CINCINNATI'S MILL CREEK AREA
Aug. 2006
PART 2
Here we're still on the Gest Street Viaduct - looking west on Gest. This is an endangered area full of old warehouses. In the distance, Gest goes up a really steep hill for a block.
I'm pretty sure this is south on Evans Street from Gest. Most of Evans is slated for redevelopment.
Now we're going north on State Avenue. This is close to where the long-demolished Liberty Street Viaduct emerged. When I took this photo I figured that the lot that comes out here might actually be where the viaduct was. I'm not sure of this, however. A tiny disconnected section of Liberty Street does descend from State Avenue, but is likely not the exact location of the viaduct.
Continuing north on State Avenue. I was pretty sure the old Harrison Avenue Viaduct came out right here, but now I'm not quite sure.
Further still on State Avenue, approaching the Western Hills Viaduct, which you can see. The BGS on the left points you to a ramp to the viaduct and mentions I-75 and Central Parkway. I think the BGS on the right lists Harrison Avenue.
State Avenue basically just becomes Beekman Street. I think we're near Cummins Street, looking south on Beekman. You can see a hill with some radio and TV towers on it. These are probably for Warm 98 and Channel 19. Note also that you can see part of a Barq's soda ad on a business. Remember that radio commercial for Barq's where the guy sang, "I love my Baaaaaaaarrrrrrrrq's!"?
Looking east from about the same spot. Of course there's that big rail yard, and up on the hill you can see what I believe to be the Rook, which I thought no longer existed. The Rook is a building over at the University of Cincinnati. I call it that because it's shaped like a rook in chess. It's not called the Rook After All - just the Rook. (That's an inside joke.)
This outing is known for the fact that in several places construction or other forms of authority prevented me from going where I planned to go. At Dempsey Street, Beekman was blocked by construction, so I went down this block of Dempsey to Cummins Street. Dempsey is so steep that part of the sidewalk is really a set of steps. This area was also plagued by an incredibly loud squeaking noise that went off once every 15 seconds or so. A nuisance like that would never be tolerated in a rich neighborhood, but because this is a working-class part of town the noise goes unpunished.
Looking onto the Hopple Street Viaduct from Beekman.
From the Hopple Street Viaduct, we're looking back at the part of Beekman that I wasn't able to use because of construction. You can see that it goes up a steep hill.