South of the Drake Motel and Cross County Corporate Center is the Carrousel Inn. The dated facility was larger at one time, but part of the site has been razed. There is "room at the inn" as evidenced by the open sign in the window and the active website.
This would not be my choice of a place to stay.
Just south of the Drake Motel is this office building; the Cross County Corporate Center. The building is partially leased, but seems to be struggling. This is a great location; the center part of the county and great access to all the highways.
It looks like it needs significant investment to bring it up to modern standards. The building is for sale so maybe that will happen.
Just another view of the abandoned Drake Motel. Hopefully this placed will be razed sometime soon.
Shut down last year, the Drake Motel was a black eye for Sycamore Township. Reports of heroin use and prostitution prompted two raids in which several people were arrested for drug possession.
This site is the front porch for the small part of the township at Reading Road and Chaucer Drive. In the 1950's and 60's, before our 48,000 mile Interstate Highway System came about, motels like this were scattered along roads like Reading and Montgomery because those were the primary routes between large cities. Today few of these mom and pop businesses remain.
This tree-lined street is part of a small community and isolated part of Sycamore Township located near Cross County Highway and Reading Road. Over the next week or so we'll take a look at the good and bad of this area, including businesses along Reading Road and the residential communities on Chaucer Drive.
One of only a few remaining camera stores in Greater Cincinnati. Online competition has changed the camera business significantly. With Amazon, B&H, Adorama and others, you can order online and have anything you need in a day or two.
I'm glad we still have stores like Dodd and K&R PhotoDigital in N KY. Their expertise is helpful and you can see and touch the products. These folks do a good job taking care of my photography needs and I try to patronize them whenever possible.
Remember the cross on the bell towers at SVF on Day 9? Two visitors have been hanging out there recently. I believe they are Red-tailed Hawks. I've been trying to capture images of them hunting, to no avail.
This store opened a few years ago on Montgomery Road in Kenwood. It serves real enthusiasts; you won't find any $99 bikes here. I bought a bike rack for my car at Perfomance Bicycle and the staff was extremely helpful.
This Cincinnati Bell facility on Blue Ash Road in Rossmoyne was, as I understand it, a switching station (now called a central office) for land-line phone service. Maybe it still is, but I’ll bet the equipment doesn’t take up nearly as much space as it did “back in the day”. Of course now it probably serves up TV and internet as well.
I recall my parents used to express our phone number as “Sycamore-(nnnn)”. People referred to the switching station and a number, rather than the full number.
This site also looks to be a holding location for multiple portable power generators. That’s a lot of power capacity. It must be for emergency use after bad weather and disaster responses.
So here's my first time-lapse for this project.
Take a ride northbound through the southern part of the township, on I-71 from Euclid Road to Ronald Regan Highway.
Except maybe for the "Tower", that's one boring ride, mostly just sound barriers and traffic.
I wish I could have made it to the big show Saturday night. Here is the headliner from Friday night; Fran Cosmo, former lead singer of Boston.
Good show.
I was singing along with one of the songs and my buddy Bob asked me "who sings this song? When I told him, he replied "let's keep it that way". So I'm glad the volume was cranked up.
The crew at Sycamore Township put on a great event.
Kiddie-land at the festival....a lot of young folks looked to be having a great time. The Festival in Sycamore is a family-friendly event.
It's here, the Fesitval in Sycamore. Friday night July 11, full moon, getting ready for the night's headliner. After a few hours of rocking with After Midnight (great job guys), next up is the former lead singer for Boston, Fran Cosmo.
I have a few more festival shots to share. Check back tomorrow....
Kenwood is one of several neighborhoods in Sycamore Township, and the heart of the shopping district. Kenwood Towne Centre could be considered the crown jewel, and this sign at Kenwood and Montgomery Roads is the cornerstone.
Once the site of the original Kenwood Plaza, the Kenwood Towne Centre boasts 180 stores and over one million square feet of retail space.
We'll see a lot of the Kenwood Towne Centre over the next year.
Anyone who likes cars has probably seen Tesla electric automobiles popping up all over town. The Cincinnati Tesla Store is in the Kenwood Towne Centre, an appropriate venue I'm sure. If your Tesla needs service you'll have to bring it here, about one mile from the towne center. This is not the fancy setting I would expect to bring my $70,000 sports car, but I'm sure the interior space is beautiful and the service great.
Fond memories from my childhood....visits to Esther Price candy. This Dayton-based company's Kenwood store has been here as long as I can remember.
If you've not had the pleasure, you can find this on Montgomery Road at Stewart Rd, at the far south end of Sycamore Township. Definitely worth the trip.
This chruch is probably the most recognizable in Sycamore Township, as anyone who travels I-71 has seen its bell towers. St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Kenwood was founded in 1946. The distinct church building and towers were constructed in 1969.
We'll be back here in September for the SVF "Fall Fest".
Just a few days away is the biggest party of the year in Sycamore Township. I'm looking forward to some live music and cold beer. Summer festivals are popular in this area. We've missed one of the good ones, but we'll see a few of the best local church festivals in the next few months, including one in September on this site at St. Savior Parish.
Another boundary.
This nice looking building occupies the northwest corner of the northern-most part of the township; Fields Ertel Road at Reed Hartman Highway. Beckham Square is an 86,000 sq ft. complex that features an on-site fitness center and geothermal heating and cooling.
The best boneless chicken wings in town are served no longer. Willies in Kenwood closed early last year and I miss my weekly visits for boneless wings and a side salad. I've found similar chicken wings elsewhere, but Willie's did it well.
What caused this sport bar to fail? Plenty of big screen TVs and cold beer; that's the typical format. Maybe the prices were too low. My only complaint was the place was very noisy; bare concrete floors and nothing to absorb sound.
Notice the reflection of the top of the tower in the window. Omnipresent.
