5chw4r7z:: the ethos of downtown Cincinnati

Hollow Earth Monument

One of my favorite tools on the internet when I'm getting ready to travel are websites like Atlas Obscura and Roadside America. I love looking for and discovering interesting Americana. Cincinnati is full of them and so are the surrounding towns and cities.
On a recent trip to Hamilton Oh to check out the city's upward trajectory the first place (after grabbing a coffee) that we checked out was the Hollow Earth Monument.

From Roadside America: The Hollow Earth Monument is one of the oldest, oddest, public memorials in the United States. It marks the gravesite of Capt. John Cleves Symmes, a hero of the War of 1812, who later announced that the Earth was hollow with giant holes at the North and South Poles. While a hollow earth was disproven in the late 1700s, Capt. Symmes still somehow attracted a lot of interest in his ideas and even got Congress to vote on funding a trip to find and explore the entrance. The vote failed, of course, Congress may have actually had intelligent members back then. Interesting what captured peoples imaginations almost 200 years ago, some had said that the idea to place Santa Claus at the North Pole came from Symmes' theory because the Pole was temperate; people could live there.

The monument has lived a colorful life over the years, it has damage from bullets and other blunt instruments and the globe was stolen once. It was last restored in 1991 and raised up on a concrete column with brass plates repeating the slowly fading etching above them.
The former cemetery now turned Ludlow Park has seen better times but if you're in downtown Hamilton at any point it is worth a short couple block side trip to check out.

[where: 45202] best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

The Baker's Table

The Baker's Table, 1004 Monmouth in Newport hosted a small event to showcase a few of the items they'll serve when they open in the next few weeks. The fried chicken was amazing, crispy skin and tender flesh, and the biscuit ham sandwiches were incredible. I can't remember ever being served ham that fragrant before, smoky and salty.
I'm looking forward to when they officially open and experiencing a full meal.

[where: 45202] best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

Holiday Pies

Who doesn't love a good pie around the holidays, or anytime?
We all do, and everyone has that favorite pie they love to make, me included. I have an apple cider pie recipe I've been using for years but I've gotten a little burned out on it, plus I never learned how to make a crust from scratch.
Enter Tablespoon Cooking Co.'s Holiday Pie Class. They held a special class recently at New Riff and we'd be cooking a Bourbon Caramel Apple Pie. Just thinking about it hard my mouth watering. The pie class is the third cooking class I've attended. They make for an awesome date night, new real-world tricks and techniques are learned and everyone has a good time.
My big take away is that crusts aren't as hard as I thought they would be, they take time, but there wasn't any magic involved.
You should definitely check out one of their many classes, each one covers one or more skills necessary to more proficiently cook at home.

[where: 45202] best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

This is half about a bar, and half about a streetcar.

Saturday was full of hitting events in OTR and shopping at Findlay Market and Vine St. So naturally it included riding the wildly successful streetcar from downtown and all over OTR. After our last stop, we walked to the Washington Park streetcar stop at 12th and Race and the sign said it would be arriving in 11 minutes.
Let's walk to the corner and check out Cobblestone, I suggested, it just opened. When we got to the corner Ms. 5chw4r7z thought we might as well go in and get a drink. We ordered, got our drinks and I told the bartender the bar looked amazing.
Thanks, he said, and check this, when that streetcar light turns blue the streetcar is six minutes away from the Washington Park stop.
What?? That is amazing. And then I started thinking back about all the talk when the streetcar was first proposed and this was one of the promises. Businesses would have LED signs to let patrons know when it was close. I'm surprised more places haven't done it. I can think of a number right off the top of my head that would benefit. Sundry & Vice and Corkopolis come to mind.
As we got close to the bottom of our drinks we started milking them until the like turned blue, we downed our drinks, strolled out and got on the streetcar and headed home.

[where: 45202] best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

Will a W. 4th St revival stick this time?

Way back in the mid-aughts, 2005-6 a group of business owners were formulating ambitious plans to launch what they were calling the Soapbox District. In the southwest corner of downtown featuring W. 4th the plans including reverting Plum St to two way traffic and using the extra space from eliminated lanes for a small pocket park. Remember the proposed restaurant Boss Cox? They even worked with a local brewer on their own branded beer.
Then the recession hit.
Fast forward 10 years and years of businesses coming and going, the Loring Group has waded into the neighborhood to try and turn the street's fortunes. The Loring Group now controls six properties including 300 apartments and almost a whole blocks worth of street-level retail. They are using the formula that has worked so well for 3CDC, rather than a business here and there, they want to develop a whole block at once.
W. 4th has a lot going for it, the historic buildings are beautiful. Soon the 4th and Race project will begin and a possible hotel at 4th and Plum will bring more foot traffic than the area has seen in years.
If you don't visit the area regularly then you'd be surprised at all the activity. Buildings are getting the attention they haven't in years, fresh paint and mortar joints repaired. They've already made a big difference on the street. It's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out, The Loring Group definitely isn't shy about employing some cheesy promotions for their property.

[where: 45202] best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

The Downtown Tour of Living

I haven't been on one of these downtown home tours for years but a bunch of new apartment and condos have come online lately and well, I'm as nosy as anyone about how other people are living.
The one big take away? Dogs! Almost every single apartment building had a dedicated pet area and a couple of them had dog baths.
Two of the new places have small pools and they all had incredible community spaces.
My favorites were Seven at Broadway, ENCORE Urban Living, and Eight One Three Broadway. The first two had mind-blowing views and Eight One Three had some interesting spaces.
There has never been a better time to live downtown!
Seven at Broadway, they had a really cool simulation that was used to zoom in and out and around the four properties they manage. Seven at Broadway if you don't know is the one built on top of a parking garage on the eastern edge of downtown.