Columbus Monthly - November 2023

The world is pluralistic.

So are we.

It’s our job to make sure ����� ready, so we created an inclusive, multicultural community empowering students to take the world head on – together.

We invite you to tour our world.

Ready to thrive.

Asiya Class of 2031

Breast cancer can take many forms. Here are five lesser-known symptoms to look for.

which is a rare, aggressive form of breast cancer. To determine the cause of your symptom, you should contact your general health care provider for evaluation and diagnosis.

associated with infection, allergies and recent vaccinations in that arm. Although our breasts are naturally different sizes, a noticeable change in one breast size may be a cause for concern and should be evaluated by a health care provider.

What to do if you experience these symptoms

The symptoms above could mirror symptoms of other inflammatory illnesses or underlying infections that aren’t cancer. If you develop these symptoms before an annual exam, make an appointment to get checked.

The critical importance of mammograms

Aside from paying attention to physical symptoms, it’s incredibly important to get a mammogram each year beginning at age 40 – or earlier if you have an increased risk due to a family history or genetic mutation. Most cancers are diagnosed in older women, but about 9% of new cases are found in women under the age of 45, according to the CDC.

Men can also be susceptible to breast cancer but it’s at a much lower rate compared to women. Nationally about 2,100 men are diagnosed each year, according to the CDC. One in eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives.

By Amy Kerger, DO

Diagnostic Radiologist and Clinical Associate

Professor of Radiology, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James)

Each year, 240,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It remains the second leading cause of death among women.

While finding a lump in your breast is one of the more common signs of breast cancer, there are actually a number of breast changes that could indicate early symptoms.

Breasts change throughout a person’s lifetime. It’s important to know your breasts and monitor them for any changes. These symptoms can indicate different types of breast cancer:

1. A red, swollen breast that’s warm to the touch. This happens most commonly due to infection or systemic inflammation. In some cases, your skin could resemble the texture of an orange peel. That dimpled texture could be a symptom of inflammatory breast cancer,

2. The nipple starts inverting, pulling inward. As a tumor grows within the breast, it will sometimes tug part of the breast tissue toward the tumor, causing that nipple to become inverted.

3. Scaly, dry skin around the nipple. This can resemble a rash on the nipple, which may become red and irritated. The nipple may look like it’s scabbed over. This can be associated with benign causes such as contact dermatitis or infection; however, it also can be a sign of a subtype of breast cancer called Paget’s disease, which commonly may only involve the nipple. A specialist will schedule additional imaging to determine whether it’s only the nipple or if cancer is also present within the breast.

4. Secretions, other than milk, from the nipple. While some women have milky discharge that’s not a cause for concern, spontaneously producing nipple discharge can be a symptom. If the fluid is clear or bloody, it’s especially a cause for concern.

5. Swelling around the armpit, or breast itself, which creates a noticeable size difference. This can happen if the tumor extends into the armpit while rapidly growing. More commonly, there are lymph nodes in this area that are enlarging due to inflammatory changes

For people who are able to physically detect a lump in their breast, that mass is typically two centimeters or greater in size. Mammograms can detect tumors that are millimeters in size, long before they’re noticeable.

Some people have no outward physical symptoms of breast cancer. In fact, sometimes there’s no lump, but there’s still cancer. That’s why getting screened is so important.

Your health care provider will collect your medical history and may send you to get breast imaging such as a diagnostic mammogram or an ultrasound, if something is found.

The earlier we catch breast cancer, the better chance you have of a successful recovery.

The OSUCCC – James is home to a high-risk breast cancer program. A specialized team of experts can help you determine your risks and offer genetic counseling. And, as a National Cancer Institutedesignated comprehensive cancer center, Ohio State has many clinical trials underway for different types of breast cancer, including inflammatory breast cancer. Patients have access to exclusive novel treatments.

Our hope is to change how we treat these cancers and stop them from being so aggressive. We want all patients to live long, healthy lives.

Photo: Getty Images

contents

FEATURES

26

TOP BARS

Nearly 40 essential watering holes, from dapper to divey. Plus, 10 pub grub standouts and an ode to a quintessential neighborhood bar.

40 RATTAN LAL WANTS YOU TO CARE ABOUT SOIL

The renowned Ohio State scientist has transformed agricultural practices across the world—and his research could help solve the climate crisis.

46 CLOTHES MINDED

As drag shows went mainstream and LGBTQ+ rights expanded, Columbus’ bygone ‘improper-dress’ law seemed like a distant memory. Not anymore.

ON THE COVER:

Photo by Tim Johnson

PHOTO: TIM JOHNSON

Bob’s Lager is a Hi-Wire Brewing beer made especially for Bob’s Bar on North High Street.

08 PRELUDE

120 MY NEIGHBORHOOD

Front & Center

12 CMA’S CHANGE AGENT

New director Brooke Minto steers the Columbus Museum of Art during a transitional moment.

14 WE TRIED IT: URBAN VIA FERRATA

A writer goes on an alpine adventure at Quarry Trails Metro Park.

16 IT’S A SMALL WORLD

For the Columbus Miniature Society, little things are a big deal.

17 TAILGATING, UNFILTERED

Overheard during the Buckeyes home opener

18 A RIVER ONCE RAN THROUGH IT

Ohio Stadium’s builders redirected the Olentangy to make way for the football landmark.

19 THE AFTERMATH

Ten years after making the viral video ‘I Killed a Man,’ Matthew Cordle reflects on guilt, repentance and life after prison.

22 IMAGE

24 PEOPLE

See who was at the Junto Grand Opening and the Amp Up the Arts benefit

106

25 DATEBOOK

Wildlights, Lydia Loveless, a Barbiepalooza and more

Home & Style

98 Q&A

Keira Chatman takes the helm of the Columbus Fashion Council.

100 HOME

A Westerville couple transforms their home’s builder-grade features into a unique haven.

104 TOP 25 REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

Food & Drink

106 PRODUCE

Greens to beat the winter blues

108 SHORT ORDER

YF Chinese Cuisine offers delicious (and bewildering) fare.

109 COPY & TASTE

A focacceria-meetsgelateria is coming to the Short North.

110 BOOKS

A cookbook for Columbus

112 SWEET

Move over, pumpkin pie

114 LET’S EAT

Upper Arlington

Special Ad Sections

51 SIGNATURES

Peek behind the scenes and learn more about top talent at area restaurants.

65 UPPER ARLINGTON

This city is in a moment of transformation, embracing diversity, walkable developments and other community upgrades.

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Michelle Crossman

EDITORIAL EDITOR

Dave Ghose

SENIOR EDITOR

Joel Oliphint

FOOD & DRINK EDITOR

Erin Edwards

SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

Ashley Alt

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Amy Bodiker Baskes, TC Brown, Jeff Darbee, Nicholas Dekker, Randy Edwards, Joy Frank-Collins, Kathy Lynn Gray, Jill Moorhead, Brittany Moseley, Mandy Shunnarah, Steve Stephens, Peter Tonguette, Steve Wartenberg, Bethia Woolf

DESIGN & PRODUCTION PAGE DESIGNERS

Kathryn Biek, Kelly Hignite, Kaity Morrow

DIGITAL EDITOR

Julanne Hohbach

Emma Frankart Henterly wrote about Quarry Trails Metro Park’s via ferrata climbing route (Page 14). She’s the editor of Ohio Today, Ohio University’s alumni magazine, and a former Columbus Monthly staffer.

PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO EDITOR

Tim Johnson

ADVERTISING MULTIMEDIA SALES MANAGERS

Heather Kritter

Adam Trabitz

PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Rebecca Zimmer

MARKETING

MARKETING MANAGER

Lauren Reinhard

LETTERS: letters@columbusmonthly.com

ADVERTISING: advertise@ columbusmonthly.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS/CUSTOMER SERVICE

760-237-8505

columbusmonthly@pcspublink.com

EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING OFFICES

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CONTRIBUTORS

Bob Vitale is a Columbus Dispatch reporter and the former editor of the LGBTQ+ publication Outlook. His feature about Columbus’ bygone “improper-dress” law appears on Page 46.

Mandy Shunnarah wrote several stories for this issue, including an ode to Bob’s Bar for our Top Bars cover story (Page 26). They are a freelance writer and a frequent Columbus Monthly contributor.

PHOTOS: FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, ROB HARDIN, STALEY MUNROE, GABE ROSENBERG AND KATERI ANG

FROM THE EDITOR

Coming Home

You can judge a magazine in many ways, but one of the best is how much you learn from it. In that regard, this issue is an A+ teacher. A sample of things I discovered this month: Ohio Stadium’s complicated history with the Olentangy River (“A River Once Ran Through It,” Page 18), Char Bar’s origins as a funeral parlor (“Top Bars,” Page 26), the science behind carbon sequestration (“Soil is Our Salvation,” Page 40) and the median home sale price in Upper Arlington, which is more than $540,000 (“Homes for All Stages of Life,” Page 86).

Dave Ghose dghose@columbusmonthly.com

That last nugget came courtesy of our special advertising section on Upper Arlington. Periodically, Columbus Monthly puts together guides like this in collaboration with the featured communities. While not pure journalism, these projects are still informative packages that give readers an in-depth understanding of local enclaves, and I guarantee you’ll learn a lot if you spend some time with these stories.

For Columbus Monthly special sections editor Ashley Alt, the UA section was a learning opportunity in more than one way. Ashley

COMMENTS

Oh, Deer

In response to “Disputes De Ville,” a short ranking of recent Clintonville controversies in the September issue, reader Mark Silnes didn’t appreciate where senior editor Joel Oliphint placed “deer” on the funny-to-foolish continuum. “A deer jumped right in front of my wife’s car with her and my son driving inside. They were on a city street. It nearly totaled her car, and I had to take her to the hospital to get checked out,” Silnes wrote in an email. “As much as people like to make light of the problem, it is a safety issue.”

started at the magazine at the end of July while this project was midstream. But Ashley—an experienced juggler as a longtime freelance writer, mother of two small children and the owner of her own startup fashion brand—was up to the task. She shepherded the guide home, collaborating with freelance writers, our UA partners and other staffers while also contributing a story of her own to the package. Juggling is an essential part of Ashley’s job, which entails overseeing special sections and advertorials—she also edited the Signatures restaurant profiles in this issue (Page 51)—and serving as the editor of Columbus Weddings, our sister bridal magazine.

Ashley came to us from Connecticut, where she was the editor of Ridgefield City Lifestyle magazine. But she’s a Northwest Ohio native, and she and her husband were eager to return to Columbus, where they lived previously and many of their friends and family reside. “We always knew we were going to come back to Columbus,” Ashley says.

We’re glad to welcome her home.

Send letters to: Editor, Columbus Monthly, 605 S. Front St. , Ste. 300, Columbus, OH 43215 Or email: letters@columbus monthly.com. A letter must include the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number. Letters will be edited for length and clarity. All letters sent to Columbus Monthly are considered for publication, either in print or online.

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Email: letters@ columbusmonthly.com

as: illegal tree removal at a Dunkin’ Donuts (aka Treegate); the short-lived MyPillow store; an Indianola Avenue bike lane in front of Studio 35; and plenty more.

Well-Heeled Homeowners? Meh

On social media and Reddit, most complaints centered around the Clintonville controversies we didn’t include, such

Although I enjoy reading your Home & Style section, it seems less than impressive to view a house whose owners have used their expansive incomes to hire designers and purchase top-of-the-

Corrections

line goods in order to achieve beauty. How about featuring dwellings made inspiring by the hard work, creativity and incredible style of homeowners who are their own designers?

Wendy Wilson Waterville, Ohio

The feature story about Johnstown in our October issue included incorrect information about Mayor Donald Barnard and the proposed income tax increase in the city. Barnard has three kids, not four, and the proposed new income tax is 2.25 percent, not 2.5 percent.

PHOTO: DORAL CHENOWETH III

Three deer sit in the backyard of a home on Piedmont Road in Columbus’ Clintonville neighborhood.

front & center

Photo by Tim Johnson

Tiny Technique

Miniaturist Mary Barrett paints an owl she carved for a treehouse scene. Read more on Page 16.

CMA’s Change Agent

Since 2020, leadership turnover has become the norm at art museums across the country. New directors have recently taken the helm at multiple institutions in New York and at big-name museums in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Baltimore and St. Louis.

In Columbus, the Wexner Center for the Arts welcomed new director Gaëtane Verna in November 2022, filling the void left by Johanna Burton, who spent less than three years leading the Wex. At the Columbus Museum of Art, Nannette Maciejunes stepped down as CEO and executive director at the end of 2022 after leading the institution for nearly 20 years. Taking her place is Brooke Minto,

By Joel Oliphint

who started at the museum in mid-May after leaving her director post at the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums, a nonprofit that formed in 2020 with the aim of supporting and equipping Black trustees as they direct their institutions.

“There are more director transitions in the field now than ever,” Minto says during a September interview at her CMA office, about four months into her new role. “I think a lot of that has been accelerated by 2020 and just a feeling that museums need to think about the communities that they serve and support more broadly. … Are they serving all communities in their region? And what does the leadership look like at

those institutions? How is the leadership defining programming, mission [and] vision in such a way that all communities feel they are part of the institution and its future?”

CMA has long been a visitor-centered museum—a focus only strengthened by the inviting, contemporary design of the spacious Walter Wing, which opened in 2015. But Minto says the museum’s board and leadership acknowledge that CMA needs to “think more broadly about our audiences, and be much more intentional about our programming, about the way in which we grow the collection, the exhibitions that we elevate and promote.”

New director Brooke Minto steers the Columbus Museum of Art during a transitional moment.

PHOTO: TIM JOHNSON

Brooke Minto, the new director of the Columbus Museum of Art

Minto wants the museum to reflect Columbus’ growing immigrant communities: Somali, Ghanaian, Nepalese, Brazilian and others. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to be able to welcome in new families to this museum, and for their American journey to have the art museum as part of it,” she says.

Minto’s parents came to the United States from Jamaica as college students. Growing up in the suburbs of New York City on Long Island, she regularly visited galleries and artist studios. “I feel incredibly comfortable being in that space with an artist, engaging them about their practice,” she says. “It’s something I did from so early on that I never think about it as something I had to learn.”

Art history, then, was a natural study focus for Minto’s undergraduate years at Dartmouth College, though she gravitated more toward contemporary art, pursuing that path further at Columbia University, where she earned a master’s degree in modern art and critical studies. “I love working with artists who are grappling with important issues of our time,” she says.

Along the way, Minto interned at museums, galleries and auction houses and spent time working with curators of significant contemporary art collections. In 2003, she joined the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York to work in its curatorial department—an extraordinary experience. “It was a really wonderful way in which to enter the museum world,” she says, noting the ambitious, global scope of the Guggenheim. “To start there was really formative, and probably why I think about museums in certain ways. ... I fully expect that the Columbus Museum of Art, while it is so important to this community and to this region, can have a voice that resonates nationally and globally.”

Minto’s 20 years of experience at museums and arts organizations includes stints at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, where she divided her time between Cape Town, South Africa, and New York before joining the Black Trustee Alliance as its inaugural director in April 2021.

Now, Minto is looking to fill two to three curatorial positions at the Columbus Museum of Art in the next 12 to 18 months, with two more potential curator

hires the following year. “They’re the top priority,” she says. “I think our operating budget is in a really healthy place—I would say close to pre-pandemic levels. We are rebuilding the team. … The museum is growing.”

At the same time, Minto, like Verna at the Wexner Center, is navigating a transitional moment with museum employees. In an October 2022 vote, CMA Workers United joined AFSCME Ohio Council 8, winning the election with over 97 percent of the eligible employees voting for their union. Now the museum and union are negotiating. “I think it’ll take some time, but I know we’ll get there,” Minto says. “I’m optimistic that we’ll come to an agreement that will satisfy everyone. I’m not concerned.”

Columbus, too, is in a transitional pe-

Above, the Walter Wing of the Columbus Museum of Art; below, Columbus Museum of Art employees and supporters rally outside the museum before handing over a letter to management requesting voluntary recognition of the CMA Workers United union in August 2022.

riod, with record-breaking tech investments and soaring population growth. Minto says it’s familiar territory, and part of this job’s appeal. “It’s incredibly exciting, and also one of the reasons why I was attracted to the position, because many of the cities I’ve been in have been in this moment of transformation,” she says. “I think being able to navigate transition and changes is an art and a skill.” ◆

PHOTO: TOP, TIM JOHNSON; BOTTOM, ADAM CAIRNS

We Tried It: An Urban Via Ferrata

A writer goes on an alpine adventure at Quarry Trails Metro Park.

By Emma Frankart Henterly

“Well, that was 100 percent not terrible,” a Metro Parks employee says with a sigh as she walks through the gate at the top of a 100-plus-foot cliff.

“Not a fan of heights?” I ask.

“No!” she responds. “But this was actually pretty cool.”

We’ve just finished climbing the first urban via ferrata in the U.S. Located in Quarry Trails Metro Park on the West Side of Columbus, the fixed rock-climbing route offers an alpine adventure common in the Rockies and the Alps but unique in an urban setting (not to mention the flatlands of Ohio).

Via ferrata, Italian for “iron way,” is so named for the ladders, cables and rungs permanently affixed to rock faces as climbing aids. Here in Columbus, the route at Quarry Trails consists of scores of rebar rungs, 1,040 feet of safety cable, a 90-foot suspension bridge situated 105 feet in the air, and a roughly 50-foot vertical climb to reach said bridge.

“When we took that piece of property over and we saw those high-wall cliffs, I thought right away, ‘Wow, rock climbing. Sweet,’ ” says Dan Kaderly, park operations manager for the Metro Parks system. Kaderly is no stranger to the sport: He’s been climbing for more than two decades, and his twin brother, Highbanks Metro Park manager Matt Kaderly, designed the climbing wall at Scioto Audubon Metro Park.

After consulting with geologists and groups like the Ohio Climbers Coalition, Dan Kaderly and Metro Parks staff decided to do something unique. They contracted with Colorado-based Via Ferrata Works to design the state’s first route. Public climbing (free, with registration required) opened this May after more than a year of design, construction and staff training.

I climbed the route with a group of

Metro Parks employees and journalists in September, on a dreary day with scattered showers. I worried that the rain would cancel our climb, but was assured that as long as there wasn’t a downpour or high winds, we’d be fine (and sure enough, we were). Our group ranged from complete newbies to experienced climbers like Kaderly and me.

I won’t lie: The initial ascent was a little intimidating and an entirely different style of climbing than I am accustomed to. The route starts with a short climb up and a shorter descent before settling into a long, mostly horizontal traverse. Once I was moving laterally, I found my comfort zone and enjoyed the scenic views across

the park, as well as the marine fossils embedded in the limestone hundreds of millions of years ago.

Then, we reached the big ascent.

Roughly 50 feet tall by my estimate, with a very slight overhang at its start, I found that section to be the most mentally and physically challenging, as a fall on this section could be anywhere from a few inches to several feet. I trust my gear, but I’ve also taken several multifoot falls and know how heart-stopping they can be.

For just a second, I wondered if I had it in me. What if I tired out halfway up?

No one has ever needed to be rescued off the wall, Kaderly tells me, though some gentle encouragement has come

Emma Frankart Henterly climbs Quarry Trails Metro Park’s via ferrata route.

in handy. In the event of an actual emergency, Metro Parks staff guiding the climb carry a backpack with basic first aid supplies, and the fire department’s heavy rescue crews have been trained on climbing and retrieving someone from the route.

Then came the second-scariest obstacle: the 90-foot suspension bridge. The foot track is only a few inches wide, which looks more intimidating than it

feels. There’s cable to hook your carabiners on here, too, plus additional cables on either side for your hands. Really, this section was easier than I expected, and I flew through it.

That left me with the portion that, surprisingly, winded me the most: a 54-foot staircase to the top of the cliff. It doesn’t sound bad, but I promise that virtually every person in our group was panting and sweating when they reached that

gate at the end.

The via ferrata route is followed by a pleasant walk on a paved path back to the parking lot. One Metro Parks employee joked that a zip line back to our cars would be ideal, and I have to agree. I ask Kaderly about the odds of having one installed.

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” he says. “It would be a super fun ending to that whole thing.” ◆

PHOTOS: TIM JOHNSON

The climbers navigate Quarry Trails’ via ferrata.

Climbers receive tips and safety instructions before starting the via ferrata route at Quarry Trails Metro Park.

It’s a Small World

For the Columbus Miniature Society, little things are a big deal.

By Mandy Shunnarah

From dollhouses and fairy gardens to scaled dioramas and tiny meals, the world of miniatures is bigger than you think—and the Columbus Miniature Society is on a mission to prove that little objects can mean big fun. “Our purpose is to let people know this exists, because we’ll talk to people and they’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, I had dollhouses when I was little,’ but it’s a very different world,” says Mary Barrett, a longtime society member and co-chair of its annual show and sale. “Some people have dollhouses that cost $50,000 or $60,000 just for the house.”

The hobby draws everyone from collectors with deep pockets to crafty folks who can make chandeliers from plastic hairspray caps and castle turrets out of Pringles cans. It also attracts people of all ages; the Columbus Miniature Society’s 30 members include people in their 20s and in their 80s. What’s more, each member has an area of expertise: Some make food (cakes are especially popular) and fabrics (including rugs and yo-yo quilts), as well as bookcase inserts that appear as though there’s a magical universe just beyond the shelf.

Barrett studied art education, which led her to take classes in painting, glassmaking, jewelry-making and clay sculpting—all skills she uses to make her miniatures more authentic. “I love working tiny because I can control the whole world. I had a professor tell me I work ‘too small.’ I think about him when I sell one of my paintings,” says Barrett, who was glazing a painting of a rooster as we chatted. Her paintings are usually an inch or inch-and-a-half tall.

Miniature Society president Sherri Lackey makes detailed porcelain dolls an inch tall—a love that began in childhood. “I made a van with cardboard furniture for my Barbie out of a box,” says Lackey, who organizes the group’s monthly workshops on building new skills and improving members’ overall craft. “My love of miniatures continued, but life got in the

way with children and career. After my children grew up, I was able to enjoy my love of miniatures again.”

While the society has been around since 1976, the group is seeing a surge in young miniaturists who are interested in midcentury modern dollhouses and furnishings. “People think miniatures [are] all dollhouses, and there are a lot of Victorian houses, though you can do anything. I prefer treehouses and caves,” Barrett says. ◆

THE BIG SHOW

See little worlds come to life at the Columbus Miniature Society Show and Sale. The Nov. 18 event at Northwest United Methodist Church will feature exhibitions and vendors selling products for newbies and veteran hobbyists alike, plus food, door prizes and raffles. Bring your own miniatures to display, and you might win a People’s Choice Award. columbusminiaturesociety.org

PHOTO:

Mary Barrett, a longtime member of the Columbus Miniature Society, makes a wide range of miniatures.

Tailgating,

Overheard during the Buckeyes home opener

On Sept. 9, I took my 14-year-old daughter to her first Ohio State football game, the home opener versus Youngstown State. While the action on the field was ho-hum, the circus on Lane Avenue and the nearby parking lots was in prime form. Here are a few conversational snippets we overheard. —DAVE

GHOSE

“Jesus was basically born in the hood.” —preacher with a mic and a speaker at Lane Avenue and Tuttle Park Place

“It’s a long line over there! Cold beer, White Claw!” —guy selling booze out of his cooler in front of French Field House (and within 50 feet of a police officer)

“I might get recruited out here.” — chubby man in a stadium parking lot, holding a red Solo cup while tossing football to a little boy

“This is gonna be a long headache.” —middle-aged woman surrounded by empty beer cans at a loud party near the stadium

“I got Joe Burrow’s phone number.” guy in Justin Fields’ Ohio State jersey on Lane Avenue

“There are too many police here.” —big guy with a neck tattoo tells his skinny friend while crossing Lane Avenue

“I love the police. I thought of joining.” —skinny friend

“I love the police, too. They give me free rides.” —big guy

A River Once Ran Through It

Before the Buckeyes could play their first game at Ohio Stadium, its builders needed to conquer the Olentangy River.

By Jeff Darbee

Three of our best-known buildings clearly shout “Columbus, Ohio”: the Statehouse, the LeVeque Tower and Ohio Stadium, the home of the Buckeyes. The stadium inspires only superlatives: its huge size, the amount of concrete it used, its seating capacity, total attendance over a century of football. Few people, though, seem to know that the stadium’s construction caused the loss of part of the Olentangy River.

In the early 20th century, OSU’s campus west of High Street extended to the river’s east bank. On undeveloped land near the northwest corner, close to Woodruff Avenue, the OSU powers that be decided a new stadium would be built. University architect Howard Dwight

Smith was tasked with getting this done. (Fun fact: He also was actress Beverly D’Angelo’s grandfather.)

At the chosen site, the Olentangy had long ago split into two channels running past the east and west sides of two small islands; the proposed stadium would be right on top of the eastern channel. Not a problem. Cut down the riverbank trees, grub out the stumps, fill in the channel, and the site was ready. According to one source, however, water from the river apparently still wanted to follow that filled-in channel, so architect Smith built a slurry wall, a construction technique that permits building a tall underground concrete wall impervious to water.

Jump back to some 20-plus years ago,

when renovation and expansion of Ohio Stadium made it the venue it is today. Increased seating was mandatory, so the running track circling the playing field was removed and its space used to add sideline seating. This required lowering the playing field over 14 feet, placing its surface well below the area’s water table. To keep groundwater out, the builders had to pour a huge, concrete “bathtub,” using the same slurry wall technique employed a century before.

So the Olentangy flows on today, having suffered little from the loss of its eastern channel. But that loss is part of the story of Ohio Stadium’s construction—a tale of big thinking, dogged determination and skillful designers and builders. ◆

Sources: Columbus maps and atlases, Columbus Metropolitan Library; OSU website; Jack Hedge, architect

Construction

PHOTO:

The Aftermath

Ten years after making the viral video ‘I Killed a Man,’ Matthew Cordle reflects on guilt, repentance and life after prison.

By Joel Oliphint

Matthew Cordle seemed to be doing pretty well after leaving prison in 2019. He’d gone through an intensive therapy program and earned an associate degree in social sciences from Ohio University. Prison had also provided ample time for workouts, so he reentered society physically fit. He had a job lined up, too, working as a patient technician at a treatment center for substance use disorders.

The 2009 Dublin Jerome High School grad also found constructive outlets for talking about his painful past. He visited groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and told the story of how, on June 21, 2013, he went out drinking at Columbus bars with his friends. Then, in the early morning hours of June 22, he got in his white Toyota Tundra but never made it home. Instead, Cordle drove the wrong way on I-670, colliding with a Jeep driven by 61-year-old Vincent Canzani, who died in the crash. Plagued with guilt for his crime, Cordle teamed with Alex Sheen, founder of Ohio nonprofit Because I Said I Would, to make a dramatic confession video titled “I Killed a Man,” which featured Cordle pleading to the camera: “I’m begging you. Please don’t drink and drive.”

The video went viral. Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge David Fais sentenced Cordle to six and a half years for aggravated vehicular homicide and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Fais also suspended Cordle’s driving privileges for life. Cordle served his time at Pickaway Correctional Institution in Orient and was released in October 2019, about five months shy of the full sentence. (Canzani’s daughter, Angela Canzani Riggs, objected to the early release.)

Though everything looked fine on the outside, Cordle was white-knuckling

it internally. “Things made more sense when I was in prison, honestly, because I was being punished,” he says. “When I got out, I just could not comprehend how I was able to walk around.”

Cordle took a man’s life, and while that reality didn’t feel good in prison, it feels worse on the other side of incarceration. “I don’t feel like I deserve to be happy,” he says. “There’s a part of me that thinks, well, you should feel bad because you did a bad thing. That’s the biggest driving force in my head.”

Cordle says he averages three panic attacks per day. He can trace them back to one night, during his fourth year at Pickaway, when he began thinking about his ailing father. “I was just laying on my

bunk, getting ready to go to bed, and I had the thought, ‘What if my dad dies?’” Cordle says. “All of a sudden, I thought I was having a heart attack. I was convinced I was dying.”

The next day, Cordle visited the prison infirmary, where a nurse told him he’d had a panic attack. “It’s the constant need to be in that fight-or-flight mode. Even on a low level, it wears on you after a long time,” Cordle says, though it didn’t let up after release. The first night he went to sleep at his sister’s house, where he stayed after leaving prison, he woke up and had no idea where he was. “I had not been in pitch dark for the last seven years,” Cordle says. “I freaked out, jumped up and balled up my fist.”

Alex Sheen, left, and Matthew Cordle at the Hilton Columbus Downtown during a recent Because I Said I Would event

Before September, the last time I saw Cordle he was inside Pickaway wearing blue prison garb. It was January 2014, and I was working on a BuzzFeed story about Cordle, Canzani and the video. Alex Sheen, who was born in Toledo but raised in Powell, factored heavily in the story, too. “I don’t have a connection with anyone else quite like I do with Matt,” Sheen told me then, and he continues to play a big role in Cordle’s life, though the friendship was tested while Cordle was incarcerated.

The pair’s viral video didn’t merely thrust Cordle into the spotlight; it also spread awareness of Sheen’s fledgling nonprofit, Because I Said I Would, which he inadvertently launched in 2012 while giving his father’s eulogy. Sheen remarked that his dad had always followed through on what he said he would do; he kept his promises. To honor his father’s memory, Sheen handed out blank cards on which people could write down a promise. He had some extra cards, so he made a Facebook page, which grew and grew. Eventually, Sheen quit his job and dedicated all his time and energy to the nonprofit.

Before Cordle’s confession video, Because I Said I Would had attracted some media attention, but it was nothing compared to the buzz around the video, which has been viewed 3.4 million times. “It wasn’t even guaranteed to work,” Sheen says now. “I remember telling [Cordle], ‘I think I can get you 90,000 views.’ ”

Sheen feels as conflicted today about the video as he did then. It was a lot of trust for Cordle to put in one guy and the power of a promise. He remembers repeatedly asking Cordle, “Do you know what it is that you’re doing here?” The video simultaneously felt like a bad idea

and the right thing to do. “But he wanted to do it, and thankfully it worked. It did convince a lot of people [not to drink and drive],” Sheen says. “I wish more people would do stuff like Matt did. The reason his video went viral is because they don’t.”

In the last 11 years, Because I Said I Would has given out over 14 million promise cards, and Sheen has become an in-demand speaker, earning around $8 million in speaking fees for the charity. (Sheen says his average annual salary is about $60,000.) Along with the success, critics have wondered if it’s all too good to be true. “Anybody who does good is a solid target for hypocrisy,” Sheen says. “I understand why people would assume that there is another intent or motive. … But it was never about what people thought of me or my intent, so you eventually just let that go.”

Behind bars, Cordle became one of those skeptics. “I heard about how big [Sheen] was getting. I can’t lie—there was

a bit of resentment there. In my head, I’m like, ‘This guy is making all this money off of a tragedy,’ ” Cordle says. “His big thing was 100 percent of proceeds always go to charity. I’d be the first to tell you I didn’t believe that for one second.”

At one point, Cordle told Sheen he didn’t want the nonprofit sharing his story anymore. “He wanted a sense of control over how his story was shared,” says Sheen, who understood that desire. “I was never mad at Matt. … I’ve always had a sense of guilt for my success coming from other people’s pain.” Sheen is keenly aware that, even when he’s doing everything for the right reasons, the attention his charity receives is directly tied to the hardships of others. “I’ve always felt a sense of obligation to Matt, specifically,” he says. “I sent a kid to prison, and I get to be onstage and fly to these places. I get to be this hero person.”

Sheen made good on his promise to be there for Cordle when he got out of prison. They reconnected soon after Cordle was released, and this past spring, when Cordle wanted to find meaningful work, a sales job at Because I Said I Would turned out to be the perfect fit. Beginning in June, Cordle became the closest thing Sheen has to an agent, booking around 135 speaking gigs per year for his friend.

The job also gives Cordle a peek behind the curtain, and he likes what he sees. “If [Sheen] says he’s going to do something, he’s going to do it, no matter what—even if he has to take a connecting flight to the wrong city, rent a car and drive six hours to get somewhere overnight, which he’s done multiple times,” Cordle says. “I underestimated the impact that he’s had. It

PHOTOS: TOP, COLUMBUS DISPATCH FILE; BOTTOM, TOM DODGE

Attorney Martin Midian, left, talks with Cordle in Judge David Fais’ courtroom in 2013.

Matthew Cordle holds a promise card during a 2013 video in which he confessed to killing a man in a head-on crash on I-670.

blows me away every day.”

Because I Said I Would recently moved its headquarters from the Cleveland area to a 92-acre property in Knox County (previously Indian Bear Lodge & Winery), 45 miles northeast of Columbus. There, the charity hosts bereavement retreats for grieving families at no cost, and it has plans to provide programming for kids and teens facing mental health adversities. In June, a devastating fire wiped out the headquarters building, but Sheen says eight other buildings are still standing, and Camp Because I Said I Would will continue to host families and programs while it rebuilds. After all, building resiliency skills is one of the aims of the camp.

Meanwhile, Cordle finds himself caught between two worlds. He loves the work he’s doing for the charity. He’s helping people. But he still faces daily bouts of crippling anxiety. Sometimes he retreats from the world and won’t respond to family or friends for days.

People close to Cordle have encouraged him to see a therapist, to talk to somebody about his inner life. But that would mean getting better, and Cordle still doesn’t think he deserves to feel better. “I know that that is wrong,” he says, “but right now I don’t want to change it, because there’s another part of me that says that’s right.”

There’s some hope, though. Recently, Cordle watched a Because I Said I Would video featuring Eva Kor, a Holocaust survivor who died in 2019. Kor spoke at the nonprofit’s ONE event in Columbus in 2014, and in her speech, she told the story of traveling for days in a cattle car to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Kor’s parents and two older sisters were killed in gas chambers, but she and her twin sister survived so that Nazi doctors, under the direction of Josef Mengele, could experiment on them.

In the video, Kor speaks about a radical act of forgiveness: She decided to forgive Mengele. To live the life she wanted, she had to forgive the person who hurt her most. “Right when she said those words, I started bawling,” Cordle says. “I know the person who’s hurt me the most is me.”

He isn’t quite ready to go that route yet. But Kor’s story cracked the door open to the possibility. If an Auschwitz survivor could forgive the perpetrators of Nazi atrocities, maybe, someday, he’ll find a way to forgive himself. ◆

A crowd greets Little Amal in Downtown Columbus at the Broad Street Bridge. The 12-foot-tall puppet visited the city in September as part of a two-month U.S. tour to raise awareness of the struggles of refugees and immigrants.

PHOTO BY CLARE GRANT

Junto Opening

About 400 people attended the July 13 grand opening party for the Junto, the new boutique hotel in Franklinton from Makeready founder Jimmy Merkel. The event featured an acoustic set from Marc Roberge, Jerry DePizzo and Jon Lampley of O.A.R., with proceeds supporting the National Veterans Memorial.

1 Jason Delcamp, Jimmy Merkel 2 Thomas McClure, Lubna Najjar, Nia Noelle, Benjamin Parks 3 Nana Watson, Níel Jurist

Amp Up the Arts

The New Albany Community Foundation hosted on Sept. 13 its third annual Amp Up the Arts benefit at the Hinson Amphitheater, featuring a performance from singer-songwriters Gavin DeGraw and Colbie Caillat. More than 400 people attended the event, which raised $270,000 in support of amphitheater programming presented by the foundation.

1 Marcy and Jonathan Schaffir, Meenal Misal, Vijay Balakrishnan, Lauren and Brett Baker 2 Colbie Caillat, Gavin DeGraw 3 Alex Fischer and Lori Barreras, Jack and Charlotte Kessler, Donna and Nick Akins

JUNTO PHOTOS: ASTERIA PHOTOGRAPHY, AMP UP THE ARTS PHOTOS: JAMES D. DECAMP

datebook

A CURATED LIST OF THINGS TO SEE AND DO IN COLUMBUS

THROUGH JAN. 7 | BARBIE-PALOOZA

Barbie fans, brace yourselves for two special events celebrating the iconic Mattel doll. The Worthington Historical Society’s Doll Museum hosts a self-guided exhibit through December exploring Barbie’s 200-plus careers, accessories and friends. At COSI, Barbie You Can Be Anything: The Experience takes kids and nostalgic adults on a tour of Barbie history with almost 100 dolls, interactive career stations and more. Catch it through Jan. 7. cosi.org, worthingtonhistory.org

NOV. 2-19

| ‘GOOD GRIEF’

The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio presents Ngozi Anyanwu’s play about a young woman looking for identity and healing in the aftermath of the devastating loss of her best friend. The Riffe Center production showcases themes of grief, joy and profound connection. thecontemporaryohio.org

NOV. 14 | ‘THE CREATIVE FUTURE OF FOOD’

Food sovereignty, nutrition and barriers to food access are the focus of the Wexner Center for the Arts’ 2023 Director’s Dialogue. The featured speakers include Columbus’ own Alexis Nikole Nelson (aka BlackForager), multidisciplinary artist Jumana Manna and the Brother(hood) Dance! duo. The ticketed event takes place in the Mershon Auditorium wexarts.org

NOV. 17-JAN. 7 |

WILDLIGHTS

You can find plenty of magnificent holiday light displays in Central Ohio but only one that also includes a menagerie of even more spectacular animals. Now in its 35th year, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s Wildlights features millions of LED lights, animated musical shows, Santa, reindeer and more. columbuszoo.org

NOV. 25 | LYDIA LOVELESS

After a detour in North Carolina, Lydia Loveless is back in town, now working as a recording engineer at Secret Studio. The singer and songwriter also reunited with their former label, Bloodshot Records, on excellent new album Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again Don’t miss Loveless’ full-band show when their national tour stops at Natalie’s. nataliesgrand view.com

GIVE BACK

Nov. 3

Celebration of Learning

The Columbus Metropolitan Library fundraiser will feature cocktails, dinner and a speech from beloved YA writer John Green. The event at the CML Main branch supports the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation. columbuslibrary.org/ foundation

Nov. 23

Powell Turkey Trot

Had your fill of pie as Thanksgiving race day swag? Head to Powell for this 4-miler, which supports Bridgeway Academy this year. The first 800 participants (over the age of 21) will receive four-packs from Nocterra Brewing Co. powellturkeytrot.com

Ongoing Volunteer at the Open Shelter

The South Side nonprofit is looking for volunteers for a variety of tasks, including serving hot meals for homeless individuals at the agency’s Parsons Avenue day shelter. theopenshelter.org

PHOTO: TIM JOHNSON

Lydia Loveless

top bars

By G.A.

Moorhead

Photos by Tim Johnson

OShunnarah

n the following pages, we list nearly 40 essential Columbus watering holes, from dapper to divey; chat with two local bartenders; share 10 of the best spots for pub grub; and offer an ode to the quintessential Midwestern neighborhood bar: Bob’s.

Our Essential Bars, from Dapper to Divey

What makes an essential bar? It’s got to have character between the walls and talent behind the stick. It may offer something unique in Columbus—like live jazz, duckpin bowling or its own housemade rum. Or it might just be a friendly watering hole with darts and light yellow beer. Here’s what we didn’t include: clubs (sorry, AWOL); wine bars (apologies, Twisted Vine); restaurant bars we love, like Giuseppe’s and Lindey’s, but distillery bars got a pass; and great bars outside the I-270 loop, like Ruckmoor Lounge. Space in a magazine is finite and favorite bars are subjective, so it’s possible yours didn’t land on this list. For that, we owe you a beer. 

The Jock Jams Vol. 1 cocktail at Law Bird

Benton, Nicholas Dekker, Erin Edwards, Jill

and Mandy

COCKTAIL BARS

THE ALIBI BOURBON & COCKTAIL LOUNGE

Teeny-tiny Alibi is unique in today’s increasingly clubby Short North. It’s the kind of darkly lit bar where you hunker down to study the extensive whiskey list, which ranges from Old Overholt to Savage & Cooke’s Guero 17-Year. Or you can test out the creative libations on the Prohibition-style cocktail menu. Go on, disappear for a couple of hours—you have a good alibi.

843 N. High St., Short North

THE BAR AT ECHO SPIRITS

Echo Spirits’ side street bar might be the very definition of a hidden gem. The low-slung, concrete building, formerly Four String Brewing, is home to the distillery and a bar headed up by Derek Reno. The team showcases Echo’s unique and award-winning roster of spirits like rum, rye, vodka and genever. Add in fun tasting flights, live music and movie showings, Red Rabbit Ramen parked out front, and you have all the hallmarks of a true destination.

985 W. Sixth Ave., Fifth by Northwest

THE BOTTLE SHOP

Part of what makes the Bottle Shop so charming is that it’s hard to pin down. Yes, it’s a cocktail bar with some of the city’s most dynamic libations, but the bohemian, incense-heavy, close-quartered bar—which is part convenience store and part natural wine shop—features a robust beer list, accomplished nonalcoholic drinks and a house food truck. With new owner Gregory Stokes, the Level 3 somm behind Downtown’s Accent Wine, we’re sure the Bottle Shop will only improve with time.

237 King Ave., Dennison Place

THE CITIZENS TRUST

With soaring ceilings, this upscale bar bathed in burgundy upholds the same lofty standards as its sibling restaurant Veritas downstairs. Yes, the space—a former bank—is impressive, but you go here to be wowed by the cocktails. The generally tranquil lounge gets livelier during the holiday season, when Citizens transforms into Miracle—a joyful pop-up bar featuring fake snow, old-school Christmas kitsch and batched seasonal cocktails.

11 W. Gay St., Downtown

A gimlet at Understory

Shrine of the Silver Monkey cocktail at Law Bird

A Negroni at the Citizens Trust

DENMARK ON HIGH

Located across from the convention center, Denmark hovers above High Street as that hidden gem that every out-of-towner must think they’ve discovered. Co-owner and head bartender Garry White infuses serious mixology with a sense of humor and turns out some of the city’s most inventive cocktails season after season. He also has turned Denmark into a training ground for some of the city’s top bartending talent, from Echo Spirits’ Derek Reno to Speck’s Genevieve Johnson. 463 N. High St., 2nd Floor, Short North

LAW BIRD

Tales of the Cocktail, an annual gathering of cocktail industry professionals, named Law Bird among the 10 Best New Cocktail Bars in the U.S. last year, and for good reason. The well-organized bar from industry veterans Annie Williams Pierce and Luke Pierce is constantly looking to innovate while also having fun, whether that means transforming into a carryout shop during COVID, spinning up cocktails like the PB&J-inspired Snax on the Beach, showcasing stand-up comics behind the bar or launching a ’90s-themed cocktail list, complete with Trapper Keeper menu. 740 S. High St., Brewery District

TRENDING IN:

Bartenders in jean jackets with flair OUT: Suspenders and pomade

SERVICE BAR

Middle West Spirits’ bar is one of the sexiest in town. The wooden bar itself, a late-1800s Brunswick bar sourced in Cincinnati, is a stunner. And while the restaurant side of this distillery bar has seen some ups and downs of late—a new executive chef recently joined the team— the bar remains an excellent showcase for Middle West’s own spirits, especially in the capable hands of beverage director Dustin Ross. Don’t miss the barrel-aged Old Fashioned or any cocktail with Middle West’s fine Vim & Petal gin. 1230 Courtland Ave., Weinland Park

UNDERSTORY

Understory deserves to win an award for best transformation of a historic space. As the anchor tenant of the former Open Air School building, the sister to Wolf’s Ridge Brewing features an upstairs lounge that’s ideal for date night, a lower-level common room and lovely tree-lined stone patio. The space is calm and cozy during the winter, open and airy in the warmer months. You’ll feel like you’re back at school, but this time with a cocktail or beer in hand.

2571 Neil Ave., Old North

WATERSHED KITCHEN & BAR

The first of Columbus’ distillery restaurants, Watershed Kitchen & Bar remains an eclectic and accomplished spot for craft cocktails matched by upscale, Midwestern-inspired food. Grab a seat at the handsome copper bar or a table near the windows looking into the distillery. One of the real joys is browsing Watershed’s beautifully designed cocktail menus. Each season’s menu, ranging in theme from yard sales to world travel, is a lesson not only in expert cocktail creation but appealing graphic design. 1145 Chesapeake Ave., Fifth by Northwest

Annie Williams Pierce and Gio Glorio behind the bar at Law Bird

Chaos Theory cocktail at Law Bird in the Brewery District

BARTENDER SPOTLIGHT: Chris Marek

The Citizens Trust beverage director is one of the city’s brightest young talents.

By Jill Moorhead

Long before he became one of Columbus’ top bartenders, Chris Marek’s first love— and his first career choice—was magic.

Marek had a magical childhood. “My mom and grandpa do magic, as well. Growing up, they were a clown magic duo,” he says. “They dressed up as clowns and would go and do magic at parties. I don’t know how she agreed to that.”

Marek (who prefers jean jackets to clown costumes) followed in his family’s footsteps. He performed magic at family get-togethers, in high school talent shows, and even dropped out of college to pursue the vocation.

Now the beverage director at the Citizens Trust, Marek is one of 22 semifinalists set to compete in the prestigious Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s “Most Imaginative Bartender” competition in Washington D.C. in November. The contest, presented by Bombay Sapphire, encourages bartenders to mine their creative passions to create a cocktail using the gin brand. But it was a different cocktail competition that inspired Marek to take bartending seriously.

As a barback at High Bank Distillery Co. in early 2020, he entered Watershed’s “Best of the Worst” cocktail competition,

where he met other bartenders who challenged him to not be complacent. After the competition, he put in two weeks’ notice. His plan was to move to a bar that would allow him to grow his skills. One week after he gave notice, COVID-19 shut down the industry.

Instead, Marek used his time during lockdown to educate himself. “I would get a different bottle and would learn as many cocktails as I could with that specific thing for a week or two. That’s how I spent the shutdown,” he says. “It was my ‘Rocky’ training montage.”

When bars opened back up, Marek went to work for the Light of Seven Matchsticks and its bar manager, PJ Ford, whom he’d met at “Best of the Worst.” “A lot of people want a job at a cocktail bar saying it’s because they want to learn, but it often feels that they’re waiting on the job to start

learning,” says Ford, who now manages Law Bird. “Chris came to Matchsticks already doing the work on his own, which showed drive and a love for the craft. He was just so genuinely excited.”

Marek likens his penchant for magic to mixology. “Magic is known for smoke and mirrors, and a suspension of disbelief and trusting the magician,” he says. “We all know it’s not real. It’s not to trick you. It’s to tell a story and entertain you and forget about life’s troubles a little bit. In a similar vein, I use unique ingredients like sundried tomato or pastrami—yes, I put real pastrami in a cocktail. And it’s [asking] the guests to trust you along the way.”

Marek doesn’t yet know what creative concoction he’ll serve during his 7-minute presentation at the Most Imaginative Bartender semifinals. But when the time comes, he’ll work his magic.

Chris Marek garnishes the Ain’t Nothin’ but a “G” Thang cocktail at the Citizens Trust.

BECK TAVERN

Ever wake up the morning after a night out with that fuzzy feeling that you played darts and did ice-cold shots of Jäger? You probably ended your night at Beck Tavern in German Village, aka Low Beck so as not to be confused with the roomier High Beck Tavern. As the foil to Lindey’s prim atmosphere just a few blocks away, Low Beck may look intimidating from the outside, but inside it’s a warm, low-ceilinged, wood-paneled hug with cheap beer, dart boards and cozy booths. 284 E. Beck St., German Village

BYRNE’S PUB

Founded in 1995 by three Byrne brothers, this pub is one of Columbus’ favorite Irish hangouts. With its green awnings and shamrock-heavy décor on the patio, the Grandview-area pub has been welcoming guests since 1995. Irish or not, they’re drawn to the steady lineup of live bluegrass and traditional Irish music, cold beer and cocktails, and hearty pub favorites from shepherd’s pie to bangers and mash. Make a special stop at Bryne’s Pub on St. Patrick’s Day for the full experience. 1248 W. Third Ave., Fifth by Northwest

CHAR BAR

A visit to this crusty old Short North saloon often involves a dare or two. “I dare you to order the Long Island Iced Tea.” It’s a legendary one-and-done, black-out drink—if that’s your thing. “I dare you to go to the bathroom.” The bathroom, you see, resides down a flight of stairs in what is certainly a haunted basement (it was once a funeral parlor) complete with an ancient piano that you expect to start playing on its own any minute. You’ve been warned. 439 N. High St., Short North

CLUB 185

Long a neighborhood bar, Club 185 became the hip place it is today when Tina and Randy Corbin took over operations in 2000. Though some of the Corbins’ other popular businesses have come and gone (they sold the Rossi, and Philco shuttered in 2020), Club 185 remains their exposed-brick, neighborhood gem. This is where you go for affordable well cocktails and beer—no craft mixology going on here—plus excellent bar grub like Buffalo-style beef on weck (served only on Thursdays), Anchor Bar wings, fried

bologna sammies, burgers and pizzas. 185 E. Livingston Ave., German Village

O’CONNOR’S CLUB 20

This welcoming, LGBTQ-friendly Old North bar opened in 1992 and has all the hallmarks of a classic dive, from dart boards to cheap drinks to dim lighting. But it’s a true community favorite for its long-serving bartenders, whiskey Wednesdays and boisterous events like drag shows, karaoke, bingo and trivia nights. For more than four decades, O’Connor’s has easily lived up to its motto

that you come in as a stranger and leave as a friend. 20 E. Duncan St., Old North

ODDFELLOWS LIQUOR BAR

When it opened in 2015, this companion bar to Mikey’s Late Night Slice was decorated to look like an old dive. Finally, Odds has that lived-in, gritty feel it was aiming for all along and a fanbase developed over years. And what’s not to love? The drinks are strong and cheap, there’s pizza nearby and the bar’s got a sense of humor—signaled by décor like a bear-ina-bathtub and a snarky sign with sayings

Club 185 patrons sit on the small patio on Livingston Avenue in German Village

like “MAYBE TEQUILA DOESN’T LIKE YOU EITHER.” Bonus: Oddfellows has also helped to incubate local food businesses like Hai Poké and Woodhouse Vegan. 1038 N. High St., Short North

O’REILLY’S PUB

Even though O’Reilly’s sits right on High Street in the heart of Clintonville, it still feels like a hidden oasis. Step through the door of the unassuming exterior into a dimly lit but convivial setting, with its signature sunken bar, close-knit staff who know their regulars and a commitment to

great pub grub. Order whatever you like to drink, but don’t leave without ordering O’Reilly’s famous Pepper Burger, generously rolled in peppercorns before it hits the grill. 2822 N. High St., Clintonville

OUT-R-INN

If we have to choose one quintessential Ohio State bar on gameday, it’s Out-RInn. While many of OSU’s gems have succumbed to redevelopment, this dive in a converted house hasn’t changed much since it opened in 1969—that’s perhaps why locals and alums like it just

as much as the students. The maze-like wooden bar features graffiti on the walls, ample TVs and pool tables, a pizza-bythe-slice window and loads of scarlet and gray. 20 E. Frambes Ave., Campus

SHORT NORTH TAVERN

In the ever-changing landscape of the Short North, it’s nice to see that some things remain the same. The Short North Tavern first opened in 1981, earning it the distinction of being the neighborhood’s longest-running bar. Read more about Short North Tavern on Page 37. 674 N. High St., Short North

SOUTHBEND TAVERN

The corner of Fourth and Moler streets has seen exciting developments of late, with a new café and restaurant going in the old Bake Me Happy space. But Southbend is the glue for this Merion Village corner. The welcoming, casual gay bar stays open until 2:30 a.m. and offers a diverse mix of entertainment ranging from darts, pool and euchre nights to bingo, drag shows and “Bear Happy Hour.” 126 E. Moler St., Merion Village

ST. JAMES TAVERN

The growth of Italian Village is a good thing, but we’re relieved that St. James hasn’t changed. The beloved dive bar— green awning and no windows—is still proudly serving “no crap on tap.” A two-year closure during the pandemic left the place untouched except maybe a fresh polish to the bar, but Michelle Hill’s wood-paneled enclave still features great prices on beer, pool tables, a jukebox and no TVs. 1057 N. Fourth St., Italian Village

TRENDING

Byrne’s Pub owner Pat Byrne sips a BUA Irish Whiskey, made exclusively for the pub.

bars with entertainment

ACE OF CUPS

First opened in 2011 by Columbus musician Marcy Mays, the Old North bar transformed a former bank into one of the city’s premier small music venues for regional and national acts. Read more about Ace of Cups on Page 36. 2619 N. High St., Old North

BLU NOTE JAZZ CAFÉ

Thanks to owners Derrik and Tiffini Pannell, the preservation of jazz culture is alive and well at the Blu Note. On any given Saturday night at this 4-year-old jazz lounge, you can catch the room’s blue lights reflecting off the jazz clarinet while the bassist plays, eyes closed, and musician James Gaiters keeps time on the drums. It’s a relaxing night out, whether sitting at the small bar, at a cozy table near the band or on the patio. The full-service lounge also offers comforting fare like shrimp and grits, lamb chops and Mo’ Butta Blu cake. 2882 E. Main St., Bexley

BOSSY GRRL’S PINUP JOINT

With its own house burlesque troupe (Sex Kitten Purrlesque), drag shows, karaoke and an open stage, this decade-old Old North bar serves up cocktails (regular and nonalcoholic), never-dull entertainment and community. The quirky, queer-friendly bar features its own housemade infusions (think: ghost pepper tequila) and hard seltzers on tap. And with a triple focus on sex-positivity, body-positivity and safety, it’s a perfect place to explore your wild side. 2598 N. High St., Old North

Bartender Marla Hicks on Safe Spaces

Hicks has been at Bossy Grrl’s since day one. We asked the head bartender and burlesque performer to talk about the bar that she affectionately calls “the land of misfit toys.”

What’s the vibe at Bossy Grrl’s? We are very queer-friendly, but we don’t call ourselves a queer bar. We’re an everybody bar. If you’re a cool person and a safe person, you’re welcome here.

How do you go about creating a safe, happy space? You get pretty good at sensing how people react in certain situations. I will tell people, “If you ever feel uncomfortable, tell me.” I will keep an eye on them. We’ve attracted the trans and queer communities because of this. It makes me really proud. People are able to let themselves flourish and find themselves in a sense of community. We get a lot of first dates and Tinder dates, because people know that we will be there to help protect them.

Why are nonalcoholic drinks important on a cocktail menu? A lot of people are either affected by someone who has had a problem with drinking or has dealt with alcoholism. I think by having those options, we are also showing that it’s not just about drinking culture, it’s about art and performance.

Finally, tell me about the entertainment. When I started doing burlesque, I was the only full-figured dancer in the troupe. I came with a lot of body issues and low self-esteem. By doing it, I built confidence. The house troupe has a full range of body types. You can walk in, feel empowered by the show, talk to the person who runs the troupe, and the next thing you know, you can be performing, too.

The Jerry Powell Experience plays at the Blu Note Jazz Café on East Main Street.

DICK’S DEN

THE KEE

The faded wooden sign over High Street marks “The One and Only Dick’s Den,” an Old North dive that’s beloved both as a cramped neighborhood bar and a haven for jazz and bluegrass music in Columbus. “Why Not?” beams a neon sign in the window. Even one visit to the intimate bar for a Tuesday night bluegrass jam or any show from local and regional touring acts will have you saying, “Why not, indeed?”

2417 N. High St., Old North

GINGER RABBIT JAZZ LOUNGE

Restaurateurs BJ Lieberman and his wife, Bronwyn Haines, have the golden touch when it comes to creating interesting gathering spaces. Ginger Rabbit, the second of their three local creations, has thrived since opening in spring 2022, living up to its “La La Land” inspiration. The subterranean joint offers nightly jazz, an emphasis on gin cocktails and elevated small plates. Reservations are a must. 17 Buttles Ave., Short North

How to define the Kee? You just have to experience it to believe it. The 33,000-square-foot former warehouse, which opened in May, invites its diverse clientele to choose their own adventure. You can (takes deep breath) grab a cocktail at one of the two bars, stroll through the art gallery or grab a bite in the pastel Foodbar. There’s also pingpong, cornhole, an arcade, golf simulators, large patio and frequent DJs and live music sets. 225 Neilston St., Downtown

OLD NORTH ARCADE

Whether you’re a Gen Xer or a current kiddo (under supervision until 8 p.m.), Old North Arcade might be your spot. The arcade bar offers a wide selection of retro cabinets, from Ms. Pac-Man to Mortal Kombat. Pinball, Skee-Ball, air hockey and consoles like Nintendo and Sega are all here, too, as well as a “Tron room” in a bank vault. And you never know who might show up: After a recent show at the Mershon Auditorium, singer Janelle Monáe partied with her crew at the arcade bar. It doesn’t get cooler than that. 2591 N. High St., Old North

PINS MECHANICAL CO.

One of the city’s first adult playgrounds, Pins’ Downtown location offers fun like duckpin bowling, pinball and yard games in a converted tire repair shop. While you fling bowling balls down the alley or compete in jumbo-sized Jenga, you can sip on the bar’s Ohio-heavy, 40-strong beer list, specialty cocktails or shareable punch bowls. However, the days are numbered for the original Pins: The Downtown location will move to the Scioto Peninsula development around mid-2025, along with fellow Rise Brands concept 16-Bit Bar + Arcade. 141 N. Fourth St., Downtown; 6558 Riverside Drive, Dublin; 4117 Worth Ave., Easton

STUDIO 35 CINEMA & DRAFTHOUSE

More than just a bar attached to a movie theater, Studio 35’s lobby hangout is a legit neighborhood watering hole. A full cocktail menu (with specials inspired by

what’s showing on the two screens), 40 craft beers on tap, favorite movie snacks and excellent pies from in-house Fibonacci’s Pizzeria make it the ideal setting to kick back whether you’re catching a flick or not. 3055 Indianola Ave., Clintonville

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Ginger Rabbit Jazz Lounge

Bossy Grrl’s bartender Marla Hicks

Dick’s Den in the Old North

beer bars

ANTIQUES ON HIGH

Compared to Seventh Son Brewing’s light industrial feel, its South High sister brewery puts off midcentury modern vibes, with a swanky bar setup, plush booths and concrete block fireplace. Antiques adds to the family portfolio with its own housemade sour and wild-fermented beers, punchy IPAs and smartly crafted cocktails, as well as serving ales from sisters Seventh Son and Getaway Brewing. It’s all complemented by local food trucks, a charcuterie vending machine and a terrific, all-season rooftop patio. 714 S. High St., Brewery District

BOB’S BAR

Since the early 2000s, the self-proclaimed “Cultural Hub of the Midwest” has been known as a craft beer outpost while still maintaining its dive bar pedigree, complete with dart boards, Golden Tee, a pool table and a bartender named Paulie. Even though it’s proudly Midwestern, Bob’s will take you around the world with its tap list. Read one writer’s ode to Bob’s Bar on Page 38. 4961 N. High St., Clintonville

COLUMBUS BREWING CO. BEER HALL

Beer doesn’t get much better than CBC’s signature Imperial IPA, Bodhi. With its

new Beer Hall in the Trolley District, CBC finally has a grand space that lives up to the brewery’s pedigree. The late 1800s brick building—a former repair shop for trolleys—is a beaut and offers patrons a variety of seating options, including ample bar seating, leather booths and a huge patio. 200 Kelton Ave., Franklin Park

THE DAILY GROWLER

John Blakely will occasionally park the sailboat he won on “The Price Is Right” in front of his three beer bars. That sets the tone for his playful, community-focused outposts that rank among the first craft beer bars and growler filling spots in Central Ohio. Each location features 60 taps loaded with craft beer, cider and wine, making them still one of the best places in the city to sample libations from around the country. 702 S. High St., Brewery District; 258 W. Olentangy St., Powell; 2812 Fishinger Road, Upper Arlington

GEMÜT BIERGARTEN

When they opened their Olde Towne East brewery in a 1890s firehouse, Gemüt Biergarten founders (and 2022 Columbus Monthly Tastemakers) Chelsea Rennie and Kyle Hofmeister were motivated by the German idea of gemütlich-

keit: warmth, welcome and good cheer. They’ve excelled at all three. Read more about Gemüt on Page 37. 734 Oak St., Olde Towne East

JACKIE O’S ON FOURTH

Ohio University alums rejoiced earlier this year when Athens brewery Jackie O’s finally opened a Columbus outpost, transforming the old Elevator Brewing space Downtown from a dingy warehouse into a humming, colorful, two-story, indoor-outdoor enclave. Read more about Jackie O’s on Fourth on Page 37. 171 N. Fourth St., Downtown

PHOTO: ERIC ALBRECHT

LAND-GRANT BREWING CO.

Land-Grant is a perfect example of what the modern craft brewery brings to a community. Its one-room Franklinton taproom has grown over the past nine years into a mainstay of Columbus’ bar scene, with expansive beer gardens that transform into ice rinks in the winter, a music stage, favorite local food trucks like Mikey’s and Ray Ray’s, and popular community events. Where else can you sip an Oh, Sure IPA while participating in beer keg curling? 424 W. Town St., Franklinton

THE OHIO TAPROOM

Since he opened the Ohio Taproom in 2013, John Evans has dedicated his bar and growler filling shop to showcasing what Ohio does best. Located in a former barber shop, the taproom was among the first Columbus spots to fill growlers and howlers of craft beer. While the 20 taps are still largely focused on beer, the Ohio Taproom features Ohio-made goods like ciders, draft cocktails, sodas and snacks. The taproom has expanded over the years by building out a front patio and hosting food trucks, but its heart lies in the same place: providing a comfortable community spot to sip Ohio’s best brews. 1291 W. Third Ave., Fifth by Northwest

SEVENTH SON BREWING CO.

As one of Columbus’ OG craft breweries, Seventh Son has become a local institution. It started as a small operation in a renovated garage and has grown to a sizeable facility with street-level and second-floor patios, but it hasn’t lost that scrappy, startup vibe. Its patio firepits, concrete bar and long wooden benches are still comfortable spots to sip a Stone Fort brown ale or Seventh Son strong ale. Bonus if you spot resident cat Assistant Manager Old Horatio! 1101 N. Fourth St., Italian Village

WOLF’S RIDGE BREWING TAPROOM

It’s almost unfair how Wolf’s Ridge Brewing excels at everything: It’s one of the city’s best restaurants, brews award-winning beers and features beloved event spaces. The rear, warehouse-style taproom may be smaller than the main dining room, but it still offers the chance to try what WRB does best. Order a flight from its 20-strong tap list, sip cocktails or feast on the bounty from the kitchen like giant burgers, fried chicken, wings or fish and chips. 215 N. Fourth St., Downtown

The Ohio Taproom’s owners John Evans, left, and Kevin McAllister along with some regulars at the bar

The Ohio Taproom

Best Bar Bites

Columbus is serious about its bar food; here are 10 Central Ohio spots to seek out. By G.A. Benton

Ace of Cups

Barbecue and indie rock is a match made in the hog heaven of Old North Columbus. That’s Ace of Cups—the hip music club—which partners with Ray Ray’s Hog Pit, the OG food-truck outlet of the city’s top barbecue outfit. Stationed beside Ace’s big patio, Ray Ray’s makes top-notch ribs and brisket, but also terrific Texas-style sausages, pulled pork and deliciously distinct jerk chicken. All that and more comes in the colossal “Meatsweats” box. 2619 N. High St., Old North

Atlas Tavern

Atlas Tavern occupies a moderate-sized space, but little else is moderate in the stylishly rustic place. That seems fitting for an establishment named after the gigantic mythological dude who held up

our planet. So expect a party-time pub that can get loud and crowded with revelers enjoying beverages. And expect immoderate, garnish-happy, elevated tavern fare like wonderfully over-the-top, Ohiobeef burgers, high-flying wings, deckedout nachos enhanced by house chili, loaded chicken sandwiches, crispy fries and hearty salads. 8944 Lyra Drive, Polaris

Eight & Sand Tavern

This insider’s dive bar attracts mainstream-averse bartenders and—as described on server T-shirts—“artists, misfits and scoundrels.” Patrons dig the vibe at this funky but tidy, wood-bedecked little spot and its spicy-sweet, juicy-crunchy fried Railyard Chicken sandwiches; homemade pimento cheese smashburgers whose crispy patties taste smoky from bacon blended into the beef;

garlicky, addictive mac ’n’ cheese; and confit wings with falling-off-the-bone meat detonated by fiery but nuanced Lil D’s Hot Tongue sauce. 76 E. Innis Ave., Hungarian Village

Gallo’s Tap Room

A sports bar that’s fun even for sports scoffers? And whose food outscores most of the competition’s? Welcome to Gallo’s Tap Room, where sports pub cliches are ignored and scratch-made dishes are cooked with care—like good soups du jour, one of the better Caesar salads around, killer wings with Sriracha-based house Cockfight sauce, plus serious New York-style pizzas (whole pies and slices), like the standout Sistine Chapel with pepperoni, ricotta, spinach and roasted garlic. 5019 Olentangy River Road, Northwest Columbus

PHOTO: ROB HARDIN

Blackbird Kitchen’s birria crunchwrap

Gemüt Biergarten

Retro-chic Gemüt Biergarten operates an impressive, German-leaning brewery inside a refurbished 1890s-era brick firehouse with kaleidoscopic stained-glass windows and custom-built tables. As its name relates, this Olde Towne East brewery also features a beer garden—a popular gathering space with warm-weather greenery and cold-weather outdoor heating. In other words, trendy Gemüt is gushing with both charm and delicious beers. The kitchen holds up its end with German-style jumbo pretzels, cheesy dumplings (käsespätzle), sausages, schnitzels and sweet-and-sour red cabbage. 734 Oak St., Olde Towne East

Huli Huli Powell

Wildly entertaining Huli Huli is worth visiting just for its amazing tiki lounge décor, which is more enchanting than kitschy. But Huli isn’t just a visual stunner: It has a great soundtrack and marvelous tiki cocktails that live up to the transporting setting. Ditto for dishes conducive to imaginary island getaways like little lemony lobster rolls; bao buns with seared Spam and tropical pico de gallo; plus Hawaiian “plate lunch”-style platters featuring kalua pork. 26 W. Olentangy St., Powell

Jackie O’s on Fourth

Jackie O’s stands alone amid taprooms. The massive, multilevel complex with crisscrossing pathways, splashy murals, vintage brickwork, three bars and numerous attractive drinking spots—including

a rooftop patio—might appear chaotic, but it runs like a top. And it hosts Goood Friends, a Wario’s Beef and Pork spinoff that earns the extra “o.” The carryout window offers scratch-made, mammoth Oklahoma-style onion burgers plus other gloriously indulgent sandwiches starring walleye, thick bologna, great bread and seasonal ingredients like ripe tomatoes. 171 N. Fourth St., Downtown

Olde Towne Tavern

The vintage brick walls, black chandeliers, brash art, SiriusXMU-style soundtrack and bohemian patrons might evoke a fashionable bar in Brooklyn. But items on the diner-meets-bistro menu (served until 1 a.m.)—like Brier Hill pizza, monkey salad (with cheese, salami, canned tuna) and wedding soup—indicate a rarer influence: Youngstown. The go-to items not inspired by Y-town are the spicy

BLT-esque Tavern Turkey—two toasted triumphs starring juicy, house-roasted poultry. 889 Oak St., Olde Towne East

Short North Tavern

Short North Tavern is a no-nonsense saloon that predates the commercial makeover of its neighborhood. In addition to a break from the hustle and bustle just outside, the welcoming place offers a classic wooden bar, wooden booths and terrific Detroit-inspired pizzas courtesy of Pie of the Tiger, a Yellow Brick Pizza spinoff. Tiger’s crispy, focaccia-based sensations include the overachieving Just Cheese Please and Just Pepperoni pies plus the mustard-streaked, deli-inspired Tiny Panther. 674 N. High St., Short North

Woodlands Tavern

Woodlands Tavern is like the Swiss Army knife of bars. The convivial place is a neighborhood watering hole (with a nice, big patio) that also functions as a taproom with 30 draft beers; a sports pub with multiple TVs; a music club with two stages; and an eatery, called Blackbird Kitchen, that makes destination-worthy Mexican fare like delectable birria tacos and fish tacos. Blackbird also makes great burgers, wings, fries and other pub-grub delights. 1200 W. Third Ave., Grandview

A Just Cheese Please pizza, at front, and Dill Thrill pizza from Pie of the Tiger Nachos with chili at Atlas Tavern

PHOTOS: LEFT, ROB HARDIN; RIGHT, JODI MILLER; TOP, BARBARA J. PERENIC

Buffalo Bleu chicken sandwich and the

The After School Snack, a fried bologna sandwich, and a PB&J Mooon Pie from Goood Friends

An Ode to the Cultural Hub of the Midwest

One writer ponders the highs and lows of being neighbors with Bob’s Bar in Clintonville.

By Mandy Shunnarah

Living on the same block as the neighborhood dive bar has its perks. If I hanker for a libation, I take a short stroll to the purported Cultural Hub of the Midwest to quench that thirst. I can down barley sodas brewed the world over or sip White Russians next to the wall of painted caricatures of stars like Burt Reynolds. I can play pool as long as I don’t jab someone in the crotch with a cue on their way to the bathroom. And should I imbibe too much, I can stumble home.

There are lesser perks—which some deem downsides, nuisances or downright disturbances of the peace. Given my proximity to the bar, I often experience it through patrons’ comings and goings. On any evening or weekend afternoon, the denizens of Bob’s Bar park on my street and trek past my place to the watering hole.

There are fans in team colors. There are couples, practically skipping to the bar where they’ll lean in close and let alcohol melt their inhibitions. There are woo girls, so-called because of their ecstatic WOOOOO!s heard over the din of High Street traffic.

And there are fighters. Those belligerent few who have one too many and make it everyone’s problem. They’re hollering obscenities while being wrestled into the backseat. Sometimes fists are thrown before doors are slammed. Often, the offending lush is driven back to our street to pick up their car in the sober light of the next afternoon by the people who wrestled them into submission the night before. Thanks and sorrys are exchanged. All is right in the world again.

Sometimes someone I know but haven’t seen recently walks past. I bound

Longtime Bob’s Bar bartender Paulie Simpson

down my porch, readying for a hug. A happy reunion that ends with an invitation to the bar.

Upon learning a bar is my neighbor, people say, “Ugh, I bet it’s loud.” While few bars are quiet, the people-watching makes it worthwhile. I see a cross-section of humanity, and they add to the culture of the neighborhood.

I didn’t mind when a drunk fellow took a nap in the yard, using my tree to keep his head aloft in case he puked, so long as he didn’t drive—or die.

I found it funny when a couple who were clearly married—to other people—made the bar their meetup spot, having intense make-out sessions in front of our house.

“Wonder when they’ll come up for air,” my husband would speculate.

“His tongue is so far down her throat he can taste her lunch,” I’d respond, laughing.

They drove company cars, so searching them on the internet was easy. My own personal soap opera playing out behind the glass of my picture window.

I took umbrage with the drunk collegiates who collided with my husband’s truck, then offered a measly $300 to not file a police report. They took off on foot when we declined, but having totaled their car, it was easy to track them down. Insurance comes for us all.

This isn’t to say every Bob’s Bar patron is at their worst. Most are fine people just looking for a happy hour. They stop at our Little Free Library and chat about books. They point at our cats in the window and make meowing sounds. One time, I went out in the yard to model a vintage white lace dress I was selling and needed pictures of and they cheered and clapped in congratulations, thinking I was getting married. They share their joy, and we can all use more of that.

Perhaps I’m an unrelenting optimist and that’s why I’m (mostly) unbothered by the antics of humanity. It’s fitting because there’s optimism in going to a bar—to relax after a long day, to add jubilation to an already celebratory outing, or to drown sorrows in a bottle, and after a conversation with longtime bartender Paulie, face the troubles head-on.

At its best, a neighborhood bar can be a place of community care, and for the most part, that’s what I see: people simultaneously seeking community and escape—and finding it.

We should all be so lucky to bear witness to that. ◆

Three Bars to Watch

It’s too early to tell whether these newcomers will one day become as essential as Bob’s, but we can’t wait to pull up a stool.

—ERIN EDWARDS

Adelaide’s Gin Joint

Newly opened in October, Adelaide’s address will be familiar to many as the former home of Alana’s Food & Wine. Visitors can expect a modern spin on a Prohibition-style drinkery, with a selection of more than 40 gins, modern and classic cocktails, live jazz and a food menu curated by chefs Tyler Minnis and Jon Gruseck.

2333 N. High St., Old North

Walnut Street Tavern

Cobra

You can’t miss the sign for this self-described “good night bar,” which shares a sidewalk with the Daily Growler, Tremont Lounge and Antiques on High—to name a few. Nearly open as we went to press, Cobra has the recipe for a good night out: a creative Asian-inspired bar concept, cheffy late-night food and a team of Watershed Kitchen & Bar alums (including Jack Dale Bennett Jr., Alex Chien, Josh Spiers and David Yee). The question that remains is whether Cobra’s location, formerly home to the esteemed Clarmont (and a less-esteemed Panera), will end up snakebitten or charm enough patrons to fill its 5,200-square-foot space.

684 S. High St., Brewery District

After realizing how much he enjoyed hosting neighbors and friends at his red house at 500 W. Walnut St., Franklinton resident Jim Sweeney decided to turn the historic home into an intimate bar with a pair of patios. The house, which he purchased in 2015, sits right across from the creative hub Secret Studio. Sweeney, the former executive director of the Franklinton Development Association, has an ulterior motive. He’s hoping his adaptive reuse project will save the house from encroaching development. Look for the casual tavern to open next year, ideally before St. Patrick’s Day. 500 W. Walnut St., Franklinton

A classic mural of celebrities at Bob’s Bar

PHOTOS: TIM JOHNSON

Cobra is South High’s latest addition.

is Our Salvation

Or it can be, if we listen to Ohio State’s Rattan Lal, whose research has transformed farming practices all over the world and could help solve our climate crisis.

By Randy Edwards

At a tender age, Rattan Lal learned harsh lessons about the value of land and the often-heartbreaking challenge of coaxing food from the soil. He was born in the Punjab region of British India, where his father, brother and uncle wrung subsistence from 9 acres of farmland, until Rattan was about 5. Then came Partition, the violent division of India at the end of British colonial rule. Lal’s family was among the millions forced from their homes. As Hindus, the Lals had to leave West Punjab, which became part of Muslim Pakistan.

“We were nobody. We lived in refugee camps for two years. It was hard,” says the thin, soft-spoken man holding a shovel next to a cornfield in Columbus.

Seven decades later, his reputation firmly established as one of the leading soil scientists in the world, professor Rattan Lal recounts his origin story in the factual, dispassionate voice of someone who has told it many times. His family eventually was resettled on land that had been abandoned by Muslims fleeing India. The newly independent government promised them property equivalent to what they had lost, but through some sort of bureaucratic logarithm, 9 acres in West Punjab equaled less than 2 semi-arid acres in their new home.

The family endured, renting nearby land from others to grow the food they needed, but their hardship left an enduring impression on Lal as a young refugee. This summer, standing amid experimental soil plots at the Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory on Lane Avenue—commonly known as the Waterman Farm—Lal adjusts an Ohio State University ball cap over his bald

Rattan Lal at Ohio State’s Waterman Farm

Lal receives his bachelor’s degree in 1963 from Punjab Agricultural University in India.

head and considers the influences on his career. “Mostly, what drove me was watching my father, brother and uncle struggle.”

And although his family’s farm seems inconsequential compared to the sprawling corporate agricultural holdings in North America, Lal has a special place in his heart for the small farmer. “There are more than 500 million small farmers in the world who farm less than 5 acres, and they feed approximately 2 billion people,” he says. He leans on the shovel and ponders the question he’s been asking for decades: “How can the small farmers of the world become part of the global [agricultural] revolution?”

On Oct. 15, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was proving to be a persistent plague, Rattan Lal, distinguished university professor of soil science at Ohio State University, received the World Food Prize—an international honor that has, since 1987, been bestowed upon scientists, philanthropists and government officials who have demonstrated leadership in tackling world hunger.

The award ceremony—held virtually, of course—included all the celebratory bells and whistles the organizers could muster for a pandemic-era event. There were speeches, presentations and a performance by an Indian celebrity, A.R.

Rahman (best known in the U.S. for the Oscar-winning song “Jai Ho,” from the film “Slumdog Millionaire”).

The U.S. secretaries of state and agriculture sang Lal’s praises, and Barbara Stinson, the president of the World Food Prize Foundation at the time, commended Lal for “improving the food security and livelihoods of more than 2 billion people and saving hundreds of millions of hectares of natural tropical ecosystems.”

Back home in Columbus, few took notice. The award came at a chaotic time, as the pandemic raged and cities across the U.S. still roiled with conflict over police killings. Ohio State cheered its celebrity scientist of course, but little fuss was made beyond the campus borders. The World Food Prize carries a tremendous amount of prestige in agricultural and global development circles, but, as Lal notes wryly,

“It’s not the Heisman Trophy.”

So, three years late, let’s give credit where it’s due: “I would say Dr. Lal is among the best known, or indeed the best known, soil scientist in the world,” says Pete Smith, professor of soils and global change at the University of Aberdeen, and science director of Scotland’s ClimateXChange (a think tank focusing on climate research and policy). Lal has been a relentless researcher, Smith says, in a field that seeks solutions to the challenge of feeding the world’s 8 billion people.

Indeed, Thomson Reuters, which tracks research citations, has consistently ranked Lal among the top 1 percent of the most-cited agricultural researchers, with more than 100,000 Lal in his apartment while a doctoral student at Ohio State

Lal works on a 1967 Ohio State University drainage experiment. citations linked to his 1,000-plus refereed journal articles. Yet his prolific publishing is only part of why he’s been so influential, Smith explains. Equally important is “his tireless advocacy all over the world for soil health as our principal tool to deliver food security and to tackle climate change,” Smith writes, responding by email. “Soil science, and the public’s perception of the importance of soils, would be much poorer had Dr. Lal not dedicated his career to raising awareness of the importance of healthy soils.” Indeed, Lal’s commitment to advocacy on behalf of soil health was one of the main reasons he received the World Food Prize, says Gebisa Ejeta, a World Food Prize judge and a plant geneticist who serves as the executive director of the Purdue Center for Global Food Security at Purdue University.

The World Food Prize is just one of several top awards Lal has won in the past two decades, going back to 2007, when he was one of many scientists to be recognized by the Nobel Peace Prize for contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In 2018, he received the World Agriculture Prize, and the following year he was the first soil scientist to win the coveted Japan Prize, an honor given to scientists who are at the pinnacle of their respective fields.

He’s been on the faculty at Ohio State for more than three decades and is the founding director of OSU’s Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration. Scientists from around the world are drawn to Ohio State to learn from him. He’s mentored 380 international professionals and advised dozens of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

And at the end of September, Ohio State announced the appointment of the

first “Dr. Rattan Lal Endowed Professor” in the school of environment and natural resources, a position supported by a $1 million endowment donated by Lal himself, who bundled all the cash prizes from his long list of awards—including $250,000 from the World Food Prize— and added some of his own money to create a faculty position that “supports research and education in the sustainable management of soil resources for food, climate and environmental security.” James A. Ippolito, a soil scientist from Colorado State University, was appointed to the position.

“This announcement will be treasured and cherished by my family for generations to come,” Lal wrote in an email to Cathann A. Kress, the dean of OSU’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. In his email, Lal allows a bit of personal pride to show by noting his humble origins, and that his own college career was enabled by a monthly scholarship of 20 rupees per month, or about $5 in the early 1960s.

Yet Lal doesn’t spend a lot of time looking back. He works at a furious pace, as if lives depend on his research (and they do). He has traveled to more than 100 countries to share his findings, and in 2022, at age 78, he agreed to lead a five-year, $15 million “carbon farming” project to provide in-the-field validation of the role soil plays in capturing and storing carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas.

Even at an age when many would have long been retired, “tireless” is an adjective still applied to Lal. When he’s not traveling, he arrives in his office at OSU’s Kottman Hall at 5 a.m. every day, and doesn’t go home for at least 12 hours, says Jason Phillips, director of foundation relations at OSU. And despite his reputation for being soft-spoken, Lal’s enthusiasm for his work is most evident around his students, Phillips says. “Get him in front of a hall of students—or even just one student coming to ask a question—and you’ll see him light up.”

Scheduling time for an interview was difficult, but we squeezed in a meetup between a summer trip to Rome, where he was one of the scientists gathered for the inaugural meeting of the United Nations’ Food Systems Coordination Hub, and a fall tour of South America with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.

We met at the Waterman Farm on an August morning when by 10 a.m. it was already too hot to be standing in the sun, let alone in the black dress slacks and long-sleeved shirt Lal was wearing, along with some old Oxfords appropriately scuffed for a farm field. We examined mulch-covered soil, bare soil, soil with corn growing in it, soil with cover crops. (You can picture it, I’m sure. Agricultural research isn’t flashy.)

Then, with the help of his research manager, Kyle Sklenka, Lal got his hands dirty, digging up two small mounds of soil to display in his palms. The first, taken near one of the experimental plots, is rich, coffee-colored and cakey, filled with bits of vegetation, insects and earthworms. The

Lal at a research site in Ibadan, Nigeria, circa 1977

other sample, scraped from the side of the road, is a dry, hardened block the color of talc, lacking the organic matter that turns “dirt” into “soil.” It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in agronomy to guess which sample will best grow crops. This side-by-side comparison is something Lal obviously has performed dozens of times, but the repetition doesn’t blunt his enthusiasm.

“This soil is full of life,” he says, holding the dark, wormy mound aloft. “Twenty five percent of all organisms on the planet live in soil.” Healthy soil also contains organic carbon and a selection of minerals that help plants thrive, he explains. And it retains moisture more efficiently and is less likely to erode.

“Soil has a divine power to resurrect death into life,” Lal continues, growing rather reverential for a scientist. “Microorganisms in soil die and from that soil new organisms grow.”

But fully a third of the planet’s agricultural soil is degraded, stripped of its carbon and nutrients, looking more like the chunk of lifeless dirt in his other hand. Turning degraded soil into healthy soil has been Lal’s life’s work.

He drops the clods and dusts off his weathered hands. On the back of one, Lal sports a faded tattoo, inscribed for a penny

by a street vendor in India when he was a small child. The tattoo depicts the common representation of Om, the sacred Hindu syllable, often chanted or used as a mantra.

But on the Lal Carbon Center’s website, the following is digitally inscribed as the “Lal Center Mantra”: “Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People = Healthy Ecosystems = Healthy Planet.”

When accepting the World Food Prize, Lal remarked, “I strongly believe that the health of soil, plants, animals, people and ecosystems is one and indivisible.”

As we discussed the near-sacred properties of soil, the conversation turned to the legacy of Norman Borlaug, the American agronomist who is largely credited for launching the global “Green Revolution” of the mid-20th century.

Borlaug, a corn-fed Midwesterner who died in 2009, was sent to Mexico in the 1940s by the Rockefeller Foundation to help improve agricultural yields, especially in wheat. His work transformed grain farming in Mexico by developing and encouraging the use of dwarf, disease-resistant varieties of wheat, which

increased the number of bushels that could be grown on a given acreage.

Through his research and global advocacy, in tandem with scientists and political leaders in developing countries, Borlaug promoted the widespread adoption of these technologies, especially in Mexico and India, as a solution to hunger and poverty. During the three decades of the 1960s through 1980s, the Green Revolution substantially increased food production and reduced poverty. Developing countries became self-sufficient in grain production; hundreds of millions were spared from famine.

In 1970, Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to alleviate world hunger and, in 1986, with money from the General Foods Corp., he established the World Food Prize, which some refer to as the Nobel Prize of agriculture.

That same year, Lal, after receiving his Ph.D. in soil science from Ohio State, was recruited to lead the soil physics laboratory for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria. As with Borlaug, Lal’s work in Nigeria was funded in part by the Rockefeller Foun-

Lal believes that healthy soil is critical to both feeding the world and reversing global warming.

“He has been a trailblazer for reconciling two opposing elements that we have been wrestling with for decades: the need for increasing food production and the necessity of restoring our soils, water and climate.”

Barbara Stinson, former president of the World Food Prize Foundation

funded in part by the Rockefeller Foundation, which was bankrolling the spread of Green Revolution principles to sub-Saharan Africa.

Lal would spend nearly two decades in the West African nation, running soil experiments and teaching Nigerian farmers about soil health against a backdrop of civil wars and coups. But political instability wasn’t his problem. It was the soil.

The young scientist discovered that when the forest was cleared in that steaming tropical country, the organic carbon and other nutrients quickly disappeared. In response to this problem, his research focused on maintaining or restoring those nutrients, through farming practices that included mulching, cover crops and “no-till” farming—a practice that abstains from traditional cultivation and leaves in place all the stubble and scraps left over after harvest.

Lal came of age, professionally, during the Green Revolution, and he learned at the feet of disciples of Norman Borlaug. In 2005, Lal received the Borlaug Award—an award presented by the fertilizer manufacturer Coromandel International Ltd. Borlaug personally presented the award.

“What Borlaug did was outstanding,” he says. And yet….

Borlaug’s new varieties of wheat and rice produced short, spare plants heavy on grain and light on chaff and roots. Efficient, for sure, and they helped stave off starvation when the world’s population was growing exponentially, but they were heavily reliant on chemical fertilizers and not all that effective at returning the nutrients that are taken from the soil through farming.

“Soil needs help from agriculture, and [following Borlaug’s practices] soil doesn’t get anything,” Lal says. “We’re grateful for what he did, but we cannot keep on starving the organisms in soil

because that’s when soil becomes poor. And when soil becomes poor, the food it produces is poor quality.”

Lal’s work focuses on a “soil-centric” approach to farming, which allows for better yields on fewer acres, less water and fewer chemicals. “He has been a trailblazer,” said the World Food Prize’s Stinson during the awards ceremony, “for reconciling two opposing elements that we have been wrestling with for decades: the need for increasing food production and the necessity of restoring our soils, water and climate.”

Lal promoted his ideas to anyone who would listen and, indeed, scientists from around the world were drawn to Nigeria to visit his experimental plots. Among them was Roger Revelle, a pioneering scientist from the U.S who was a leading researcher in a relatively new science focused on climate change when he visited Nigeria in 1982.

Lal told Revelle, “When we clear the forest, we lose one-third of our carbon, maybe even 40 percent per acre. And he asked me ‘Where does it go?’ and ‘Can you put it back?’ And these are the two questions I’ve spent the rest of my career trying to answer.”

Suddenly, Lal’s research horizons expanded to include soil carbon sequestration—the process of capturing and storing carbon in order to reduce the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, the most abundant of the greenhouse gases.

When he returned to Ohio State in the late 1980s, Lal refined his focus on carbon sequestration, and by the mid-1990s, he co-authored the first published report showing that restoring the organic material in soil not only improves soil health

but also reduces carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In 2004, his findings were published in the journal Science and drew international attention.

Much has been written in recent years about “climate anxiety,” but to the extent that Americans fret over this ecological disaster, they tend to focus those fears on fossil fuel use. And, indeed, the coal, gasoline, natural gas and oil burned to fuel our cars, heat and light our homes, and keep our factories running creates the lion’s share of the emissions that drive climate change.

But that’s only been true since the 1930s, Lal says, when the amount of greenhouse gases coming from fossil fuels surpassed those coming from the land. For most of history, it was extensive deforestation and farming practices that released most of the accumulated greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Today, roughly 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and roughly a third of emissions globally come from agriculture and food supply chain. While carbon dioxide remains an issue, nitrous oxide and methane are even more potent greenhouse gases. Nitrogen fertilizer is the source of the former, while most methane comes from cattle. The hope is that better farming practices can both reduce nitrogen oxide and methane, and capture and store existing carbon from the atmosphere.

Some environmentalists are concerned that policies to promote carbon sequestration will be used by industry and policymakers to argue against cuts to fossil fuel use.

Lal knows that reforestation and better farming practices will not compensate for emissions that come from fossil fuels and insists, “we must stop burning fossil fuels.” But with proper investments and management, he says, “agriculture can be part of the solution.”

Lal in Ibadan, Nigeria, around 1973

We were joined that day at Waterman by Yadunath Bajgai, a research scientist from Bhutan who came to OSU last year to join Lal in the carbon farming project. He says he first learned of Lal’s work when he was a graduate student in Australia. Lal’s research and publications have “convinced the world” that no-till farming, for example, could be used to take carbon dioxide out of the air, where it contributes to climate change, and restore it to the earth, where it helps plants grow.

“He has done so much and has cooperated with people from all over the world,” Bajgai says.

Lal doesn’t seem so sure how much of the world he has convinced. He notes that less than 30 percent of the cropland in the U.S. is farmed under strict no-tillage principles, and even in Ohio, where the earliest experiments in no-till farming in the United States were launched (and are ongoing) at Ohio State University, less than half of the acreage in the Buckeye State follows no-till

practices. In some parts of Ohio, topsoil is lost at a rate of one inch per year.

We’re standing next to a cornfield on the Waterman property that has been planted not for experiments, but to feed livestock. I’m no farmer, but I note the lack of debris between the rows of corn and ask Lal whether it has been tilled. He sighs. “I talk to the farm manager every year, but he doesn’t have to listen to me.”

Lal hopes Congress might listen. In recent years, he has been encouraging Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and other policymakers to consider including a Soil Health Act as part of the U.S. Farm Bill, which is overdue for renewal. Lal proposes paying farmers to adopt conservation tillage practices, such as no-till. “We have a Clean Water Act and a Clean Air Act, but you can’t have clean water or clean air without healthy soil,” he says.

In a statement released when he was awarded the World Food Prize, Lal said, “The most serious weapon of mass destruction globally is hunger and malnutrition. We’ve been losing 9 million people every year to hunger-related deaths. That amounts to 17 people dying every minute.

“We should do whatever we can so farmers adopt techniques that eliminate hunger and improve the environment at the same time. World peace and happi-

ness lie in the hands of farmers.”

The Farm Bill is a massive legislative package that won’t likely be approved for months. In the meantime, however, there are encouraging signs coming from the federal government. Last year, Congress approved more than $18 billion in new funding specifically for “climate-smart” agriculture and forestry, including incentives for cover crops, no-till and other measures Lal has endorsed. And in May, Brown and a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues and House members introduced legislation to incentivize farmers to plant cover crops by reducing the long-term cost of crop insurance.

Perhaps Lal has convinced more people than he realizes.

At the far edge of the experimental farm is a large section of field where, 30 years ago, researchers removed the top 6 to 8 inches of earth, effectively scalping the soil of the nutrient-rich topsoil. Into the earth is planted corn seed, and the corn is well fertilized in traditional ways. Three decades later, the corn that emerges remains stunted and severely underproductive.

“The lesson is, keep what you have,” Lal says. “Soil is a resource that takes generations to recover.” ◆

Lal compares depleted soil, left, with the kind of rich soil that is ideal for agriculture.

PHOTO: TIM JOHNSON

Clothes Minded

By Bob Vitale

As drag shows went mainstream and LGBTQ+ rights expanded, Columbus’

PHOTO: TIM JOHNSON

Sonya Ross performs at Southbend Tavern in Merion Village.

John Rogers was asleep in the backseat when a Columbus police officer pulled over his brother late on a Saturday night in April 1973. The officer tapped Rogers on the shoulder to wake him up.

In the mercury vapor light of an alleyway north of Bryden Road, the officer took in what Rogers was wearing: dark palazzo pants, a blouse with a print of tiny flowers, a pink threequarter-length pullover sweater and a black wig styled in a funky shag. The officer knew what a funky shag was because his wife wore the same style. She also wore palazzo pants.

“Those are women’s clothes you have on,” he told Rogers.

“No, they’re not,” Rogers replied. “They’re my clothes.”

In 1973, it was against the law in Columbus for a man to wear palazzo pants, just as in previous generations it had been illegal for men to wear poodle skirts, flapper dresses, high lace collars, corsets, bustles and petticoats. It was illegal for women to wear men’s clothing, as well.

John H. Rogers was arrested that night and convicted later that year in Franklin County Municipal Court under what was known short-handedly as the city’s “improper-dress law.” In full, it read: “No person shall appear upon any public street or other public place in a state of nudity or in a dress not belonging to his or her sex, or in an indecent or lewd dress.”

At trial, the arresting officer testified that Rogers appeared to have a bra on under his blouse and sweater and also spoke in a soft, feminine voice. “I felt that … any time this gentleman dressed the way he was, any time he wanted to [he] could walk into a women’s restroom,” the officer said of Rogers. “He would go completely unchallenged. He could go anyplace out of the view of men.”

Judge Frank Reda found the 22-year-old guilty and fined him $25—the equivalent of more than $170 today.

Rogers, though, was the last in a long line of people convicted under the improper-dress law, which had been on the books in Columbus since 1848. It was enacted during a period of rapid growth and industrialization for the young city as part of a sweeping ordinance “to suppress immoral practices.” The law also banned prostitution, begging, banging on kettles or ringing bells to disturb the peace, and using bawdy language.

bygone ‘improper-dress’ law seemed like a distant memory. Not anymore.

The improper-dress ban was quietly taken off the books in 1974 and declared unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court in 1975 after Rogers appealed his conviction. It seemed for much of the last half-century to be a quirky, amusing relic of a more repressed 125 years. But in an era of drag bans nationwide and armed protests outside drag performances locally, that old law doesn’t seem so distant anymore.

“All this is purely theater,”

Sonya Ross says as the seats fill at Southbend Tavern, a corner bar in Merion Village that calls itself “the best little show bar in Columbus.” “I’m a gay man with a gay husband.” In a beaded gown and blonde wig, Ross is ready to take the stage; Jennifer Foxx is still sans wig, wearing a bathrobe and putting on makeup.

Four drag queens who bill themselves as the Golden Girls are performing this Sunday afternoon in late September for a show celebrating Ross’ 64th birthday. They’ve performed for a combined 190 years and have been around for a combined 265. “I’m the youngest,” Ross is quick to say.

They’ve all got stories to tell, from Columbus, where Ross migrated after graduating from Marshall University in West Virginia, and from the others’ hometowns, as well. Foxx is from Detroit, Twila Starr is from Toledo, and Denise Russell is from Akron.

Even after cities did away with improper dress laws in the 1970s, they say, men performing in women’s clothing were advised to wear at least one article of men’s clothing onstage. In Detroit, Foxx says, they had to wear three, and police were known to check.

Ross was told by drag performers when she first took the stage in 1978 that in Columbus they were required to wear one article of men’s clothing onstage, even though improper-dress laws across Ohio had been gone for three years by then.

In their 1975 ruling, Ohio Supreme Court justices declared that times had changed. “At the present time, clothing is sold for both sexes which is so similar in appearance that a person of ordinary intelligence might not be able to identify it as male or female dress,” their opinion read.

The chilling effect of the old law remained, though, Ross recalls. Performers didn’t necessarily know the rules, she says, and police either didn’t know or didn’t care. Ross was pulled out of a Columbus Pride parade in the early 1980s for what police told her was indecent exposure.

“I kept telling them, ‘Honey, you better call your boss. What you’re doing right now is violating my civil rights,’ ” she says. “They left me alone.”

Men dressed in women’s clothes—and, occasionally, women dressed in men’s clothing— weren’t so lucky during their run-ins with police in the decades prior. And arrests under Columbus’ improper-dress law were the type of man-bites-dog story, apparently, that reporters checking the police blotter found hard to resist:

In October 1947, the Columbus Evening Dispatch reported the arrest of a 21-year-old man on South High Street who had been wearing a blonde wig, red satin evening gown and long white gloves. He told the judge he had been invited to a Halloween party and wanted to see how he would look. He was fined $10.

In September 1949, a 23-year-old man from Xenia was arrested at the Ohio

State Fair in women’s clothes. State patrolmen noticed that his legs “were not shaped like those of a girl and that his skirt was shorter than the prevailing fashion,” the Dispatch reported. Fine: $10.

In June 1959, a 20-year-old woman from Melbourne, Florida, and a 23-year-old woman from Atlanta were arrested in men’s clothes while hitchhiking through town. They were headed out West to look for work, they told the judge, and they said it was easi er to get rides if they looked like men. Their fines were $10 each.

In December 1971, three male Ohio State University students were arrested in long gowns at a dance sponsored by OSU’s Gay Activists Alliance. They won an appeal in the Franklin County Court of Appeals, although judges rejected their argument that gay people were denied civil rights. The judges ruled instead that because the men had beards, it was obvious they were not women.

Dispatch columnist Johnny Jones wrote in 1942 that the improper-dress law could affect pants-wearing women, suggesting, “You girls who are wearing slacks had better organize a committee to speak to the members of City Council some Monday evening.” He pointed out that Red Cross first-aid classes required women to wear pants and that aircraft

An article and illustration from the March 11, 1942, edition of the Columbus Evening Dispatch

PHOTO: COLUMBUS DISPATCH ARCHIVES

manufacturer Curtiss-Wright Corp. and other industrial plants encouraged women to wear them on the job.

He didn’t argue seriously against the law. “The only objection that I have is that it is a shame to cover up those shapely limbs,” he concluded, “and I’m sure Broad and High won’t be so interesting now on windy March days.”

Columbia Law School lecturer Kate Redburn, who has documented the legal advances of those she terms “gender outlaws,” wrote last year in the journal Law and History Review that the apex— and the beginning of the end—for improper-dress laws came in the 1960s. Local governments sought during that decade to punish gender nonconformity in many forms, she wrote: “for feminists, countercultural hippies, cross-dressers (or ‘transvestites’) and people we would now consider transgender.”

And the gender outlaws started fighting back, Redburn wrote. A 1969 challenge to the Columbus law by a 25-yearold who had been arrested for the fourth time in women’s clothes was rejected by Municipal Court Judge Bruce Jenkins, who ruled: “There are numerous subjects who want to change their sex

identity in order to perpetrate crimes of homicide, rape, robbery, assault, etc.”

Rogers testified at his 1973 trial that he had been arrested six or seven times before for improper dress. He said he was “attracted to men like females are,” had visited a psychiatrist and was taking hormone pills. He said he would have undergone electrolysis and what’s now called gender-confirmation surgery “if I could afford it.”

His lawyer, Max Kravitz, argued that arresting people because of their clothes, voice and mannerisms was plain wrong. “He was just being how he is, and I don’t think the statute intends to punish someone for being how they are.”

Historians aren’t sure exactly what prompted cities around the country to police people’s clothing in the mid-19th century. Clare Sears, an associate professor of sociology and sexuality studies at San Francisco State University, identified Columbus as the second city in the nation, after St. Louis in 1843, to adopt an improper-dress law.

It was the beginning of the Victorian age in Great Britain but the beginning of a women’s dress-reform movement in the United States that tried to do away with the long skirts that dragged across the ground in favor of loose trousers under shorter skirts or dresses. Local governments across the country sought during that era to “impose their vision of social order onto city space,” Sears wrote in Arresting Dress, a 2014 book about a similar law in San Francisco.

Editors and readers of the Ohio State Journal in 1851 had an ongoing debate in the pages of the newspaper about dress reform, but no one mentioned the Columbus law that had been in place for three years. It’s clear this time around, though, that protests and proposed legislation against drag performances and access to gender-affirming treatment for transgender Americans are directly tied to cultural shifts in Ohio and across the nation.

The Berwick Ball, an underground Halloween drag party founded in 1964 by David Zimmer and Orn Huntington, evolved into a respected showcase and fundraiser during the AIDS epidemic. Columbus banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in 2000 and gender identity in 2008, and

support for such protections across the country stood at 80 percent last year, according to a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute. Columbus drag queen Nina West, performed by actor Andrew Levitt, has a street named in her honor in the Short North and has partnered with Lane Bryant to sell Pride merchandise. RuPaul’s Drag Race, a reality-TV competition that turned Levitt into a national celebrity, reached its highest ratings with this year’s 15th season.

Meanwhile, the Equality Federation reports 38 bills in 16 state legislatures this year to police drag performances. Bills that would be harmful to transgender children or adults have been introduced in all 50 states, the group says.

Nearly 50 years after the demise of the city’s improper-dress law, Linda Cox isn’t so sure authorities have stopped policing gender in Columbus.

At Columbus Pride in 2017, Cox claims she was deliberately shoulder-checked

David Zimmer at the Berwick Ball in October 1972

Columbus drag queen Nina West gained national fame after appearing on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

PHOTOS: LEFT, COURTESY OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION; RIGHT, COLUMBUS DISPATCH FILE

twice by Columbus police officers, one of whom told her to “get the f--- out of my way” and threatened to arrest her. It was the same year that four queer, Black protesters were arrested by police while trying to call attention to violence against queer, Black people.

And before a federal judge ruled in 2020 that transgender Ohioans have the right to correct the gender marker on their birth certificates, Cox was certain the discrepancy between her name and appearance and her official records was the reason she’d occasionally get pulled over.

“You can’t call it racism, but it’s in the same place,” she says.

Cox is a 68-year-old transgender woman who grew up in Columbus. She came out and started living “24/7,” as she says, 25 years ago. “I was cross-dressing way back when, though.”

She holds up four fingers when asked at what age she realized she was a female and not how the world saw her. Sometimes, she’d pull her sister’s clothes out of a hamper in the bathroom. “I’d put those clothes on and look in the mirror and think, ‘There you are.’ ”

Cox remembers buying tight bell-bottoms from Schottenstein’s on Parsons Avenue. “My mom kept saying, ‘You need to get different jeans, because I can’t tell if you’re a boy or a girl.’ ” She laughs. “I thought, ‘Your point is…?’ ”

Sometimes, before her 24/7 days, she’d change in the car and just drive around in women’s clothes. Sometimes, groups of trans women and cisgender men who enjoyed cross-dressing would get together at someone’s home. “We’d get dressed up, sit around and drink beer.”

Cox also recalls when she started visiting gay bars in women’s clothes during the 1970s. The improper-dress law was gone by then, but hostility toward transgender people remained. She feared not only getting stopped by police but also what could happen inside what was supposed to be a safe space.

“I used to go to the Eagle. It had to be on a drag night,” Cox says, referring to the closed bar in Downtown Columbus. “I wanted to go out one night, and it wasn’t a drag night, and two gay guys grabbed me, dragged me outside, beat the s--- out of me.”

She was assaulted again a month later at the same bar.

“You better put a shirt on over that in the car,” my partner told me as I got ready to head out in August to the Mrs. Roper Pub Crawl, a local version of a national gay-bar craze. Participants dress in long, bright-colored caftans, gaudy jewelry and red, curly wigs like the landlady from the 1970s sitcom Three’s Company

My plus-sized caftan wasn’t the flowy number I’d imagined when I ordered it from Amazon—or maybe my plus-sized body was just claiming too much of the fabric. But it was loud: tie-died, rainbow-colored, “reminiscent of the 3D color radar of an approaching hurricane,” as one friend put it.

In other words: perfect for the occasion. (So perfect that two other men showed up in the same outfit.)

I slipped a T-shirt on over it. I deposited my plastic beads and sparkly bangle inside my wig and slid the whole bundle onto the passenger seat. Around the corner from the Tremont Lounge, I sat and pondered whether to put on the wig and jewelry before or after I walked to the bar.

Did the 21-year-old in the red satin dress and long white gloves worry this much before his brief stroll on South High Street that night in October 1947? He was arrested near his apartment, which was just up

the street from where the Tremont is today.

Was he really in a Halloween costume, or was he dressing the way he had always wanted to? I don’t know how he identified—gay or straight, cisgender or transgender—but I do know Halloween has always been a favorite holiday in the LGBTQ+ community because it made improper-dress laws pretty much impossible to enforce. Maybe he miscalculated that Oct. 25 was close enough.

I put on the wig.

Bobby Campos didn’t grow up with the idea that clothing is separated into men’s and women’s, boys’ and girls’. “For me, gender and clothing have nothing to do with each other,” the 34-yearold says. “When I go shopping, if I lean over into the women’s department and I see pants or a nice jacket or something I think is going to look flattering on me, I don’t even think twice about the label of what it is.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 118

Above, bar-hoppers mingle in German Village for the Mrs. Roper Pub Crawl, a craze based on the landlady from 1970s sitcom Three’s Company; right, Mike Doran (left) and Cody Hearn at the Tremont Lounge, where the pub crawl began in August.

The city’s finest dining pros dish on themselves and the items that set their menus apart.

PHOTOS BY TIM JOHNSON

MEGAN ADA • JOSHUA COOK

OWNER AND CHEF, AMPERSAND ASIAN SUPPER CLUB

WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU? My wife! She’s an extremely motivated person who is very compassionate about hospitality. -JC

My dad inspired me to work hard and whatever I chose to do as my career, do it with 100 percent. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for my dad. -MA

WHAT IS YOUR ESSENTIAL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT AND WHY? A dry towel because everything is hot. -JC

My laptop. As much as I would rather be cooking and doing the fun part of the business, the bills need paid and the emails need answered. -MA

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ALTERNATE CAREER CHOICE? To work at NASA. -JC

A doctor. I went to medical school for a few months but then decided to go to culinary school. -MA

WHAT DINING/BAR TRENDS DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE GROWING POPULAR IN THE FUTURE? I keep hearing a lot about non-alcoholic options from different companies. Also, the demand for vegan and vegetarian options continues to be on the up and up! -JC

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT AT WORK? Spend time with my 6-year-old daughter. She’s the most caring and empathetic little girl; I’m a lucky mommy. -MA

940 N. High St. Columbus, OH 43201

614-928-3333

ampersandasiansupperclub.com

STEAMED BUNS

Our bun selection showcases our braised pork chashu, marinated tofu and delicious local mushrooms. Our pork and tofu are topped with achara slaw and chili mayo. The mushroom is topped with an asparagus salad and wasabi vinaigrette.

AMPERSAND ASIAN SUPPER CLUB

DESMOND REID JR. • MEGAN ADA • KATHRINE DIXON

EXECUTIVE CHEF, OWNER AND MANAGING PARTNER, ASTERISK SUPPER CLUB

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR START IN THE INDUSTRY? McDonald’s in Marietta, OH when I was 16. I was hired the day I turned 16 and I absolutely loved it. -MA

I started during culinary school. I was 19 years old starting as a pastry chef at Piece of Cake in the Short North. -KD

My first job in the culinary industry was at Dock 580 during my sophomore year in high school. -DRJ

WHAT IS YOUR ESSENTIAL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT AND WHY? Tongs. Tongs can be used like a spoon, ladle and even a spatula. -DRJ

WHAT IS YOUR STYLE AS AN OWNER? I believe in leading by example and keeping a positive attitude. Details are extremely important to being successful. I want those that come into our doors to know we genuinely care and appreciate they are dining with us. -MA

WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT THE COLUMBUS BAR SCENE? The cocktail scene in Columbus is so much fun. It’s growing so rapidly and it excites me to see what this city is capable of. -KD

ASTERISK SUPPER CLUB

14 N. State St.

Westerville, OH 43081 614-776-4633

asterisksupperclub.com

SHRIMP AND SHORTIE

Our Shrimp and Shortie is a new-age take on the classic Shrimp and Grits. Consisting of smoked gouda grits, tender braised short rib, seared shrimp, pickled vegetables and a black garlic bacon dashi that we pour along the perimeter of the dish at the table.

REBEKAH WEISS

OWNER, BASIC BISCUITS, KINDNESS, COFFEE

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR START IN THE INDUSTRY? I started waiting tables when I was in high school. I always loved the restaurant scene and people.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ALTERNATE CAREER CHOICE? I already have another career: I’m also an attorney! But I dream of running a bed-and-breakfast someday.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE COOKBOOK BOOK? Gosh, this is a hard one, but I think I’d have to pick Smitten Kitchen.

WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT THE COLUMBUS DINING SCENE? The sheer volume of it all! There’s always a place I haven’t been yet and want to try. My list is long.

WHAT DINING TRENDS DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE GROWING POPULAR IN THE FUTURE? Smaller, more casual joints with a carryout focus. I feel like places that are just a window, not even a place you go in are becoming more popular.

Owner Rebekah Weiss outside of Basic Biscuits eatery

FANCY AF BISCUIT SANDWICH

One of our daily featured biscuit sandwiches, the Fancy AF appears on Fridays (but can be ordered any day of the week from the “secret” menu). It’s built on our classic buttermilk biscuit [made from scratch] and stacked up with our own house blend and hand pattied sausage, a freshly cooked egg, and is then slathered with goat cheese and seasonal jam.

BASIC BISCUITS, KINDNESS, COFFEE

1160 Goodale Blvd.

Grandview Heights, OH 43212

614-955-8201

getbasicbiscuits.com

ANA LOWE

MARKETING DIRECTOR, LOCAL CANTINA

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE UNEXPECTED INGREDIENT AND WHY? Our favorite unexpected ingredients on our Weezy-style tacos are the soft flour and hard corn shells fused together with queso and guac—it’s pure magic.

WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT THE COLUMBUS DINING AND/OR BAR SCENE? The Columbus food and drink scene is always evolving which keeps us all on our toes. It’s inspiring to be a part of the tribe that works hard to give Columbus an exciting, eclectic range of choices.

WHAT IS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE RESTAURANT AND WHY? Local Cantina! Our team works hard to provide everyone with a really fun and relaxed environment. It’s always a good time with great food and drinks.

Marketing director Ana Lowe with Local Cantina owner George Tanchevski

THE CRUNCHWEEZY

A riveting, unique taco experience featuring a harmonious blending of flavors. The Crunchweezy’s signature combination of soft flour and hard corn shells are fused with creamy queso and guacamole and provide a luscious base that adds depth to every bite.

LOCAL CANTINA

Multiple locations localcantina.com

LAURENZO PERKINS

HEAD BARTENDER, SCHMIDT’S SAUSAGE HAUS

WHAT IS YOUR STYLE AS A BARTENDER? We are hospitalitydriven at Schmidt’s, so I make sure that our guests have the best experience possible through conversational interactions with them.

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR START IN THE INDUSTRY? I actually started as a busser here at Schmidt’s back in 2014 and worked my way up to my current position.

WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU? My inspiration comes from daily interactions with my fellow teammates, our guests, and knowing that I am part of such an iconic and legendary brand.

WHAT IS YOUR ESSENTIAL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT AND WHY? Schmidt’s is most known for our amazing import and local draft beers, so I have to say that our draft system is the most essential piece of equipment.

WHAT DINING/BAR TRENDS DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE GROWING POPULAR IN THE FUTURE? I notice guests are excited about experiencing flavor profiles from different countries.

Head bartender at Schmidt’s, Laurenzo Perkins

CHICKEN SCHNITZEL

Crispy, lightly breaded, tender chicken breast cutlets topped with Schmidt’s own German bier cheese sauce, served with braised red cabbage and green beans with spatzle

COCKTAIL

COMPETITION

11 . 15 . 2023

Liquor Sponsor:

Venue Sponsor:

Proceeds will benefit:

Introducing Columbus Monthly's Cocktail Competition, an experience coming this fall featuring the city’s most exciting bartenders and bar programs.

Guests will enjoy an evening which will include premier cocktails, music and entertainment. Bartenders from some of Central Ohio’s favorite bars will share sips, competing for most creative cocktail in the city. Attendees will vote on the winner.

Nov. 15, 2023 | 6-8 PM

Vitria on the Square

Tickets are $35

Purchase Tickets

Participants include:

Agni

Antiques On High

Asterisk Supper Club

The Bottle Shop

Chapman’s Eat Market

Denmark On High

Ginger Rabbit Jazz Lounge

Hiraeth Columbus

Hubbard Grille Law Bird

Speck

The Whitney House

Upper Arlington

EXPERIENCE UNPARALLELED SENIOR LIVING AT THE COVENTRY

A vibrant and fulfilling lifestyle awaits at The Coventry, where independent and assisted living merge seamlessly in the heart of Upper Arlington.

Located near Kingsdale and Five Points, our walkable environment complements your active and engaging lifestyle while our community offers:

• Spacious studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans, each meticulously designed to provide comfort, convenience and style.

• Our dedicated team provides around-the-clock compassionate care and support for those who require assistance with daily living.

• A vibrant, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood near Kingsdale and Five Points allows for walkability to shopping, restaurants and parks.

• Gourmet meals crafted from the freshest ingredients, with menus that balance flavor and nutrition.

• Personalized enrichment and wellness programs, invigorating fitness classes, stimulating educational seminars, creative arts and crafts, and much more.

• Carefully curated spaces designed for relaxation and rejuvenation while inspiring peace and contentment.

Schedule a lunch visit and personal tour today by calling 614.967.9697.

Preparing our students to SERVE, LEAD and SUCCEED yesterday, today and tomorrow

Let Us Reintroduce You to UA!

When Upper Arlington was last showcased within Columbus Monthly magazine in 2019, we had just celebrated turning 100, and we took the opportunity to share some of our hopes and plans for the future. Fast forward to today, and not only have we made significant progress toward reaching our goals, we have inspired a movement of transformation that is reaching across our community in many exciting and innovative ways.

We are building a first of its kind, six-story community center at the heart of our community. When it opens in spring 2025, the Bob Crane Community Center will provide UA with a new level of health and wellness opportunities. Just as importantly, it will provide a place for new and longtime residents to come together. We know that community isn’t just buildings, so we are partnering with various civic groups, led by the City’s Community Relations Committee, on innovative initiatives to welcome new residents and support diversity within our community.

opportunities it provides its students. The business community is thriving, with exciting redevelopment projects transforming our commercial districts— expanding housing, amenities, shopping and dining options within walkable, attractive commercial districts. Whatever the market, home prices are holding their value, and residents continue to demonstrate their confidence in our future by undertaking extensive home renovations and upgrades.

None of this new investment can work if we do not take care of the core functions of government. We are continuing to reinvest in our streets, sidewalks, parks, safety services and public facilities at record levels. UA is rich with opportunities for our community to gather, thanks to an extensive network of public parks and recreation facilities, and a busy calendar of special events and activities.

The city is not alone in investing in our community. The Upper Arlington Schools has transformed its facilities to match the exceptional academic, cultural and sports

We believe this is the right time to reintroduce Upper Arlington to the region. If you don’t know much about UA, we invite you to learn why our special community continues to have some of the most desirable ZIP codes within a rapidly changing region.

Sincerely,

611152228

HOMES

TRANSFORMED

ON THE COVER: Attendees at the UA Pride festival in June | Photo: Josh Rodstein

Brendan King, President, Upper Arlington City Council

Steve Schoeny, Upper Arlington City Manager

Brendan King

Steve Schoeny

Michelle

Dave Ghose CONTRIBUTORS

Andrew King

Mandy Shunnarah

Kathryn Biek

Julanne

Heather Kritter

Adam Trabitz

Rebecca Zimmer

EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING

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EMBRACING DIVERSITY

Upper Arlington is working to become a more inclusive and welcoming community.

Upper Arlington is no longer the town you remember. The community is changing, becoming more diverse and embracing inclusivity in myriad ways, from the diverse representation of community leaders to new initiatives that make the city a more welcoming place.

Ukeme Awakessien Jeter is the first person of color elected to Upper Arlington City Council. Coming to Columbus from Cleveland as a single mom of two young children, Jeter was looking for a place with a “community feel” and proximity to Downtown. “We are a super outdoorsy family, so we wanted sidewalks and parks, similar to Shaker Heights,” Jeter says.

Shortly after settling in UA, Jeter noticed “this feeling of ‘only,’ ” referring

By Ashley Alt

to the lack of diversity in the community. That became most apparent when her daughter came home from school one day asking her mom if she could straighten her hair. “Seeing your 5-year-old do things differently in order to feel like she belonged at school was the reason I ran for City Council,” Jeter says.

Now in her second year on council (she was sworn in to office in January 2022), Jeter is making UA a more inclusive place. She helped bring in a third-party consultant to evaluate how the city is spending its money and whether the city is doing enough to attract diverse suppliers. In addition, she’s focused on attracting a diverse set of members to city boards and commissions, looking at gender, race, socioeco-

nomics and age. “Like Kamala Harris said, ‘Just because I’m the first doesn’t mean I’m the last,’ ” Jeter says. “The community voted for me—that in and of itself was a signal of change.”

Upper Arlington city manager Steve Schoeny says there is a “growing sense of diversity” in UA. As a result, Schoeny recognizes the community needs to “go out and reintroduce ourselves” to showcase the physical and generational changes that are occurring.

City Council formed the Community Relations Committee with the intent of discussing how UA can become more welcoming, open and diverse. “We work a lot with the schools, making sure they have a welcoming component to them,” Schoeny says.

FEATURE

Children and adults gather at the Pride flag raising ceremony in UA.

PHOTO: COURTESY CITY OF UPPER ARLINGTON

On that same note, the Upper Arlington Civic Association’s Neighbors Night out event was launched as part of the Community Relations Committee’s UA Welcome series, which aims to have a monthly event or program that includes welcoming activities for new residents. In fall of 2022, the Upper Arlington Schools also hosted an event called “The Longest Table,” which facilitated conversations about diversity, a top concern of UA residents. When asked in the city’s 2022 Community Survey to identify the most important problem facing Upper Arlington, 26 percent of respondents cited a lack of diversity, an increase from 3 percent in the last survey. In general, survey feedback affirmed a need to help new and diverse residents feel welcome and a desire for increased diversity.

To bring UA residents together in a less conventional way, Schoeny and city attorney Darren Shulman started a podcast called Won’t You Be Our Neighbor. Every two weeks, Schoeny and Shulman interview an interesting person from Upper Arlington; past participants have included restaurateur Cameron Mitchell, Jeni Britton of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Dino Tripodis of radio station Sunny 95 (WSNY), and Ohio State men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann. Conversation topics include volunteer work, what they love about UA and what they would change, and of course, their careers. “More diversity in the community is a fairly common theme that comes up on the podcast,” Shulman says. “We make sure we capture the history of UA, and the other piece is acknowledging that it’s changing.”

“Upper Arlington is a family-focused community,” Schoeny says. “We want our kids to be exposed to and prepared for the wider world. And when you see your community not reflective of the wider world, that’s an issue. We want everyone to feel like they are welcome here because that is the right thing to do.”

Kathy Adams is another excellent example of the evolving UA. In November 2021—the same year that voters elected Jeter—Adams became Upper Arlington City Council’s first LGBTQ+ member. Speaking on why she decided to talk about her sexual orientation as she ran for office, Adams says “it happened organically.” She continues, “I got more comfortable with it over time because I thought it was important to make myself vulnerable to make other people feel comfortable to come out as well.”

Adams explains “things have changed so much” from when she was in school, and even on a national level, as there were no role models or examples of how to have a family if you didn’t fit the historical, cookie-cutter mold.

As the first-elected LGBTQ+ member of council, Adams aims to ensure businesses in UA reflect the new Upper Arlington, representing women-owned businesses, LGBTQ+-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses. “I have been having meetings with the CRC, also meeting with different Black-owned businesses around town and capital providers in that space,” Adams says, asking them questions like “What would interest you in coming here?” and “How can we do better with our image?”

Pups show love at the UA Pride festival, too.

PHOTO: JOSH RODSTEIN

The Pride event is another important way to change the community, Adams says. “Anecdotally, so many kids identify as part of that community,” she says of Pride. 2023 was also the first year UA had a Cherry Blossom celebration, a tradition in Japanese culture, semi-related to the Asian Festival, which celebrates the largest minority group in UA.

As for new initiatives being put into place to encourage diversity, the city recently hosted a Minority Business Enterprise procurement fair, dedicated to making new connections with organizations committed to diversity efforts. Community leaders are also in the process of implementing sensitivity training by Equality Ohio, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization that Adams co-founded.

UA’s Pride festival features entertainment, resources, booths and LGBTQ+ vendors like coffee shops and bakeries. “It’s about letting the students of UA know that the community supports them and is here for them,” Adams says. The

A group of artisans at St. Mark’s Culture and Artisans Fair.

PHOTO: COURTESY ST. MARK’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Pride festival also includes a family-oriented event with a panel of speakers guiding parents on how to support their LGBTQ+ student.

“Our 2022 community survey really backs us up in taking even more steps,” Adams says. “It’s really important for people to partner with people in the schools as kids can be bullied,” Adams adds. “I would love to have community speakers and facilitations to try and create a safe space for kids, where they can share their negative and positive experiences.”

Another Pride supporter is the Rev. Vicki Zust, who recently celebrated her two-year anniversary as the rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Dorset Road. Zust says she was attracted to the church because “it has something for everybody.”

In addition, Zust was drawn to the church’s promise to “strive for justice and peace and respect for every human being.” Diversity, equity and inclusion

A New Campaign

The city of Upper Arlington is launching a campaign to bring the community together in a fun and interesting way. The “We Are UA” campaign, an outgrowth of the Won’t You Be Our Neighbor podcast, will begin sometime in 2024. The campaign will feature targeted snippets of video, highlighting interesting people in the UA community.

PHOTOS: COURTESY CITY OF UPPER ARLINGTON

Arts on Arlington festival this past summer

UA residents celebrate Juneteenth.

efforts are not something that are carried out “because it’s nice to do,” Zust says. “This means we work hard at things. We are a sponsor for the Pride festival. We respect the dignity of Pleasant Litchford. You have to tell the truth of who we are and how we got here.”

(Pleasant Litchford was an enslaved, master blacksmith who purchased his freedom in 1828, settling in what later became Upper Arlington and accumulating 227 acres. Less than a century after his death, the Upper Arlington school district began to build a school on top of a Black cemetery on his former land, uncovering 25 sets of human remains. Wanting to preserve Litchford’s history, Upper Arlington City Schools, the city of UA, Equal UA and others are sharing more about Litchford’s life and the impact he and his descendants had on Central Ohio.)

Zust spearheaded a new community event this year, the Culture and Artisans Fair, that showcased the works of immi-

Ukeme Awakessien Jeter

grant artists. She got involved initially through a church-sponsored family seeking asylum in the United States.

“One of the parishioners was connected to an organization that helps asylum seekers,” Zust says. “We asked what we could do that would raise awareness about immigrants and asylum seekers that would be meaningful to the community.”

Because there is such an appetite for arts festivals around Columbus, Zust came up with the idea to create a place

where asylum seekers could create and sell their wares. The parish needed help connecting with the artisans, so the city provided a $1,000 community relations grant to support the first-time event.

“One of the artisans brought their Ethiopian coffee, but everything else was handcrafted,” Zust says, including a woman who made scarves, women from Afghanistan who made clothing, and a woman who was doing henna tattoos. “We hired high schoolers to play jazz for the day, people from UA and outside of UA came, and most importantly, most of the artisans made an entire month’s rent in that one day,” she says.

Hoping the Culture and Artisans Fair becomes a yearly event, St. Mark’s is aiming to hold this celebration the first weekend of May.

“The challenge, of course, is to create an environment where people feel welcome and safe,” Zust says. “The challenge for those of us established here is to remember that and work at that.”

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TIGHTENING COMMUNITY BONDS FOR THE GREATER GOOD

How UA city leaders, community groups and residents are working toward building a more welcoming and connected place

By Mandy Shunnarah

If anything good came from the COVID pandemic, it’s that the city of Upper Arlington realized just how important it is to strengthen community bonds and give residents points of connection. Through renewed efforts to welcome new residents, improve parks and recreation, facilitate more cultural events, and build community spaces, Upper Arlington used a time of turbulence and isolation to bring people together in meaningful and safe ways.

Local physician Dr. Jason Sayat is one of nine volunteers on the Community Relations Committee, which welcomes new residents by introducing them to all the resources and amenities UA has

to offer, as well as organizing a “buddy system” where longtime residents invite newer neighbors out to functions.

“We felt established organizations were a good starting point. For example, we have a group in town called Equal UA, which looks at diversity and inclusion, and we have the Upper Arlington Historical Society, the UA Civic Association and the UA Police Department. Those are the organizations that were involved during the first four months of the welcome series that came up with ideas for events specifically aimed at new residents,” Sayat says.

But the welcome doesn’t stop after four months–UA has too much to offer

after that.

“We have a monthly event or program put on by our groups, and that builds into the spring with our public library, Leadership UA, and a long list of groups who are now lining up to be part of this,” Sayat continues. “We felt like one welcome event wasn’t going to cover all the endeavors, as well as all the different perspectives that our various groups and residents bring to the table.”

The CRC not only welcomes new residents moving to town but also works to ensure all residents feel included. The group recently launched a grant program for community organizers that has helped fund cultural events like UA Pride and St.

LIFESTYLES

A rendering of the Bob Crane Community Center

Mark’s Culture and Artisans Fair, which adds to the cultural fabric of the area and dovetails nicely with the city of Upper Arlington’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, which include programming for Black History Month, Pride Month and Juneteenth.

“The city wants to be inclusive of anybody who wants to come here and host any type of event with their organization,” says assistant city manager Jackie Thiel. “I think it really brings awareness to different opinions and different ways of living, so when you bring that awareness to people who may not have experienced it before, it just helps us understand each other and make UA a more inclusive community.”

In addition to welcoming new residents and inclusion efforts, the city of Upper Arlington is continually investing in infrastructure that helps foster connectivity. While lockdown orders were in effect during the pandemic and people longed to escape their homes for the outdoors, the city used this opportunity to continue increasing access to sidewalks and shared-use paths that connect residential areas to UA’s cultural and commercial areas–including parks and schools, making it easier to bike to work and school–as well as revitalize the amenities at local parks.

Revitalizing local parks included updating UA’s most popular park, Northam, which is next to the Main Library.

“Northam Park is central to community life in UA,” says Debbie McLaughlin, director of parks and recreation. “Over the years, we’ve been making drainage improvements, grading the ball fields, replacing the playground equipment, and we put in a history walk for our city centennial in 2018.”

While Northam Park may be the most visited park in the city, it’s far from the only community outdoor space to enjoy.

“Each park is unique. Some are very active with athletic fields, playgrounds and shelters, then we have some very nature-based parks that have naturalized areas,” McLaughlin says, describing the naturalized parks as an “oasis in the city.”

Even more of an oasis are the community pools spread throughout the city,

which McLaughlin and her team are continuing to make improvements on. With the lap pools, toddler and baby pools and general swimming pools, it’s easy to cool off in UA in the summertime.

The Parks and Rec Department works hard to create and maintain spaces for all to enjoy–and “all” includes any financially disadvantaged person who lives or works in the city.

“To allow people to participate in our organized programs, we started a financial assistance program last year called Play UA,” McLaughlin says. “On most of our financial transactions, like registering for a program or purchasing a pass to the pool, we charge a $1 transaction fee that goes into our Play UA fund. Then people who qualify for assistance receive an automatic 50 percent discount on their programs and membership fees.”

Since then, the department has seen more people joining and participating thanks to the assistance program. And UA officials expect even more individuals and families will be eager to take part in fun activities when the new Bob Crane Community Center is complete in 2025.

Not having a community center never stopped UA Parks and Rec from offering an abundance of programs, though it did force them to get innovative.

“Our staff has been very creative in creating partnerships with different businesses. We’ve had dance classes at local dance studios and cooking classes

Bike and scooter riding at Fancyburg Park’s StoryWalk

at businesses that have kitchens. We utilize school facilities gyms, and park shelters, so we’re all over the place. But that does make our classes limited because if we can’t find an appropriate facility for a class then we can’t offer it,” McLaughlin says. “So, bringing everything together under one facility is going to change everything. Families will be able to plan activities for everyone. If someone wants to work out in a fitness area, their child can be in another program, and all their activities can take place concurrently.”

The community center was made possible, in part, thanks to the Upper Arlington Community Foundation’s fundraising campaign, which brought in $8.1 million from UA residents to contribute toward the cost. With this project, the foundation has truly come full circle–at the time the foundation was established in 2007, it was created in lieu of a community center. While the Bob Crane Community Center is the foundation’s largest project to date, it’s far from the only way the organization supports initiatives that bring the people of UA together.

“We love helping to elevate our local nonprofits, like our libraries. We made a lead grant to their early learning play areas, and we made a grant to Tri-Village Chamber and Rainbow UA for some DEI training for local UA businesses,” says Upper Arlington Community Foundation executive director Jessica Grisez. “It’s all those smaller initiatives that really make

A New UA Gathering Spot

The UA community has been considering the community center issue for 40-plus years. Next year, that dream will come true. Currently under construction and expected to be complete in 2025, the $85 million project will house a plethora of amenities in addition to being adjacent to the senior living facility, providing seniors with a way to stay active and combat loneliness. (There are several options for older adults in UA including the Coventry, First Community Village and Sunrise Senior Living.)

“We’ll have two gymnasiums with hardwood floors, a third gym with a rubberized surface, a walking track, other indoor fitness, a swimming pool and then a variety of different meeting rooms,” says Debbie McLaughlin, director of UA’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“The water slide will even have a virtual component so you can see how fast you’re going,” adds assistant city manager Jackie Thiel. “There’s going to be an indoor playground and indoor cafe space that’s free to the public, so you don’t have to be a member to enjoy it.”

More than anything, the Bob Crane Community Center will be a much-needed gathering space. Parks and Rec’s programming is so popular that spaces tend to fill up. The community center is designed to change that.

“It’ll be a great opportunity to get people together and meet their neighbors they may not otherwise see because everybody is doing things individually,” McLaughlin says. “We know there’s demand and interest for our programming, so we’re looking forward to having this great facility so we can really meet the needs of our community.”

When it comes to fundraising, Upper Arlington Community Foundation executive director Jessica Grisez says, “It takes a village,” which is illustrated in the wide range of donations that the community center project drew, from lemonade stand funds to a lead gift of $2 million.

“It’s a testament to this community,” Grisez says. “People gave to this community center and really came together, coming out of the woodwork for such a monumental project, which is what a community center is meant to do.”

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PHOTO: COURTESY CITY OF UPPER ARLINGTON

City of Upper Arlington®

UA home.”

The Foundation is also in charge of the Good Neighbor Fund.

“We’re really proud of that because [the fund] supports local residents with financial assistance for living expenses, medical bills, etc. We want to show people that there’s a safety net in UA, and it’s neighbors helping neighbors,” Grisez adds.

Overall, making UA a great place to live and work requires the city and its community partners to actively listen to residents–a task the community takes seriously. In a 2022 survey, the city asked how welcoming residents felt UA was. Knowing the next city survey will be coming in two years, the city and community groups, especially the Community Relations Committee, are buckling down and working to improve the sense of welcome in Upper Arlington.

Community leaders hope the next survey will show some measurable

improvement.

As Upper Arlington grows and changes, city leaders are more committed than ever to meeting the needs of all its resi-

dents, and the people are at the heart of every initiative and decision. Grisez says it best: “We’re making leaps and bounds for the community.”

PHOTO: COURTESY CITY OF UPPER ARLINGTON

Walking path at Northam Park

BUSINESS

BUILDING A HEALTHY BUSINESS COMMUNITY

UA is thriving economically, from commercial districts and retail to redevelopment projects and restaurants.

As one of Central Ohio’s signature suburbs, Upper Arlington has no shortage of things to recommend about it.

“Upper Arlington benefits from a variety of significant factors,” says community development director Chad Gibson. “Our location is tremendous. We have fantastic city services. Our safety forces are wonderful; our schools, our neighborhoods.”

To pay for all of these unique features, however, requires a robust business base. “Income tax is the city’s lifeblood in terms of our budget,” says Gibson, who notes that, during shifts in working habits that took place amid the pandemic, employ-

By Peter Tonguette

ees who have been able to work from home have enhanced the city’s income tax revenue.

Yet brick-and-mortar businesses remain a vital priority to the city still widely associated with the likes of such former residents as Woody Hayes, Jack Nicklaus and Beverly D’Angelo. Without room to grow in terms of geography, however, city leaders recognize they must grow in other ways.

“As a landlocked, inner-ring suburb, we’ve got to do everything we can to maintain quality of life for our residents and our businesses,” Gibson says.

From finance and medicine to retail

and restaurants, businesses are flocking to—and staying put in—Upper Arlington like never before. In large part, the business boom is attributable to a visioning exercise the Upper Arlington City Council undertook more than two decades ago, Gibson says.

“It takes good leadership to get us where we are today,” he says. “How do you reinvent yourself as a landlocked community? We essentially designated seven areas of the city as planned mixeduse districts that allowed significant density and walkability.”

Lane Avenue continues to be one of the most striking examples of the city

The Arlington Gateway project is expected to be finished at the end of 2023.

PHOTO: COURTESY CITY OF UPPER ARLINGTON

City of Upper Arlington®

adopting the mixed-use model. Years ago, Upper Arlington annexed the land at the southeast corner of Lane Avenue and North Star Road for economic development purposes. In time, that annexation resulted in the development of the soonto-launch Arlington Gateway. Instead of the Half Price Books, Pizza Hut and retail strip mall that once sat on the site, a huge complex will rise in its place.

Among the most notable specs in

Arlington Gateway are 139,000 square feet of office space, 225 apartments and 27,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space—space that will include a new home for the much-beloved Half Price Books.

In all ways, the project promises to be a thoroughgoing overhaul of the area. The apartments diversify the city’s housing stock, which is top heavy with single-family homes, and the commingling of office

space with retail establishments and restaurants follows larger trends.

“We recognize that, in many cases, stand-alone office parks are not as desirable as they once were,” Gibson says.

Among the new Arlington Gateway tenants drawn to the mix of businesses and residences is First Merchants Bank, which is currently headquartered on Olentangy River Road.

“It’s a beautiful building that has really nice signage,” says regional president Jennifer Griffith of the bank’s present location. “It’s served us well [as] a focal point—as people are driving up and down [Route] 315, they can recognize it as the First Merchant building.” Yet, after First Merchants was acquired by an out-ofstate bank, its needs evolved. It began looking for new space in the area but held off until the opportunity to become part of Arlington Gateway presented itself.

“It’s a fantastic location,” Griffith says of the new space. “The amenities of the city and the location—the access to

COhatch on Lane Avenue

PHOTO: COURTESY CITY OF UPPER ARLINGTON

At Compass Homes, we exist to help you create a home with more thought and character per square foot, ensuring your home is custom to your family’s needs.

We take pride in our homes and are invested in the Upper Arlington Community.

City of Upper Arlington®

restaurants and shopping and groceries and sidewalks and common spaces; the ease of doing business in a vibrant neighborhood.” To hear Griffith describe it, workers at the bank will benefit almost by osmosis from the atmosphere around them in Arlington Gateway.

“The commercial tower at Gateway is full of really thriving companies and highly successful professionals,” she says. “The ability to retain and recruit top-tier talent at Gateway is what our future looks like.”

Residents, visitors and workers in Upper Arlington will immediately take note of the new project, which is expected to serve as the home to 700 office workers and more than 275 residents, says developer Frank Kass.

“As you come on to Lane Avenue, this’ll be the first Upper Arlington building that you see as you’re coming down that stretch of commercial from Lane to Northwest Boulevard,” says Kass, chairman of Continental Real Estate Cos. “It’s transformative, but it’s transformative

in terms of the number of well-paid office workers and apartment dwellers that want to be in Upper Arlington and near the university and so forth.”

Similar work is ongoing and adjacent to Henderson Road. That’s the location of GOSH Enterprises, the parent company of BIBIBOP Asian Grill, Charley’s Philly Steaks and Lenny’s Grill and Subs. The company, owned by entrepreneur Charley Shin, acquired a building that had once served as home to CompuServe and later Time Warner but had been tied up in litigation when a private school fought to establish itself in the space.

“The city prevailed, and shortly thereafter GOSH Enterprises purchased that property ... and had since put several million dollars into the building as a renovation,” Gibson says.

Also in the Henderson Road corridor sits the headquarters of National Church Residences, a nonprofit organization that operates senior communities in 22 states. For decades, the company has

been based in Upper Arlington. “They have been a great home city for us,” says company official Matt Rule.

Yet its home campus is starting to show its age.

“Conceptually, we know what our employees want as part of their corporate office experience,” Rule says. “They want to be in a facility that is up-to-date and is adapted for the new work environment. They want flex spaces that don’t look like a 1970s conference room.”

GOSH Enterprises owner, Charley Shin

PHOTO: JONATHAN QUILTER

Aware of National Church Residences’ interest in overhauling their campus, the city examined the zoning in the area.

“We came up with a PMOD [Planned Mixed Office District],” Gibson says. “If you hit a certain threshold, and that threshold is 10,000 square feet per acre of office [space], then you get to do other fun stuff. You get to do residential; you get to do retail.”

Such a mix is appealing to Rule and his colleagues at National Church Residences.

“We don’t know exactly what the future holds, what this office park wants to look like in the future, but we do know that our employees want something that is a more active and livable experience,” Rule says.

In many ways, the template of these and other transformations can be found in Kingsdale Center, which, about 10 years ago, began with the construction of a huge Giant Eagle Market District grocery store in lieu of what was once a small Big Bear store. The blue-bricked, historic—but long-ailing—former Lazarus (then Macy’s) also went by the wayside for new and exciting developments in its stead.

“We have a new senior housing project called the Coventry that’s opened,” Gibson says. “We have a new, market-rate apartment building [with] 350-plus units that’s going to open in 2024. And, of course, our crown jewel: the community center, which is going to open in the first half of 2025.”

Upper Arlington is also benefiting from development just outside of its city limits: Ohio State University’s nearby Carmenton district consists of about 10 million square feet of space squarely focused

on innovation, research and technology. Issues being tackled by researchers in the facilities range from the opioid crisis to cancer research.

“You’ll have 20,000 or more people there learning, working, living,” Gibson says. “It’s essentially a city on its own dropping out of the sky on our eastern border.”

Although Carmenton is not part of Upper Arlington, the city is happy to bask in its neighbor’s glow—and benefit from all the advantages of having such a district so close to home.

“It’s going to benefit our businesses with additional revenue [from those who work at Carmenton],” Gibson says. “It’s going to impact our housing, with increased value. Folks are going to want to live near Carmenton, and those neighborhoods that are nearby are already experiencing significant value increases due to their walkability [to Carmenton].”

Taken in total, there’s no better time to make a home in—or do business in— Upper Arlington.

“Our quality of life and our residents are benefiting from all of these fantastic programs and initiatives that the city has undertaken,” Gibson says.

PHOTOS:

Elegant

A rendering of Ohio State’s Carmenton innovation district

The Coventry Senior Living entrance

HOMES FOR ALL STAGES OF LIFE

Upper Arlington is making room for young professionals, established families, seniors and everyone in-between.

For as long as most in Central Ohio can remember, Upper Arlington has been one of the area’s most desirable places to live. The city is situated just west of Ohio State University and is close to just about everything, from Downtown offices and nightlife attractions to medical centers and the John Glenn Columbus International Airport.

“Upper Arlington has won the lottery from a location perspective,” says Mark Braunsdorf, owner of Central Ohio builder Compass Homes and an Upper Arlington resident. “It’s right next to Ohio State. It’s

By Andrew King

very close to Downtown. You want to get to the airport? I live on the far west side of Arlington, and even if I leave by 5 p.m. at rush hour in a rainstorm, I can be at the airport in 15 minutes. That blows my mind.”

Those factors mean that demand for Upper Arlington housing is off the charts. Last year, for instance, Travel + Leisure magazine named Upper Arlington the most expensive suburb in Ohio, with a median home sale price north of $540,000, according to data from Zillow and Redfin. But to generate that kind of

property value and desirability, you need more than just a great location.

UA community development director Chad Gibson says demand to live in Upper Arlington comes from “a combination of core components” that include city services, location, schools, neighborhoods, events and more. He says the city aims to provide extraordinary quality of life, which is made possible by a well-rounded community with unique amenities.

“We’ve got the walkable areas of Lane Avenue and Kingsdale, we’ve got neigh-

HOUSING

PHOTO: COURTESY CITY OF UPPER ARLINGTON

Town homes in the heart of Upper Arlington

borhood gems like the new Littleton’s Market going in the Tremont Center, we’ve got the Upper Arlington Farmers Market, and we’re close to everything,” Gibson says. “So we have the convenience factor, and our property values are some of the best in the entire region just because of all those factors. People know that if they invest here, that their investment is safe, and they’re going to get services that are on par with the investment that they’re making.”

That combination of demand and Upper Arlington’s status as a “safe” investment comes at a higher degree of difficulty due to the community’s size and landlocked nature. The city is less than 10 square miles, with a population around 37,000, according to the 2020 census. That means unlike communities like Westerville, Hilliard or Dublin, there aren’t opportunities for widespread housing developments or new community projects. Prospective builders in Upper Arlington need to be aware of that dynamic, and the city needs to toe the line between protecting its limited space while also inviting projects that keep the city vital with the correct mix of housing.

For single-family housing, that means builders largely need to either renovate existing units or find creative ways to repurpose the few remaining spaces within city limits. Craig Tuckerman, owner

of Tuckerman Home Group, says his company only builds around 10 homes a year, and has the luxury of choosing which communities to work in. For builders like Tuckerman, Upper Arlington doesn’t represent the absolute easiest job, but it can still be an excellent opportunity. He says his team quickly realized that standard plans used for other cities don’t apply to Upper Arlington, and turned toward being a “pure custom builder” for projects within the city. Now, they specialize in work that he says “improves the housing stock of their community” by working on projects that start as vacant lots or “distressed” properties.

“Many of those homes are 50, 60, 70, 100 years old,” Tuckerman says. “You know, a lot of the homes that we’ve torn down literally had dirt floors in the basements, were hoarders’ homes, raccoons living there, just like what you’d see on TV. ... So we’re taking a home of that quality and turning it into a brand new, energy-efficient, architecturally pleasing home that’s going to be there for another hundred years.”

The other single-family housing option comes in the form of remodeling rather than starting from scratch. Bryce Jacob owns Element One, a design and remodeling studio with a Central Ohio focus. He says Upper Arlington has seen a steady increase in remodel projects

past 20

A remodeled home in Upper Arlington

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Restaurants are part of the walkable mixed-use Westmont at the Lane project on Lane Avenue.

PHOTOS

over the years, especially post-COVID, as people look to make additions that give them more space for rooms like home offices that compensate for spending more time at home. While projects were once largely focused on areas like the kitchen or living space, Jacob is starting to see both “long-term owners and new buyers” make larger-scale additions to their homes, especially for the increasing number of Upper Arlington residents who have moved from a part of the country with higher home values, giving them extra money to spend. But no matter the type of remodel, Jacob’s customers want their home to still feel like part of Upper Arlington.

“We work with some people who have been in their home and love its character, so we’re modernizing while keeping it

in that character,” he says. “One of the things we emphasize is that we’re not going to make your addition look like an addition. We’re going to make it look like a continuation of a home. We don’t want people to drive by your home and say, ‘That’s a nice addition.’ We want them to say, ‘That’s a beautiful home.’ ”

But the tightrope walk of Upper Arlington housing isn’t just about single-family homes. Community leaders know they need to offer some multifamily options, and a variety of recent projects have added diversity to the city’s housing stock in the form of apartments and independent- or assisted-living spaces, while also bringing amenities like retail and restaurants that create a distinctive community feel.

For instance, the Kingsdale mixed-use project features a seven-story senior housing complex with 142 assisted- and independent-living units, a seven-story apartment building with 325 one- and two- bedroom units and structured parking, along with eight two-story townhomes. The Arlington Gateway project is a visible bit of construction at the entry to Upper Arlington on Lane Avenue that will include office space and structured parking in addition to the apartments, shops and restaurants.

Frank Kass, partner and chairman of Continental Real Estate Cos., is involved in both of those development projects. He praises Upper Arlington’s “conscious decisions” to develop projects that fit the character of the community while providing it the housing it needs. And while some may associate Upper Arlington mostly with single-family homes, Kass emphasizes the importance of building the next generation of demand through these mixed uses.

“Having 500 or 550 high-quality urban apartments close to shopping, restaurants, single-family homes and the community center cements Upper Arlington because, if [residents] want to live there as a 24-year-old or a 32-year-old, they’re going to want to live there after they have a kid or two in Upper Arlington schools,” he says. “There’s not a lot of land, so you’re not going to find a developer to come in and put a subdivision in with 75

But demand alone isn’t what makes Upper Arlington development run smoothly. Braunsdorf, Tuckerman and Kass all praise the city’s efficiency and working relationships with builders. Kass calls Upper Arlington “tremendous” partners, and Tuckerman says their approach represents “a monster difference.” Gibson says it’s “absolutely” important for a small community to cultivate that reputation. He says the city’s continuity and streamlining of processes have “paid dividends.” For instance, Gibson is in his 20th year on the job, and works with chief building official Roger Eastep, a veteran of 30 years, and senior planner Justin Milan, who has been there nearly 20 years.

Between the city’s vision and goodwill with developers, the continued growth of Ohio State, an overall lack of housing stock in Central Ohio and the impact of the massive Intel project just down the road, it seems unlikely that demand for housing will decrease in the short-term future in any part of Central Ohio, let alone Upper Arlington.

“There are not a lot of ‘for sale’ signs out there in any jurisdiction that we’re building in, and days on the market for homes are still incredibly low,” Tuckerman says. “So certainly Arlington is a place that we foresee ourselves spending a good amount of time continuing into the future.”

Tree-lined

PHOTO:

City of Upper Arlington®

EDUCATION

TRANSFORMED FACILITIES

Upper Arlington Schools are adapting to meet modern needs.

By Peter Tonguette

When Windermere Elementary School principal Julie Nolan meets with parents, she often has the urge to say, “thank you.” Along with Wickliffe Elementary School, Windermere was one of two elementary schools in Upper Arlington that were rebuilt from the ground up as part of an ongoing facilities master plan to improve and modernize the facilities in the school district. In the first phase of the master plan, Upper Arlington High School was also rebuilt, and the district’s other elementary schools underwent significant renovations.

To provide the overwhelming majority of the money to execute this phase of the master plan, Upper Arlington residents passed a bond issue in November 2017 that contributed $230 million for the assorted rebuilds and renovations. An additional $7.5 million was contributed to the efforts thanks to the private contributions of about 400 donors.

In light of the community’s clear commitment to transforming its school buildings, Nolan finds herself full of gratitude when she encounters moms and dads during the school year.

“I’ve said this every time I get in front of parents: a huge thank you for supporting the bond and the levy years ago, because it does make a difference,” Nolan says.

What kind of difference have the improvements made? Just ask Bob Hunt, the recently hired superintendent of Upper Arlington Schools who, upon coming onto the job, encountered fresh, gleaming buildings that catered to the needs of learners and those who teach them. The usual problems

associated with aging school infrastructure were absent.

“I’ve spent a career not only chasing down what we can and should be doing from a teaching and learning standpoint, but also hunting down HVAC problems and roof leaks [before coming to Upper Arlington],” Hunt says. “By and large, across the district, a lot of those issues do not exist [in Upper Arlington]. Really, it allows me to promote and provoke conversation about what’s happening in the schools from a teaching and learning perspective.”

The changes are far from superficial, however. Officials describe new or reimagined facilities in which space has been maximized.

“I don’t believe our square footage is that much different than the old building,” Nolan says, comparing Windermere’s updated and outdated spaces. “It’s just the way this building was created for students to utilize every inch of space.”

For Hunt, the goal of creating open, collaborative spaces reflects

the school district’s approach to “developing the whole child.” “We understand that there are really critical skills that we need to develop in young people,” he says, pointing to creativity, communications and problem-solving.

“Your ability to do that and pull that off really is supported by the space,” he says. For example, in the new, 400,000-square-foot Upper Arlington High School, an entire area revolves around STEM, computer science and robotics. Other spaces are tailored for the arts or athletics.

The rich history of the school district is also honored in the new building.

In addition to areas that recognize alumni, as well as past achievements in academics and athletics, Hunt says, “There’s a room dedicated to our education foundation, where people can come together and work on how to support our schools.”

Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility has also been enhanced in all of the rebuilt or renovated sites.

Leaders see the transformed

PHOTO: BARBARA J. PERENIC

Parents and students wait to enter a grand opening celebration at the new Upper Arlington High School in 2021.

facilities as essential. In the final analysis, however, most speak of them as merely a vessel for the educators and students who spend their days there.

“If you walk through our buildings, there’s a genuine care about each individual student,” Hunt says. “We are a public high school where students come from all different backgrounds, and we want to create environments in which they feel welcomed and supported and free to be who they are,” says Hunt, adding that the school district is discussing ways to strengthen its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Upper Arlington’s dedication to learning extends to its vibrant library system, which is the 18th largest in Ohio by circulation and has returned to, or eclipsed, pre-pandemic usage. Library officials see it as complementary to the school system.

The Upper Arlington Public Library— with branches on Tremont Road, Lane Road and in Miller Park—sees itself functioning as “a child’s first school,” says library director Beth Hatch.

“It’s [a child’s] first opportunity to be socialized with other parents and other children,” Hatch says. “We have a baby time, so parents bring their babies in and it’s their first foray into that socialization.” Numerous programs, including art activities, scavenger hunts and story times, keep young readers coming back to the library as they grow up. “There’s always something going on at the library,” Hatch says.

And, through a special partnership with Upper Arlington Schools, the library offers exclusive cards for teachers to borrow materials for their classrooms.

Meanwhile, the school district is looking confidently to the future. Enrollment has grown over the last decade, and projections suggest the growth will continue, says director of communications Karen Truett.

“A family raises their children here, and then at some point, they sell that family house and a new family moves in with three kids,” Truett says. “Maybe

Private School Options in UA

Upper Arlington boasts a number of private schools, several of which have made their own recent improvements to their facilities or additions to their programming.

The Wellington School, serving preschool through grade 12, has 695 students and a student-to-teacher ratio of 8-to-1. “Families enjoy a diverse and authentic community that is deeply committed to the well-being and belonging of each individual,” says head of school Jeff Terwin. “In and out of the classroom, students have the freedom and resources to explore interests that spark their curiosity, all while being appropriately challenged and building a solid academic foundation to power their next steps.”

For some Wellington students, those next steps include stepping across the globe. Last year, the school introduced the Wellington International Student Experience, which offers a global engagement class taken during a student’s sophomore year that is then followed by an international travel experience. “This year, students are preparing to travel to Zimbabwe, Norway and France,” Terwin says.

Within Wellington’s walls, a new early childhood and middle school wing opened in January, adding more than 40,000 square feet of learning space and collaborative commons to the campus, Terwin says.

St. Agatha School, with 209 students from preschool through eighth grade, offers all the benefits of a religiously informed education. “Parents choose St. Agatha School because they know their children will learn about their Catholic faith and how to incorporate it into their everyday lives,” says principal Veronica Stemen, whose school recently completed a renovation of a gym, including a new wooden floor. Classrooms boast smart TVs and make use of the Juno PA system, she says.

Those modern tools leave students equipped for their future educational goals. “Our students excel when they go on to high school,” Stemen says.

St. Andrew School, also offering preschool through eighth grade, inculcates students in the Catholic faith in a modern setting, including the 2013 completion of a two-phase renovation that included updated classrooms and a new multipurpose room.

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we haven’t had any students coming out of that house for five or 10 years, and then suddenly we have three students going out of that house.”

To that end, future plans will address the facility needs of three schools that were not part of the first phase of the master plan: Burbank Early Childhood School and the district’s two middle schools.

“Those three buildings were identified as phase two of the facilities master planning process,” Truett says. “That would be something that the district and the community will work together on in future years to identify how any needs in those buildings will be addressed.”

From the perspective of Nolan, the principal of Windermere Elementary School, having great facilities promotes, fosters and results in meaningful learning that will last a lifetime.

“The best compliment I and our staff get is that [the students] love school and that they love coming to school here and to all of our buildings,” Nolan says. “The facility is an important piece, but how our community embraces it is even more important.”

PHOTO: BARBARA J. PERENIC

home & style

Photo by Tim Johnson

Fashion Forward

By Brittany Moseley

As the new executive director of the Columbus Fashion Council, Keira Chatman is charged with leading the organization in its mission to grow the fashion community in Central Ohio. Chatman is the first person to hold the position since founder and former executive director Thomas McClure resigned in June to pursue other endeavors. Columbus Monthly spoke to Chatman about her plans for the organization.

When did your interest in fashion start?

In third grade, I used to draw animals with different outfits on them, and I used to sell them in class for 25 cents a page. I just had so much fun being creative with that. Then I realized, “I can make a business out of this. I can actually make some money.” I started to try to figure out what that looks like. How do I make money drawing clothes? ... I ended up going to a fashion trade school [for high school]. That was where I really honed in on design and getting more acclimated with my skills in drawing and sewing.

What are your goals for the council? I would like to have another program that we’re also known for outside of the fashion shows. How can we get recognized more nationally? I think that we have a little bit of [national recognition], mainly because Columbus is known for being the third-largest city for fashion designers. A lot of people don’t know [that], but I want to make that very clear nationally. I think a lot of times with people in fashion, they feel the need to go to New York, like I did, or Atlanta, or LA. I want to create an environment [so] they know they can stay here in Columbus and keep feeding the economy here.

What role do you see CFC playing in the community? I think that the misconception for Columbus Fashion Council and Fashion Week Columbus is that it looks a certain way, when behind the scenes,

it’s so much more diverse than most people would think. I want to bring that out so that everybody can see that. In doing that, I think we’re going to attract a lot more people in the communities to be a part of this organization. Not just [to] come to the fashion shows, but also to be members, to become corporate sponsors, or just sponsors period. The more people we have on board supporting the mission, the more we’re going to get everybody else in the community involved.

What do you hope your legacy will be with the organization? I really want it to

be more collaborative. We have Columbus Fashion Council. We have Columbus Fashion Alliance. And then you have other small groups that are also trying to make their name in the fashion industry in Columbus, which is great. But what I’d really like to do is blend all of those worlds and make it so nobody feels like they’re in competition with each other, but that we’re all helping each other out to grow this brand together.

To learn more about the Columbus Fashion Council, visit columbusfashioncoun cil.org.

Keira Chatman at Legacy House 614, an event space she owns Downtown

Keira Chatman is the new executive director of the Columbus Fashion Council.

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From Dated to Dazzling

A

Westerville couple transforms their home’s builder-grade features into a unique haven.

By Jill Span Hofbauer

Photos by Folchi Creative

Brei and David Clifford’s recently refurbished home is tucked in Westerville’s sprawling Highland Lakes community, a neighborhood checkered with open spaces and natural wooded areas. The couple purchased the home in January 2022 during a frenzied pandemic housing market, ultimately choosing the home because it offered the right floor plan in the right location.

The home’s highlights were clear—functional, well-connected living spaces; large, arched windows peering out to a private back lot; and a centralized great room with a two-story, vaulted ceiling. With proximity to nearby Polaris and the possibility for a club membership with pool access at the Lakes Golf and Country Club (a membership the couple later acquired), the Cliffords were drawn to the neighborhood for its convenience to amenities in an area surrounded by mature trees and natural beauty.

Like many subdivision homes built between the 1990s and early 2000s, however, the dwelling was constructed with builder-grade elements lack-

ing in character, and a once-popular Tuscan-style aesthetic dominated the interior design. The couple knew that in order to create a cozy and welcoming space more reflective of their style, updates were in store.

“I had some ideas, and I enjoy decorating and kind of creating purposeful space,” Brei says. But with so much work to be done throughout the entire home, the project seemed difficult to manage. David’s main requirement was that the design felt livable and usable. To help materialize Brei’s vision and make their main living spaces feel distinct, cohesive and comfortable for their family, the couple hired Upper Arlington-based interior designer Erin Hackett of Hackett House Studio, who describes her approach to design as being grounded in using aesthetics to influence life and happiness, and to promote well-being.

“It’s amazing what a second eye can do for you,” Brei says. From the initial brainstorming consultation to shared Pinterest boards and detailed 3D mockups, they began to conceptualize what each space would become and how to transition away

Opposite page: Custom window treatments with motorized blinds were installed by HomeSource Custom Draperies.

Clockwise from top left: A carved wood desk from Trove sets the stage in the office, where shelves are filled with vintage items from local antique stores; a large globe chandelier hangs in the two-story foyer; antique touches add interest in the dining room, including a Spanish birthing chair from the 1700s and a piece of early 1800s French pottery.

from the home’s builder-grade nuances to a more customized look.

Initial efforts focused on minimally invasive but high-impact updates to several of the main living spaces. Existing wood flooring was sanded, refinished and continued throughout, and nonstructural cosmetic updates were implemented—including the removal of dated, faux pillars framing the dining room entry and a newly installed, reclaimed wood mantel piece added to the stone fireplace.

With an open layout that flows from foyer to living room, a top priority early on was creating an entryway that would set the tone for the entire house, Hackett says. That began through the integration of beautiful statement lighting. “Lighting is such an easy way to make your home feel updated, to make your home feel upgraded and to show off your sense of style,” she adds. “It’s kind of like the jewelry of the home.” Upon entering the residence, three very

different, eye-catching chandeliers seamlessly work together to enhance the flow between the foyer, adjacent dining room and office. Through a mix of styles and sizes, each offers visual interest while providing dayto-day function.

Reestablishing the home’s color palette was another important consideration. Originally painted in shades of yellow and orange characteristic of the Italian-villa trend, Brei wanted a look with more freshness and warmth—but without the starkness of too much white. Instead of applying gray paint to the walls, a style that was well-loved for more than two decades but has phased out, Hackett says, an earthy gray color was applied on all millwork, door casings and trim throughout the main floor and select spaces on the second level to contrast against white walls. “It’s a hallmark of European, English cottage interior design to do a contrast trim, and it just brought a

Top: The dining room has become a place to sit and stay a while with family and friends. Antique pieces, handmade pottery and modern chandelier lighting create a cozy ambiance.

Bottom: A chair in the office is a favorite resting place for the Cliffords’ teacup Yorkie, Rascal, to relax while David works at his desk.

Design Ideas

Interior designer Erin Hackett offers these quick tips to transform a builder-grade space to a more custom look, preparing your space for the holidays.

whole lot of warmth to the home.” In the office off the entry, a rich, muted green was applied nearly top to bottom on walls, trim and built-in bookcases for a moodier statement—a color scheme the homeowners love in a space used daily.

While updated lighting, paint and other overall improvements laid the groundwork for a fresh, new feeling in the home, it is the carefully selected furnishings and accessories Hackett sourced for each space that infuse character and demonstrate the Cliffords’ personal style. From handmade French pottery and centuries-old antiques to more modern touches, the final look is a visual representation of the homeowners’ personalities, Hackett says.

It was important to Brei to support local businesses as much as possible, so anchor pieces, such as the living room sofa and floral Ottoman, were custom made by Norwalk Furniture in Norwalk, Ohio. David’s carved

wood desk was among items purchased from Central Ohio’s Trove Warehouse, and vintage and antique décor items on shelves and tabletops were found at Magpie Market in Upper Arlington and Eclectiques Antique Mall in Clintonville. The culmination of style and comfort has led to a final look the homeowners love—a process they say was made easier by working with an interior designer who could help them create a cohesive plan and not only stick to a predetermined budget, but come in slightly under.

“Now that I’ve worked with a designer, I will never go back,” Brei says. With many of the home’s living spaces now complete, she says the urgency to finish remaining projects has subsided. As they consider tackling a full kitchen renovation in the spring, a project they’ve already begun planning with Hackett, what was once a dated, builder-grade home now feels like their own custom haven. ◆

Lighting: Swap out basic, builder-grade fixtures with something more interesting. With thousands of options available on the market, Hackett suggests sticking with two metal finishes and paying attention to the size and scale of lighting to ensure the look is wellcoordinated and beautiful.

Paint: Instead of all-white everywhere, a contrasting trim color is an easy way to add character.

Holiday décor: Avoid flashiness and lean into natural materials like fresh garland, neutral and understated accents, muted colors and soft textiles.

Above: The furnishings in the home showcase the Cliffords’ personal style.

Right: The living room includes a floral Ottoman custom made by Norwalk Furniture in Norwalk, Ohio.

Brandon

Borgmann from Tiffany C. and Todd

Daniel Sa from Danielle and Gustav Nyquist

Tiffany C. and Todd L. Patterson, trustees, from

Property

from American Society for Nondestructive Testing Inc.

$1,740,000

$1,700,000

Jennifer Ella and Robert Wesley Norris from Charles E. Hovorka Jr. and Laura J. Regan

Douglas B. and Joanna L. Brandt, trustees, from Julie A. Brooks

$1,650,000

$1,600,000

Vikram Badhri Chakravarthy and Natasha Monga from Anna Eileen and Corey Michael Linsley

food & drink

Photo by Tim Johnson

Eat Your Greens Indoor farmers markets, winter CSAs and other ways to source local produce in the off-season. Read more on Page 106.

Greens to Beat the Winter Blues

Where to source local produce in the off-season

By Amy Bodiker Baskes

Each season at a local farmers market is unique. Spring is eager yet cautious as bright and tender young greens pulse with new energy. Summer is strong and loud as the heat and sun bring bold colors, big flavors and seemingly endless amounts of tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers and melons. Fall’s voluptuous markets sneak up on you as sizeable gourds, piles of apples and hefty cabbages make their appearance in the stalls.

But what happens in winter when Central Ohio’s cooler nights and shortened, eternally gray days bring the end to the traditional farmers market season?

It’s not as sleepy as you might think.

In response to an increased demand for local produce, more Columbus-area growers are embracing Ohio’s chilly winters and continuing to farm yearround. Selecting cold-tolerant crops like root vegetables and hearty greens, and using protective structures like high tunnels (which are plastic row covers) and greenhouses, local farmers are successfully raising and selling their products through the winter months.

Even though most of Central Ohio’s outdoor farmers markets shut down by Halloween, here are six places where you can still find locally grown vegetables this winter. Together, they represent a steady alternative for sourcing high-quality seasonal produce and supporting local farmers until your favorite outdoor markets open up again next spring.

COLUMBUS FARM CLUB

This new winter CSA is the collaboration of three local farms: Roots, Fruits and Shoots in Johnstown, Harriet Gardens in North Linden and Three Creeks Produce in Groveport. CSA stands for “community-supported agriculture,” or what the British call a “box scheme,” a program where customers pay growers up front for a regular delivery of whatever is currently being harvested off the farm. When farmer Dana Hilfinger of Roots, Fruits and Shoots developed her farm’s business plan, she intentionally chose to grow items that thrive in the shoulder

seasons (the period of transition between peak growing seasons). “I love to be outdoors in the fall and winter and increasingly don’t like the heat,” she explains, “and there was a clear demand for produce after the [farmers] markets close.”

By including three farms, the Columbus Farm Club ensures each share will be sizeable and diversified. “Farming in winter can be unpredictable,” Hilfinger says. “By working together, we mitigate the risk when a cold snap damages a product or low light slows its growth.” Serious cooks will be delighted by Columbus Farm Club’s generous portions and variety of produce offered in each

PHOTOS: TIM JOHNSON

Dana Hilfinger holds a candy roaster squash at her farm Roots, Fruits and Shoots in Johnstown.

Kabocha winter squash

share. Subscribers will receive a regular supply of root crops such as beets and carrots, staples like onions and potatoes, and leafy greens to both cook and enjoy raw. The CSA promises a few “fun items,” like fennel or frozen raspberries, as well.

Columbus Farm Club offers two options: the Holiday share (four boxes between late November and early January for $288) or the Winterlong share (eight boxes between November and March for $520). Subscribers can also choose to supplement their boxes with homemade breads and baked goods, locally produced teas and jams, and even pasture-raised eggs for additional fees. To sign up for a share, which can be delivered or picked up in six different locations, visit roots fruitsshoots.com/columbus-farm-club.

BRICK-AND-MORTAR OPTIONS

Two area grocery stores are committed to buying from local farms throughout the year. While each store has its own specialty, these full-service retailers offer more than just produce. The coolers at the Bexley Natural Market (508 N. Cassady Ave.) are always filled with items from area farms including Roots, Fruits and Shoots, Three Creeks, and many Athens-area growers.

The Beechwold Farm Market (4662 Indianola Ave.) exclusively carries items sourced from Ohio growers. In addition to a full variety of produce staples like mushrooms and microgreens, Beechwold stocks local eggs, frozen meats, grains and pantry staples. After working in the store for a year, Annie Chubbuck bought the store last March from found-

er Joseph Swain. She loves providing an outlet for so many farmers and makers and expresses gratitude for her customers’ support. “Columbus does community so well,” Chubbuck says.

INDOOR FARMERS MARKETS

Not all farmers markets in Columbus close up shop in winter. To keep up your weekly Saturday shopping habit, consider visiting one of three area indoor markets. After Thanksgiving, the outdoor German Village Farmers Market relocates indoors to Parsons North Brewing Co. (685 Parsons Ave.) and becomes the Schumacher Place Farmers Market. The indoor market takes place Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. December through April. The market’s manager, Carol Ross, says while it’s smaller than their outdoor version (with only 10 total vendors), the indoor market remains “food-focused.”

Starting in November, the Worthington Farmers Market, Central Ohio’s oldest and largest farmers market, sets up each Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon inside the Shops at Worthington Place (7227 N. High St.), taking advantage of the mall’s sleepy traffic, spacious interior pathways and ample parking. There, regular produce vendors such as Franklinton Farms, Gillogly Orchard and Rock Dove Farm will join “several new vendors in multiple categories,” says assistant market manager Karen Chestray.

Meanwhile in New Albany, you can

shop for local produce and baked goods— with the option of grabbing a bite from a local food truck—at the Philip Heit Center (150 W. Main St.) from 9 a.m. to noon every first Saturday from November through March.

Even though their winter outlets might change, Columbus-area farmers aren’t hibernating. “Growing year-round is good business. It evens out our cash flow and helps us retain employees,” Hilfinger says. Whether you choose to support local growers for taste, quality or environmental reasons, shopping at these sources ensure that locally grown produce will remain on your table all winter long.

Sweet potatoes

Squash varieties at Roots, Fruits and Shoots in Johnstown

Produce from Roots, Fruits and Shoots is part of a new winter CSA, the Columbus Farm Club.

PHOTOS: TIM JOHNSON

Chinese Fare with Flair

YF Chinese Cuisine is an exciting entry on the scene—with some delicious (and bewildering) twists.

As parents of tweenagers know, an ever-increasing part of today’s youth culture comes from East Asia, and a nontrivial portion of that focuses on novelty foods. The ubiquity of boba tea (aka bubble tea), in all of its endlessly evolving variations, is a prime example. Beyond that, there’s the fun and trendy spread of recently arrived curiosities such as mochi donuts (delicious) and Korean hot dogs (yes, please) that take the idea of a corndog to new extremes by rolling it in diced potatoes prior to frying.

Located in Northwest Columbus, YF Chinese Cuisine is clearly a serious Chinese restaurant with genuine kitchen talent. But they’re not immune to today’s trends (or, it seems, TikTok), which explains why the chicken wings we ordered were speckled with day-glow bits of Fruity Pebbles—yes, the cereal.

The menu gave no advance notice of this flourish, simply calling the dish Chicken Wings with Homemade Sauce. The wings themselves were masterfully executed—battered and deep-fried with a satisfyingly crispy and well-seasoned

By Bethia Woolf

crust that reveals perfectly juicy flesh, but any sauce involved was used as an adhesive for the cereal. Though the Fruity Pebbles flavor (and flavor from the sauce) was so negligible as to make the whole exercise seem decorative, the deliciousness of the wings punctured our bemusement. They disappeared quickly.

The same couldn’t be said for the Sweet Potato with Pulled Silk ($18.99), a nifty trick of a dish gone regrettably wrong. The idea behind the dish, a specialty of Dongbei in Northeastern China, is that a sticky sugar glaze coats chunks of sweet potato, creating showy strands of candy “silk” when pieces are pulled from the plate. In my experience, the trick worked for three bites before setting into a solid, rock-candy mass. Think candied yams and you’ll get the gist of the flavor. Think “sunk the Titanic” and you’ll get the gist of the form.

YF Chinese Cuisine

5225 Godown Road, Northwest Columbus, 614-706-4870

For a real treat (with fewer surprises), try the Mala Pork Shank Pot ($31.99), a substantial and shareable pan meal that fits into a recessed heating element in the center of the table. In it, a spicy, tingly mala gravy simmers a delicious array of accompaniments, including wood ear mushrooms, tofu skin, peanuts and crinkle-cut french fries, all surrounding a centerpiece of a whole, bone-in pork shank. The meat was perfectly marinated, impressively tender and its skin was a silky and unctuous delicacy. Fans of Sichuan flavors will love this.

Though YF’s dining room is simple, orderly and elegant, its service staff has largely been replaced by your phone. Not only are QR-code menus the only option, but they redirect you to a delivery service’s website for placing your dine-in order. I found the endless scrolling frustrating when perusing a menu of this size, and the idea of tossing my order into the digital void is the opposite of what I want when dining out.

I bet my tween daughter would disagree. ◆

Cauliflower hot pot, left, with fried chicken wings at YF Chinese Cuisine

PHOTO: TIM JOHNSON

FOOD NEWS:

A Focacceria-Meets-Gelateria is Coming to the Short North

By Erin Edwards

Openings & Announcements

Vinny and Christina Pelino, the couple behind Pelino’s Pasta, plan to open a focacceria and gelateria called Piazza Pelino in the Short North. The new business, expected to open in November, will fill the vacant space that once housed Piece of Cake bakery at 772 N. High St. According to its Instagram account, Piazza Pelino will offer housemade focaccia sandwiches, gelato and imported Italian goods.

As we went to press, Yellow Springs Brewery Taproom and Kitchen was preparing to open at 2855 Indianola Ave. in Clintonville. It replaces the Crest Gastropub, which closed in September after a decade in business.

Blue Santa Mexican Grill opened in September at 8 N. State St., the old State Theatre in Uptown Westerville. The Mexican restaurant, which replaces Barrel & Boar BBQ Gastropub, offers an extensive menu of ceviche, tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, carne asada and more.

Thunderwing Brewing took flight in early October on Columbus’ West Side. The new brewery and taproom from longtime homebrewer Jason Wing replaces Sideswipe Brewing at 2419 Scioto Harper Drive.

The international boba chain Tiger Sugar made its Central Ohio debut in September at 876 Bethel Road. Founded in Taiwan in 2017, Tiger Sugar offers a wide

variety of bubble teas, with its specialty being brown sugar bubble tea with fresh cream and a tiger stripe design.

Sandusky-based Toft Dairy & Ice Cream Parlor plans to open an outpost called Toft’s Grand Scoop at 1288 W. Fifth Ave. in Fifth by Northwest. The family farm started in the early 1900s. The new scoop shop will feature 24 hand-dipped Toft’s ice cream flavors, as well as milkshakes, sundaes and ice cream sandwiches.

Temporary Closings

The fine-dining Chinese restaurant Hunan Lion (2038 Crown Plaza Drive) suffered a kitchen fire in early October, forcing it to close until further notice. The owners told The Columbus Dispatch that repairs could take three to six months. Hunan Lion first opened in 1987.

Closings

Woodhouse Vegan bid adieu to Italian Village in mid-October. The plant-based café departed its original brick-andmortar location at 851 N. Fourth St. and moved operations to its bakery space at 19 W. Russell St. in the Short North. According to an Instagram announcement, the shift to the Short North space will allow Woodhouse Vegan to expand its “menu, hours and community outreach.”

The Suisse Shop Bakery (2119 Polaris Parkway) has closed after 40 years in business. In a note left on the bakery’s door, the business cited an “inability to hire skilled bakers” and the “increasing cost of ingredients” as reasons behind the sudden closure.

After almost five years in business, Matt and Tony’s Wood Fired Kitchen recently shut down at 525 Short St. in the Brewery District. Two sibling restaurants remain open: Matt and Tony’s Kitchen x Tavern (340 E. Gay St.) and Moran’s Bar & Grille (415 N. Front St.).

To keep up with the latest restaurant/bar openings and closings, visit columbusmonthly.com and subscribe to our food newsletter, Copy & Taste.

Vinny and Christina Pelino

Food & Drink | Books

A Cookbook for Columbus

‘Cooking Through Columbus’ is a celebration of our local restaurant and bar scene.

By Erin Edwards

“Why didn’t I think of that?” was my first thought when I saw a copy of “Cooking Through Columbus: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Through Columbus,” the new cookbook-meets-restaurant guide from the local trio of Tim Trad (founder of the retail brand @OnlyinCbus), photographer Andrew White and Nile Woodson (co-founder of Hai Poké and a past Columbus Monthly Tastemaker).

The idea for the cookbook originated during the pandemic, in 2020, when Woodson had to lay off the entire Hai Poké staff. “As we started to bring people back, old employees and new employees, there was definitely some dust and rust on the skills,” he recalls. “So, we started putting together training videos.”

The videos demonstrated Hai Poké’s recipes step-by-step, including techniques like how to cut pineapple for salsa. Woodson’s initial thought was to repurpose all this new content into a

Hai Poké cookbook, but that seemed too niche.

“The idea sort of snowballed into ‘Let’s make a Columbus cookbook that celebrates the food scene, [with] contributed recipes from everyone’s favorite restaurants,’ ” Woodson says.

“Cooking Through Columbus” features 67 local businesses, some with multiple recipes. Those recipes range widely, from the comical (Jell-O shots from Mike’s Grill) to the classic (the Press Burger from Press Grill) to the complex (a sexy dessert from Veritas). All the recipes are illustrated with White’s photography, which does a fine job of capturing the character of a place and not just the food.

Given the nature of the restaurant industry, a few of the businesses featured in “Cooking Through Columbus” have already closed, like Tasi Café. Inadvertently, the cookbook serves as a kind of time capsule for the local dining scene—

one in which the recipe for Tasi’s popular challah French toast is preserved.

“It’s not just for the cook,” Woodson says. “It’s for anyone with a connection to Columbus, whether that is someone who is new to Columbus and wants to learn more about the city. ... Or people who are from here and have moved away and are feeling nostalgic.”

The trio may not stop at Columbus. Their idea is to create a series of “Cooking Through...” guides that may one day feature Cincinnati, Cleveland, Nashville, Denver and other medium-sized cities.

On the following page, we’ve picked a plant-based recipe from “Cooking Through Columbus” to share. The seasonal sweet potato recipe from Comune (this magazine’s No. 1 Best Restaurant last year) has a level of difficulty that falls somewhere between a grape Jell-O shot and molecular gastronomy. Happy cooking.

Nile Woodson, left, and Andrew White at Tim Trad’s (not pictured) @OnlyinCbus office

PHOTO: TIM JOHNSON

CONFIT SWEET POTATO

WITH YOGURT, HARISSA, PICKLED HABANADA AND ALMOND

Servings: 4

2 medium sweet potatoes

2 quarts canola oil (as needed)

2 sprigs thyme

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

½ cup yogurt

½ bunch parsley

½ bunch cilantro

½ bunch chives

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2 In an oven safe dish, add your sweet potatoes and cover them with oil, making sure to only fill the dish halfway because the oil will expand during cooking. Add in thyme and peppercorns, then cover with foil and bake for 1 hour or until tender.

3 Once sweet potatoes are tender, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the oil.

4 While the sweet potatoes are cooling, blend the herbs with the yogurt until smooth and a nice green color. Season with salt and set aside.

5 Slice the habanadas into thin rounds. (You can substitute red bell peppers or jalapeños.) Place sliced peppers in a glass jar.

2 tablespoons harissa

¼ pound habanada peppers

1 cup vinegar

¼ cup sugar

½ cup water

¼ cup marcona almonds

6-10 cilantro leaves (for garnish)

6 In a small saucepan, heat the vinegar, water and sugar on the stove until it comes to a simmer, then pour the pickling liquid into the jar, covering the peppers. Let stand for 10 minutes.

7 Once the sweet potatoes have cooled, remove them from the oil and cut in half.

8 In a cast iron skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of the confit oil and add the halved sweet potatoes. Cook over medium heat until you have a deep caramelization.

9 Remove sweet potatoes from the skillet and plate on your serving dish. Top the sweet potatoes with the yogurt sauce, then drizzle with harissa. Garnish the dish with pickled peppers, marcona almonds and cilantro leaves.

(Comune recipe from “Cooking Through Columbus,” published by Globe Pequot)

PHOTOS: FULL PAGE, ANDREW WHITE; TOP, TIM JOHNSON

Move Over, Pumpkin Pie

Traditional Thanksgiving pies are lovely, but maybe you want to spice things up.

By Erin Edwards

I have nothing against pumpkin or pecan pie. The more desserts the better on Thanksgiving. But traditions are made to be broken, right? Here are a few alternatives to Thanksgiving pies—and ways that you can support a local business. All will be available in November.

Ice Cream Pies

Soft serve doesn’t have to come in a cone, nor should its enjoyment be confined to the summer months. At Westerville’s Little Ladies Soft Serve, they offer soft serve in pie form year-round. Buckeye lovers will enjoy the Aggie, a pie combining peanut butter and vanilla soft serve with puppy chow, buckeyes, peanut butter sauce and hot fudge. Any strawberry pretzel salad lovers in your family? Go for the Ruby, with strawberry and vanilla soft serve, strawberry purée, candied pretzels and graham

cracker crumble. 673 Worthington Road, Westerville

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

If pie and gluten aren’t your thing—but pumpkin spice is—head to Bexley’s quaint, gluten-free café, Cherbourg Bakery, for these PCC bars. Similar in look to blondies, this treat is made with pumpkin cake replete with fall spices and semisweet chocolate chips throughout. 547 S. Drexel Ave., Bexley

Vegan Dutch Apple Pie

Looking for a vegan dessert? Clintonville’s Pattycake Bakery, which celebrated its 20 anniversary this year, is bringing back its series of Ohio Pride Pies. Co-owner Sarah Bryant’s personal favorite is Pattycake’s Dutch apple pie made with local Goldrush apples from Lancaster’s Ochs Fruit Farm and topped with

streusel. 3870 N. High St., Clintonville

Pumpkin Cheesecakes and S’mores

Cookie Sandwiches

For a conversation piece to end your Thanksgiving dinner, consider serving everyone their own cookie sandwich or slice of cheesecake. The Cheesecake Girl will offer plenty of pumpkin-focused cheesecakes this fall, including flavors like pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin chocolate chip and pumpkin Oreo. And when they appear periodically, don’t miss the craveable S’mores Cookie Sandwiches. Creamy marshmallow cheesecake is sandwiched between scratch-made graham cracker cookies that are dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt. The Cheesecake Girl now has four Central Ohio locations and ships cheesecakes nationwide via Goldbelly. Multiple locations, thecheesecakegirl.com

Pies from Little Ladies Soft Serve, including (at top) the Aggie and (at bottom) the Ruby

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and create best outcomes for kids here and around the world.

Children need hope, and hope needs a Champion!

You don’t have to be a runner to make a difference in a child’s life. Donate in support of one of our amazing Marathon Mile Champions.

Children need hope, and hope needs a Champion!

You don’t have to be a runner to make a difference in a child’s life. Donate in support of one of our amazing Marathon Mile Champions.

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let’s eat

WHERE TO DINE THIS MONTH

Editor’s Note: Please call restaurants to check hours and menu availability.

$$$$ Very expensive, $26 and higher $$$ Spendy, $16–$25

$$ Moderate, $11–$15

$ Affordable, under $10

NEW Restaurant has opened within the last few months.

Outdoor Seating

B Breakfast BR Brunch L Lunch D Dinner

One of our 10 Best Restaurants

2023 Best New Restaurants

Let’s Eat comprises Columbus Monthly editors’ picks and is updated monthly based on available space. Send updates to eedwards@columbusmonthly.com.

Aab India

Aab India boasts a large menu of authentic Northern Indian-style curry offerings, plus papadi chaat, chicken tandoori and shrimp bhuna. 1470 Grandview Ave., Grandview, 614-486-2800. LD $$$

Asterisk Supper Club

Owner Megan Ada offers teatime and suppertime in a bibliophile’s dream atmosphere. Craft cocktails are served at a handsome bar, while the eclectic menu ranges from fancy grilled cheese to lamb chops. 14 N. State St., Westerville, 614-7764633. LD $$

Bake Me Happy

This 100-percent gluten-free coffee shop and retail bakery is an extension of Bake Me Happy’s growing wholesale business. Offerings include scones, nostalgic treats, brownies, cakes and more. 6750 Longshore St., Dublin, 614-683-8787; 500 E. Whittier St., Schumacher Place, 614-477-3642. BL $

Bamboo Thai Kitchen

This bright spot in a drab strip mall offers well-executed Thai staples like som tum (green papaya salad), flavorful green and red curries and pad thai, plus some Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese dishes. 774 Bethel Rd., Northwest Side, 614-326-1950. LD $$

Visit columbus monthly.com to read about the latest restaurant openings.

Barcelona Restaurant & Bar

Longstanding Barcelona is a classic for approachable Spanish tapas and other palateexpanding fare with an American influence. The patio is one of the most charming in the city. 263 E. Whittier St., German Village, 614443-3699 BRLD $$$

Bonifacio

Krizzia Yanga’s eatery offers a modern take on Filipino home cooking, with frequent kamayan-style dinners served on banana leaves. Try dishes like lumpia, lechon and chicken inasal. 1577 King Ave., Fifth by Northwest, 614-914-8115. BRLD $$

Brassica

Founded by the owners of Northstar Café, this build-it-yourself eatery focuses on fresh vegetables and proteins spiked with bold Middle Eastern and Mediterranean spices. 2212 E. Main St., Bexley, 614-929-9990; 4012 Townsfair Way, Easton, 614-532-6865; 680 N. High St., Short North, 614-867-5885; 1442 W. Lane Ave., Upper Arlington, 614929-9997. LD $$

Brown Bag Deli

The longtime German Village deli keeps it simple yet tasty with crave-worthy sandwiches like the turkey-and-cranberry-mayo-topped Village Addiction, plus daily soups, salads and seasonal sides on display under the counter. 898 Mohawk St., German Village, 614-4434214. LD $$

The Cheesecake Girl

After earning a culinary degree, Dublin native Samantha Strange opened the Cheesecake

Girl, where flavors range from original to bacon-turtle to sangria and everything in between. 4345 W. Dublin-Granville Rd., Dublin, 614-974-9293; 5354 Center St., Hilliard, 614-787-1753; 1086 N. Fourth St., Italian Village; 6031 Central College Rd., New Albany, 614-956-9966. LD $

CoCo Hot Pot

Customers visit this Olentangy Plaza eatery for traditional Chinese hot pot, mao cai and an extensive menu of Sichuan dishes. 743 Bethel Rd., Northwest Side, 614-502-0036. LD $$$

Comune

Joe Galati’s restaurant and bar fills a void in Columbus with a plant-based approach to upscale dining. The seasonal menu includes shareable dishes like tahdig, house-made pita with dipping sauces, tempura cauliflower and semolina cavatelli. 677 Parsons Ave., Schumacher Place, 614-947-1012 D $$$

Don Pocha Korean BBQ

A fun KBBQ spot where meat, seafood and vegetables are cooked at the table and paired with pickled side dishes (banchan) and dipping sauces. Flavorful Korean soups and stews round out the menu. 4710 Reed Rd., Upper Arlington, 614-459-9292. LD $$$

El Pollo Perucho

This family-owned Peruvian rotisserie has been operating on the West Side since 2013, offering pollo a la brasa, ceviche, yucca fries and lomo saltado. A bar was recently added. 727 Georgesville Rd., West Side, 614-7546769. LD $$

Traditional

El Ranchito Taqueria

This no-frills restaurant in the South Hilltop area serves authentic Mexican fare such as tacos, tortas, flautas and burritos. Wash it down with horchata. 1275 Brown Rd., West Side, 614-867-5456. LD $$

GC Pho

Visit this Grove City spot for spring rolls, pho, banh mi, vermicelli noodle dishes (bun) and rice dishes like com thit nuong. 1385 Georgesville Rd., Grove City, 614-852-3038. LD $$

Goodale Station

Topping Downtown’s Canopy by Hilton hotel is this rooftop restaurant, bar and patio led by executive chef Jonathan Olson. The restaurant’s city views are complemented by a large bar, high-end cocktails and sophisticated fare inspired by global cuisines. 77 E. Nationwide Blvd., Downtown, 614-2279400. BRD $$$

GoreMade Pizza

It’s all about the pizza here at Nick Gore’s modest spot. Thin-crust pies are wood-fired in an oven imported from Italy, and seasonal toppings are locally sourced. Enjoy solid cocktails and salads while you wait. 936 N. Fourth St., Italian Village, 614-725-2115. D $$$

Hai Poké

The North Market Bridge Park eatery offers Hawaiian island-inspired poke bowls— deconstructed sushi with raw fish (or tofu), rice, vegetables and delicious sauces. 6750 Longshore St., Dublin, 614-683-8785. LD $$

Hoyo’s Kitchen

This family-run restaurant started serving fast-casual Somali cuisine in the historic North Market in 2019. Order a bowl of flavorful spicy rice (or salad), top with proteins such as chicken suuqar or hilibari (goat) and then choose from a variety of veggies and sauces. Don’t skip the house chai. 6750 Longshore St., Dublin, 614-683-8798; 59 Spruce St., Short North, 614-745-3943. LD $$

Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse

A Cincinnati-based chain from restaurateur Jeff Ruby that offers top-flight steaks, à la carte sides, oysters and sushi in an over-thetop atmosphere. The wine list is extensive, and the service is formal, with flourishes like Bananas Foster served tableside. 89 E. Nationwide Blvd., Downtown, 614-6867800. D $$$$

Joya’s Café

This casual Bengali-American café from chef Avishar Barua (Top Chef season 18) was one of the most exciting openings of 2022. Highlights include the excellent chai, Thai iced tea, fried rice and Cheesy Double Crunch (Barua’s take on Taco Bell’s Cheesy Gordita Crunch). 657 High St., Worthington, 614468-1232 BL $$$

Kona Craft Kitchen + Bar

This handsome restaurant in Bridge Park pairs Kona coffee with a wide-ranging breakfast menu that roams from pastries and French toast to chicken chorizo hash and avocado toast. Lunch and dinner items include grilled clams, pan-seared salmon, smash burgers and coffee-rubbed strip steak. 6757 Longshore St., Dublin, 614-5025400. BBRLD $$$

La Glory’s Soulfood Café

At La Glory’s, the staff works to make food that reminds you of Southern home hospitality, including various fish and chicken entrées, as well as classic sides like collard greens and cornbread. 3350 Allegheny Ave., East Side, 614-237-5844. LD $$

Lalibela

Some of the city’s best Ethiopian food is served at this modest East Side spot where diners gather around large platters of gomen, doro wat, shiro, tibs and more—all served atop injera. 1111 S. Hamilton Rd., Whitehall, 614235-5355. LD $$

Legacy Smokehouse

Experience the tradition of Central Texas barbecue. Go for the beef ribs or the Texas Trinity (chopped brisket, pulled pork and sausage). Don’t forget the bread pudding. 3987 Main St., Hilliard, 614-541-9022. LD $$

Lupo

From La Tavola’s Rick and Krista Lopez, this tapas spot offers a menu of seasonal small plates combining Spanish and Italian influences. The full bar focuses on aperitivoinspired cocktails and a curated list featuring Spanish and Portuguese wines. 2124 Arlington Ave., Upper Arlington, 614-9145455. LD $$

Momo Ghar

Since 2016, Momo Ghar has gained a loyal following thanks to the handmade dumplings that co-owner Phuntso Lama and her crew make by the hundreds, weekly. No trip is complete without the best-seller, jhol momo. 59 Spruce St., Short North, 614-4956666. LD $

Neehee’s Indian Vegetarian Street Food

This lively, Michigan-based franchise offers a wide variety of vegetarian Indian fare. In addition to several variants on chaat, a traditional savory snack, the large menu also includes Indo-Chinese dishes, sandwiches, veggie burgers, dosas, lassis and more. 6080 Sawmill Rd., Dublin, 614-389-6304. LD $

Pablo’s Havana Café

This Cuban café serves authentic recipes made primarily with locally sourced ingredients. Be sure to try its signature El Cubano sandwich. 6750 Longshore St., Dublin; 9685 Sawmill Rd., Powell, 614-3894302. LD $$

Pelino’s Pasta

At their cozy restaurant, Vinny and Christina Pelino serve a prix fixe menu featuring house-made semolina pastas and seasonal ingredients. Don’t skip the scratch desserts. Menus change monthly. 245 King Ave., Dennison Place, 614-849-6966. D $$$$

Pierogi Mountain

Located in the former Grass Skirt Tiki Room space, Pierogi Mountain offers a 50 percent vegan menu that includes a variety of handmade pierogi, chicken paprikash and house-made pork sausage and kraut. 105 N. Grant Ave., Downtown, 614-745-3139. LD $

Press Grill

What this longtime Short North favorite lacks in size it makes up for in character, with a diner feel and a bar the length of the interior. Press Grill serves solid American fare like club sandwiches, burgers and Coneys; daily specials range from taco night to Thanksgiving dinner. 741 N. High St., Short North, 614-298-1014. LD $$

PHOTO: BARBARA J. PERENIC

Cheesy Double Crunch at Joya’s Café

Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co.

Qamaria, a Michigan-based coffeehouse chain, is Columbus’ lone spot for Yemenistyle coffees and teas. Try the chai-like Adeni tea or go for a Yemeni pastry such as sabayah or honeycomb sweet bread. 3221 HilliardRome Rd., Hilliard, 614-742-7110. BLD $

The Refectory Restaurant & Wine Shop

At this Columbus icon, chef Richard Blondin puts more effort into a single plate than an ordinary restaurant does into an entire menu. Inside this church-turned-fine-dining spot, expect impeccable service and a world-class wine cellar to pair with your meal. 1092 Bethel Rd., Northwest Side, 614-451-9774. D $$$$

Riziki Swahili Grill

There’s a lot to love about Riziki Yussuf’s charming spot, serving authentic Tanzanian fare. Don’t miss the excellent chapati platter with chicken curry, the tender mishkaki (beef kebabs) or the turmeric-scented urojo soup (served only on Sundays). 1872 Tamarack Cir. S, North Side, 614-547-7440. LD $$

Seitan’s Realm

This devilishly named deli specializes in

plant-based sandwiches such as Reubens and gyros. Try the vegan cheesesteak sandwich with curly fries for a great combo.

3496 N. High St., Clintonville, 614-230-2889. BLD $$

Skillet

Chef Kevin Caskey has developed a huge following for his creative comfort food, served out of a cozy, no-reservations Schumacher Place space. The menu changes nearly daily to reflect whatever local ingredients the chef can source. 410 E. Whittier St., Schumacher Place, 614-443-2266. BBRL $$

So Gong Dong Tofu & BBQ

This Korean restaurant chain offers authentic cuisine, including soondubu jjigae, a savory and spicy tofu soup. 2950 Hayden Rd., Dublin, 614-389-1050. LD $$

Subourbon Southern Kitchen & Spirits

At this Linworth spot, the owners of Alqueria Farmhouse Kitchen serve up Southern-style cuisine such as cast-iron cornbread, chickenfried chicken and blackened redfish. As its name suggests, the restaurant offers an extensive whiskey list. 2234 W. Dublin-

Granville Rd., Linworth, 614-505-0773. D $$$

Tyler’s Pizzeria & Bakery

An eclectic Olde Reynoldsburg storefront serving artisanal pizzas, breads and pastries, baked in a wood-fired oven. 7516 E. Main St., Reynoldsburg, 614-322-9587. LD $$

Veritas

Chef Josh Dalton’s modern, tastingmenu-style restaurant celebrates the art and science of cooking while offering one of the finest dining experiences in town. Located in the Citizens Building at Gay and High streets, Veritas prides itself on excellent service and exhilarating cocktail and wine lists. 11 W. Gay St., Downtown, 614-745-3864. D $$$$

Way Down Yonder New Orleans Finest Restaurant

Chef Yonder Gordon offers home cooking straight from the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. You’ll find po’boys, gumbo and other Southern favorites at her homey restaurant. Down by the Bayou, composed of fried fish smothered in Louisiana crawfish étouffée, is not to miss. 3847 S. High St., South Side, 614-662-8623. LD $$$

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Clothes Minded

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 50

Campos came out as gay at age 12. He was harassed at his junior high school in Toledo, and his family struggled to accept his identity, although they’re loving and supportive now. He still did his own thing. He bought himself a lime green tote bag with “I Love Boys” printed on it. “I remember it being, let’s just say flamboyant,” he says.

He came of age wearing skin-tight women’s jeans, flowy tops and hair that went from bleach-blonde to orange to black. “I’m not going to change who I am because of society’s rules and standards that you have to wear one style of clothing or the other. I never believed in that. I still don’t believe in that.”

Campos, who performs as Ava Aurora Foxx and currently holds the title of Miss Gay Black Ohio, is on the front lines of today’s culture war skirmishes over drag and gender expression. Last December, he says, he received death threats from right-wing extremists over plans for a children’s story hour at First Unitarian Universalist Church in Clintonville. The event was canceled at the last minute, but protesters carrying rifles and dressed in combat gear gathered anyway across the street. They were encouraged by the Ohio Chapter of the Proud Boys. It was the first of three armed protests at Columbus drag events in the past year. Armed Proud Boys members also carrying Confederate flags gathered outside St. John’s United Church of Christ in December, but a performance by drag artist Anisa Love wasn’t affected.

In May, protesters affiliated with a national neo-Nazi group chanted outside Land-Grant Brewing Co. in Franklinton during a drag brunch hosted by Love and Virginia West. They carried a flag with a swastika and a banner that said, “There Will Be Blood.” State lawmakers have taken a stand against drag performances, too. In July, 43 Republican members of the Ohio House introduced a bill that would put drag queens in the same category of

entertainers as strippers and topless dancers and ban drag performanc es from parks, parades and other public places. Voters in Bellefontaine, a city of around 14,000 about 50 miles northwest of Columbus, were to vote on a similar proposal in November, but the Ohio Supreme Court scrapped the ballot initiative in early October.

Campos expresses no fear. “People see that the world is moving in the right direction— sometimes—and they see we’re being progressive,” he says. “It’s always going to come up in the con versation somewhere in a really bland room with a bunch of people who have nothing better to do. All of them will probably be in gray and black suits with really boring ties.”

On a late Monday afternoon in October, City Council President Shannon Hardin is sitting in that proverbial bland room, in a wooden chair at a wooden conference table, surrounded by wooden bookshelves that stand against wood-paneled walls. His suit is gray-ish; his pink plaid tie is definitely not boring.

In 1848, Robert W. McCoy, “one of the earliest, most honored and most successful merchants of Columbus,” according to one early history, was serving in his 14th year as council president when he presided over passage of “An Ordinance to Suppress Immoral Practices.” Under glass on the table in front of today’s council president is a map of Columbus from the century sandwiched between his era and McCoy’s. Printed in 1936, it depicts a redlined city in which lenders had government’s permission—its encouragement, even—to deny federally backed loans in

predominantly Black neighborhoods.

It’s a constant reminder to the city’s first Black, gay officeholder to be as determined in expanding rights and opportunities as some of his predecessors were in denying them. “It’s important for us to be students of history,” he says.

The history of the city’s improper-dress law is new to him, but Hardin sees its echoes clearly in debate at the Statehouse and elsewhere in 2023. In June, he and Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio met in City Council chambers with other LGBTQ+ elected officials from around the state to discuss how to fight back.

“One of the things that’s so painful to many of us is it seems we have fought these fights before,” Hardin says. “One of the things that’s encouraging is the knowledge that we have beaten this before, and we can beat it again.” ◆

Members of the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe Ohio protested a drag brunch at LandGrant Brewing Co. in Franklinton in April.

Denise Russell, left, and Sonya Ross at Southbend Tavern in Merion Village

PHOTOS: ABOVE, TIM JOHNSON; BELOW, COLUMBUS DISPATCH FILE

EVERYDAY HEROES AWARDS CELEBRATION

Join Columbus Monthly in celebrating the Central Ohio residents who quietly work to heal, unite and improve our communities.

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DEC. 6 6 PM

Tickets are $20

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Victoria Bates-Frye’s West Side Story

The large and diverse Hilltop neighborhood has endured economic and social challenges over the years.

“Our side of town has experienced a lot of traumas and a lack of resources,” says Victoria Bates-Frye, a member of the Greater Hilltop Area Commission and a board member of the Hilltop Arts Collective. “But the resiliency and the ability of the community to bounce back and help one another is my favorite part about the Hilltop.”

—STEVE WARTENBERG

Book Worms

The new Hilltop branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library opened in 2021. Bates-Frye loves the new facility and calls

the old branch “the Hilltop’s original community center.” The new building is a lot bigger and includes an interactive children’s area, six meeting rooms, public computers, and areas and programs for tweens and teens.

More Than Music

“We’re no longer just the Summer Jam West,” Bates-Frye says of the Hilltop Arts Collective. In addition to hosting the popular, annual music festival in July, the collective has funded outdoor murals located throughout the community, a summer arts program for high school students and meetups for local artists.

Farm Fresh

The Hilltop has two farmers markets: The Westgate Farmers Market and one produced by the Highland Youth Garden organization. The Highland Youth Garden “partners with Highland Elementary to teach children how to garden and grow vegetables,” Bates-Frye says. “There’s a large network of multigenerational volunteers, and they host educational events.”

Gobble, Gobble

Ava’s Taste of the Caribbean is Bates-Frye’s go-to for carryout dining. “My favorite is the turkey-neck stew,” she says. “It’s so good, and Ava serves it with her amazing corn-

bread; it takes me two days to finish.”

Peaceful Park

Bates-Frye teaches yoga classes at the Holton Community Center (and park). “It’s one of the best-kept secrets on the West Side,” she says. “It’s a beautiful green space, a creek runs through it, and it’s just so serene.”

Safe Space

There are several small nonprofit organizations doing important work in the Hilltop, Bates-Frye says. At the top of her list is 1DivineLine2Health, which provides safe houses to pregnant women, transgender people and runaway youths.

PHOTO: TIM JOHNSON

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