Dayton Ohio: A river flows through it

August 10th, 2008

One of the unique things about Dayton Ohio is the miles and miles of riverways. For some reason, we’ve never really made great use of the rivers here. Dayton doesn’t promote the rivers for recreation or transportation, and while they are a place to visit on occasion, the fact is that most of us never give our rivers too much thought. Why is that, I wonder? They are lovely and magical feasts for the eyes and ears, we are fortunate to have them.

That could be changing thanks to some plans for a Whitewater park in Dayton. (in pdf).

Check out the links below if you are inclined to play on the rivers.

Paddling on the rivers with the metroparks.

Dayton Canoe Club.

Greater Dayton Rowing Assoc.

Whitewater Warehouse, Inc. Offers equipment, lessons, a kayaking forum and more.

Michael at For The Love of Dayton follows the rivers.

I found the Dayton Canoe Club video on YouTube.

Pianist Yiruma playing River Flows in You

Clips from Rivers and Tides. a documentary about the work of artist Andy Goldsworthy who uses natural objects and settings for his work.

Mad props for the humble brick ranch home

August 9th, 2008

My “brick ranch” google alert pops up with great stuff all the time. If you read this blog you know how I feel about brick ranch homes, but I love to share what other people are saying, so off we skip to the PinkAndChocolateBrown Blog. Looking for a house in Lexington KY, the blogger is working out her preconceived notions about the ubiquitous brick ranch:

Yes the dreaded ranch house, bane of suburban existence and possibly the biggest cliche in American architecture, is looking like my best choice in this market for several reasons. For starters, there are a LOT of them. The post-war housing construction boom obviously continued well up through the 1960s in Lexington, because there are blocks and blocks of ’60s brick ranch houses in this city. Also, they tend to be affordable and modestly sized, predating the McMansion craze. Brick construction is ostensibly more sturdy than the popular vinyl siding of today, and a lot of these mid-century suburbs are now comparatively close to the city center, as town has expanded beyond them. So there are tons of good reasons to consider ranch houses. But I was recently reminded of a statement I made when I was about 22 - that I would never, ever want to live in a boring, generic ranch house. Oh my hubris! This was clearly before I got a grip on the real estate market here and the realities of mortgage calculation.

I will say, though, that I prefer the ranch in all its midcentury glory to the ubiquitous front-garage houses filling up modern suburbs. You know what I’m talking about…

Yes, I do know what she is talking about, and you can read all about it here.

More about ranch homes from Tucson AZ where some are considering the historic significance of the brick ranch.

It may take some time for most to appreciate the ranch house, which Jeffery said represents an entire value system — social, political, economic and aesthetic — that came into play during the biggest blossoming of American development.
The baby boom that followed World War II gave a demographic push. Economic good times created a middle class and a larger market for home ownership. The blossoming car culture made suburbs possible. The U.S. government promoted mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration.
The ranch house wasn’t simply a type of architecture. It was the emblem of a changing way of life.
“We may look and say it’s not the most beautiful architecture, but it’s certainly the most significant,” Jeffery said.
“It is one of the most important periods of American history,” said Debbie Abele, who conducted a study of Tucson’s post-war development for the city’s Department of Urban Planning and Design.
“What people call banal or nondescript was a standardizing of building parts that made home ownership available to a larger percentage of the population than ever before,” said Abele, a consultant who also serves as the city of Scottsdale’s historic preservation officer.

Read about how the ubiquitous Tucson ranch house is gaining historic cache here.

There is a great brick ranch in Huber Heights Ohio, and plenty more to choose from. Let me know how I can help you find your way to a home of your dreams.

Let’s post some good news about Dayton Ohio

July 26th, 2008

Yeah, Dayton gets beaten up by the local dead tree media, so what.

The Dayton Business Journal reports some good news:

The Dayton-Springfield area ranked fourth among medium-sized metro areas nationwide for its percentage of high-growth businesses, according to the federal government’s in-house advocate for small business.

The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy this week released a study on high-impact firms, defined as businesses whose sales have at least doubled over a four-year period and whose payrolls have grown steadily. The study found 1,181 businesses that qualified in the Dayton-Springfield area, or 2.73 percent of the area’s 43,280 businesses.

Statewide, 12,878 firms were labeled high-impact, or about 2.4 percent of the state’s total.

Read more about it here.

Moving to Dayton Ohio to take advantage of a high-growth business? Yep, I can help: Teri(at)TheBrickRanch.com

Where to find live music in Dayton

July 22nd, 2008

Looking for something to do in Dayton? Love live music? Check out gruvr.com

gruvr is a cool live music map that lets you see who is playing where. This is a link to the Dayton map, but you could check out Cincy, Columbus, Indy by changing the radius. In case you are wondering, Dayton’s music scene is thriving- they currently list about 40 concerts within 9 miles of Dayton for the next week. A wide variety of music, and venues are represented- so there is something for everyone.

In addition to the map, they list links to those bands that are playing in Dayton, and links to tickets for the concerts. You can also type in a band and see where it’s playing, and get an RSS feed for your favorite band.

Who is playing in Dayton today? Cincinnati’s own Over The Rhine. This is a video them doing Leonard Cohen’s Halleujah. No it’s not original, but it’s the best video of Over The Rhine I could find, it’s a lovely song, and it showcases them nicely. So enjoy, check gruvr for time and location, and go see them live.

*edit 8/26/08 the What We Need Is Music blog has a review of this concert here with link to some beautiful photos.

Open house in Dayton: 303 Windgate Dr.

July 18th, 2008

If you are looking for information about open houses in Dayton Ohio, look here, or here.

I’m holding an open house at 303 Windgate Dr, Englewood Ohio, in the Timber Ridge subdivision, on Sunday, July 20, from 2-4.

I wrote about 303 Windgate Dr here; and you can see my online photo album for it here.

To look at a home in the close-by Windpointe subdivision, 117 Pleasant Chase, look here. The online photo album is here.

For a no hassle Dayton home search, you can use the link on the upper sidebar- just under the flowers.

Most importantly, to see any Dayton home, and to get more information about Dayton real estate, contact me at Teri(at)TheBrickRanch.com.

Next Page »