The only time I’ll ever cover high school football.
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Sixth Street, Cincinnati:
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Former Macy’s Headquarters now “7 West 7th” residential tower [left] and the former (now empty) Garfield Suites Hotel [right].
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Finneytown High School Football:
My father is from Long Island, NY and didn’t make his way to Cincinnati until the late, latter half of the 1980s. He’s not an alumnus of the local Finneytown High School, but several of his longtime, local friends are.
At some point, they recruited him to their “chain gang” — a group of volunteers who actively assist at the home football games by moving the down markers during play. They’ve been doing this for years, and a few of the guys are actually successors to their own fathers who performed the task before them.
Unlike my Dad, I was actually born upon the hallowed grounds of “Greater-Cincinnati,” but I never had any interest in high school football (even at the school I went to twenty years ago, let alone a random one across town).
Nevertheless, I know enough about football from video games, being a fair-weather Bengals fan, and unironically watching the UFL. So, when the “Finneytown Chain Gang” needed someone to fill in on a Friday night, I was persuaded with the promise of a quintessential Queen City evening.
I left my place and caught Metro’s Route 20 for a slog out of downtown above the remains of the abandoned subway. After nearly an hour of taking in the sights of Winton Rd and its various vape shops, I departed at a strip mall stop beneath gray skies and misting rain. I met my Dad and his buddies at the local brewery, one that had formerly been a bowling alley I’d competed at in high school.
I’ve never been particularly good at bowling, but I’ve long found that sport with its nostalgic buildings, scents of stale cigarettes, and aura of blue-collar beer revelry far more appealing than football. And at one point, I’d accidentally made my high school bowling team. That’s a story for another time, but all this to say: HighGrain’s Brentwood Brewpub is a really wonderful continuation of the building’s ten-pin history. Good beer, good service, and even my cynical self truly appreciated seeing the place fill up with families on an evening in the midst of the Inane Apocalypse.
Yet, dinner would be somewhere else far more traditional: a Skyline chili parlor down the street. One which featured all the usual hallmarks such as steamed-over windows and a staff who knows not just everyone’s name, but also their orders.
There was one aspect of this specific location that spoke to me on a personal level, though: it’d once been a Pizza Hut. And there’s a lot of “used to be a pizza huts” in this world of ours, even locally.
After consuming an obscene amount of chili and cheese, we arrived on the campus of Finneytown High School. Donning an old Kings Island employee jacket and a Cincinnati Stingers hat, I was a hit with many of the locals as I discussed failed NHL bids and recent amusement park accidents between quarters.
Sadly, however, Finneytown lost to a private school cosplaying as a college program and did not get to ring this victory bell:
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Baker’s Pub Too:
Used to be “Tammy’s Airport Inn” of Cincinnati’s East End.
Old Hudepohl 14k can.
Not sure how we ended up on a tour of the historic basement, but we had a blast. Great place.
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Mercantile Building Roof, Cincinnati:
Great American Ballpark quiet as usual in the postseason.
Mercantile Arcade from above.
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“Allium” by Everything Good Studio:
Initially installed for the 2026 edition of Cincinnati’s BLINK festival, I’m told this piece will be sticking around in the Lytle Park fountain until March 2027.
Ran into 5chw4r7z and the Ubran Basin Bicycle Club while shooting this. Realized It’s been fourteen years since we went to see the “Nuclear Cowboyz and Nuclear Stripperz.”
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Have a lot of really interesting stories in the works and am really excited to share them. Back with more stuff soon.
In the meantime, here’s downtown Cincinnati Government Square Area H as seen while walking my dog in the middle of the night:
Since 2007, the content of this website (and its former life as Queen City Discovery) has been a huge labor of love.
If you’ve enjoyed stories like The Ghost Ship, abandoned amusement parks, the Cincinnati Subway, Fading Ads, or others over the years—might you consider showing some support for future projects?
