Hilliard Rome Road/I-70

Yesterday my daughter and I met a friend for lunch in the Hilliard area and I had my cameras with me, so what do you think that means? Yep, a geographic photo tour. Not that I had never intended to hit this area, but the occasion to be in the area got this area out of the way so to speak. Basically a two lane country road in decades past, it is basically a major 'strip' which has characterized many suburban or semi-suburban area of Columbus. Lots of strip malls, chain restaurants, big box retail and hotels. Similar to maybe Rt. 161 or Morse in the past, this area is known to be slightly 'nicer'. At Fisher Road, south of I-70, this road basically retains it's 'country' two lane status until you hit W. Broad Street on the far west side of the city by what used to be New Rome (the once infamous speed trap that was de-existed a few years ago). North of about Nike Rd., the suburban strip somewhat ends and is two lanes again leading to Old Hilliard, though I would definitely call this stretch 'growing suburb" rather than countrified. While there are a few independent mom and pop type places here, this area is dominated by chains: restaurants, hotels, big box retail, gas stations, etc. Enjoy!

This is where we had lunch. Ana had chicken fingers with broccoli and apple sauce (at all her broccoli!). I had a bbq chicken sandwich with mashed potatoes. The sandwich was so huge I couldn't even finish it!

Finally some photos! Cleveland Avenue far northside

After almost 2 months I have some new photos. Work was somewhat slow the evening of Friday, Feb. 15 so I had some time to snap a few photos in the area of Cleveland Avenue, from Rt. 161 to I-270 on the far north end of Columbus. Not a LOT of neon here, but a few that caught my eye.

1. Dreamgirls, 6190 Cleveland Avenue. Not totally obvious from just this picture, taken while sitting at a red traffic light, this is probably the most neon covered building in the city. Not only is the building covered with neon stripping (no pun intended), but the huge digital message board advertising drink specials and the time/date is a neon mastepiece. The building and business made news not because it was a gentleman's club, but because locals did not like the neon! It is loud, but they did pay for the permits and there was a local zoning hearing which nobody attended except the owners of the club. So why complain now? Reminds me of the people who choose to live near an airport then complain about noise. NIMBY's..blah! Having worked in this area now for several years, I can tell you there are not a lot of people living within eyeshot of this building..it is all hotels, restaurants, and offices in this area. So why complain? Because..they can..people love to complain. They did tone down and redirect the parking lot lights which I guess were shining to brightly onto Cleveland Avenue and causing problems with traffic. I was last in this building about ten years ago, when it was a restaurant called "Cheddars". I paid over five dollars for a cookie there. Now one can pay five dollars to look at a breast. It has been a strip club for the last seven years or so, but the previous owners did not use neon like this. If I ever go inside, I will try to take a picture of the...neon.

2. Humidor Plus. An old fashioned tobacco and cigar store. The store has been there for decades, but not sure about the signs. It used to rotate with a huge neon 'LOTTO' sign underneath, but they changed that a few years ago. One can still play LOTTO here. 3. The entrance to The Humidor Plus. You can still play the lotto here, win some cash, and buy some expensive cigars. And have leftovers for a twelve pack!

4. Fish and Chicken restaurant, Columbus Square. Columbus square is a setup of strip malls to create one large strip mall at the corner of rt. 161 and Cleveland Avenue. The largest businesses here are the Columbus Square Bowling Palace (see photo below) and a Kroger, which was once a Cub Food. Fish and chicken restaurants have been popping up like popcorn shrimp around Columbus the last few years. 5. OK, it does have a name, "Whale Fish". That neon whale is very uber cool! They do NOT serve whale though, to the best of my knowledge.

6. The Columbus Square Bowling Palace, Columbus Square. Another combo of two of my loves, neon and bowling. I have been bowling literally since I was about two years old, though I started bowling with candlepins in Massachusetts. Small, light balls and skinny pins. When moving to Ohio I was saddened to learn that Columbus did not have candlepin as I had bowled all my life, but as a kid always wanted to bowl 'big ball' bowling. So a few weeks after moving here in the early 1990s, I tried my hand at tenpin. And that first roll of a big ball came here at the Palace. My first game was nothing to write home about (I think I had a 63) but fell in love with tenpins and decided I could be 'bibowling', and I eventually also have bowled duckpins since too. This is a very nice bowling alley. It does not have the charm that the smaller family owned centers have, which are sadly disappearing in no small part due to megacenters like the palace, but it is a very nice place to bowl. It is the largest center in Columbus with 64 lanes (the second largest is my home center where I bowl in leagues now, Main Lanes, with 56 lanes..also one of the oldest) and was built I guess around 1983. It is the only center that is open 24 hours around here, and the only place I can say I bowled in the middle of the night. The PBA had some tournaments here on national TV in the late 80s I am told, but they pulled out. The PBA does come here again now, but at Sequoia Pro Bowl a few miles from the palace (see one of my first photo shoots from November for a photo of the neon sign) and will be on national TV later this month and early March. By the way, that sign is a motion/animation sign. When I have more time, I will shoot a vid of the ball hitting the pins! Also while I think it is worth it, if on a date or during a special, this is also a very expensive bowling center, at least for open bowling. Cool game room and bar too. 7. The Blue Sky Island Bar, inside the Bowling palace. I took this from outside. Remember, I was goofing off at work..8. Waterbeds N Stuff, Columbus Square. Another one of the local chain's stores. I wanted to take another picture, but an attractive couple was outside and probably thought I wanted to take their picture.

Back from the dead..

Well as you may have noticed, I haven't been around for over a month. Some things happened in mid January that were beyond my control and have not been able to get out there for photos. One of the problems is that I did not have a car for most of the month but that just recently changed and hope to get back to neon blogging ASAP, as early as this week, again. I am really looking forward to having some time to get to the downtown area and short north/campus. I also have a few gems in Westerville I have been wanting to share, and that should be an easier tour since it is so close to my job.

Well there WAS some Columbus neon news actually though. As I was driving in the area of Main and James I noticed that the sign for the now vacant Mirage had fallen to the ground. Poof. Crash. Down. I could not immediately tell if this was done by an accident, vandalism, or plain old decay. From what I can tell though, I think it just fell apart, after years of harsh Columbus winters, summers, pollution, and lack of upkeep. When I photographed the sign for this blog a few months ago, it was obvious that it was in a state of disrepair, but I never got the impression that the whole structure would come down. The sign still functioned, but barely, and I hadn't seen it look good for at least ten years (I remember the first time I saw it around 1994 I thought it was pretty neat). And even if you did not like the establishment, or like what it brought to the area, the sign did actually look cool at one time, but that time was sadly, many years ago. A writer for a small local newspaper here noticed it and wrote a commentary about lack of care by the city when it comes to run down buildings, signs, and how it cerates an atmosphere of crime. Here is the link: http://www.columbusmessenger.com/NC/0/2114.html

Happy New Year and welcome back..

Happy belated holidays..was so busy with the season that I obviously didn't post much over the last couple weeks. I intend to get back on track with more neon photo tours and themes in January, especially when it warms up next week like I have heard. While I did not get a vintage 1960s-80s era neon beer sign for Christmas, I DID get a neon themed gift..check out this clock..pretty neat..combining two of my favorite quirky geek hobbies. I have one pic while it was dark with no flash and another flash to emphazise the features.

I hope by next week to start my downtown to High Street corridor tour, which has probably the most extensive concentration or unique and original neon signs in the city. I mean, Polaris probably has a large seclection, but full of unoriginal chains, fastfood, and cash advance places. Not to say that NONE of those places exist between German Village and Clintonville..but there is a lot more going on, especially in the campus and short north areas.

Schrock Road

Just posting a few pictures from the Schrock Road area between Ambleside Drive and Sharon Woods Boulevard. All pics were taken the night of Dec. 18.

Test Photo

This is just a test photo using my parents HP Photosmart M517. For the last few months it simply did not work, and after tinkering with it for a few minutes I managed to get it back to good. Yes, it was late morning and yes it was snowing when I shot this simple neon picture.

Easton Part I

Ten years ago, the area that is now Easton Towne Center was old used up farmland near I-270, Morse, and Stelzer Roads. Today it is a hustling, bustling, expensive little town, albeit..fake. Basically this place, along with the Polaris area a few miles north, killed the longtime local favorite Northland Mall. I have never warmed to the idea of a fake city in the middle of suburbia or even ruralia taking the place of a REAL downtown, which, in Columbus, is not doing so hot either, though it is going somewhat better than many other cities. I have been here a few times though because I do like some of their stores, and they DO do a good job decorating for the holidays. Nothing says Christmas to me like 50' trees with LED Christmas lights, $200 jeans, and of course, neon signs. It was kinda late to go inside the mall part of Easton, but I did take a few pics in the actual 'town center' as well as a few places not actually part of Easton but around it. All pics were taken the night of Monday, Dec. 10 with my JVC digital still function.