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GOOD
& SERVICES STAFF PICKS
Best
Horatio Alger Story:
Ronald Hummons spent time in prison and time hustling drugs
but still clung to his dreams of designing his own fashion and shoe
line. From the depths of being homeless, lying on park benches and
drawing sketches of clothes, Hummons has pieced together his own
brand, Grapevine Collections, and taught himself the business. Maybe
he’s building the next urban clothing legend — don’t
bet against him.
Best Reason to Drive Past Starbucks:
Pleasant Ridge joins a select few neighborhoods quietly showing
the city-at-large what diverse and independent development looks
like. Every cozy burg needs a likewise coffee joint that doubles
as its public family room, and Pleasant Perk is
that place. It’s owned by singer/songwriter Kim Taylor, Cincinnati’s
current favorite Woman With a Guitar. Its name isn’t solely
a play on words/nod to the neighborhood — the place really
is, well, pleasant. Want a sublime Saturday afternoon? Splurge on
a latte and a sweet treat with the change leftover from the $20
you just broke buying CDs from Everybody’s across the street.
Pleasant Perk Coffeehouse, 6105 Montgomery Road, Pleasant Ridge,
513-531-4126; Everybody’s Records, 6106 Montgomery Road, Pleasant
Ridge, 513-531-4500.
Best Reason to Shop for Wool Year-Round:
We still have a stunning necklace of Mexican coins strung on braided
black leather we copped sometime in the early 1990s from Hansa Guild.
The store remains a goldmine of hand-woven hats, ponchos, gloves,
Minnetonka moccasins and, in non-winter months, cotton dresses and
other season-appropriate clothing. The owner is a dear and a darling,
and the Hansa Guild is singular in that it doesn’t
bombard with trendiness that’ll be out of style by the time
UC checks in a new frosh class. Classic Clifton. Hansa Guild, 369
Ludlow Ave., Clifton, 513-221-4002.
Best Reason to Stalk a Funky Spot:
During freshman year at UC we used to stop in at the Down
Town shop and marvel at how cool we’d never be. All
those years ago, the place was like Jazz. Ossie, the owner, is a
wise and beautiful dreadlocked sister who once temporarily closed
her legendary store while she served in the Peace Corps —
at least back then we knew why we could never catch the joint open.
Now, just stand there and ogle the exquisite window displays that
rewind back to those of the little neighborhood shops of the 1940s
and ’50s, all urban elegance rep’d with a Soul shake
between the authentic vintage shoes, jackets and shirts like the
ones Langston Hughes used to wear ’round Harlem and the occasional
fur stoles, pillboxes and broaches your great aunt wore to the Cotton
Club. Instant vintage. Down Town Nostalgic, 119 Calhoun St., Clifton
Heights, 513-861-9336.
Best Money Managers:
For more than 15 years Smart Money Community Services
has offered a full range of affordable financial services and economic
education to Cincinnatians who need the help. Those who benefit
include people confused about how to establish credit, getting themselves
out of debt or wanting to save for a home or business. It’s
a smart investment in building a better community. Smart Money,
1731 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-241-7266.
Best Thing for Local Women Since Women
Writing for (a) Change:
The Women Writing for (a) Change Feminist Leadership Academy,
which debuted in March. WWf(a)C founder Mary Pierce Brosmer has
found a way to tap into something strong, elemental, safe and distinctly
feminine in her writing classes, and now she’s teaching other
women how to do it. She’s also working on a book that will
do her ideas much more credit than a string of adjectives can do
here. WWf(a)C, 4850 Madison Road, Madisonville, 513-272-1171.
Best Hodgepodge of Unusual Stuff:
For your next craft project, we recommend for your consideration
The 99 Cent-er store in the Norwood Plaza, “right
behind Captain D’s,” as they’ll tell you. They’ve
got a great inventory that changes seasonally. The 99 Cent-er, 3823
Montgomery Road, Norwood, 513-841-1471 (and multiple locations around
Greater Cincinnati).
Best Education in Trash/Treasures:
Every Saturday and Sunday (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) you can wander the Peddlers
Flea Market for everything from pocket knives and jewelry
to stainless steel cookware and furniture. And if you convince them
you’re a vendor, you can get a look on Fridays (10 a.m.-2
p.m.). It’s a whole bunch of yard sales under one roof. Peddlers
Flea Market, 4343 Kellogg Ave., Columbia-Tusculum, 513-871-3700.
Best Place for Antique Early Birds:
And no, it’s not an oldies show sponsored by WGRR. Check out
the Burlington Antique Show, held at the Boone
County Fairgrounds. Starting April 18 and continuing every third
Sunday of the month through October, you’ll find a remarkable
array of excellent historical furniture and decorative items. The
show hours are 8 a.m.-3 p.m., but those in the know turn up really
early (5-8 a.m.) for pre-opening buying. Burlington Antique Show,
exit 181 of I-75/I-71, Burlington, 513-922-6847.
Best Business Advocate for Over-the-Rhine:
There are a number of worthy independent retailers who call Over-the-Rhine
home and make the neighborhood a surprising shopping destination,
but the best home goods surprises belong to Aesthetica.
Adjacent to the future home of the Art Academy, it’s a store,
a design studio and a retail hideaway. Every shelf packs an affordable
discovery, from retro placemats to artisan candles. A big city feeling
hits you the moment you walk through the door, which is Over-the-Rhine
at its best. Aesthetica, 16 E. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-651-1116.
Best Haphazard Hardware Store:
Ace Hardware and Electric owner Bill Dickhaus
doesn’t just help you with your home improvement needs, he
also performs the impressive feat of divining where in his chaotically
cluttered store your need can be met. Ancient and slow moving, but
sharp as the razor blades he sells, Dickhaus turns hardware shopping
into something like a cultural experience. Ace Hardware and Electric
Co., 4171 Hamilton Ave., Northside, 513-541-1271.
Best Cool Guy:
Don’t tell Jeff Stahl about the transience
of art. He lives with it every day. Stahl, whose company is called
Artic Diamond, carves ice sculptures that last
six to nine hours as decorations for special events. His handcrafted
works have earned him international recognition (he placed high
in an Olympic ice-carving event in Utah in 2002), and he’s
a regular at Hamilton’s annual IceFest, an event that attracts
10,000 visitors in late January.
Best Developmental Planning:
Where do you insert your latest addition, Lane Bryant
— a plus-size women’s clothing chain — in the
block of retail madness that is Rookwood Commons? Right next to
Maggie Moos ice cream shop. How’s that for irony? Didn’t
anyone learn from the whole Newport Aquarium/Mitchell’s Fish
Market thing? Rookwood Commons, Edmonson and Madison roads, Norwood,
513-241-5800.
Best Easter Eggs:
The hand-dipped chocolate, caramel and marshmallow giant eggs at
Aglamesis Brother’s are to die for. Get them early, because
when they’re gone that’s it. Aglamesis Brothers,
3046 Madison Road, Oakley, 513-531-5196; 9899 Montgomery Road, Montgomery,
513-791-7082.
Best Vintage Gear:
Avant Garage in Northside is one of Cincinnati’s
premier shops for vintage clothing and accessories. Co-owned by
Ali’s Boutique owner Leslie Scott and local musicians Brian
Driscoll, Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Miller, the newly expanded shop
is like the best day ever at the local Goodwill, with cool and kitschy
items ranging from old novelty and Rock T-shirts and more sophisticated
duds to other groovy artifacts from days gone by. We recommend calling
ahead — the Rock Star hours are usually restricted to certain
times on weekends. Avant Garage, 4573 Hamilton Ave., Northside,
513-542-8268.
Best Marketplace for the Rest of Us:
New Negroes know Kilimanjaro to be the spot to
hit to authenticate the “African” half of the hyphenated
“American” scheme. Small as a hut with clothes and wall
hangings dripping from the ceiling like moss, it sells typical African
iconography running toward the expensive: totems, jewelry, sandals
and mud cloth clothing. There are also CDs, oils, soaps, inexpensive
cotton dashikis and countless smallish gift items. Enter the marketplace.
Kilimanjaro African Art, 310 Ludlow Ave., Clifton, 513-221-0700.
Best Retail Reason to Renew Your Vow(el)s
to Hip Hop:
True Blue’s cramped, basement-level room/store
is what Kow Tow tried too hard to be — authentic. Grainy,
Old Skool Hip Hop “videos” play silently on the little
TV, a disparate stew of beats and rhymes spins through the speakers,
Hip Hop art is plastered along the low walls and Tammy, True Blue’s
owner, waxes flowetic to eavesdroppers about her disdain for all
the cursing and name-calling presently oppressing Hip Hop. Oh yeah,
the clothes are dope. True Blue, 6 W. Corry St., Corryville, 513-221-TRUE.
Best Reason to Go to Shandon:
Head out west, just past Ross, and you’ll find the first (and
perhaps only) Welsh settlement in Ohio, Shandon, where Jim and Carol
Wilson run Books in Shandon. The ivy-covered 100-year-old
house — and the Wilsons’ neighborly service —
is worth the drive. 4795 Cincinnati-Brookville Road, Shandon, 513-738-2962.
Best Reason to Go to Oxford:
Besides a great football team, 97X and general merriment on High
Street, you should stop into Juniper, a cool little
shoe/clothing/jewelry shop. And while there, try on something in
their changing room in an old bank vault. Just don’t lock
yourself in. Juniper, 9 E. High St., Oxford, 513-523-2022.
Best Dude Salon:
The rise of masculine hair salons was an inevitability in our Maxim,
metrosexualized world, but You Guys erases those
images of high-fives and Hooters-esque stylists. It’s a laid-back
experience in a stylish, warm atmosphere. The cable TV at every
station, beer and massage perks are icing, but the quality service
will keep you coming back. You Guys, 12082 Montgomery Road, Symmes
Twp., 513-583-8400.
Best Example of Just Another Black
Barber Shop:
I call him Mr. Sonny out of respect, and in turn
Mr. Sonny, Bug and the other barbers treat me like a lady even when
they’re talking guy shit. The service at Sonny’s is
fast and meticulous in the shotgun shop and, like most black barbershops,
its walls are covered with authentic memorabilia from boxing’s
heyday — Ali, Pryor and the rest. Unlike other black barbershops,
no soliciting or peddling is allowed, so you won’t be able
to buy incense, clothing or small appliances. You won’t be
distracted, however, from the endless stream of bad midday shows
on the yellevision. Sonny’s, 4920 Reading Road, Bond Hill,
513-242-9808.
Best Literary Niche:
Legends is a legend, in our minds at least. This
bookstore, located in the old Swifton Commons, is a literary Negro
Tour Guide. Specializing in African-American authors and topics,
Legends massages and nurtures a genre most deserving of attention.
Talent can not be and is not contained by racial divides, as Legends
demonstrates with titles by Maya Angelou, E. Lynn Harris and our
own Kathy Y. Wilson, to name a hat trick of our personal favorites.
Legends has learned its lesson well: Black History Month, as well
as powerful literary voices of any and every background, should
be celebrated year-round. Legends, 7030 Reading Road, Bond Hill,
513-731-4500. ©
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