bad, but I do think their priorities are screwed up for a strategically important neighborhood and underutilized asset in Cincinnati. I'm happy to see 2 way streets, promotion of form based code and the 6 story building revitalized but they are taking a looser approach that doesn't realize that this neighborhood is potentially a very hot commodity.

You lived in my old neighborhood :). Also the building density/vintage of Noble Square is about as close as Chicago gets to OTR as far as low rise neighborhoods go.

To the best of my knowledge this is a late victorian circa 1890 greystone. It actually looks like a stretched out version of the older ones you find in Chicago and I'm pretty sure though not 100% positive that the stone for both OTR greystones and Chicago ones come from the same Indiana Limestone quarries. Here's the Chicago example: https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/124/408819778_5cac3ce738.jpg

I'm also of the opinion though that the sign laws in Cincinnati are too stringent. Take a look at this old photo of Main Street for instance, it makes Cincinnati seem so incredibly vibrant (though do ignore that the streets are torn up in that shot).: https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/c0.126.851.315/p851x315/12615414_10153929522632700_4686476657877055088_o.jpg Not much different than this (though I guess there aren't overhead wires here): http://s3.media.squarespace.com/production/447825/5899952/_cNMGcUju8JI/RcFsRWSx6gI/AAAAAAAAAB4/7bfJzh9N4bU/s400/sf-powell-st-1.jpg Or Chicago (though I'll admit the wires in Chi-town are in alleyways so they are hidden, but this is still an extremely cluttered area): http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/2560110816_2e923d8c53.jpg I'm just thinking of the amount of wires you see in East Asia or in cities like San Francisco (which is still a beautiful city, but there is more clutter - bigger signs and more wires in part due to the streetcars and trolleybuses). I actually find some beauty in it. Cincinnati IMO really struggles to embrace its sheer urbanity and this is part of it.

I never understood the sheer obsession with telephone poles cluttering things up. I like clutter, its part of an urban environment IMO.

Chipelto is probably holding out due to their problems with F. Cori outbreaks. :wink2:

You are absolutely right there. Cincy was pretty miserable back then.

Lots of ugly staggered windows with grey/silver materials (an architectural trend of the 2010s), but in general interesting projects. From strictly a functional perspective the one in Lincoln Square is great - it had to overcome a lot of NIMBY push back even though its located at the intersection of one of the most popular bus lines with the brown line train. Currently only architecturally insignificant low rise buildings exist on that site and Lincoln Square is a very nice shopping district so the density is already in the area though Western is a lot less utilized than the stretch of Lincoln they narrowed to create the square as a "German Village" back in the 1970s (there still are German-American cultural institutions there, but most of the population doesn't really exist anymore as it was mostly last wave post WWII germans). In short its really great for the area. I'm a pretty big fan of the TOD ordnance btw, its a great way to strategically grow parts of the city that are closest to transit lines - perhaps its a way to prevent more of the disaster that is Lincoln Park in terms of de-densifying near transit lines.

Though that film did very little to make Cincinnati a distinct place and kind of joked about how little the town was known for - chili and the zoo. One character from Akron said in an LA style I just took "The 71" down. I laughed out loud. Might as well had complained about traffic on "the 405" as well. It was a pretty good movie though :)

I'm shocked any of it at all is being saved. Time and time again the Uptown Consortium has shown little regard for the areas' historic assets. Great find on the photo above, what I'd give to have a time machine and explore Cincinnati before urban renewal started destroying it.

Glad to see more authentic taquerias slowly creep into the Cincinnati area. Order Horchata on a warm day, its one of the most refreshing drinks period. For beer if they have victoria its really good for the low price - kind of a classic lager like yeungling.

My only critique is the staggered windows thing. I wish that trend in architecture would die soon.

Proven model: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-bars-with-board-games-in-chicago/ http://kingmakerscolumbus.com/ etc

That's very sad. I'm hoping low gas prices won't completely ruin megabus (or prospects for intercity rail for that matter).

I have friends who are really into these games and they can be a lot of fun (though I'm totally just a casual fan). Its nice to have hangout spots like these in OTR, something that would appeal to a demographic that's different than the normal bar crowd.

I'd also consider Rhinegeist Brewery and Tafts Ale House to be tourist spots given the uniqueness of their spaces. I post pics of both on Facebook and got pretty good responses from people not familiar with Cincinnati. The 21 C Museum should also be added, its like a mini Contemporary Art museum.