I recently took over Ohio as part of my territory for the admissions office at Catholic University in DC. The best part of this, of course, is being able to travel all over our great state. It had been many years since I had been to Cincinnati, and then it was only briefly for an Indians-Reds game. I enjoyed my two trips here and realized what a great city it is.

 

I was staying in Bellvue, so decided to cross the river to downtown and walk around a bit. Of course was drawn to Great American Ballpark.

 

 

The next day decided to check out Hyde Park. Was looking to get dinner here, but couldn't find anything that interested me.

 

 

 

Decided to leave Hyde Park and head to OTR. I have read much about the neighborhood on the forum, so was very eager to check it out. I ended up going to Senate, which was a solid place. (More OTR to come later)

 

 

 

 

Some basic downtown shots

 

 

 

Cleveland has guitars, and Cincy has pigs... (yes, I know the historical background to this)

 

I really liked Fountain Square. I think Public Square could follow Cincy's lead here a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course had to get a shot of Cuyahoga County's favorite son

 

 

Nice

 

Wouldn't be a proper visit to a city without going to a baseball game

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had a visit at Newport Central Catholic High School. Awesome view

 

 

 

Made the obligatory visit to the Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a native Clevelander and current Washingtonian, one thing that really jumped out at me about Cincinnati was their lack of a "Group Plan" for their civic buildings. City Hall just sits on the edge of downtown

 

 

 

 

Heard there was an observation deck at the Carew Tower. I of course had to check it out. This was probably my favorite observation deck I've been to as it is wide open with no windows or bars. Beautiful views of Cincitucky. Unfortunately the new iPhone update wasn't out yet, so no panoramics :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love this building

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was a bit obsessed with taking pictures of OTR

 

 

 

The next place on my list was Mt. Adams. I constantly saw the neighborhood from across the river and had to check it out. It was tied with OTR as my favorite place in the city. The views from here are incredible. When I came back for my second trip, I walked from Covington to Mt. Adams, which means I climbed the Mt. Adams stairs...I didn't realize how out of shape I was

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had the pleasure of making a second trip to Cincy in mid-October for a weekend. This time, however, I flew in and did not have a car. It was interesting navigating the city completely by foot/public transit.

 

 

View from my hotel

 

 

 

I walked across this bridge no less than 10 times that weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't get to spend a lot of time in OTR last time, so made an effort to explore it a bit more. What fascinated me was how the southern blocks of Vine St were filled with hip bars and restaurants, but you could literally walk a block either direction and see such poverty and blight. Same goes for parts of Main St. I stopped by Urban Eden (I think that was the name) on Main and had a great conversation with the owner about OTR's revitalization efforts. The neighborhood has some awesome and beautiful architecture, and it's a shame it ever got to such a bad state. It's good to see that new life is being breathed into it, and I can only hope the streetcar line furthers that along. I can imagine how white suburbanites would probably be scared to venture there, but I never felt unsafe walking around the neighborhood (perhaps naively, but nonetheless). All in all, it's a great treasure that Cincinnati has, and definitely the envy of this Clevelander.

 

 

 

 

 

Really liked the design of this park. The crowd was very diverse, there was music playing over speakers, a wedding party taking pictures, kids playing on the playground. Just an awesome public space. I think Jane Jacobs would approve

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's still a lot of work to do, obviously

 

 

 

Was told to check out the Iris Book Cafe. Loved the courtyard

 

 

 

Of course have to get a picture of the local Catholic Church

 

 

 

 

I like how Cincinnati followed Cleveland's lead by putting their casino downtown (unlike two other cities which shall not be named)

 

 

 

A couple shots from across the river:

 

I never knew about Covington's Cathedral Basilica. Absolutely beautiful

 

 

 

 

And finally, got to watch the Browns get their first victory from Fountain Square! It's embarrassing how excited I got over a win from a 1-5 team.

 

 

 

I had a great time in the Queen City. My dream would be to one day do a subway tour, although that's evidently tough to do. I can't wait to make another trip there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing. Look forward to seeing the rest!!

Great pics.  Thanks.

For being a visitor you had some classics and a few unique angles in there.  Nice!

Cincinnati has pigs

 

Not just pigs, but flying pigs!

Thanks for these. Got some great angles. Regarding your observation about a lack of a 'group plan' of civic buildings....I'd say that's a good thing. Anytime you group the same uses in one zone, whether it be housing or offices only, you end up killing vitality. Single use land zoning at its worst. We need to get away from thinking museum districts or stadium districts or civic districts are a good idea. Mixed use is the best way to go and it's why places like OTR are taking off while portions of the CBD are still office ghettos.

Thanks for these. Got some great angles. Regarding your observation about a lack of a 'group plan' of civic buildings....I'd say that's a good thing. Anytime you group the same uses in one zone, whether it be housing or offices only, you end up killing vitality. Single use land zoning at its worst. We need to get away from thinking museum districts or stadium districts or civic districts are a good idea. Mixed use is the best way to go and it's why places like OTR are taking off while portions of the CBD are still office ghettos.

 

This is very true. My comment came off as making a judgment, but was meant as just an observation. Cleveland's Civic Center has been plagued by that very thing. Hopefully the new Convention Center and other development can help rectify that.

City Hall's location might seem remote now but when it was built it was much more toward the center of the basin.  Except for one row of blocks immediately west of it, several square miles of row homes were demolished for public housing, I-75, and industry. 

City Hall's location might seem remote now but when it was built it was much more toward the center of the basin.  Except for one row of blocks immediately west of it, several square miles of row homes were demolished for public housing, I-75, and industry. 

 

I think the queen weeps when this is mentioned....      stupid urban renewal.

Great photos! I always forget about the Basillica and how beautiful it is inside!

Thank you, GA_Lancer, for a such a complimentary Queen City photo tour; just stick with us because it will only get better after the  streetcars are up and running.  In the meantime, please consider posting photos from your own favorite neighborhoods in Cleveland, along with commentary.  (As for myself, because I know so little about Cleveland, I would appreciate seeing pictures of the  neighborhoods surrounding Cleveland's downtown, such as Tremont and Ohio City, to name but a few.)

City Hall's location might seem remote now but when it was built it was much more toward the center of the basin.  Except for one row of blocks immediately west of it, several square miles of row homes were demolished for public housing, I-75, and industry. 

 

I assumed this was probably the case. My job takes me to a lot of other cities, particularly in the Northeast, and it's sad to see how many cities have been devastated by similar 'renewal' projects. I feel that Cincinnati has been able to preserve more of its historical buildings than other comparable cities though (at least based upon my personal observations.)

 

 

Thank you, GA_Lancer, for a such a complimentary Queen City photo tour; just stick with us because it will only get better after the  streetcars are up and running.  In the meantime, please consider posting photos from your own favorite neighborhoods in Cleveland, along with commentary.  (As for myself, because I know so little about Cleveland, I would appreciate seeing pictures of the  neighborhoods surrounding Cleveland's downtown, such as Tremont and Ohio City, to name but a few.)

 

I might get on this soon. I took a bunch of photos of Cleveland's near west side when I was living there in September.

Superb set of photos; makes me want to go back for another visit soon.

Nice job - I like this view, don't think we've seen it too much:

 

>I feel that Cincinnati has been able to preserve more of its historical buildings than other comparable cities though

 

It's probably more the case that the city simply had more to begin with.  Also, many on the hillsides and hilltop neighborhoods were more the victims of neglect than the bulldozing of parts of the basin.

 

Also, the single strip of blocks of untouched buildings between Central Ave. and John St. (it's 6 or 7 blocks total) is sometimes called by realtors "City Hall West".  It survives as some sort of odd patch of old growth forest in the middle of younger woods.  It happened because Central Ave. (NOT Central Parkway) had a lot of functioning commercial properties on it in the 1950s and so was *not* bulldozed because it was a good source of tax revenue for the city, rather than the majority of the West End, which was poor and so was a draw on city resources.