Run 52: Northside

The past few times we’ve been to Northside, it has been to eat tacos. My personal favorite is Django, but there is also Tacocracy, and Barrio. 

And Taco Bell.  But I wouldn’t drive all the way to Northside for that.

This morning’s trip to Northside was a bit healthier.  We started our run from the Comet, where we listen to bluegrass on Sunday evenings about once year. I would like to go more often, but my Sunday evenings are typically reserved for an episode of Tia and Tamera, a square of dark chocolate, and a half-glass of red wine.  
 

 

So we ran down Hamilton, past some of the beautiful old buildings.  This  first house always reminds me of a place I saw once in Tucson, Arizona:  

 

 

 

 

Look at the carvings on this old Cincinnati Bell building.  Anyone know what this building is today?

In the business strip on Hamilton we ran past a few of our other favorite Northside destinations, including vegetarian-friendly Melt, the Northside Tavern, and Take the Cake. 

Cincinnati Magazine featured Picnic and Pantry in their story on the best neighborhood shops, but I have yet to visit. 

I love this little sunburst storefront between the carryout and an appliance store:

Next, Donnie took a quick loop around the Jacob Hoffner Park before we turned down Blue Rock to get a close up of the American Can Factory, which is an old factory repurposed into modern and energy-efficient loft apartments.

 

 

 

From there, we hopped onto the peaceful Millcreek GreenwayTrail, which picks runs along the Millcreek and ends at Salway Park, across from Spring Grove Cemetery. 

 

 

 

This trail is amazing—flat and scenic, sunny, just wide enough.  A nod to industry on one side and nature on the other.  It sort of reminded me of the Monon in Indianapolis.  If I lived in Northside this would definitely be on my daily route.  We did our Northside run on Labor Day morning and lots of runners, bikers, and dog walkers were out enjoying their day off.

 

One of my favorite sites on the trail was seeing where Captain Tom parks all of his ice cream trucks.  A few summers ago, I would constantly hear “Do Your Ears Hang Low” tinkling from his trucks.  All.  Day.  Long.  I would hear it from my office window all day at work and then I would come home and hear it all evening.  I eventually wrote him an email asking him to turn it down or find another song.

Starting an email with “Dear Captain Tom” was not one of my finest moments, but it was making me insane.

Leaving the trail, we looped around on Spring Grove Avenue, past the old Liberty Tire building and the Northside sign nearby:

 

Nearby, is the amazing organization Visionaries + Voices, which houses studio and exhibition space for artists with disabilities:

 

Before heading back to the Comet, we made a loop around the residential blocks at Chase, Pitts, and Pullan.  These blocks have some of my favorite qualities in a residential neighborhood: colorful houses on narrow lots close to the street, big ash trees growing between the street and the sidewalk, people walking holding cups of coffee.  Subarus in the driveways.

 

 

 

There is so much to like about Northside.  It is known for being progressive, creative, and diverse; for having active and engaged residents; and for its successful small businesses.  It's known for its Fourth of July parade, its tacos, and its bluegrass music on Sunday nights.  And for being a really great place to run.

 

View the full route with mile markers here:  http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=525319

 

 

-K.

Run 52: Millvale

Mill: A building equipped with machinery for grinding grain into flour.

Vale: A valley, often coursed by a stream.
 

Millvale is a small West Side community, the Millcreek and its industry to the east of the neighborhood and a pretty hill with a forest of trees to the west. 

We started our route by meeting up with Emily at the corner of Beekman and the Hopple Street Viaduct.  This was the third time we drove to a Run 52 in the pouring rain (East End, Hartwell).  Each time, we’ve been lucky that the rain has stopped just as we got out of the car to start the route.  I actually really like running in the rain (it’s like running and swimming at the same time!) but for the sake of my camera phone I was grateful for the drier conditions. Here was our lineup of runners:

The Running Pro:

The Yoga Pro:

The Squirt:

(Maybe it’s just the angle at which a taller person took this photo, or maybe it’s my giant hat, but I appear very short here. Shorter than I actually am. Right?)

Much of the neighborhood is made of up Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority townhouses, but there are also single family homes and businesses along Beekman Avenue.  First, we ran down Beekman past the factories and warehouses that line the Millcreek:

We made a loop through the housing development, with its colorful homes and green lawns. The back row of townhouses backs up to the woods, which must provide a pleasant view.

The townhomes are conveniently adjacent to Ethel M. Taylor Academy and the Millvale Recreation Center.  

The Rec Center, housed in a cool modernist building, has an impressive collection of murals, a big swimming pool, and a patio garden:   

Doesn’t this dog on the chain-link fence art look like our Zola Budd?

 

At the end of our run, we ran back and forth across the Hopple Street Viaduct, which overlooks the Millcreek, its factories, and its busy rail yard:

We also got this shot of one of the hundreds of billboards trying to lure Ohioans to vacation in Northern Michigan.  Here are Donnie and I saying, “Been there, done that, Billboard!”:

For proof, see photo above re: Zola Budd.

Three last points.  First, Millvale is not to be confused with rural Millville, where I sold ice cream out of a window at the tender age of fourteen. The ice cream shop was across the street from a store that sold hard candies and cowboy hats.  Not sure why that detail is relevant or interesting, but there you have it.

Second, it was quite chilly for late July.  Although admittedly, maybe it was not quite cold enough to warrant the windbreakers and sweatshirts we were wearing. 

Most importantly, Millvale marks the half-way point of the Run 52 challenge.  Twenty-six down, twenty-six to go!  

-K.