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I remember when... (photos of Columbus ghettos)

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Started 4 years ago by Motorist
Latest reply from futureman

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Motorist
The Trots
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I was talking my gf recently and I was telling her about how rough Olde Towne East, German Village and the Short North used to be. I realized that I have seen very few pictures from when these neighborhoods were dumps. I've seen all sorts of historic photos of the various downtown neighborhoods, but none from when they were at rock bottom. So I'm trying to get some before and after shots of these places, before being the 70s/80s/early 90s. Anyone have any to share or know where to find some of these?
Here is my own house in OTE from around 1981 or 1982. I'll post a current picture later this afternoon.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bergdorf Goodwill
Victorian Village
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This should be interesting. Don't abandon this thread.

Posted 4 years ago #
Mercurius
First Avenue
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The best I could find :( This is where the south campus gateway is??

Posted 4 years ago #
Mercurius
First Avenue
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high and ninth

Posted 4 years ago #
HeySquare
German Village
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There is an interesting collection in the City of Columbus Historic Preservation Office. They have a collection of large format slides (by large format, these are like 5"x7" slides) of Flytown and Victorian Village that were taken during the 1960s. Most of them were taken in preparation for large scale urban renewal projects-- so most of what is in the photographs isn't there anymore.
I don't have any copies of the images, but they are accessible.

Posted 4 years ago #
sheyanicole
Grove City, Ohio
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i remember when i first came to columbus, and high looked like that :D
Try to fing Columbus Remembered by an artist named Kojo Kamau, it's a book of photography of columbus from the 1960's

Posted 4 years ago #
sheyanicole
Grove City, Ohio
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more high street.......also try this website http://www.columbuslibrary.org/cmlohio/photohome.cfm

Posted 4 years ago #
BreakfastwithNick
Clintonville
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I remember the first time my wife and I drove into Columbus to look for apartments. We accidentally turned right/north on High St. from 5th Ave., instead of left/south towards Short North. We passed row after row of abandoned buildings, which were shortly thereafter razed to make way for the South Campus Gateway. But we thought that we had stumbled upon the neighborhood where our friends lived, and were shocked that they lived in such a place. Six years later, and I can't believe the change. Keep posting more pictures - these are awesome.

Posted 4 years ago #
Coremodels
Really close to Explorer's Club.
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LOL...yep, that's the campus I remember right there. In fact, that was the home of the Gyro King...99 cent gyros, best in town, and the guy named the Gyro King wore a t-shirt proclaiming just that.

Posted 4 years ago #
Mercurius
First Avenue
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I remember when I was very small (not large enough to see out the car window) I would get very excited when we were on brick street and would yell "Yay German Village!" However, we just didn't go to the Short North, at all. My dad worked for Columbia Gas back in the 60's in the Short North and has told me some scary stories.

Posted 4 years ago #
dru
IV
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good thread...
i often wish i could find more pictures like these when people start threads complaining that Columbus is either:
a. not rebuilding its urban core fast enough
b. jumping sharks, monkeys and tigers as neighborhoods revitalize
here's a photo of what our place in the Italian Village looked like circa 2002.
the shoes over the powerlines, the nice soot markings over the side door and the chain link fence added that certain bohemiam charm people seem to reminisce about. i don't want to write a blanket excuse for unabated development. but it takes time to make these conversions across multiple blocks, and we shouldn't selectively glorify a past of a neighborhood that wasn't there beyond but a few blocks.
to add more images, other homes on the street looked like this:
it looks like a scene out of rural applachia (dirt road, natural reclaimation) - but it is the short north in this century. it was known as the possum house at the time. i always feel sorry for possums and woodchucks that live around here. seems there's a greener life elsewhere. although the resident woodchuck seems plenty fat going into this fall after snacking on our parsley all summer.

Posted 4 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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I can't believe some OSU alumni still cry out for the days before South Campus Gateway. I mean look at those photos... would any self-respecting 30+ year old alumni seriously considering hanging out in or around those buildings or businesses?

Posted 4 years ago #
lifeliberty
Here
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Walker wrote would any self-respecting 30+ year old alumni seriously considering hanging out in or around those buildings or businesses?
Yes, but you can still look down your nose at them if you want to.
not saying I'd be hanging at Mr. Mustards nightly, but to think little of people that had fun in the haunts of old because they aren't the newest and "greatest"(debateable), well that just seems judgemental.
But i know where you are coming from, anything old an dirty should be replaced with new and shiny, and anyone that feels nostalgic over their days of youth needs to get over the past and get on board or assimilate.

Posted 4 years ago #
BetsyB
Westgate
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no, but I still have some great memories of those places that were torn down and so do many others...People met their wives, husbands, friends at those places... not to get sappy, but I have no memories or association with what is standing there now (and no desire to go there)...I think that South Campus Gateway is great for the students now (and they will have their memories of the new places), but I am not sure if I would want to trade it for the fun I had in the old South Campus haunts.

Posted 4 years ago #
lifeliberty
Here
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sorry, I'm moody today and feel defensive.
Do I really care what happened to the South end(of campus)? No, can't say I really care. I don't go there now and can't say I'd go there if it hadn't changed, so either way it makes no difference to me.
I don't think anyone is calling for the bars of old to come back, I just think they are remembering times fondly. I know that's how I think of those bars back in the 90s. And they were something people had a real attachment to. And they don't feel that attachment to the newly constructed plastic that is the current gateway. So part of the history was knocked away for a lot of people. That's why people still bring up stories of old campus, not that they want it back, just that they remember and were attached to it.

Posted 4 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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lifeliberty wrote not saying I'd be hanging at Mr. Mustards nightly, but to think little of people that had fun in the haunts of old because they aren't the newest and "greatest"(debateable), well that just seems judgemental.
But i know where you are coming from, anything old an dirty should be replaced with new and shiny, and anyone that feels nostalgic over their days of youth needs to get over the past and get on board or assimilate.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being nostalgic, or anything wrong with the folks who did have a good time at those places back in the day...
I'm saying it's dumb for some people to complain that these places no longer exist when most people wouldn't be likely to go visit these places even if they were still around.
Meanwhile, I hear Eddie George's Grill does pretty well with the alumni crowd on football weekends.

Posted 4 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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BetsyB wrote I have no memories or association with what is standing there now (and no desire to go there)...
Really? I figured there's a couple clothing boutiques there that would be right up your alley.
BetsyB wrote I think that South Campus Gateway is great for the students now (and they will have their memories of the new places), but I am not sure if I would want to trade it for the fun I had in the old South Campus haunts.
"Trade"? What sort of "trade" are you talking about? You're still able to remember your good times there, right? What's the problem?

Posted 4 years ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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dru wrote i always feel sorry for possums and woodchucks that live around here.
You say that until you unknowingly move in to a house with a family of them living in the crawl space and it costs you $600, your sanity, and a month of sleepless nights to get them out :)
Walker wrote I can't believe some OSU alumni still cry out for the days before South Campus Gateway. I mean look at those photos... would any self-respecting 30+ year old alumni seriously considering hanging out in or around those buildings or businesses?
I think it's less about keeping the neighborhood dirty and unsafe and more about sadness for the places they had some of the best times of their lives in being gone. There are places in downtown Dallas that I mourn everytime I go back. It doesn't mean the neighborhood isn't better off now that there's something "fresh and clean", it just means I'll never have another awesome night out at one of my fav bars or that another young punk kid like I was won't be able stumble in to the first place they'll ever feel comfortable. I'm sure if you think about it you've got connections to places like this and if they were gone you'd be bummed too, even if it meant a greater good. Maybe there's a confusion of nostalgia for resentment???

Posted 4 years ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Good Lord, y'all are fast on the replies this morning!!

Posted 4 years ago #
FADulous
Columbus
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here is the link to buy "Columbus Remembered" via lulu:
http://www.lulu.com/browse/book_view.php?fCID=302121&fBuyItem=3
I don't have it but I have bought a few of Kojo's prints and it is a pretty amazing set of photos.

Posted 4 years ago #