its the end of an era, but life goes on man
The thing about Neon's is it was a place I could go when I had no other plans and guaranteed I would see 10-12 people I knew. Now there are other places like that, but Neon's has always been my security blanket. It's amazing how much and also how little the place has changed since I first blogged about it in April 2010.
Of course its not all about me, back in those days when twitter was brand new I was meeting all kinds of new people in real life there that I knew online. Many of these people were young 20-somethings at the time and practically grew up there.
It really feels, with Neon's closing, and Park+Vine closing, like the end of a chapter in OTR. Before, people were there because they cared about community and they wanted to be part of something. Now, OTR is more about being there because its the cool place to be, or a place you can brag to people you braved because it is so sketchy. And there is nothing wrong with that, like I keep telling everyone, no one gets a gold star for being first.
It does kind of hurt though seeing people instagraming and carrying on totally oblivious to the fact that the place wouldn't be there the next time they tried to visit and they probably wouldn't even care.
Neon's is gone but the people aren't and the people really are what make a neighborhood, so on to bigger and better and cooler things.
Don't take anything for granted.
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1 beer poured out for Neon's
Thanks for posting this, Bob. Neon's was probably the first place I fell in love with after we moved to Cincinnati and it was interesting to see the bar and especially the crowd transition over the years. We walked to Neon's after our wedding, with my wife in her dress and everything. It definitely holds a special place in my heart. I was shocked to see it was close, but I suppose good things don't last forever.
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