Taken on a foggy day in Over-the-Rhine from my balcony of my parent's building:
Music Hall
The Art Museum up on the hill
The Cincinnati Museum Center in the old Union Terminal
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Over-the-Rhine
While largely thought of as "The Ghetto," Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, OH is one of hippest up-and-coming neighborhoods in the city, and one in which often people of all ethnicities and economic categories intermingle with little conflict. It is often overlooked a being part of "Downtown," which to many in Cincinnati means the area around the University of Cincinnati. This neighborhood is NOT, in fact, Downtown at all. But even the true Downtowners forget about the architectural jackpot that is Over-the-Rhine, the grids of brick and mortar and hidden statues and sculptural geniuses left to revive and advertise themselves. The funkiest restaurants, the most new-age stores mix with a Kroger that needs the full-time employ of an entire police force just to keep the tenuous peace. A jazz bar hidden in the basement of an old corner building that looks more like a crack house than a classy jazz club. Terribly atmospheric and dangerously romantic.
Taken on a foggy day in Over-the-Rhine from my balcony of my parent's building:
Music Hall
The Art Museum up on the hill
The Cincinnati Museum Center in the old Union Terminal
The rest are of Over-the-Rhine in general:
Taken on a foggy day in Over-the-Rhine from my balcony of my parent's building:
Music HallThe Art Museum up on the hillThe Cincinnati Museum Center in the old Union Terminal
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Love, love, love these photos. And appreciate the facts and sentiment of your commentary.Over-the-Rhine just gets better and better.
Kat,
Very nice photos. I would like to point out, however, most people don't view downtown in Cincinnati as near UC. Downtown is the Central Business District (where all the skyscrapers are), just south of OTR. While Over-the-Rhine is right next door, you are right that it is definitely it's own neighborhood. If and when the street car happens, all three of these neighborhoods will be linked up. Schwartz's Point to me doesn't look like a crack house either, but something picked straight up out of Bavaria! Just my two cents.
OK when I say "most people" I suppose I mean "Most people I know" and "most people I know" don't think of the Downtown Business District at all when they think of Downtown Cincinnati. I know that UC is NOT near Downtown, but when asked, most of the people I know from Cincy think that UC IS Downtown. "Yeah, I live near the University in Downtown." Because for so long, nobody ever lived or really went to Downtown, few people in Cincinnati think of the skyscrapers at all, as if the Central Business District was part of Kentucky, not Cincinnati. The recent Downtown revival is doing something to change that and hopefully will continue.
I also love what the revival is doing to OTR and up Vine Street, but I would certainly have to argue that Schwartz' Point does not look like something from Bavaria, though if you had to make an Old World comparison, it could look like some of the more seedy sections of Leipzig. The architecture itself is quite beautiful and unique, but that is not to what the "crack house" comment was referring. The building is in horrible condition, falling apart and crumbling, the doors and windows are boarded up, and the locals take it upon themselves to graffiti the crap out of it on special occasions. Hence, the dodgy aspects of the building (comparatively, there was very little about Bavarian neighborhoods I found dodgy). As I understand it, the owner has been asked to fix it up and refuses, saying (rightly so, he'll have no argument from me!) that it adds to the atmosphere.
In reference to Schwartz Point, before finding out it was an operating anything, I fell in love with the building. It's absolutely fantastic. I do admit that I've never actually been there aside from driving by, but I have heard good things.
I love its speakeasy history, and the owner's resistance to liquor licenses.
Over-the-Rhine is a magical section of the city. It offers a peak into history and everything Cincy could've been.
Just a point. Schwarz's does have a liquor license and has a bawdy and fun bartender.
He does now true, but if you check out this blog post he apparently didn't for awhile http://www.citykin.com/2008/09/schwartz-point-jazz-returns.html
I also remember a CiN Weekly or City Beat article that's no longer online saying he didn't have a license until the 90s.
Post a Comment