Tag Archives: Columbus

on running

It’s 3:00 PM on a Saturday afternoon.  The sun in shining and I’m outside my apartment waiting on my Garmin watch to acquire a satellite signal.  People are staring at me like I’m that celebrity that was just released from rehab.  It’s 12 degrees F outside.  2 with the windchill.  I think running in the cold is one of the few forms of socially acceptable insanity.

It’s not so bad after the first mile or so.  Really if you have the right equipment and make sure your ears and hands are covered then you don’t really notice the cold.  That is until you trot by a family and the mother pulls her children close to her body in fear and you realize that the look of pain and agony on your face is terrifying.  You’re happy on the inside though right?

Cheers to my fellow runners that share my cold weather pain.  Feel free to follow me on Daily Mile.  I’m more of a deliberate runner (that’s a nice way of saying slow) but I’m always looking for motivation!

Downtown: the cultural center

Downtown is where the action is. That’s what you’d like to think, right?

Ask most of the suburban residents about downtown Columbus and they’d probably say things like “everything closes after 5″, “it’s a ghost town”, “there used to be stuff there”, or “that’s where people work but not much else”.

Wait a minute, where’s the action in Cbus then?

Contrary to popular belief, downtown is (still) the cultural center of Columbus.  Some might say its a little to the north in the hip Short North or in the rich history of German Village just to the south.  Close, but not quite.  The culture is right smack in the middle where it should be.

I live downtown so perhaps I’m a little biased but I had similar views to those above when I lived in Dublin.  Even when I lived in the Short North I would peer down High Street past Nationwide with a little touch of snobbery.  It took moving downtown and exploring the area to realize what I was missing.

It all clicked while I sitting in the Rife Center waiting to watch The Last Smoker in America, a new musical that is testing in Columbus before making its way to the bright lights of New York City.  I was sitting in small theater on a Sunday evening but it was full of people from several different social groups.  We were about to see a musical before it premiered in New York City.  We being the residents of Columbus, OH.  That felt significant.

Besides the Rife Center there is also the Palace Theater and the Southern Theater.  If you want to see a show in Columbus, the odds are good you’re heading downtown. Beyond the theater, there’s the main branch of the Columbus Library on Grant St and the Columbus Museum of Art on Broad St.  There’s the greek revival architecture of the State House.  Don’t forget that Ohio State isn’t the only college in town either.  Downtown is home to Franklin, Columbus State, and CCAD.

Okay, so there’s the arts but what about night life?  Don’t all the restaurants close their doors at 5pm and keep them closed all weekend?  Yes, a lot of smaller delis and lunch spots dedicated to the 9-5 crowd do shutdown once the working day is over.  And yes, downtown does lag behind some of the surrounding neighborhoods when it comes to dining, but things are improving each week.  Downtown has its fair share of fine restaurants and has a growing group of bars thanks to pioneers like Liz Lessner and the gang behind Tip Top and Dirty Frank’s. Don’t forget about the beer either.  Elevator, the best microbrewery in town is located on High St.  If you’re willing to stretch the boundaries just slightly the second best brewery, Barley’s, is located across from the Convention Center in the Arena District.

Downtown lacks the gallery presence of the Short North and it is definitely not a shopping destination.  These areas will only improve as the population grows.  It seems like there is a story every couple months of another gallery closing in the Short North because of they can no longer afford the area or have seen a drop in traffic.  Perhaps some of these gallery owners should consider looking south to the downtown?  There are a handful of them down here already.

Columbus has a vibrant downtown that is not only the working center but also the cultural center.  I only see the cultural side growing as the city grows, the condos get filled, and new developments are started.  Downtown will never be a primarily residential neighborhood like Grandview but that’s not the point.  Downtown will be a mix of urban residents, offices, shops, restaurants, and everything inbetween as it should be.  I’m happy to be a downtown resident.  The next time you’re down take a second look around.  You might be surprised.

Busy Weekend in the C-Bus

It has been about three weeks since I made the move from Dublin to the Short North and ~1100 sq ft to ~650 sq ft.  There have been some set backs in the unpacking as some things fit and others didn’t.  Some furniture choices were good and others were not so good.  Overall though the move has been very positive.  I’ll write more about the ongoing trials and tribulations of moving later.  For now I wanted to provide a few highlights on the transition:

  • my commute is definitely longer, but traffic isn’t bad as I’m going against the grain
  • my monthly expenses have increased mostly due to parking fees but also because of my ever expanding appetite for new restaurants (I used to think I really enjoyed cooking and I still do, but I’ve since discovered I enjoy eating way more)
  • the noise can be bothersome especially when trying to sleep on a weekend night
  • Goodale Park is fantastic
  • Gallery Hop is so much more fun when you don’t have to worry about finding a parking spot
  • random things like the Zombie Walk can be enjoyed without much effort (I didn’t participate but did enjoy watching).

So is a longer commute, higher monthly expenses, and the added noise worth it?  At this point my life, those are indescribably minor compared with everything else downtown living offers.  I see myself being down here for some time to come especially if the rest of the summer continues like this.

Young Professionals – still opportunists

Interesting post over at Indie Columbus regarding what attracts people.  I think it’s an interesting, realistic look at the reason people move.  Economic opportunity is definitely important.  It is certainly what brought me to Columbus.  However, I think it’s the culture, charm, etc that makes someone stay.  You can’t replace those intangibles about a city.  Those factors may not work on everyone, but I think they are certainly vital for the ” young professional, urbanite crowd” that downtown Columbus desires.

When I was living in London, my friend and then-flatmate Manic, who works in IT, once complained that Bristol had far better opportunities than London did for someone in his field. We asked him why he didn’t just move there. He talked about all the arts, culture and entertainment available in London that he wouldn’t be able to find in Bristol. In response, we pointed out to him that most of his leisure time comprised the same few pubs and Indian curry houses and playing Xbox, not London’s great museums or nightclubs. Upon further thought, he corrected himself: “all my family and friends are in London.”

Read the rest.

Giving Columbus a shot

When Sandy and I first moved to Columbus last May we chose to live in Dublin due to its convience to our respective places of work, nice setting, affordable living, and general “niceness.”  We toyed with the idea of living downtown.  It appealed to both us but we did not think it made sense at the time. 

Dublin is textbook suburbia but it  was the logical choice and it was “nice.”  Sometimes there is more to it than just logic though and so, against the advice of many, we’ll make the leap inside 270 this spring and truly experience life in Columbus…

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