Oh Livingston Ave, you must have looked grand back in the day with all those stately homes, streetcars, restaurants, shops, and theaters. I've yet to see any single picture of what this street used to look like in its heyday, but suffice it to say that whatever it looked like bears no resemblance to the present. It's probably the most littered urban street and for additional ambiance there are the fumes from speeding cars and lots of sound systems blasting the latest rap music. This is the main urban corridor of the Near South.

 

MAP

 

Nationwide Childrens' Hospital dominates the Livingston & Parsons intersection.

 

 

The city wants to put bike lanes on Livingston and there was no word on removing parking, so you can already imagine what will happen when an inattentive motorist opens their car door without looking for cyclists in the door-zone bike lane sandwiched between parked cars and the left hand lane.

 

 

Hospital buildings built to look like homes.

 

 

 

Another view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of solid homes on and off of Livingston.

 

 

 

 

 

Ooh, a divine car wash.

 

 

An appropriately named church for once.

 

 

I appreciate the aesthetic effort, but it would be better spent on more simple but functional shelters.

 

 

There used to be a sign hanging on for dear life. Should have gotten it before it was gone. Here's the HD streetview of the partial sign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Near South nightspots aren't a good idea yet.

 

 

 

 

A friend's girlfriend says they make some pretty good pies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was wondering what was tropical about this place. Maybe it's a secret tiki bar?

 

 

 

Yes, I was too lazy to dart across the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:?

 

 

 

A cabin theme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love wayfinding signs. I wonder why there isn't one pointing you in this direction while there is one pointing you towards the Short North. Hmm...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was running low on H2O due the lack of my roommate taking out the trash (it's on the way to his car in the back) with me hightailing it out of the stinky apartment (I threw it out in the back and loaded the place up with air freshener and bleached the trash container). A little kid came out from behind here and gave me a bottle of cold water for a buck; what a godsend.

 

 

 

 

 

Now here's a fun juxtaposition: a library...

 

 

across the street from a bathhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I dunno about that, I'm pretty sure the best fried chicken in town is the homemade one from the Honduran food truck on the far west side.

 

 

Gets too suburban for me to bother further east.

 

 

Another Columbusite 1st!!!!!!! Yay me!

East Main is worse but Livingston needs some TLC too!

Well, it was more happening than E Main, I'll give you that. I don't know what the hell is going on with the Flex photo, it just won't show up correctly whether I change the file itself or rotate it on Photobucket. I'll be on it though.

thanks, nice photos. I love the "folk art" quality of the murals and signs. (and I could use a visit from the "Drains-N-Pipes" people!)

Thanks so much for the tour! Don't know that I've ever seen this part of town before.

So I guess the sweet potato pie bakery (Yo Mama's?) I remember froim the 90's is no more?  It was just across Livingston from the eastern edge of Children's Hospital's campus.

They moved up north to Linden.  http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=%22sweet+potato+pie%22+columbus&fb=1&gl=us&hq=%22sweet+potato+pie%22&hnear=Columbus,+OH&cid=0,0,7945483044708497473&ei=mItDTOKjCobksQOu87mkDA&ved=0CBcQnwIwAQ&ll=40.027549,-82.976925&spn=0.007755,0.01929&z=16

 

Not sure if that's a step up, but Linden is seeing many more new destinations pop up when compared to this hood.

 

 

East Main is worse but Livingston needs some TLC too!

 

So does Parsons! But the blight is the least of their problems. It's depressing how many homeless people I saw passed out on the sidewalks.

I'm guessing (as someone of Appalachian descent) that "Mountain Mama" is a reference to the following (at :48):

 

 

Yeah, don't judge me for knowing that.  :x

as someone of Appalachian descent

 

Appalachian?  The only thing that could make you more Irish is if you spelled your first name Sean! :)

I would have never guessed there would be an Appalacian restaurant on Livingston. They have a gift shop in there too? Is that a pretty famous place? Or maybe they sell arts and crafts there - I know Appalacians are very into arts and crafts.

"The city wants to put bike lanes on Livingston and there was no word on removing parking, so you can already imagine what will happen when an inattentive motorist opens their car door without looking for cyclists in the door-zone bike lane sandwiched between parked cars and the left hand lane."

 

I often heard this prediction when bike lanes were marked on Jefferson in downtown Dayton.  At least on Jefferson, if a car is parked almost against the curb, the door only extends a few inches into the bike lane...I would think a bicyclist would be in a position where this would not be a danger.

 

Plus, I assume like most drivers, I never just open my door after I parallel park...instinctively at least look in the side mirror I guess to check for approaching cars.