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Archive for February, 2012

What’s on the north side of Norwood

Posted in Life in the Wood, Things to do, tagged , , , , , on February 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Last week, I gave you a short (very short) tour of downtown Norwood. This week, let me give you a quick tour of the north end of Norwood.

I divide the north side of Norwood into two, the Dale Road area and Indian Mound, or the scuzzy side and the spiffy side. Full disclosure, I do live in the Dale Road section. It’s not that bad, but it must have been the budget subdivision. The yards are small, about 33 feet by 100 feet, with houses that are about 1100-1300 square feet. There’s lots of rental property, either two families or single family, which are harder to spot.

In the middle of Dale Road is the Dale Road Drive-through. I’ve never been comfortable with driving through an establishment to get my beer. What if they don’t have the right beer? I feel like you’re on the spot, with no way to leave if something’s not quite right.

After you get your beer, you can buy a car at Alford Motors. Job + downpayment equals car! There isn’t a big selection though.

The Indian Mound section of Norwood is a very nice neighborhood with an interesting mix of houses, some built in the 20s and others that are more recent, maybe the 40s. Indian Mound is also home to the infamous Norwood Indian Mound. Also, at the very top of the hill are two water towers. Back in the day, folks would make a day of coming to the towers and climbing the stairs (no longer there) to the top of the towers and taking a look at the vista.

The view was probably better then.

Postcard of the Norwood Water Tower

They even had postcards

I think the Indian Mound part of town is the best bet for a date. You can go to the Norwood Suds and Duds and get your clothes cleaned and then head to Mound Cafe for more beer and a burger!

Next week, we head down to the south side of Norwood!

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A tour of Norwood, starting downtown

Posted in Architecture, Things to do, tagged , , , , on February 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »

I’m think that many of you may not be as unfamiliar with Norwood as I am. I’m a native Cincinnatian, but have only lived in Norwood for about 10 years. It’s amazing when you take the time to look how much of your own ignorance you uncover. I’m no expert on Norwood, just a resident observer.

I thought it would be fun to give you a tour of Norwood from that point of view. In a year, this will probably change. In any case, I divide Norwood into quadrants: Dale Road area, Indian Mound area, Xavier near and Rookwood near. These are roughly defined by dividing Norwood in half north to south with the lateral and east to west with Montgomery Road.

In the center of all this, the heart of it all, is the downtown area.  Here are the exciting things that are downtown: Norwood City Hall in a beautiful historic building next to the police station, which is in an old bank. I hope that the lockup is in the old bank vault. It seems like that would be very secure. The fire station is right next to that.

Clock at Surrey Square in Norwood

What time is it? Time for some shopping!

Across the street is Surrey Square. It was recently renovated, which could be good or bad. Surrey Square used to have this faux Victorian town on the inside, so all the shops looked like they were in Ye Olde Towne square. Except that businesses were dropping out of the square left and right, so it was more like an indoor ghost town. Now, we have a fancy Kroger.

Across the street from the Kroger, there’s a building that I like to call the “cursed building”. Cursed for businesses. Since I’ve lived here, I’ve seen at least five different businesses in the building and all have moved on. There was a coffee shop, a Cricket Wireless, and some other less notable ones. Don’t know why it’s a bad spot, seeing as how the Kroger’s gets a lot of traffic.

For an evening in downtown Norwood, you can eat at the Bluebird Restaurant. I hear it’s great. Or if you prefer, there’s LaRosa’s. On a budget? Try the KFC/Taco Bell. They put up this combination restaurant, which means you can get fried chicken and taco, but it’ll take forever.

After dinner, visit the tank in Victory Park, rent some furniture or buy some auto parts.

What would you do for date night in Norwood?

Next week, North Norwood.

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How to pronounce “Norwood”

Posted in Life in the Wood, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

At breakfast this morning, I asked my dad this question. He said: “How do you pronounce ‘Norwood’? I think it’s pronounced ‘Kentucky’.”

True, back in the day, Norwood supposedly attracted a number of families from Kentucky to the area with jobs at the GM plant. So there are a number of transplants from south of the river. In fact, I have family from Kentucky that moved to Norwood.

But before then, Norwood was pronounced “Sharpsburg.” The city got its start as a whistle stop on the way up Montgomery Road, and it was named after local resident John Sharpe. The name survives in the area, most notably in Sharpsburg Elementary School.

The area was also called the Northwoods, being the woods north of Cincinnati. I love that so many place names are that simple. Even Sharpsburg is pretty simple, assuming that “burg” in this instance means “town,” so Sharpes’ Town. There are those instances when this type of place-naming gets out of hand: take Losantiville. Please! (ba dum bump!)

Anyhow, the city’s name is already shorter than the original, going from Northwoods to Norwood. Some people slur it down even further, taking it down to Nor’ud. I’ve even suggested dropping more letters, going with N’r'd. Not sure about the placement of the apostrophes…

So what do you think? How would you pronounce Norwood?

(D’oh!: updated because I realized that “burg” probably means “town”, not “hill” as I’d originally posted.)

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Five Things to Do In Norwood

Posted in Things to do, tagged , , , , , , on February 5, 2012 | 2 Comments »

This is my first things to do post. I hear that lists are hot on the internet, so here’s a list of 5 things to do in Norwood:
Norwood Harley-Davidson dealership

Motorcycles are cool

1. Buy a motorcycle: Harley-Davidson has a dealership just inside the Norwood city limits. It might be the coolest thing to do in Norwood, if you think motorcycles are cool. They kind of are.

2. Get an ice cream: United Dairy Farmers got its start Norwood almost 60 years ago, and store #1 is still on Montgomery Road. It would be great if it was some kind of cool ice cream parlor like Aglamesis Brothers, but it’s not. If you don’t like it, there are 3 or 4 or more other UDFs you can try.

Tank at Victory Park

It would be cool if you could climb on it.

3. See a tank: Victory Park has a veterans memorial, complete with a tank. It’s also home to Victory Pool, not open due to budget cuts, otherwise, I’d say you could go for a swim also.

4. Visit an Indian mound: Norwood Indian Mound is the highest point in Norwood, and one of the highest points in the Cincinnati area, and there is an Indian burial mound at the top.

5. Get a drink: After all the running around, you might want a cool brew. There are plenty of local bars in Norwood and I’m calling out Quatman Cafe first, because I have eaten there, and I like the name. It’s a good home-cooking place, the kind that are getting eaten up by all the chain restaurants that tend to dominate the area.

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