Your city's most densely populated neighborhoods are...?

[ColDayMan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

...I always found the downtown core to be extremely generic (I go there for work a few times a year, and find the CBD to be pleasant but a total blah)...

I don't understand the relevance of this. 99% of downtowns in this country are "generic" if we're going by minimal shopping, lofts, higher-end restaurants, chains, hotels, blah blah (Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, etc). That doesn't stop the "hipsters" moving in, as they typically don't even go to downtown areas to begin with. Cincinnati, like every other midsized downtown in America, has an abudance of yuppies, new condos, new parks, etc.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

I don't understand the relevance of this. 99% of downtowns in this country are "generic" if we're going by minimal shopping, lofts, higher-end restaurants, chains, hotels, blah blah (Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, etc). That doesn't stop the "hipsters" moving in, as they typically don't even go to downtown areas to begin with. Cincinnati, like every other midsized downtown in America, has an abudance of yuppies, new condos, new parks, etc.

I'll disagree. I would say most U.S. downtowns don't feel generic to me. They may be deeply flawed in various ways, and some may suck, but most have a distinct sense of place. Downtown Miami, or downtown Baltimore, to take two examples, may be extremely flawed, but also don't feel much like generic cities in Middle America. I can't really think of any American downtown that looks exactly like Miami or Baltimore. In Cincy I wake up and have to remind myself whether I'm in Cincy, KC, Indy, Minneapolis or St. Louis.

I stay at the Hilton on the main square in Cincy every few months, and (speaking for the CBD only) it strikes me as utterly generic. Skywalks, chain hotels, chain restaurants, parking lots, blank walls, quiet streets, stadiums, "stadium village". Cincy as a whole seems like it has lots of unique and interesting neighborhoods, but I don't think the downtown offers much that can't be found in any other mid-sized Midwest metro. Obviously I'm just approaching this from a visitors perspective, and with all the attendant biases.

[AviationGuy]

More city vs city from the usual negative SSPers.

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

The neighborhood I showed (Pendleton) is actually the next "frontier" for the hispters. OTR is already hipster; the neighborhoods next to it are where the pioneers are going. When I said that neighborhood had 12 people, I'm not joking. Most of those buildings are underoing rehab and will be occupied within the next couple months.

im not sure how often google does a streetview update but man, every other building in over the rhine looks like its under renovation. is there some city initiative or tax abatement deal to spur growth? also, streetcar?? whoa. i did not know that was in the works. good for cinci. off topic but we used to have a cinci chili place here in portland, those hotdogs were awesome!! id like to try the real thing....carry on.

[chris08876]

Lately google has been doing some recent updates to their google street. Miami for example was updated I believe in August. Parts of NYC in October, and I'm sure many more places.

I do wish or hope that bing updates the 45 degree view (birds eye) because places such as San Francisco, NYC, Miami, and Seattle are going to look very different (certain neighborhoods). Even Honolulu might I add. Often overlooked, but quite dense for a U.S. city.

[ColDayMan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I'll disagree. I would say most U.S. downtowns don't feel generic to me. They may be deeply flawed in various ways, and some may suck, but most have a distinct sense of place. Downtown Miami, or downtown Baltimore, to take two examples, may be extremely flawed, but also don't feel much like generic cities in Middle America. I can't really think of any American downtown that looks exactly like Miami or Baltimore. In Cincy I wake up and have to remind myself whether I'm in Cincy, KC, Indy, Minneapolis or St. Louis.

I stay at the Hilton on the main square in Cincy every few months, and (speaking for the CBD only) it strikes me as utterly generic. Skywalks, chain hotels, chain restaurants, parking lots, blank walls, quiet streets, stadiums, "stadium village". Cincy as a whole seems like it has lots of unique and interesting neighborhoods, but I don't think the downtown offers much that can't be found in any other mid-sized Midwest metro. Obviously I'm just approaching this from a visitors perspective, and with all the attendant biases.

I get the criticism but I disagree with the Baltimore example. Aside from the Inner Harbor (which every city has, to some degree; Cincinnati with The Banks; Cleveland with The Flats; Pittsburgh with Station Square; St. Louis with their Ballpark Village; KC with P+L; etc), I can't think of something "unique" about downtown Baltimore over Cincinnati, St. Louis, or blah blah. Baltimore also is chain restaurants, parking lots, blank walls, quiet streets (which every downtown in America has), stadiums, etc. Downtown Cincinnati, like Baltimore, has endless historic low-rise structures, few parking lots, and lots of one-way tight streets. I mean, if streets like this are "generic" compared to, say, downtown Miami (which again, have all of the latter [and I actually like downtown Miami, for the record]), then I adore generic.



And keep in mind, I'm the type of person who doesn't generally take people downtown on tours as the city has far many more neighborhoods of note to see. Alas, I'm done with this convo (I do hate this whole vs. thing but if I see inaccuracy, you know I'm not afraid to spill the tea).

[ColDayMan]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

im not sure how often google does a streetview update but man, every other building in over the rhine looks like its under renovation. is there some city initiative or tax abatement deal to spur growth? also, streetcar?? whoa. i did not know that was in the works. good for cinci. off topic but we used to have a cinci chili place here in portland, those hotdogs were awesome!! id like to try the real thing....carry on.

I apologize for the Crawford bit. There's only one other Ohioan on this forum left (and that bitch is in Cleveland) and hey, I gotta do what I gotta do. For OTR, there is an organization called 3CDC who handles the majority of OTR's renovations. http://www.3cdc.org/

And yes, the OTR streetcar loop is over and now they are working on the downtown portion.

[pdxtex]

ill check out that link. yeah just from the looks, it seem liked all those renovations seemed pretty organized. im still masterminding my great ohio valley tour so ill see cincinnati sometime for sure. maybe i can be an honorary ohioan. i was born at fairview hospital in cleveland. we lived in bay village for a bit too.

[ColDayMan]

Whenever you're ready to visit, hit me up.