Is "Over-the-Rhine" a good neighborhood in Cincinnati?

Question

My family was originally from there, you see.
I wonder why we ever moved away. I was told there used to be lots of pubs there serving 5 cent lunches, (consisting mainly of salty foods hence getting people to buy more 10 cent beers)
My great , great, grandfather, one Frank Harff founded and owned the "Highland House" in the 1870s, a brewpub and restaurant and an outdoor beer garden located atop Mt. Adams. They had this incline railway going up to it, too.... One landmark Jewish League meeting was held at Highland House in the 1880s, leading later to the founding of Israel. Ah historic Cincinnati
Then it all disappeared. Now my father always bitches and asks why I can't be more like Frank Harff, Go figure... Do you think it is possible to do it all again in Over-the-Rhine, or is it too gone and too late?

Answer 1

Over the Rhine is the place where every immigrant group starts in Cincinnati. So there are remnants of every group left behind. Currently, the population is African American and Appalachian with some Cambodians.

It is under intense gentrification right now. At the same time, the local police patrols are reinforced by the Sheriff's department.

30 years ago I got pulled over by a cop because I failed to move immediately when the light turned green at Vine and 14th. Welcome to the City.

A famous prohibitionist [the woman with the axe-- it will appear as soon as I post this || Carrie Nation?] came to OTR and started up Vine Street. She gave up. At one point tehre were something like 185 breweries in Cincinnati.

It's not anyplace that I would start a business, unless I was a suicidal drug dealer.

Answer 2

There has been much renovation in Over-the-Rhine in the past few years. More and more people are moving down there in pretty expensive town homes and apartments. However, most of the bars that once called Main Street their home have moved or closed due to some minor scuffles with the residents around the bars and the smoking ban which does not effect the bars in near by Kentucky.
Mt. Adams is still a really interesting part of town, the bars there are still open and doing fairly well..at least when I last checked, I'm not one to go to a bar like that, I'm a little too old=)
I hope for a time when Over-the-Rhine comes back and I would love the people there to be lifted out of their poverty, but Cincinnati still has a long way to go to make Over-the-Rhine the beautiful place it once was.

Answer 3

Well- firstly, Mt Adams isnt in Over the Rhine, so if you wanted to be around the area where your grandfather's brewpub was located, you should be cool- its a big bar scene up there, and is pretty nice. But its also really expensive.
Over the Rhine is horrible now. Dangerous, run down. Watch the movie Traffic- it was shot in Over the Rhine, and is somewhat accurate. You arent even very safe in your car there, let alone on foot. I wouldnt suggest going there unless you've got a police escort.

Answer 4

Over the Rhine has a great history but it is not a good neighborhood. It is being cleaned up a little bit and the crime is moving north to Avondale, but it is not an up and coming neighborhood by any means. I used to go to a club down there and you would see kids (babies, toddlers, pre-teens) out walking the streets at 3 am. It's a high drug area. I think it's too late to fully save over the rhine- its too far gone. It's sad to say because it's a beautiful part of the city if you can ignore the trash all over the streets, homeless people, drug dealers and prostitutes.

Answer 5

Over-the-Rhine has changed a lot since the 1870s. There is a lot of negative connotation associated with that area. People think of drug-dealings and poor people living there. I have been down there a few times. During the daytime, it is fine. It is not an area you want to be by yourself at night especially if you do not know where you are going.

Answer 6

Over the Rhine is a slum now. Sorry to tell ya that but it is. 5 people have been killed there in the last 3 days. One of the murderers is a 15 yr old boy

Answer 7

Over the Rhine is the most dangerous part of cincinnati. I have a neighbor who's friend works for CPD and he patrols around that area, and downtown. He has said that it is getting bad down in that area, and that it's not safe anymore.

If you are wanting to reopen that pub, do NOT do it in over the rhine, god knows you might get shot or robbed. I would recommend you set up the pub again in a nicer area of Cincinnati, like in Anderson, or Green Township. They have a few pubs around the Hyde Park area, but I don't think Anderson Twp really has one that is close to them, so you may attract alot of business there.

I would also suggest Mt. Adams, but you would have alot of competition another restaurant and pub up there.

My opinion is, set up the Pub somewhere else, in a safer area of the Cincinnati Metro area, where there are not that many pubs, and try to attract alot of customers to get your business going.

Answer 8

Over the rhine is somewhere you don't go after dark unless you carry a weapon. It has surely changed over the years and that is sad. It has alot of history but it seems like the poor have moved in and crime has escalated.

Answer 9

That is the most crime ridden part of Cincinnati.

See link for Stats:

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/downloads/police_pdf5307.pdf

I would not recommed moving there. If you want to move in a nieghborhood and open a pub try Mt. Adams.

Answer 10

I lived there as a kid. There were good and bad people, so I make no general judgement. But one evening taking a health walk with my dalmation, I was ambushed. After killing my dog, I was robbed and sodomized. I moved to Southern California and have not been attacked since.