Journey to the Land of Walk the Moon

When approaching downtown Cincinnati from the Mill Creek Expressway, one of the most prominent visual landmarks visible from the highway is the former Crosley building on Arlington Street.

Powel Crosley, Jr.'s company built automobiles, electronics, and appliances from manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Indiana for many years, although the company was eventually broken up mid-century and sold. Crosley also owned the Cincinnati Reds baseball team from 1934 until his death in 1961.

The single most iconic fixture of Cincinnati is the John A. Roebling suspension bridge over the Ohio River, completed in 1867 after over ten years of construction.

Characterized by its massive towers and trusses (painted blue in 1976), the bridge is often shunted into place in establishing shots, appearing prominently in the titles of WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-82) and Walk the Moon's own "Different Colors" lyric video.

The north portal of the Roebling bridge, accessible a block from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on Cincinnati's riverfront.

The nearly-identical south portal, following a TANK Southbank Shuttle faux-trolley bus.

This cylindrical 1972-vintage motel is technically across the river in Covington, Kentucky, but it's enough of a landmark that I have to include it here! It was originally built as a Quality Inn, with a rotating restaurant on top.

The historical 1886-vintage Fire Company No. 23 and Ladder Company No. 9 firehouse on 1700 Madison Road, in the East Walnut Hills neighbourhood on the southeast side of the city.

Further down Madison Road is the 20th Century Theatre, which opened in 1941. Due to the shape of the block it's on, it actually occupies a trapezoidal footprint.

Like many vintage theatres, this one has had ups and downs over the years: Movies ceased being shown here in 1983, and the property languished in abandonment for over a decade before it was restored and reopened as a performance venue and banquet hall.

Walk the Moon played at the 20th Century often in the early 2010s, and I would have captured their name on the marquee if I had taken this picture two months earlier in 2011!

Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighbourhood is located just north of downtown. This area is renowned for its wealth of well-preserved high-density nineteenth-century architecture and its numerous arts-related attractions, and it has seen population growth and redevelopment in recent years.

Walk the Moon's "Anna Sun" music video was filmed at the Mockbee, a site one short mile from this marker.

The four-storey building in the background of the prior picture is located at 1511 Vine Street, and bears a ghost sign on the side for Jay's 5 and 10. Reminders of Cincinnati's mid-century and working-class past abound in OTR.

Also note the pay phones (which were there in 2013, but surely gone today): Cincinnati is home to Cincinnati Bell, a local company which until 1984 had partial ownership by AT&T.

This ornate building clad in arched and bay windows sits at the corner of Vine and 15th streets. Smitty's Men's and Boy's Wear momentarily occupied the lower floor at the time I photographed it, but this shop has since relocated.

A head-on view of the same building, at 1501 Vine.

Continuing to explore our surroundings in OTR, a sign advertising a long-demolished business clings to life on a green structure between 12th and 13th streets festooned with fire escapes.

This cluster of buildings stands between 1409 and 1415 Vine. A ghost sign for the long-defunct local firm of Ben Schneider Jewelry Co. is emblazoned on the side wall of the tallest one.

"Paint" sign, 1400 Vine Street. Even though the building it's attached to now houses a clothing store, this sign has been preserved.

A "plywood storefront," just south of Liberty Street. This building was later (ca. 2019) gutted, painted, and renovated, stripping these reminders of Rosco Discount Stores from sight.

Side wall of the previous building.

East 15th Street in Over-the-Rhine, brimming with urban "grit." The building in the background is located on Walnut Street, with a pediment inscription dated 1911.

The headquarters of the Kroger Company, on 1014 Vine Street. This 25-storey fixture of the Cincinnati skyline was built in 1954, although the building's present-day appearance is largely the product of a 1980 renovation.

The history of the Kroger Company is also addressed on the rear face of the same historical marker that commemorates Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighbourhood.

A Kroger store adjacent to the marker; now since closed and demolished. Although difficult to discern in the photograph, the rear half of the store appears to have been hollowed out from the lower level of a pre-existing 3-storey warehouse.

North of Cincinnati lies the community of Fairfield, where one of the more unorthodox attractions is Jungle Jim's International Market. This massive, six-acre store commands a street of its own, and is essentially an atmosphere-soaked supermarket and ersatz museum/amusement park rolled into one.

The front entrance of Jungle Jim's International Market. And yes, that is a real waterfall.

Tons of knick-knacks and memorabilia line the store. Most of the licence plates are annual issues from Ohio, as might be expected. The serial "1910 MU" would have been issued in Butler county, which Fairfield straddles.

"I am Robin Hooood of Sherwooood Forest!" Jungle Jim certainly didn't cut any corners in crafting this decor. Furthermore, this was just one, small section of the store: This attention to detail and atmosphere was seen over and over again through literally acres of different departments. I could have practically spent a whole afternoon there just soaking up the surroundings.

This tiled-roof animal hospital on 2116 Madison Road was originally a corner-lot service station. I believe it was originally a Texaco design. An identical structure stands 170 miles northeast in Mansfield.

A quiet if random street scene on Cadillac Avenue, with several vintage Volkswagens in evidence.

Me being who I am, I can't visit a place without taking a picture of some highway signs...and I was actually foolish enough to pull off of a Cincinnati onramp just to take this!

Ohio has two versions of its state-shaped route marker for three-digit highways: A hard-to-read but cartographically-correct square version, and an easy-to-read but cartographically-laughable "swollen" version.