Please tell me about Cincinnati

December 19, 2007 4:32 PM

Cincinnati residents, help me find a place to (possibly) live.

I've searched for Cincinnati posts and the last one that was similar to this is a little old and not exactly the same so I'm posting this question. I'm originally from the suburbs of Detroit near Ann Arbor. I've been living in Tokyo for 7 years with a short 6 month period in Chicago. I may be getting a new job in the Cincinnati area and was hoping for some insight on the various neighborhoods.

For anybody that is familiar Detroit, I really like the Ferndale/Royal Oak and Ann Arbor Area. When living in Chicago I was in Rogers Park and enjoyed that area as well. If I could have lived anywhere in Chicago, it probably would have been in Lincoln Park or Bucktown area but I just couldn't afford it at the time.

I've done my best to search for info about the atmosphere of the neighborhoods of Cincinnati, but I was hoping a Cinci MeFite could give give me some of their opinions on their area, or help me get a feel for which areas I may want to look at for housing. Northern Kentucky area is also good. Thanks!

posted by m3thod4 to grab bag (23 comments total)

I'm not familiar with the two neighborhoods you mentioned, but from a quick googling they look to be slightly more progressive in a older environment. If I'm correct, you might want to look in to Clifton, especially the Gaslight District. Many of the University of Cincinnati professors live there. The younger crowds hang out closer to UC in the Corryville area. Hyde Park is also nice, as is downtown itself.

NKY is nice, too. There are some sleepy little towns to the east of the city (Ludlow, Bromley) that seem to be coming back to life. Newport and Covington have seedy areas, like any place, but the closer to the river you are it seems to be a little better.

If you throw a little more out, maybe I can help some more. I grew up in the Tri-State and am living in SC now, but I'm thinking about coming back.
posted by cdmwebs at 4:58 PM on December 19, 2007

I'm originally from outside of Detroit, went to school in AA, and now I live in Cincinnati.

I agree with what cdmwebs says -- clifton, hydepark, certain parts of NKY, maybe also Mt. Lookout. I used to live in NKY, now live east of the city, and wish we'd have considered Clifton more.

Also, send me an email or memail and maybe I can help you with more details, if you share more details (family? single? age? where's the job? how much do you want to spend on housing? car? dogs? need restaurant recommendations? music? how much is safety a concern -- there may be other areas, like Northside, that fit, depending on your details.)
posted by dpx.mfx at 5:32 PM on December 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

I live in Cincinnati in Prospect Hill. I absolutely adore it here, it's super close to downtown, the style of houses are very similar to San Francisco row-houses but offer a backyard. Parking is a goddamn bitch, which sucks during ice-covered streets times, but it's got a great vibe, fantastic locals bar (Miltons, where I will be when the world ends).

I've also lived in East Walnut Hills, which is beautiful and wonderful, if you can get past the sort-sketchiness of the neighborhood. It's really safe (so I found) and neighbors are really friendly if you leave them alone. Parking never an issue.

Clifton is overpriced, but my boyfriend is thinking of buying a house there, so I will swallow my pride and probably move there. Parking also an issue.

Hyde Park is frou-frou and annoying, but Oakley offers a nice nieghborhood vibe with younger crowd and some decent dining/shopping within walking distance.

I'd stay away from the new "lofts" they're hyping over in NKY - overpriced, poorly renovated and too small for the pricetag.

And welcome to Cincinnati. I love it here.
posted by banannafish at 5:53 PM on December 19, 2007

All the Cincinnati residents are coming out for this one. Lots of good suggestions and I'll second dpx.mfx in asking for more details on what you like about those neighborhood and where you will be working.

As I mentioned in the linked to thread, I used to live in around Hyde Park/Oakley and now in Pleasant Ridge. We like it here. It has good neighbors, relatively quick access to the major transportation links and is filled with lots of older homes with large mature trees.

The houses in East Walnut Hills are indeed very pretty and it was one of my favorite sections of the marathon course to run and train through.

Let me also suggestion Mt. Lookout which is adjacent to Hyde Park. Lots of nice places there and the Mt. Lookout square is filled entirely with local businesses and restaurants (there might be a Subway there but if it is, it is very low key).

Also, I guess this is a key question, are you planning buying or renting?
posted by mmascolino at 6:14 PM on December 19, 2007

Oh and I wanted to say that the last manager I had lived right up the street from Miltons and its his absolute most favorite place in the world. I got the impression he was in there every week. He has since moved but still can't stop talking about how great a place it is.
posted by mmascolino at 6:16 PM on December 19, 2007

I live in Covington and absolutely love it. There are very affordable single-family homes within walking distances of great restaurants, a bus that goes to downtown Cincinnati (which is also an easy walk in nice weather.) Newport is great, too. Seedy, bah.
posted by tizzie at 6:21 PM on December 19, 2007

Wow! So many good responses so fast. Thank you all so much.

Ok, to give some more feedback/history. I'm unmarried (but have a girlfriend that may come with me), 29, no family. So I suppose an area with younger people or stuff to do would be nice, but I'm not much of a bar scene type of person. Good restaurants would be great. I love to eat out and try new food so a nice selection of places to eat would be great, but not key. I mostly cook all my food during the week and only eat out on the weekends. Oh! That reminds me, because of that and my exercise habits (more below) a nice supermarket would make me very very happy. I like Whole Foods and those types of places where I can get a good selection of organic/health foods.

Mmascolino, I would love to hear more about running. Are there any trails in the area for cross country type running? I go to the gym a few days a week, and run a lot. I usually run every morning. I would love to live in an area that has some good running or at least if I could get to some nicer areas that would be great. Good gyms would be nice too. I don't have any pets, but am considering getting a dog. I would most likely have a car, so parking is important. I'm kind of used to hard parking as Chicago is pretty insane for winter parking.

From the info I could get, I was thinking the Hyde Park/Oakley area might be my style, but a friend of mine that lives in Lexington mentioned that Newport might be nice. He said it reminded him of Ferndale for those that know Ferndale.

When looking on Cragislist for apartments, I found some good looking places. I really liked the kind of apartment I had in Chicago which was a bit older, brick, high ceiling kind of place. As far as price, that's hard. I graduated college and moved to Japan right away and haven't really had to live and work as an adult in the US yet except for that 6 months in Chicago (which was more like 4 months of actual work). I'm not sure how much to spend. I suppose right now I'm looking for something around 600-800 a month. Naturally, cheaper is better but I would rather pay a bit more for a nicer area.

The job would be in the N KY area. However, I would have to drive no matter where I live and don't mind driving that much. I'm going to put my mail address in my profile so please feel free to contact me. I really appreciate all the info.
posted by m3thod4 at 8:13 PM on December 19, 2007

I grew up in Cincinnati, and only recently moved to New England.

I grew up in Norwood, which is a generally legacy blue-collar neighborhood. Decent neighborhood for most respects, cheaper than most, but not as bad as some of the other areas.

It really does depend on where you will be working to determine the best place. If you will not be working within the city limits of Cincinnati, then it may be a tax advantage to look at not living inside the city limits (which isn't hard there). Some municipalities tax their residents, some will tax their workers.

Just like everyone else, don't hesitate to e-mail me if you have questions about specific areas. I lived in Cincinnati for 30 years.
posted by benjh at 8:15 PM on December 19, 2007

We live in Northside, which has been described as the liberal enclave in a seriously conservative city. We found the houses [much] more affordable than nearby Clifton and Northside has some of the more interesting dining options in the city. We are also close to downtown. Public schools in Cincinnati can be iffy, but our daughter attended one of the alternate programs and ended up with a full scholarship to her college of choice (she graduated 4th in her class and got the full International Baccalaureate Diploma). I have lived in Cincinnati most of my life and have mixed feelings about the city. I often think of the JFK quote about Washington DC as a city with Northern Hospitality and Southern Efficiency. Cincinnati can be like that. Also some people think it is a more racist city than other cities of a similar size.
posted by daneflute at 8:22 PM on December 19, 2007

After reading all the comments again, let me put a few more things out there. Definitely renting, not buying. What I like about those other neighborhoods was the atmosphere of being able to walk around, go to cafes and bookshops, that kind of thing. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on my working location unless traffic is really terrible in Cincinnati. I would drive every day no matter which area I decide on. Thanks again!
posted by m3thod4 at 8:25 PM on December 19, 2007

Sounds like you should look in to Newport/Southgate/Ft Thomas more. Check out Newport on the Levee. Lots of new stuff going on over there.
posted by cdmwebs at 8:26 PM on December 19, 2007

I have a lot of family in Cincinnati (my mom was born there) and have spent a lot of time there. I'm going to Nth checking out Clifton - if I were going to move to Cincinnati, that's where I'd want to live.
posted by mewithoutyou at 10:14 PM on December 19, 2007

m3thod4, you might want to check out this blog: New2Cincy.

As far as traffic goes, you won't have much of a problem if you're going south in the morning and coming north at night.
posted by tizzie at 4:21 AM on December 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Wait, sorry, big qualifier. You won't have much of a problem if you're going south in the morning and coming north at night once you are past the river. The bridge crossings are a major bottleneck.
posted by tizzie at 4:30 AM on December 20, 2007

Re-reading, re-posting: If you like running, Oakley/Hyde Park is your best bet. When I lived in Oakley every single morning there were dozens (no joke) of joggers running past my street-facing bathroom window. Hyde Park and Oakley both offer very nice sidewalks, pretty smooth surfaces with not so much traffic that you'll be running into people or car constantly. Clifton, on the otherhand, while nice and blah blah blah, is absolutely terrible (IMO) to run in - from the people, to the skinny sidewalks, to the frequencies of cars pulling out of driveways, I think Oakley is your best bet. I lived on Minot, right before the square, and loved it.
posted by banannafish at 5:43 AM on December 20, 2007

From your description of what you want, I would say that you should concentrate your efforts in Newport, Clifton and the Hyde Park/Oakley/Mt. Lookout neighborhoods. Newport has some really grand old 19th century "mansions" that has been turned into apartments. (As an aside, a friend has an open apartment there but I think they want to do some work on it before they rent it out so it may not be a solution for you). Clifton is where the major public university is located and thus has a lot of apartment housing as well as lots of restaurants and cultural things (great art house cinema there). Then the Hyde Park/Oakley/Mt. Lookout offers lots of big tree line streets each with central squares and lots of restaurants.

HP/Oakley also has a Whole Foods location (Its currently a Wild Oats that Whole Foods recently bought). The neighborhood also have two or three other very nice grocery stores and there are some fine local butcher shops in those neighborhoods as well. I can't really speak to the grocery stores in Clifton or Newport except to say that Newport has a cool Mexican restaurant/grocery/butcher shop.

As to traffic, the I-71 Southbound corridor close into the city in the morning is usually pretty tame. There can be a large backup on the right hand side of the road at the exit that serves the university. I've found the morning traffic really depends on when you leave. If you can skew a little later in the morning you trip should be a breeze (thinking 8:30-8:45ish). Likewise, I-71 in the evening is usually also not too bad post 5:30-6.

As for running, I don't know really anything about a cross-country running scene here in Cincinnati. Most of the big parks around here have walking/hiking trails but I am not sure they would be conducive to running (I've never tried). You'll find tons of runners in Oakley/Hyde Park/Mt Lookout. I'd suspect that the highest per capita running rates for the city are in those areas. Very picturesque and it never hurts to see lots of other people out when you are running. As for trails that I know about, there are rails to trails conversions along the river (only a few miles run from Mt L/HP/O) and on the east side there is the long Loveland Bike Trail (also used by runners and inline skaters). I'll also include a link to a list of Cincinnati running routes since I tend to just run on the street.

I have to run now but feel free to contact me anytime.
posted by mmascolino at 6:13 AM on December 20, 2007

Grew up in Ohio, lived in Cincy for five years. I would highly recommend looking in and around Prospect Hill. I lived there for 3 years and love, love, LOVED it! Bonus: very easy access to 471 / the Big Mac bridge from right around the corner, which would be ideal for your Northern Ky job commute. Eden Park is within easy walking / running distance - I used to run from my house on Clifton is nearby but not so close you'll have college kids puking on your lawn. The vibe is young, hip, and artsy. It's a rehab community of Over-The-Rhine basically, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd live there.

Here's a flickr link to a photoset of the houses in the community. I lived very close to the corner of Liberty St. and Liberty Hill (google map) and we had an amazing view of downtown. Liberty St. is a main drag that dumps right into 471 and takes you painlessly into Northern Kentucky. Rent in our apartment (a half double) was very cheap for a huge 3 bedroom in one of those old brick buildings you're talking about.

O yea and parking *anywhere* in the fun communities of Cincy (Oakley, oldtown Newport, Hyde Park, Prospect Hill, Clifton, Walnut Hill, etc.) is a total bitch.
posted by lonefrontranger at 7:03 AM on December 20, 2007

oops forgot to preview. What I was going to say about running was that from Prospect Hill, it was a five minute run up Liberty Street to Mount Adams / Eden Park. There are LOTS of routes in there, and it is gorgeous year round. but be warned it is HILLY. That part of Cincinnati is like a mini San Francisco.
posted by lonefrontranger at 7:15 AM on December 20, 2007

Based on your second post, I'd suggest Oakley (if you like hanging out with the beautiful people, and paying for it) or Northside (if you prefer a more funky, artsy, laid-back vibe).

The upside of Oakley is that it has recently gone very much upscale (when I lived there in 97-00 I had a great appt on the square for $300/mo. I think the same 1 br. goes for $650 now.) so it's clean and very well policed.

Northside is re-emerging from a definite slump, but is now host to a number of upscale restaurants and shops, while maintaining most of it's easygoing culture. Rents are likely to be much lower, but the class mixture means that sometimes there are less than attractive social issues (drugs, people acting out in the street, etc.) I have several friends who live in Northside though, and all are very happy and have had zero problems.

I'm in Westwood myself, and my partner spent several years in Japan with the Seventh Fleet, so you have that in common!
posted by foxydot at 7:28 AM on December 20, 2007

If running is important to you I would suggest East Walnut Hills...you can run to Eden Park from there. However, there's not many destinations (restaurants, bars, shopping) within walking distance.
posted by pepcorn at 9:06 AM on December 20, 2007

Thank you all for the great info. I think I have a idea of where I want to look. Sounds like I'm going to checkout the Oakley area, but now with all this input I'm definitely going to also checkout the Covington/Newport and Clifton areas. Hopefully I have enough time to walk around and get a good feel for the places. I might have to reconsider after hearing about some tax issues, but I'm sure it'll all work out.
Thanks everyone for your help!
posted by m3thod4 at 4:31 PM on December 20, 2007

Been a while, but thought I just say I ended up going with Convington for now. Looks nice and will be a good location to get to work. Thanks again!
posted by m3thod4 at 9:02 PM on January 14, 2008

Congrats and welcome.
posted by mmascolino at 12:26 PM on January 15, 2008