I had a project for school that involved taking pictures of the block that I was working on, but I couldn't just walk around my block and I decided to take a walk around downtown Akron.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great set!!!  Thanks for posting this.

Akron looks really nice.

Excellent photo set. A former BF moved to Akron in the 1980s and I used to visit there occasionally. The downtown has spruced up a lot since then.

 

Among my recollections is seeing a movie at the Civic. It's a John Eberson-designed theatre with Eberson's typically elaborate decoration that includes an ornate Italianate lobby and an atmospheric celing in the auditorium that's realistically like looking up at a summer night sky with clouds drifting slowly past twinkling stars. I was so captivated by the gorgeous theatre that I don't even remember what film we saw.

 

I visited the art museum then, too, but haven't seen it since the new addition. The way they adapted an old building for their original space was appropriate and attractive, and I'd love to visit again to see the new structure and check out their collections and exhibits.

 

I like this building, but wtf is the deal with the crappy ground floor?  That is terrible unless it is not done yet!

^LOL, I'm assuming it's not finished yet.  You can tell Akron has alot of civic pride based on their downtown.  I'm always impressed with Akron.

Wow Akron is looking good.  Lots of good looking new construction.

The building is complete now.  They are still working on lining up retail tenants.  Further down the block in the same complex they have a Brubakers Pub, a soon to open Nervous Dog coffee shop, and a Jimmy Johns Sub shop.  It looks like they can add around 4 or so more retail/restaurant establishments on the ground floor.  I'm not sure what would go well in the marquee corner.  Perhaps a high end restaurant to consolidate the great choices available in that corner with House of Hunan next door, Bricco(Italian) and Cilantro(Thai) across the street.  Lord knows a sandwich shop is not needed with at least 5 available within a block any direction.

It is pretty fairly clean since there isn't a huge amount of area to downtown.  The main bulk of downtown business and government district is maybe 20-25 blocks.  The big rubber companies did not have much of a downtown presence except for BF Goodrich on the southern end which now has Gojo in their hq 

Love love love Akron.

I am glad that you all enjoy this set and I encourage those of you haven't been to Akron in a while to visit.

 

CDM, I love that you love Akron. :)

Love love love Akron.

 

Just don't change your screen name again...

Hmmmm...don't give me any ideas!

Gotta love the brick sidewalks and crossing paths.  Downtown Akron has some really nice architecture and I am proud to say that one of my closest friends from my childhood neighborhood implemented the design for the art museam's new addition with her husband.

 

I do find, IMO, that its walkability is somewhat harmed by the slopes it has.  Sometimes going from one block to another in downtown Akron can be a bit of an exercise... which is all good, except on a hot summer day when you are in a suit. 

I like that bit of infill with the empty storefronts (not the empty storefronts, but the building).  This could be a model for places like Dayton and Toledo, when we ever get around to building stuff downtown again

The building with the unfinished looking storefronts is new student housing(privately owned). I beilieve ~400 UA students live there now.  It's had a great a effect on the south side of downtown.  I've read stories about the local pizza/sub shops pushing their hours later into the night.  Before the student housing, most of these places were closing up shop in the early evening.  Since the new student housing has been in operation, they've started staying open much later into the night!

 

Akron is such a small city that UA can(and is) save it from further "rust belt decay". There's student housing going up everywhere, and the city is certainly reaping the benefits.

 

BTW, nice shot of the Cal-State Northridge student.  This must have been last weekend, because the #1 ranked Akron zips played CSNR in front of a sold out crowd just last Friday.

 

Nice set!

Akron is a fine city and one of the many great places of Northeast Ohio. And it's only getting better.

I lived there in the mid-90s while I worked in Barberton and have thought about doing a thread on the 2 different areas of West Akron where I lived.

Anyway, I couldn't ever say Akron is a suburb of Cleveland...but it is "suburban-style distance" from downtown Cleveland...at least where I still frequent. In 30 minutes or less I'm on West Market (rt. 18) in Fairlawn/Montrose and only a short distance fron Akron proper. I still go to West Point Mkt and the original Mustard Seed Mkt (although I do like the Solon Mustard Seed) and try to make it to a chinese food take-out  place that I've never gotten over. My dentist is still in Akron and my chiropractor is still in Canton.

I don't only love love love it.

I live live live it!

 

AK looking good!  Got to make it to downtown before the weather goes away to stroll around a bit.  I really want to see the park and canal under the Civic theater.  There was an article in the ABJ a few weeks back about how the students living in downtown has really livened up the place and that people are actually having to pay attention at cross walks because of the number of people using them.  Akron has a lot going for it.  Don't forget about the new BSFS tech center down Main Street or the new Goodyear World HQ.  A lot has changed since I first arrived in the early 90's!   

The canal is a cool feature...that it survived the demise of the canal system.  I can see maybe more development happening along it similar to what Indianapolis did with their canal (though Indys canal doesnt go through the heart of the downtown the way Akrons did).  I also like that there was some historic interpretation of this feature (those displays or signs).

Thanks for the great pics!

 

As a former Akronite I've seen a host of positive changes, and just as many awful, frustrating setbacks that I won't get into here...

 

I will say that the city absolutely MUST ditch the one way streets asap. Right now the role of every street, save for Main, is to funnel traffic through or away from the city as quickly as possible. I sincerely hope that becoming more pedestrian friendly and accomodating to retail growth will be a primary goal.

 

By the way, I was fortunate to attend the Time Warner Roadrunner Marathon last weekend. It was crazy seeing so many people, including the college students spending the day downtown. Very strange sight for someone who practically had downtown to himself for ten years!