Cincinnati confessions
Twenty-four years ago, Marilyn and I moved to eastern North Carolina from Cincinnati with a nine month-old baby. After heading back for one last load of furniture, we had not been back in all those years.
Last week, we took off for four days, with that baby who has grown up, and her sister. Marilyn and I went back to what had been home for these newlyweds for five years.
One reason we had not been back was we didn’t really have close friends in Cincy. One couple we really liked, our next-door neighbors, went through a divorce, and we stayed in contact with the wife, but over the years, we lost contact with her.
That last load of furniture was another reason. It was a long road, by myself, with my wife and daughter back home. I drove there, stayed the night with the neighbor, got up the next day, probably packed until noon, and headed out. I think it was a 12-hour trip, and being tired from packing didn’t help, so by the time I made it to the new home around midnight, I was frazzled. Memories of the trip lingered.
Last summer I went with a couple of other guys to Purdue University, just north of Indianapolis. We made the trip in a day, and I was pleasantly surprised how quickly we made it to Cincinnati. The roads are greatly improved.
Wednesday morning we set out about 7:30 a.m., and we had no problems at all on the way. Mapquest sent us down some roads off the interstates in Ohio, but as I trust Mapquest, I stayed on their plotted route. Marilyn gave me a break in the middle from driving, and we had no real traffic congestion the whole way. There was about a twenty mile stretch of two lane road, but few cars along the way.
We arrived not too tired around 6 p.m., and missing the rush hour traffic of the city. We checked into our Holiday Inn, and went for one of the important parts of our trip, maybe a quarter mile down the road. We had five ways and a cheese coneys at Skyline Chili. Cincinnati chili is unique, unduplicated as I understand. The five way (Marilyn help me) is spaghetti, chili, red kidney beans, onions, and cheese with a side of oyster crackers. The actual chili is closest to what we call hot dog chili, a ground beef with a gravy or sauce, with a touch of sweetness. Cheese coneys are hot dogs, with Cincinnati chili and a mountain of grated cheese.
This was a newer section of Cincinnati that we were unfamiliar with, but regional shopping centers have sprung up all over the city, with Skyline and other chain stores. If you go to Cincy, you won’t have any trouble finding a Skyline or Gold Star Chili, their competitor.
(Marilyn and I relished the taste of our past, but our girls were scratching their heads about what we thought was so special.)
I had gone online before we left and bought Cincinnati Reds tickets, for an afternoon game Thursday, against the St. Louis Cardinals. As the series was for the lead in the National League Central Division, it was very significant, and we saw several fans at the hotel and on the street decked out in their St. Louis garb.
After dinner Wednesday, I went downstairs to the van to listen to the radio broadcast, as I had listened to so many when we lived there. Marty Brennamen is still the main broadcaster. In a very exciting game, the Reds got a homer in the bottom of the ninth to win, and I got to hear Marty’s famous “And this one belongs to the Reds.” That helped make the visit special to me. (The Reds were probably a lot of what this trip was about for me, and the girls all seemed to enjoy it, but not as much as me.)
Thursday we left around 9 a.m. for downtown, to do some shopping and get a bite of breakfast. There are a series of downtown stores connected by skywalks, and indoor malls.
We went to the “I Love Cincinnati” store, with loads of souvenirs, photos, etc. There are a number of parking garages downtown, but many had filled with the afternoon game, even though we were getting there what we thought was early. We parked two blocks from the shopping, and the ballpark is just five more blocks away. (It looks like they are putting in parking at the ballpark.)
We picked up Reds T-shirts at stores at the local mall the night before, and got hats from a street vendor outside the ballpark. If you are tight with a buck, I recommend that.
It was $1 hot dog day at the ballpark, so we got a couple of dogs apiece. And they were great hot dogs, not dried up or shriveled, but healthy sized, hot and just right. We topped it off with an ice cream cone about the sixth inning. Drinks and other food was not a bargain, but what do you expect. It was a perfect day to watch a game, too.
I wish I could say it was a great game, and if the Reds had won it would have been, but it was competitive, though Cincy’s offense was off that day. The new Great American Ballpark is beautiful with lots of style, and it offers that close to the field feeling.
That night we tried to take the girls to a nice restaurant we had gone to when we lived there, but it had changed hands for the third time in two years, and we didn’t have the guts to give the new owners a shot. There was another restaurant, a very nice restaurant, just across the street from the aformentioned Rookwood Pottery, The Celestial. It’s on Mt. Adams, very near downtown and the Ohio River. We got there about 7, actually a little early to enjoy the very impressive view of the lights of the city, but the food was outstanding. (The girls were impressed by the prices and said they said it was probably their best dinner ever. There was a $64 entree on the menu, which Kelly joked about. I told her that was for four.) It may have been my most expensive meal, too.
Friday we visited places where we had lived and worked. Marilyn worked for most of the time we were there in the Crosley Building, where Crosley refrigerators had been built many years before. The newspaper company she knew had moved out not too many years after we left, and today the ten story building stands vacant, with broken windows. It was a sad sight. The big GE plant is still going strong, apparently.
We went north to Fairfield, where we had lived for a couple of years and I had worked for a weekly newspaper, to Hamilton where I worked for the daily newspaper, and to West Chester, where we built a house. There were a few familiar landmarks, an old high school that is now a middle school and the GM Fisher Body plant now closed and partially reopened to a renter or two. Where some familiar stores were, other stores have gone in, and some have closed. There was a lot of new construction in areas I’m sure were undeveloped. Some of the older row houses had Mexican stores near. Not unlike when we were there, there were apparently still many German, Italian, Irish and Polish families in the area.
As you probably understand, food is important to us, and we stopped at another important landmark food place, Chester’s Pizza in Hamilton. They had four locations at one time, but now just the one survives, as good as ever. It is take out only, so we ate in the van, but it was evident, with so many other businesses coming and going, why they had lasted over fifty years.
The new development where we had built our home has matured. I suspect the average age of the homeowners may be 20 years higher, though there was a basketball goal outside our home. I told Marilyn, and I believe it, that we would not recognize the inside of our home. Though the house number directed us, the outside was hard to recognize.
Someone said you can never go home again. This didn’t look or feel like home, it was in so many ways unfamiliar.
We found the hospital where Ashley was born, went in Union Terminal, home to the city’s museum district, and tried to go by, as we were driving near, the world famous zoo, signs misdirected and we could not find it.
Saturday we visited the Serpent Mound, a famous archeology site, about a thousand years old, chronicling native Americans from that time. Kelly is an archeology student, so it was important to her, and if you like this sort of thing, it’s probably worth a side trip. Then we headed home to help get out this paper.
Cincinnati has great restaurants, and many attractions including Kings Island amusement park and something called the Purple People Mover Bridge Climb we talked about, and the now very hot Cincinnati Bengals NFL team, as well as the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, and much more.
If you have roots there, and I think we could claim some, it is a meaningful place. Even if you don’t, Cincinnati has a rich history, great diversity of cultures, wonderful entertainment opportunities, and did I mention great food!
Last week, we took off for four days, with that baby who has grown up, and her sister. Marilyn and I went back to what had been home for these newlyweds for five years.
One reason we had not been back was we didn’t really have close friends in Cincy. One couple we really liked, our next-door neighbors, went through a divorce, and we stayed in contact with the wife, but over the years, we lost contact with her.
That last load of furniture was another reason. It was a long road, by myself, with my wife and daughter back home. I drove there, stayed the night with the neighbor, got up the next day, probably packed until noon, and headed out. I think it was a 12-hour trip, and being tired from packing didn’t help, so by the time I made it to the new home around midnight, I was frazzled. Memories of the trip lingered.
Last summer I went with a couple of other guys to Purdue University, just north of Indianapolis. We made the trip in a day, and I was pleasantly surprised how quickly we made it to Cincinnati. The roads are greatly improved.
Wednesday morning we set out about 7:30 a.m., and we had no problems at all on the way. Mapquest sent us down some roads off the interstates in Ohio, but as I trust Mapquest, I stayed on their plotted route. Marilyn gave me a break in the middle from driving, and we had no real traffic congestion the whole way. There was about a twenty mile stretch of two lane road, but few cars along the way.
We arrived not too tired around 6 p.m., and missing the rush hour traffic of the city. We checked into our Holiday Inn, and went for one of the important parts of our trip, maybe a quarter mile down the road. We had five ways and a cheese coneys at Skyline Chili. Cincinnati chili is unique, unduplicated as I understand. The five way (Marilyn help me) is spaghetti, chili, red kidney beans, onions, and cheese with a side of oyster crackers. The actual chili is closest to what we call hot dog chili, a ground beef with a gravy or sauce, with a touch of sweetness. Cheese coneys are hot dogs, with Cincinnati chili and a mountain of grated cheese.
This was a newer section of Cincinnati that we were unfamiliar with, but regional shopping centers have sprung up all over the city, with Skyline and other chain stores. If you go to Cincy, you won’t have any trouble finding a Skyline or Gold Star Chili, their competitor.
(Marilyn and I relished the taste of our past, but our girls were scratching their heads about what we thought was so special.)
I had gone online before we left and bought Cincinnati Reds tickets, for an afternoon game Thursday, against the St. Louis Cardinals. As the series was for the lead in the National League Central Division, it was very significant, and we saw several fans at the hotel and on the street decked out in their St. Louis garb.
After dinner Wednesday, I went downstairs to the van to listen to the radio broadcast, as I had listened to so many when we lived there. Marty Brennamen is still the main broadcaster. In a very exciting game, the Reds got a homer in the bottom of the ninth to win, and I got to hear Marty’s famous “And this one belongs to the Reds.” That helped make the visit special to me. (The Reds were probably a lot of what this trip was about for me, and the girls all seemed to enjoy it, but not as much as me.)
Thursday we left around 9 a.m. for downtown, to do some shopping and get a bite of breakfast. There are a series of downtown stores connected by skywalks, and indoor malls.
We went to the “I Love Cincinnati” store, with loads of souvenirs, photos, etc. There are a number of parking garages downtown, but many had filled with the afternoon game, even though we were getting there what we thought was early. We parked two blocks from the shopping, and the ballpark is just five more blocks away. (It looks like they are putting in parking at the ballpark.)
We picked up Reds T-shirts at stores at the local mall the night before, and got hats from a street vendor outside the ballpark. If you are tight with a buck, I recommend that.
It was $1 hot dog day at the ballpark, so we got a couple of dogs apiece. And they were great hot dogs, not dried up or shriveled, but healthy sized, hot and just right. We topped it off with an ice cream cone about the sixth inning. Drinks and other food was not a bargain, but what do you expect. It was a perfect day to watch a game, too.
I wish I could say it was a great game, and if the Reds had won it would have been, but it was competitive, though Cincy’s offense was off that day. The new Great American Ballpark is beautiful with lots of style, and it offers that close to the field feeling.
That night we tried to take the girls to a nice restaurant we had gone to when we lived there, but it had changed hands for the third time in two years, and we didn’t have the guts to give the new owners a shot. There was another restaurant, a very nice restaurant, just across the street from the aformentioned Rookwood Pottery, The Celestial. It’s on Mt. Adams, very near downtown and the Ohio River. We got there about 7, actually a little early to enjoy the very impressive view of the lights of the city, but the food was outstanding. (The girls were impressed by the prices and said they said it was probably their best dinner ever. There was a $64 entree on the menu, which Kelly joked about. I told her that was for four.) It may have been my most expensive meal, too.
Friday we visited places where we had lived and worked. Marilyn worked for most of the time we were there in the Crosley Building, where Crosley refrigerators had been built many years before. The newspaper company she knew had moved out not too many years after we left, and today the ten story building stands vacant, with broken windows. It was a sad sight. The big GE plant is still going strong, apparently.
We went north to Fairfield, where we had lived for a couple of years and I had worked for a weekly newspaper, to Hamilton where I worked for the daily newspaper, and to West Chester, where we built a house. There were a few familiar landmarks, an old high school that is now a middle school and the GM Fisher Body plant now closed and partially reopened to a renter or two. Where some familiar stores were, other stores have gone in, and some have closed. There was a lot of new construction in areas I’m sure were undeveloped. Some of the older row houses had Mexican stores near. Not unlike when we were there, there were apparently still many German, Italian, Irish and Polish families in the area.
As you probably understand, food is important to us, and we stopped at another important landmark food place, Chester’s Pizza in Hamilton. They had four locations at one time, but now just the one survives, as good as ever. It is take out only, so we ate in the van, but it was evident, with so many other businesses coming and going, why they had lasted over fifty years.
The new development where we had built our home has matured. I suspect the average age of the homeowners may be 20 years higher, though there was a basketball goal outside our home. I told Marilyn, and I believe it, that we would not recognize the inside of our home. Though the house number directed us, the outside was hard to recognize.
Someone said you can never go home again. This didn’t look or feel like home, it was in so many ways unfamiliar.
We found the hospital where Ashley was born, went in Union Terminal, home to the city’s museum district, and tried to go by, as we were driving near, the world famous zoo, signs misdirected and we could not find it.
Saturday we visited the Serpent Mound, a famous archeology site, about a thousand years old, chronicling native Americans from that time. Kelly is an archeology student, so it was important to her, and if you like this sort of thing, it’s probably worth a side trip. Then we headed home to help get out this paper.
Cincinnati has great restaurants, and many attractions including Kings Island amusement park and something called the Purple People Mover Bridge Climb we talked about, and the now very hot Cincinnati Bengals NFL team, as well as the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, and much more.
If you have roots there, and I think we could claim some, it is a meaningful place. Even if you don’t, Cincinnati has a rich history, great diversity of cultures, wonderful entertainment opportunities, and did I mention great food!
posted by Barry | 7:36 AM
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