"Live to Skate, Skate to Live"
This past Saturday the Cincinnati Rollergirls opened their fifth season at the legendary Cincinnati Gardens.
The Invasion of Spring, The Invasion of Shepard Fairey
Right before I started typing this I was outside where the temperature had dropped to 37 degrees and rain was coming down like a monsoon, meanwhile Channel 5 just warned me that a "light dusting of snow" is possible tomorrow. However, last week it was 70 degrees and Sawyer Point was packed with people enjoying the beautiful spring weather right as the river crested just below flood stage. Spring's invasion of Cincinnati had begun.
Back From the Future
Close to a year ago I came across a thread on UrbanOhio.com which featured some photographs of Cincinnati from 1987. The thread was nearly two years old at the time and I wasn't sure if the user who posted them was still active on the message board, but I knew I needed to contact him. Why? Because I had a project in mind.
23 days, 560 hours and 33,601 minutes until Reds Opening Day 2010
...at least that's how long it was from the time I started writing this post.
Cincinnati's Subway
It was a good thing we were packing. We had our high powered flashlights and then some extras. It was pretty dark as we stepped onto the station platform. It seemed almost as if the power had gone out or if there weren't any lights installed at all. We traded jokes and conversation as we waited for our train. Cincinnati isn't really known for its subways. The stations are dark, cold and covered in dust and frankly the service is terrible. We waited on the platform for forever and not one single train ever came.
An Afternoon in the Rust Belt
Unlike upriver sister city, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati wasn't a center of America's steel production and doesn't really fit into the geographical region known as the "Rust Belt." However, the Queen City certainly has its share of shuttered and forgotten factories, former centers of industry and manufacturing. One of the most historical, and often documented, of these locations is the former Crosley Radio Factory.
The Clyffside and Kauffman Breweries
Steve had been kind enough to invite us along for more secret tunnels and forgotten breweries. A couple weeks ago he let me tag along while he and a group of volunteers worked on preparing the former Crown Brewery for this years Prohibition Resistance Tour. This week, Seicer and I were meeting up with him and his crew outside the former Clyffside Brewery in the heart of Over-The-Rhine.
How Things Came to Be - Part 2: The Ballad of Ben, The Birth of Queen City Disco(very)
Part 2 of QC/D's Urban Exploration origin story.
How Things Came to Be - Part 1: Valentines Day 2006, Surf Cincinnati
Part 1 in QC/D's urban exploration origin story.
The Cincinnati North Hotel
"Awful Hotel. Stayed here two nights on a business trip. The hotel was horrible! It was dirty, old, broken down, and the shower was moldy! Will not return!!"
Those comments echoed so many other negative ones in the online review section of a hotel that had a "100% Do not recommend" rating on "TripAdvisor.com." I couldn't tell you from personal experience as that cold winter evening when Venkman, Lance Delune and myself ventured to the Cincinnati North Hotel was the first night I ever spent in the place. My only other memories were vague childhood thoughts of a ten-story hotel that is now a modern ruin towering over the Cincinnati suburb of Springdale, Ohio.
The Schmidt Brothers/Crown Brewery
Not many people realize the proud beer brewing tradition that once dominated Cincinnati. Over The Rhine not only received its name from its large German population, but those same immigrants brought along their taste for good beer.
Forgotten Cincinnati Part 2: Talking about Trespassing on TV and Final Friday.
The day before it was cold, but beautiful. I got let out of class early, the sun was shining and the river was near flood stage so I grabbed the camera and went down to sawyer point to snap some photos and go for a jog.
Selling Out For Our Fifteen Minutes of Fame
After the Enquirer did a really cool piece on the adventures of myself and my friend Dr. Venkman, we started getting a lot of attention. The article got picked up on the wire and even made it into online and print editions of USA Today, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Boston Herald, The Dayton Daily News and The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (yeah, from THE Fort Wayne, Indiana). Fox 19 contacted us and invited us onto their morning show. Conan O`Brien (who was a million times better than Jay Leno) never approached us to be on the Tonight Show in his final days as host, so we decided we would take Fox 19's offer. So Friday morning gather your kids around the tv and tune into WXIX to hear some stories and see some pictures.
"If I wanted weather like this, I'd move to Seattle..."
I wasn't just pissed that day. I've been pissed the past 15 days (and counting). I can hardly sleep, I keep having these bad dreams and I can't stay focused on the things I need to get done. To top it all off the weather has been cold and pretty crappy, but the river is getting high and leaving the city gritty.
How Minor League Hockey Should Be
Andy MacWilliams is known to tell the story of how in 1977, the front office staff of the Cincinnati Stingers were answering the telephones with: "Cincinnati Stingers - National Hockey League (NHL)," in anticipation of the announcement that would come later in the day, declaring the Cincinnati World Hockey Association (WHA) franchise as part of the WHA's merger deal with the NHL. MacWilliams, the former Stingers radio broadcaster who would later become the voice of the Xavier Musketeers, would be disappointed along with the rest of the front office when they were informed that the merger deal had been voted down by the NHL.
Holy Day of Obligation and Exploration
Venkman and I had just finished up an interview in the abandoned Hopple St. Subway tunnels for a Cincinnati Enquirer article. The sky was bright blue and the sun was shining on a cold, yet beautiful afternoon. "I kind of feel obligated to shoot photos today." I said to Venkman. The weather was too nice and with the holiday break from our respective schools, we had plenty of time on our hands. We agreed to set out in hopes of finding something new. Ironically, on the eve of a Catholic Holy Day of Obligation, we came across an abandoned church.
Redness in the Midwest
Photographs taken during Christmas Break in the southwestern corner of Ohio.
The "Research Division."
It was the holiday break of 2008 when Venkman and I struggled through a maze of dead plant life and stoic tree branches covering the asphalt path that had once been a driveway. Walking right past the empty, crumbling guard shack and into the complex's courtyard, the rare Midwest winter sunlight glimmered off the eerie, metallic lettering on the front of the building which read: Research Division.
The "Greatest Show in Town."
It's not Ringling Brothers and it's not Cirque du Soleil, but it's a Cincinnati tradition that has traversed other mid-western cities and the entire nation since 1906. Usually stopping for three days of shows in the Queen City, the Syrian Shrine Circus has been hosted by both the Cincinnati Gardens and the Schumacher Center on UC's campus over the years, providing a more intimate and unique view into the American three-ring circus tradition that is rarely found today.
"Always Coca Cola"
Standing at the base of a pile of ruble that had once been 1/4 of the Ault & Wiborg Building, one couldn't help but remember the slogan that had been used from 1993-2000 by the soft drink giant who used this building as a billboard for so many years.