Visiting Columbus: an insider's view

If you're planning a visit to Columbus, you probably already have an idea of what to expect, but let me tell you, it's probably not correct. Columbus has a reputation outside the city limits as being a do-nothing sort of town, but that's not correct, by a long-shot.

For a long time Columbus was referred to as a cow-town. Those days are long gone, even though the cow-bells still ring out at the local baseball games. The reason I think that we have a bland reputation is that Columbus is a melting pot from the rest of the state. We also didn't have a major league sports team for many years, but that was then. Now we have one of the best ranked visitor experiences for a NHL area with the Columbus Blue Jackets. We also have the Columbus Crew Soccer Club, which is very big.

Columbus is diverse in many ways. For a midwestern community, we're different: culturally, religiously and ethnically. In fact, there are more multiracial people in Franklin County than any other county in the state. Twenty-five percent of the population is non-white. Due to its demographic spread, Columbus has been designated as a typical American city and has been used to test new products for retail and restaurants.

Columbus is home to a number of fast food chains: Charley's Grilled Subs, Steak Escape, White Castle, and Wendy's. We also are home to Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, Bob Evans Restaurants, Max & Erma's, Damon's Grill, and Donatos Pizza. Columbus is also home to 5 major insurance companies: Nationwide, Motorists, Grange, Safe Auto and State Auto.

So Columbus became this melting pop of a variety of cultures from around the state, with nothing really standing out, just because there were so many different heritages. German Village and the Brewery District are good examples. So is Victorian Village.

Putting Columbus in perspective

Downtown Columbus consists of about 1500 acres. That's about 35% larger than downtown Boston and 8 times larger that the Chicago Loop. There are 12 major hotels, 7 theaters, give or take about 200 retail shops, give or take about 200 restaurants and nightclubs. There are about 4000 downtown residents, but that number is quickly changing as new housing units are opening up. North Bank will host a variety of new condo units and a large scale project is underway called River-South Redevelopment which will be redeveloping the Whittier Street peninsula. Connecting these new developments is a series of parks, walkways and bike paths that follow the Scioto River. You will be able to hop on your bicycle and pedal from south of Columbus to all the way north of the outerbelt.

Columbus Football

Of course we're a college football town. Ohio State University is the largest university in the country and the Buckeye's football and basketball teams are stellar performers. On a Saturday afternoon in the fall, when there's a home game, you won't find any more avid fans than the Buckeyes. Most professional football arenas pack in around 80,000 people. Ohio Stadium seats over 110,000 people and there's never an empty seat even when playing a non-conference game, and there's probably another 10,000 in the scattered parking lots around campus doing nothing but tail-gaiting.

We also get a lot of grief about our name: Columbus. Obviously, Columbus was named for old Chris, but we catch all this grief because Chris Columbus is credited with discovering a land that was already inhabited by native Americans. Well, all I can say is: get a life. We didn't sit around and come up with the name, anymore than New Yorkers came up with their name. It's our name, period. We ain' t going to change it.

Columbus is flat?

Another criticism is that Columbus is flat. That's really a mistaken belief. Granted, we don't have mountain ranges nestled around town, but Columbus does have some rather hilly terrain with lots of deep ravines around town. Most people don't notice these ravines because the engineers built up the areas so roads could be built. For many years up until around the 1870s it was a difficult journey going from downtown Columbus to Worthington. Today, you can drive up High Street and never realize that you've passed over about 10 75' deep ravines. Perhaps we're not as hilly as Pittsburgh, or Cincinnati, but that's not so bad, especially in the winter. Columbus is right in the middle of the Scioto River Valley. Thousands of years ago, we were covered by a giant glacial sheet. When this glacier melted (from global warming), it drained right through the middle of town. If you get a chance go over to the Scioto River and take a look at Griggs Dam then go up river about 10 miles and look at O'Shaughnessy Dam which has a hydroelectric operation installed in it, and you'll realize how hilly the area really is.

Getting around town

Columbus is easy to get around. The main east-west highway is I-70. There are 2 primary north-south freeways, I-71 and St. Rte. 315. The outerbelt, I-270, circles the city and I-670 connects the airport to downtown and continues to the west side. For the most part streets run north/south, and east/west. There are of course exceptions, but as a general rule it's true. If you're on a one-way street, there will usually be another one-way street going the opposite direction.

We don't have a rapid transit, but we do have COTA, which stands for Central Ohio Transit Authority. COTA will probably not go where you want to go and if you're not staying downtown, then you'll probably be better off renting a car. Most of the COTA buses has a free service for bicyclists where you can load your bike on the bus. Bus fares run about $1.50 to $2.00 for express. Have exact fare. Buses don't run late at night. Cab service is available, but this is usually downtown and the airport. You can phone for a taxi just about anywhere inside the outerbelt, but don't expect to hail a cab at Polaris. Cab fare from Port Columbus is about $20 + tip (15%)

Columbus Shopping

Columbus has all the major designer stores like Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Abercrombie & Fitch, Crate & Barrel, Lane Bryant, Limited Stores, Nordstrom, etc. There are several major shopping areas around town including Easton, Polaris, Worthington Mall, and Tuttle Crossing. South of town is Jefferson Outlet Mall.