Downtown Columbus Blog Central

PANT PANT PANT

An admission: pets are for other people.  Yes, the doggies and the kitties are dear, sweet things, but they require food and love and veterinarian services.  No, thank you.

Then again, even the biggest stonehearted Grinch will discover things to marvel at inside Lots to Wag About (405 E. Mound Street).  It’s a brand new shop that features fabulous finds for pets.  Owner Marcie Radell explains, “I like to search for unique items that you won’t find anywhere else.  For instance, I have two lines of hand-made leather and vinyl collars and summer t-shirts that were printed right here in Columbus with a Columbus theme.”

Well now… that’s extremely cool.

Radell knows pets; she’s a vet tech, so she’s really interested in stocking items that keep animals healthy, like organic pet foods and interactive toys.  The tech is actually a transplant to Columbus with an interesting observation about our trendsetting city.  “I’m from Rochester, NY and it’s very interesting to see that other cities like Rochester are using Columbus as a model for their own downtown revitalization.”

Since when does New York look to Columbus for cool?  Since now, it seems.

With the construction of a downtown dog park and plenty of pet-friendly living space, maybe there is a little room around here for a dog.  Suggestions?

As a retail-starved Columbusite, I became inspired by a recent trip to Toronto.  Toronto has thousands of beautiful, independent, neighborhood retail stores.  Seemingly, every other block has a walk-in green grocer, a bakery, a full-service pharmacy, and other retail services.  (I did spot one big box store on the outskirts of town).  How can a city support so many small retail stores?  Why do residents spend more money on the same products walking to these stores instead of driving to big box stores?

Turns out, many people who live in Toronto do not own a car, or own one vehicle instead of two or three vehicles.  Instead of spending $400, $600 or more a month per vehicle on car payments, insurance, gasoline, and parking, they spend $100 or $200 per month on transit, car rentals and taxi cabs.

The money saved makes the relatively high prices at neighborhood stores a bargain, because their use is part of an inexpensive lifestyle choice.

My trip to Toronto makes me wonder how many neighborhoods in Central Ohio could support Toronto-style retail strips.

Columbus is a funny place.  Its residents support a town center at Easton, but not a town center at Broad and High.  Most fear taking public transit, yet subject themselves to the documented dangers of driving an automobile.

They move to God-forsaken places beyond the outerbelt “for the sake of the children,” then complain, adults and children alike, about living in the ‘burbs.  All of my 14-year-old daughter’s friends are desperate to leave their cul-de-sacs and visit her at our Short North home, where they can walk to the movies.

What’s with drive-through coffee houses?  Isn’t a coffee house supposed to offer an aesthetic experience?  Does Wal-Mart really offer a less expensive lifestyle when you have to own a fleet of cars to get access to them?

Welcome to my new blog, where I will pontificate about the great mysteries of Columbus and celebrate our tiny steps toward a rational existence.

Cleve Ricksecker

FABULOUS CLEVE

Or not.  Cleve Ricksecker may be many things, but one thing he is not is fabulous.  In fact, he’s officially boycotting the use of the term in his upcoming blog about Downtown Columbus, In Search of a City.

Well, fabulous.

So what else do you need to know about Cleve?  Hmmm, he only has nine fingers.  There’s more, read on.

Cleve Ricksecker loves the Cleveland Browns, but that really has nothing to do with his name (which is not Cleveland but James Cleve Ricksecker).  The Browns love is a family thing.  He says, “During a Browns’ game, my mother and I pretend we are in the Dawg Pound and bark at each other on the telephone.  We dislike Art Modell even more than Richard Nixon.”

Anyway, more than the Browns, Cleve loves Downtown Columbus.  That’s good, since he’s the Executive Director of Capital Crossroads and Discovery Special Improvement Districts.  His very first job (ever) was in maintenance at the Green Granite Hotel in New Hampshire.  The most impactful (literally) lesson he learned on that first job was respect for the power of gas.  While explaining the safety features of gas heaters, he set off an explosion that “singed all the hair on both my arms.”

That was his first explosion.  Just wait and see what he’s got in store for us…

[

]Capital Crossroads SID would like to graciously thank the downtown community for their generous contributions to the food drive for Holy Family Church over the past few weeks.  Holy Family Church suffered extensive vandalism in June, which disrupted their food pantry and hot lunch services, which feed upward of 1,000 people daily.  Over 850 pounds of food were collected during the drive and cash donations exceeded $300!

Special thanks to Plante Moran; 65 E. State Street; AEP; all of the tenants of One Columbus; Bricker & Eckler; COTA; New Visions Group; 33 N. Third Street; CAPA; Karlsberger; and the .

ZEN-CHA CHA CHA

It’s time for some brain exercise.  Here’s the challenge: tie together Latin music, yoga, martial arts and gourmet treats.  Need a hint?  They all involve one big downtown project.

1.  You can find Merengue music in a Latin dance class upstairs at this new destination; you might find meringue downstairs in a fancy dessert.

2.  The address will host two kinds of chops: karate chops upstairs and chopsticks can be used downstairs to eat Chai waffles.

3.  Zen will flow everywhere.  Anticipate the Zen of yoga and the Zen of a particular local tea stop…

Zen Cha Tea Salon is setting up shop on the ground level at 51 E. Gay St.  According to developer Tom Fortin, the second floor of the building “will be used for local instructors of salsa and Latino dancing, yoga, Pilates, martial art classes, meetings and other fun and leisure activities.”  All of which sound like a great way to work of Zen Cha’s famous brunch pancakes and waffles.

PS  This week we’ve got tickets to… the Land of Cleve.  Cleve Ricksecker is one the THE most colorful figures in Columbus, and he’s keeping his blog of rants n’ raves here with us at DowntownColumbus.com.  Find out what makes Cleve tick (and what ticks Cleve off) right here starting August 12.

HEY! Who moved my STUFF?

We all know what NEW and IMPROVED means.  It means NEW Coke.  Better yet, it means Breyer’s new and improved ice cream packaging (now, with 25 percent less ice cream).

And now, after a couple weeks of testing, we’re pleased to announce the new and improved DowntownColumbus.com.  We’ve upgraded the Web site, relocated all the useful content and replaced it with pop-ups and the new Downtown Dancing Chicken.

Just kidding.  Change is scary, but this upgrade rocks for you AND for us in five ways.

1.  Really: no pop-ups.  And no music or gratuitous animation.  We reserve only the right to an occasional Rick Roll.

2.  Look, there’s the Downtown Blog on every page!  It’s there, at the bottom of every frame.

3.  A new section, Find It Downtown, can be found on every page too.  Click through the categories to find everything from Art galleries to Zen experiences.

4.  Right next to Find It Downtown is a listing of current events, activities and downtown diversions.

5.  Worse case scenario: you still can’t find stuff.  It’s not so bad, there’s always the search button in the upper right corner.

Come poke around the new site, and give us some feedback.  It’s working great for us; how can it work better for you?

 

Eyes wide open on ears well roasted.

It’s All Good Farm representative David Stuart shares his All Good secrets with a visiting tour of chefs.

SOUP NUTS?

Ever heard of the phrase, “from soup to nuts”?  Out of context, it’s hard to place.

The phrase is an old-school way of saying “we have everything.”  It’s a reference to a formal meal with all the fancy courses from the beginning (soup) to the post-dessert munchies (nuts).

Downtown’s soup business kicked into gear last month with the debut of the Original Soup Man at Broad & Hight.  The soup stop earned its claim to fame by featuring a famously bossy clerk, the “Soup Nazi” on the Seinfeld television series.  We’re happy to report that the local downtown clerks have better dispositions.

And there’s nuts in our future too: doughnuts.  Dunkin Donuts has also inked a deal to set up camp at Broad & High.  According to restaurant developer Michael Bruno, “We’re really excited to bring this downtown.  It’s a great market and the Casto organization has been incredible to work with.”

Bruno’s been busy with architects, designing the Dunkin spot to dish out the famous coffee and donuts - as well as bagels, sandwiches and all-day hash browns.

And if you can’t wait ’til Dunkin arrives for some nuts, there’s always The Peanut Shoppe at 46 N. High St. where you can grab all kinds of non-dough-nuts right now.

Downtown’s got it: everything from soup to nuts!