howatzer
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Anyone catch the story on the "tensions" between Short North retail and restaurant owners? Robinette's candles was cited as an example of boutiques and arts being displaced by restaurants. Is this really an issue?
One thought I had was how many times I have to go to 2 or 3 places on gallery hop night before I can find an open table. The point being that all those people coming to look at your art need a place to eat as well.
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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For those who didn't hear it, part of the story is that as rents go up, high-end restaurants can afford space better than botiques and galleries. There was mention of maintaining a balance between retail and restaurants, where retail is the daytime activity and dining is the nighttime activity.
jarsloth
west side
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rus wrote >>
Heard some of it, but in a decidedly pre-coffee state.
I did get the impression that if things continue as they are, Gallery Hop might become the name for more of a pub crawl as art galleries would be forced by economics to find new locations.
I think it's already kind of like that; Gallery Hop now has far fewer galleries than it once did, even a few years ago.
rus
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jarsloth wrote >>
rus wrote >>
Heard some of it, but in a decidedly pre-coffee state.
I did get the impression that if things continue as they are, Gallery Hop might become the name for more of a pub crawl as art galleries would be forced by economics to find new locations.I think it's already kind of like that; Gallery Hop now has far fewer galleries than it once did, even a few years ago.
Makes one wonder where the new "art district" will be.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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I'm going to be on All Sides with Ann Fisher from 11am to Noon today discussing similar topics as well as the Columbus Neighborhoods Documentary that premieres tonight.
While the Short North and Gallery Hop has definitely changed over the years, I don't know if I'm in the "it was so much better in the good old days" camp. Things change. Neighborhoods change. The Short North is still home to the highest concentration of art galleries in the city.
While having a crowded event can be annoying, I highly recommend that people do their best not to become jaded about it. On the flip side, if the event was under-crowded, we'd all be worse off for it.
gramarye
In Exile
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I wouldn't think that they'd have to move that far: there is still space that I doubt is that expensive between the "heart" of the Short North and campus. The closer you get to I-670, the more expensive it gets (just looking by what's gone in there--and left). There's a glassblowing workshop about a block east of High and a block north of Fifth that not only produces some impressive-looking work, but will let you watch them do it, and it's pretty cool to look at for ten, fifteen minutes or so. It's a big space, and I'm sure that renting that much square footage ten blocks to the south would be impossible. So what? There's no law saying that Gallery Hop has to be chained within the space between I-670 and 3rd, and only along High. There's room enough for everyone.
There would also be substantial value in breaking the psychological cage of High Street; one block off of High, there are buildings that would be viable galleries, and some have already become galleries; they just don't get the same kind of foot traffic. Obviously, many of the streets become residential almost immediately, but not all.
JonMyers
Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand
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Howatzer, I didn't hear the story, but I don't know if "tension" is the right way to describe the frustrations of retailers and restaurants in the Short North.
The frustrations of retailers mainly has/ had to do with the leadership of those charged with promoting the Short North. The main gripe of retailers is that the leadership has put a largely disproportionate amount of effort into promoting restaurants versus retail.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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gramarye wrote >>
There would also be substantial value in breaking the psychological cage of High Street; one block off of High, there are buildings that would be viable galleries, and some have already become galleries; they just don't get the same kind of foot traffic. Obviously, many of the streets become residential almost immediately, but not all.
+1
http://www.columbusunderground.com/83-gallery-putting-the-art-back-into-gallery-hop
Talcott
Clintonville
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gramarye wrote >>
I wouldn't think that they'd have to move that far: there is still space that I doubt is that expensive between the "heart" of the Short North and campus. The closer you get to I-670, the more expensive it gets (just looking by what's gone in there--and left). There's a glassblowing workshop about a block east of High and a block north of Fifth that not only produces some impressive-looking work, but will let you watch them do it, and it's pretty cool to look at for ten, fifteen minutes or so. It's a big space, and I'm sure that renting that much square footage ten blocks to the south would be impossible. So what? There's no law saying that Gallery Hop has to be chained within the space between I-670 and 3rd, and only along High. There's room enough for everyone.
There would also be substantial value in breaking the psychological cage of High Street; one block off of High, there are buildings that would be viable galleries, and some have already become galleries; they just don't get the same kind of foot traffic. Obviously, many of the streets become residential almost immediately, but not all.
I think that a slight shift north is the most likely trend (which has already begun). I could also see a shift east, once Wonderland is open.
That said, there are a number of other areas that could also become arts districts (along side, not necessarily replacing, the Short North). South Clintonville, between North Broadway and Arcadia, reminds me a lot of the Short North in the 90s, although I'm not sure how the difficulty in obtaining a liquor license would play into that. I could also see Indianola and/or the northern end of Summit becoming a gallery-centric area.
Of course I’m also basing this on areas that I’m familiar with. There’s nothing stopping any neighborhood from attracting artists and gallery owners. Given the cyclical nature of things like this, the most likely thing to happen over the next couple of decades is another neighborhood seemingly coming out of the blue to provide the city with something new. My personal guess is that this will be The Hilltop, but that's more a hunch than something I could back up.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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rus wrote >>
Makes one wonder where the new "art district" will be.
you know... I don't know if there will be one. I think that the arts are going to play an important role in the redeveloment of multiple Columbus neighborhoods in the next 10-20 years... But nothing that will be widely recognized as "the next arts district".
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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byJody wrote >>
Link to the WOSU story mentioned
While I can certainly sympathize with Paul Robinett about his store becoming a restaurant bathroom, I also find it amusing that Paul doesn't even live in Columbus anymore. He moved to Arizona (I think) a few years back, so it's not like he deals with the changes in the Short North on too frequent a basis. ;)
berdawn
near that stretch of N. High Street in the Short North
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"Every time we lose a retail space to a restaurant that's one less potential space for a gallery or a boutique or something else that's more creative and contributing to the day life of the neighborhood - the restaurants are the night life - and we need to have that balance and right now we do," Galloway says.
owner of PM gallery
IIRC, it wasn't that long ago that galleries were complaining about all the boutiques that were opening and turning the area into "an upscale mall".
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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berdawn wrote >>
"Every time we lose a retail space to a restaurant that's one less potential space for a gallery or a boutique or something else that's more creative and contributing to the day life of the neighborhood - the restaurants are the night life - and we need to have that balance and right now we do," Galloway says.
owner of PM gallery
IIRC, it wasn't that long ago that galleries were complaining about all the boutiques that were opening and turning the area into "an upscale mall".
I guess I see what most of the restaurants in the downtown area do as part of the art scene. The chefs behind them are creative and are adding a great dimension to the neighborhood. Not sure why it can't be more of a symbiotic relationship between the two industries.
Columbusite
Minneapolis
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Walker wrote >>
rus wrote >>
Makes one wonder where the new "art district" will be.you know... I don't know if there will be one. I think that the arts are going to play an important role in the redeveloment of multiple Columbus neighborhoods in the next 10-20 years... But nothing that will be widely recognized as "the next arts district".
True. Just look at Parsons in OTE, and Long in KL as an example where art plays a large role in a small business district. Heck, even E Main has a decent number of murals and the Ohio Arts Council, though nothing I know of as far as an art gallery. As far as a new arts district, Franklinton is active in promoting itself to artists and while it probably won't have as many formal art galleries I don't see that as a bad thing.
Did anyone check out that place on off of High on E 4th across from Michael's? All we saw was a paper flier on a telephone pole and some people outside of a dark building and knew we wanted to check it out. Some of the most interesting places on Gallery Hop are off of High and it seems like there's a new one popping up every now and then. I don't see the SN losing a lot of galleries, but for new ones there are plenty of off-High options.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Something that I said on the show this morning, and just wanted to echo here... the Short North has grown a lot geographically, and I think people sometimes fail to take that into consideration. Gallery Hop started with a small handful of galleries all situated around High & Buttles. It took years for the neighborhood to grow south to 670 and north all the way up to 5th. There's still a lot of infill to go between flat lots and empty storefronts, so to see a new restaurant take over one space doesn't necessarily mean that there's no new room for galleries further north.
The Short North has always been a "mixed use" neighborhood, and restaurants and bars have been around forever (Rigsby's, Mike's Bar and the Short North Tavern all come to mind). If anything, the neighborhood was unbalanced early on with an over-concentration of art gallery spaces, and the retail and restaurant industries have just been playing catch-up to the more balanced environment that we see today.
On the show, Judy from Galleries on High also touched upon the fact that the arts are supported fairly strongly by a lot of non-gallery spaces in the area, and I think that bears repeating. You've got places like Haiku and What the Rock and Stained Skin and Columbus Eyeworks that regularly feature local art and participate in the gallery hop experience, despite not being regular galleries.
And lastly, we briefly discussed the parking issues in the Short North and how crowded it gets during Gallery Hop. We ran out of time to explore that topic further, but I'm of the belief that we have more of a "transit" problem than we do a "parking" problem. Adding 500 new parking spaces in the Ibiza Garage & Boutique Hotel Garage will be nice in a few years, but it doesn't take a transportation engineer to tell you that when you make new room for automobiles, traffic and usage will rise more quickly to fill that usage. We're not going to be able to build enough parking garages to accommodate all of the traffic that will be coming to the neighborhood as the area continues to grow. What we really need is a revamped bus plan though the Short North that streamlines travel times (actuated signals for bus priority) and another good hard look at rail transit, be it streetcars on High Street or Light Rail on Third & Fourth Streets.
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