My Ode to Cincinnati: an All-American City

Cincinnati Landmarks' Music Hall and Union Terminal overlooking Over-the-Rhine 

This post is going to stray away from my thoughts on policy and instead center on a place I called home for eight months: Cincinnati, Ohio. Recently, Cincinnati placed #8 on a list of 52 places you should visit in 2018 by the New York Times. To be honest, my first immediate thought was why? Not that I hated my time in the Queen City, but at first glance, it isn't a place people want to visit. In fact, Vox recently published an opinion piece describing why the federal government should decentralize unpolitical government agencies from D.C. to Rust Belt cities like Cleveland, Detroit, and Cincinnati. For the past seventy years, people have been leaving these Midwest cities as each of the cities have seen significant population loss while D.C. struggles to cope with the increased demand for land and better infrastructure.

Growing up in Atlanta, my knowledge of Cincinnati was as a place up north where my friends' grandparents lived. I couldn't have even told you if it was in Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Indiana, I just knew a lot of my friends' parents had grown up there. When I figured out I wanted to study city planning in college, my studies pulled me to a program at the University of Cincinnati.

View of Cincinnati from I-71 North

On my first trip to Cincinnati, my mom drove me up to Ohio over a long weekend to go college touring. I vividly remember my first memory of Cincinnati because after seven hours of driving, we swung around a curve on I-71 North, and the entirety of Cincinnati appeared before us. Its an image that forever sits in your head because of its suddenness. Every Cincinnatian knows this curve because it offers a magnificent view before descending upon one of the most dangerous bridges in America. Where the interstate crosses the Ohio River, the bridge that connects the suburbs of Northern Kentucky to Downtown Cincinnati is literally falling into disrepair.

Dee Felice Cafe in Covington

Later that weekend, I remember searching for a place to eat in Covington, Kentucky (the town across the river from Cincinnati). My mom and I wandered through this beautiful but quiet town unbeknownst to us for its reputation with crime. Eventually, we found a small Cajun restaurant that was filled to the brim with people sitting on a quiet street corner. Inside it was like a party with all the tables filled, the bar packed, and a jazz band playing live on a stage behind the bar. It was one of the best dinners we had ever had, not necessarily for the food but because of the atmosphere and convivial mood. When we walked back outside, the quiet was overpowering compared to the party we had found.

While at college there, I remember being able to explore each of the city's unique neighborhoods. Every place was special. Whether the neighborhood was either emptied out, riddled with crime, or too affluent to afford, every neighborhood had a special story and history it seemed to me. I still remember each one not always because of their beauty or blight but because of the memories I made in these places.

Skyline in Clifton, my favorite Cincinnati neighborhood

Cold nights in Cincinnati called for a late night trip to Skyline Chili, famous for its three-way of spaghetti, Cincinnati chili, and cheese. Warm nights called for a voyage to Putz's or Zip Dip to grab a soft serve and enjoy a breezy sunset. Long nights called for morning runs to United Dairy Farmers for a bag of Grippo's, doughnuts, and a UDF milkshake. Everything revolved around the city and its people's businesses.       

Cincinnati and its people are really all-American. The city founded the most American thing of all (in my opinion): a professional baseball team. Their meal of choice is chili.  Most families have lived in Cincy for multiple generations. They have so many Cincinnati-only traditions: brunches at Frisch's, pizza from LaRosa's, beers from Rhinegeist, snacking from Grippo's chips. Opening day for baseball is a city-wide holiday practically, Labor Day calls for second largest firework display in the US, and any day is a good day to try a new bar there. The people of Cincinnati, they too thrive in my eyes as being the all-American type. Most people come from working class backgrounds, wear Bengal orange on Sunday to church, shop at Kroger (also a Cincinnati name), and raise children to do the same.

Compared to my glossy childhood in an nameless suburb of a Sunbelt city, Cincinnati always seemed more real, more gritty to me. By no means is it perfect, but I found people from Cincinnati had more of a reason to defend their home than people from other places had. It was once the fastest growing city in America. Walking around downtown Cincinnati feels like you've stepped back in time to downtown Manhattan circa 1920. You can still picture the inclines and streetcars gliding past untouched row homes from the 1890's. Its parks are beautiful and plentiful albeit often empty. They're so many stunning views around the town (there are seven hills actually). When I went on runs and walks around town, I often pictured the city in its heyday, completely full and bursting with people and life.

Dixie Hall in Downtown Cincinnati- an old public streetcar terminal reused as a private business center

As the Vox article points out, Cincinnati has room to grow because it was built for a city of a half million more people. It has the infrastructure, arts, and culture to accommodate more people, yet the city is just now beginning to grow again. While my fellow Cincinnatians would fight against the labels of being solely Midwestern, a Rustbelt town, and a dying city, the rest of the country sees this image. When east-coasters and west-coasters hear of Cincinnati, their mind obscures to a cold, gray city filled with old factories and abandoned homes. At least that's what my mind once did and what the Vox authors seem to imagine too.

Yet here come's the New York Times saying its 8th on their list of places to visit this year. While we could deride the Times as fake news, I chose to consider why Cincinnati should be visited and the more I think about, the more I miss Cincinnati and all its quirky institutions, its empowered people, its special places.

The Cincinnati's Reds stadium is even called Great American Ball Park

So to Cincinnati, America's Queen City: please stay you, stay true to what makes Cincinnati unique. It doesn't have all the glitz and glam of newer cities. Cincinnati is a dressed down American city. Its tough, its had it share in hardship, and at its core, I imagine America's core values lie.