30 Eylül 2012 Pazar

San Francisco Confidential

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Ti Couz--which means The Old House--is one of San Francisco's
best restaurants in terms of food. The main fare: crepes made by chef Sylvia Le Mer
in the style of her hometown of Brittany in northwest France.


Today, we spent a few hours in Berzerkeley and Stan and Fran's Disco (that's Berkeley and San Francisco to the rest of you.) My long-time friend Thea Hillman lives in the former and is about to have a baby, so we popped in for a quick visit. After that, we braved traffic, crossed the Bay Bridge, and drove into San Francisco. The goal: Ti Couz. This is, hands down, the best restaurant in the universe. Seriously. One word: crepes. Yum.

We enjoyed smoked salmon with scallions and creme fraiche and shrimp and scallops with seafood sauce. To top it off, we split a dessert crepe with bananas, nutella, and vanilla ice cream. We each washed it down with a made-to-your-taste Citron Presse. That's just a fancy word for make-it-yourself lemonade!

Mission Dolores, named for a nearby creek,
the Arroyo de los Dolores--or the Creek of Sorrows.


Having filled our bellies, we then went for a walk in the Mission District and took photos of the Mission Dolores and the basilica. The mission is the oldest intact building in San Francisco and the only remaining chapel out of 21 mission chapels establish by Father Junipero Serra along the El Camino Real. Finishing up the evening, we drove out to Treasure Island and watched the last of the sunset behind Baghdad on the Bay (again, that's San Francisco. Sometimes, it's also called the Barbary Coast.)

A quick note of thanks to my friend Sid and his partner Toz for letting us stay with them at the last minute after our accommodation arrangements fell through elsewhere.

And now, it's time to head up the coast!



Photo copyright: Janet Kincaid, 05/09

San Francisco Confidential: Part II

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Close-up of a Keith Haring sculpture
Corner of Howard and 3rd Streets


I had to expedite my passport application today, which required staying in San Francisco to process and pick up the same at the passport agency. Between the time I dropped off said documents and picked them up, we had hoped to go to Alcatraz, but because of time constraints we ended up instead seeing some of my former work colleagues and having lunch with one of them. Then we hung out in Yerba Buena Gardens for an hour or so.

After finding out that passport wouldn't be ready until the next morning (bad news) but could be mailed to me (good news), we headed up the road and toward the coast. I love San Francisco and it was great to see Drew, Greg, Will, Jim, and Teresa and have burritos at Si Senor and cookies at Specialty's. Guaranteed I'll be making trips back down to the Bay Area to visit friends and family!

And now, to the coast!



Photo copyright: Janet Kincaid, 05/09

Fort Bragg Confidential

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Iris at sunrise : Fort Bragg, CA

We stopped for the night in Fort Bragg, California. If you haven't traveled north of San Francisco, Mendocino and Fort Bragg are the places to go. The latter is especially down-to-earth and accessible to all kinds of people. (Mendocino is picturesque and lovely, but tends to be a little snootier than blue-collar Fort Bragg.) It use to be a logging town and Georgia-Pacific still has a presence there, but most of the town's commerce seems to be tourism.

Sea foam and kelp : Fort Bragg, CA
(Click image to enlarge)

There are good places to eat and some fun shopping. The town also boasts a former garbage dump on the ocean (no, they no longer dump trash into the sea, but they once did) where you can find sea glass in abundance. We skipped that, but did enjoy good eats at the Egghead Restaurant. I highly recommend Dorothy's Revenge--Eggs Benedict with dungeness crab layered between the Canadian bacon and the poached eggs. Yummy.



Photo copyright: Janet Kincaid, 05/09

Humboldt County Confidential

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Trinidad Lighthouse and California Poppies : Humboldt County, CA
(Click image to enlarge)


Continuing northward, we stopped in the town of Trinidad, CA. Along the way, we saw some beautiful coastline. At one point, you have to turn inland because the coast road ends, but you end up driving through some beautiful redwood forests. We stopped briefly at Richardson Grove State Park, because I remembered camping there as a little kid, and took a few pictures of the giant redwoods. They're awesome!



Photo copyright: Janet Kincaid, 05/09

Oregon Coast Confidential

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Smokestacks a la Debi Cates : Oregon Coast
(Click image to enlarge)

The last day of the trip, we traveled up the Oregon Coast. We stayed in Florence with new friend and fellow blogger Cele. Check out her blog here. Cele was a lovely hostess and it was fun to meet her husband, Ducky, and their Bassett hound sidekick, Arlo. We also stopped in Otter Rock, where we met a friend of Maya's for lunch. She works at a charming little winery her family owns called The Flying Dutchman. This is also where you can meet the world's friendliest squirrel--a little guy they've named Jared after the spokesperson for Subway. You can see pictures of Jared in the Critter Cam slideshow below. (P.S. One note about the Critter Cam: some of the photos were actually taken in California, right before we crossed over into Washington. I didn't want to do a separate entry.)

The Critter Cam



We ended up staying in Long Beach, Washington, near the ocean. I didn't take any pictures there unfortunately and the next morning we left Long Beach and drove to Seattle. After I dropped Maya off at her place, I hit the road again for the final leg--34.5 miles and a ferry ride to Whidbey Island--where I arrived in Langley at my new abode at around 4:00 p.m. It was nice to finally sleep in my own bed and not drag my suitcase in and out of the car for the night!

Alas, the next three days featured unpacking boxes and getting things organized in my cottage, then packing a couple of suitcases for my new gig in Geneva, Switzerland. I enjoyed a couple of days of peace and quiet and then it was back to Seattle for Maya's birthday and a stay over until my flight on Wednesday afternoon.



Photo copyright: Janet Kincaid, 05/09

29 Eylül 2012 Cumartesi

North side of Lunt, between Clark and Ravenswood

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Another reprint from the 2003 booklet:
For this project the streetscape was the basic unit of information, but that wasn't really enough to understand how the buildings relate to the space around them.  For that I needed some panoramic images, but not so large that the street would be distorted beyond recognition.
This image shows the relationship of the building on the far left to the metra tracks and overpass just to the west.
And this shows the alley beween the car repair shop and the second building from the left, along with a glimpse of the taller building to the right, which has frontage on both Lunt and Clark.  Nowadays I might have chosen to add streets names for clarity.
Above is some of the information taken from the ancient permit files and the criss-cross directories I found at the Chicago Historical Society.  Sometimes I was lucky enough to find a business description on the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps.

And I couldn't leave out this auto repair shop.  Here's what I wrote about it at the time:

This repair shop and filling station was built adjoining a large horse stable to the north.  For a while you could fill up your gas tank or have your horse groomed at the same place.  The stables were later converted to light industry (screen manufacturing) and eventually demolished.  The shape of the stables explains the oddly shaped parking lot behind this building.


Later I read John Jakle and Keith Sculle's great book, The Gas Station in America, which has a chapter analyzing the transition from horse-based service buildings to car-based. I wish I had read that first, but I'll come back to it some day.

The building on the far right (the Doland Block) was saved for a page of its own.

7405-7427 N. Wolcott, Defense Housing, 1942

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On the corner of Wolcott and Fargo there's a collection of eight identitical duplexes arranged around two common courts. The simple massing and limited detailing suggests public housing.  That's not far from the mark, but the story is a bit more complex.

Even though the United States didn't enter WWII until 1941, the writing was on the wall much earlier.  As the country prepared to shift into full-scale wartime production, a huge deficit in housing needed to be addressed.

Let's say you're a government and need to build some housing ASAP or risk losing the biggest war in all of human history.  Here are a few methods you might consider:

1. Buy land and build permanent homes. Or entire neighborhoods.  Or entire cities.
2. Build temporary homes.
3. Prioritize materials for war-related private projects.
4. Provide financial incentives for property owners to create additional units in existing buildings. 

In the end the Federal government did all of these things and more.  Numerous agencies were created to administer these programs, some with Congressional authorization and some without.  It wasn't unusual for the administration of one program to be folded into another, based on funding and legislation.  There must be historians who specialize in Federal housing policy, but I don't envy them. 

The Office of Production Manangement (OPM) was responsible for regulating building materials.  If a project was important to the war effort, it would receive a priority rating.  If it didn't have a priority rating it probably wouldn't get built.  Chicago was one of 275 "defense areas" identified as appropriate for the development of war housing. 

The most important restriction placed on defense housing was a $6,000 price cap per unit.  Chicago's City Council immediately protested this limitation, arguing that the higher cost of land in Chicago would send most of these projects to the suburbs.  The suburbs received their share of defense housing, but many projects did eventually locate in the city, particularly near the city limits where cheap undeveloped land could be found.
Looking East from N.Wolcott.  Behind the trees are the El and Metra embankments.
The cap forced some Chicago builders to vary from the small detached single family residences commonly built as defense housing.  Instead, developers looked for ways to combine units into larger buildings on several lots, allowing them to bring down costs through an economy of scale.  I haven't yet confirmed this, but I suspect the development regulations of Chicago were relaxed at this time to allow greater flexiblity in the placement of multi-unit buildings.  This permitted projects to share common spaces while resulting in a greater overall density.  This treatment would become common with the introduction of planned developments in Chicago's 1957 zoning ordinance, but it must have been unusual in the 1940s. The underlying lot configuration of this area would have allowed six individual buildings with frontages on Wolcott.  Instead there are eight buildings, four of which have no frontage at all. 

Given the strict cost limits, the design of the buildings is worth noting.  You can't get much simpler than a rectangular box with a pitched roof.  They have common brick walls with simple arched limestone entrances.  Any architectural detail is the result of projecting brick string courses of various designs.  It looks to me like a scaled-down version of  the Art Moderne style.
Defense Homes for West Rogers Park (Chicago Tribune, 4/19/42)

The architect for this project was Carl J. Kastrup, who had won prizes for his designs of low-cost suburban housing prior to the war.  In 1942 his firm joined four others to collectively address the challenges of designing and administering defense-related work.
I feel like there's much more to be written about the development of defense housing in Chicago.  In particular, it seems that the designs developed under strict economic and administrative pressure had an enormous influence on the look of Chicago in the post-war period.  But this will have to wait for some additional research.

Back to Ohio

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Although I was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio I've been living in Chicago for the past 17 years.  Sometimes I feel like a tourist when I go back to visit family.  This isn't always a bad thing. It makes me reevaluate some of the things about Lorain that I've always taken for granted.  And somehow I've acquired another Ohio hometown-- Ashtabula, where my wife grew up and where we visit Felix and Theo's grandmother. This post is a visual record of our visit over the week of the Fourth of July.


This is an old Quonset Hut in Saybrook, OH, repurposed as a storage building.  I'm surprised how many storage buildings are found in rural areas.  Doesn't everyone have enough space?  Perhaps it's just an easy way to get some return on a large building without having to add many improvements.  Quonset huts were perfected during WWII-- easy to construct and easy to remove when no longer needed.  This one has been made permanent with a concrete "skirt" poured around the perimeter.



I believe this is an old Pure Oil Service Station which has been altered and covered with vinyl siding.  Angela tells me that it used to be a gun shop, but it looks like it's been vacant for some time.  I think this is also in Saybrook.







This is a concession stand from Geneva-on-the-Lake.  This the low budget 1920s resort strip that I've written about (and drawn) before, but it still fascinates me.  If we ever move back to northern Ohio I think it would make a good research project.









 To the left is a detail from the Bridge Street District in Ashtabula.  There's  a great collection of Italianate and Queen Anne style storefronts here,  remnants of a more prosperous time.  If there was any justice in Ashtabula this would be the most popular shopping district in the county.  You can almost feel it struggling to become the alternative to the strip malls that pass for commercial districts everywhere else.












I believe this is a grain depot in Austinburg, just down the road from our hotel.  I've never been sure of how these things work.  Somehow grains are lifted to the top of the apparatus and a separated into different grades in various containers.  They probably would be surprised if I asked for a tour.





 This is also in Austinburg.  Judging by the Greek Revival style I have to place this around 1850, if not earlier.  Due to a pesky fire in 1871 it's not possible to see buildings of this age in Chicago, although you can still find some in the suburban areas.  It looks vacant.  Even the trailer parked in front to sell overstock fireworks looks pretty run-down.





So finally we get back to Lorain, which made its reputation as a major steel city on Lake Erie.  The steel mills are still in South Lorain, but they're a shadow of what they once were.  This is a view from 28th Street.  I remember the mountains of purple iron ore that would be unloaded from enormous ships docked on the Black River.  Not as much of that anymore.





Here are some storefronts at Grove and E. 30th Street, not far from where my sister lives. They look vacant, but sometimes it's hard to tell.








And here's my last image of Lorain. A lone brick and frame cottage with bay windows. It looks like the storefront has been converted into a bar.  A very dark bar.  I'm not likely to walk into a dark bar, but maybe I'm not their target customer.

Back to Ohio, Part 2

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It seems like I've been traveling between Lorain and Chicago all my life.  My parents grew up in Chicago, and at least once or twice a year we would brave the 8-hour drive.  Three kids, no air-conditioning. 

The one constant factor on these trips was an overwhelming sense of boredom.  What was all this space between cities, and when would it end?  I remember listening to radio stations that were so bad even my parents knew it. I developed an ability to sleep for long stretches of time.  Mostly I remember wishing it were over.  When I moved to Chicago and reversed the trip it was still boring, but, as a driver, falling asleep on the road became less of an option.

When I finished graduate school in 1999 I had no job and few prospects.  Eventually I was hired as a part-time freelance surveyor for a historic rural resources survey in portions of unincorporated Will County, southwest of Chicago.  This was an area under heavy development and was rapidly losing  historic farms and farmhouses. 

In addition to the field work I had agreed to put together a database to contain the survey information.  But before I could do that I needed to familiarize myself with the vocabulary of agricultural construction.  This was a topic I had never explored, but since I had bluffed my way into a job I was suddenly eager to learn.

Luckily, there are some great publications out there to help explain what you're seeing and what it means.  Some of the most useful were The Old Barn Book , How to Complete the Ohio Historic Inventory, and the classic Big House, LIttle House, Back House, Barn.  But best of all were  the books put out by the government printing office and agricultural colleges in the 1920s detailing how and why farms and farm buildings should be built in certain ways.

So I spent a couple of months driving out to Will County with a big atlas, tracking down farms, taking photographs, and determining parcel  numbers at the Recorder of Deeds office in Joliet.   I got barked at by huge dogs, but was never bitten.  This is often a benchmark for a successful field survey.

But the unexpected benefit of the job was that I was no longer bored on my trips between Lorain and  Chicago.  Suddenly what I was seeing made sense. I could often guess what type of farm it was, and maybe how it fit into the history of the area.  I also began to spot more and more farms which had been enveloped by agribusiness, where the acreage seemed to soar, but the outbuildings fell into piles of decayed lumber.

On our last trip I wanted to document some of the farms west of Toledo, where there's still an unusual concentration.  These images are adapted from photos taken from the car.  Still plenty of variety, with triple gable barns, gambrel barns, different types of granaries, silos, and farm houses.  And only a few falling into ruin.  It's taken a while, but now this is a part of the trip I always anticipate.

From the 1922 edition of The Wiley Technical Series, "Farm Buildings," by Foster and Carter.



Ellantee Theater, 1554 W. Devon

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Most people in Rogers Park know that Clark-Devon Hardware is actually a converted movie theater.  There are even remnants of the interior ornamentation, if you know where to look.  What isn't as clear is how this building changed over time, its context among similar neighborhood movie theaters, and its shifting significance to the neighborhood.
Terra Cotta Ornamentation of the Ellantee Theater

Last spring I joined the board of the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society.  I'm not much of a joiner, so this was a big step for me.  At one of the meetings a brilliant suggestion was made to utilize vacant storefronts as exhibit spaces which would focus on the history of those buildings and the immediate area.  This ties in so closely to the goals of Ultra Local Geography that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to participate.  It was decided that Clark-Devon Hardware would be a good sample project.  It's not vacant, but some type of prototype project was needed.  And one of the other board members is the owner...

To the right is a lunchtime drawing of the decorative pier cap that once framed an even more elaborate parapet.   Time has not been kind to the terra cotta ornamentation on this building.  You can see remnants of the integral light sockets, which were a common treatment for theaters.  In combination with the old marquee It must have been an amazing glowing sight in its day.

So now the historical society is faced with some choices to make.  What are the goals of these storefront exhibits?  How should they be structured?  What sort of stories are they intended to tell?  I have some ideas, but this will need to be a collaborative effort.  Especially since the intent is to extend the project to other storefronts throughout the neighborhood.  I've developed a lot of methods to graphically represent development and change over time, but what about the social history embodied by the building?  How can that be made accessible in a visually intelligible way?  This should be an interesting process, and I expect to try out some ideas here first to see if they float.

28 Eylül 2012 Cuma

"Today, Mitt Romney Lost the Election"

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--Josh Barro for Bloomberg

Folks, after reading this morning's headlines, I am at a loss. I am not going to laugh at Romney or sneer or snark.

The 2012 GOP candidate might have been able to recover from the Latino jokes. He might have been able to explain away the comments about young women locked in a Chinese factory, but essentially calling nearly half of all Americans a bunch of hopeless losers is indelible.

I have no idea if Mr. Barro's prediction is correct. I have no idea what my fellow Americans will do when they step into the voting booth on November 6, but effectively dismissing half of the electorate disqualifies Mr. Romney from the office of the President in my book.

I don't care who he was talking to. How can any American vote for a man who has written off 47 percent of us?

*  *  *

Captain Eyeball & associate

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Dear friends,

Your humble hostess is otherwise occupied with actual paying work. Please feel free to drop by the comment section with a caption for today's graphic or a rant about the political season or just leave some musings regarding my exceptional wit, physical beauty, intelligence, articulate nature and sexual prowess.

Or you can tell me to go to hell.

As always, thank you for your readership.

Love,

Erin

*  *  *
 

Journey to Palookaville

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That there is Ian Enggasser in front of Palookaville Chili, which he opened about a year and a half ago with his own money and what he could scrape together from friends and family. He already had the most important ingredients: plenty of heart, soul and guts.

Enggasser piled it all into a kettle smack dab in one of this town's oldest, grittiest and funkiest neighborhoods: Ohio City. Then he let it simmer until he had one kick-ass mess o' chili.

I had a bowl of his hot pork chili for dinner last night with a big ol' dollop of sour cream and a couple packages of those delicious little oyster crackers that don't bear the slightest resemblance to an oyster but are more like a saltine cracker that's shaped like a mutant dumpling.

We're talking a bowl of top-notch homemade goodness brimming with tender chunks of lean hand-cut meat (pork, beef or chicken) amid a spicy stew full of fresh vegetables and chilis.

It was a good thing. It was a bad thing. Because while this chili totally rocked my face off, it also ruined my own crappy beans/ground meat chili forever. Yeah, yeah.

Palookaville also serves up meatless chili and corn bread and burritos and beans and sammies and some other stuff like (ahem) MILKSHAKES.

This next part fills me with so much joy that I'm practically taking my pants off.

On Monday,  Sept. 24 at 10 p.m. EST (that's tomorrow you, deadbeats), the Food Network will debut its new show $24 in 24, wherein a goofy host goes to a city and buys breakfast, lunch and dinner for 24 bucks. The first episode was filmed here in CLE.

(!!!)

Yes, Engasser and his groovy little chili joint will be one of the eateries on the premier of $24 in 24, which is exactly perfect and righteous and proof that sometimes the good guys win despite all the miserable bastards who are trying to take the world apart with sheer negative karma, endless bellyaching and general candy-assery.


When I was in Palookaville Chili yesterday to interview Enggasser for a different story, the place was pretty quiet. Methinks things will liven up plenty over the next couple of weeks.

Life. Is. Beautiful.
*  *  *

Conservative update

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Item one: From Dick Morris:

"Republicans are getting depressed under an avalanche of polling suggesting that an Obama victory is in the offing. They, in fact, suggest no such thing!"

Using an exclamation point, Mr. Morris, in the first paragraph of a serious political opinion piece suggests your argument is in big trouble!

Item two: A quote I fielded from Chip Elliott:

"I do not think romney is a cure. it was the stupidest most atavistic thing true party republicans could have done. they ran a 'country-club republican' at a time when three of my favorite tablecloth restaurants have gone under ... "

Italics and capitalization also per author.

Item three:

Mike Rowe will be in the Cleveland area today stumping with Mitt Romney. Rowe was the ... um ... subject of my inaugural Rainy Day Woman column in the now defunct Free Times. An Open Letter to Mike Rowe ran on September 27, 2006. I'm going to keep the party polite, so you'll have to click the link to read what I said to Mr. Rowe.

A singular opportunity indeed.



* * *

Candy ass vol. three: flavored booze

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I don't do your candy-ass flavored vodka, just your regular vodka that everyone can understand; and I don't drink vodka very often. When I do, I'll have a regular vodka martini with some olives, preferably stuffed with bleu cheese or Gorgonzola. (Admittedly a bleu cheese stuffed olive, or--heaven help us--a cocktail onion, floating in an icy pool of vodka makes me positively giddy.)

After having collected the following pix over a couple of years and watching this terrifying trend, I fear I'm becoming something of a dinosaur.


Absolut Citron was probably the first flavored vodka that hit it big in the United States back in the 1980's. So okay, you want your citrus flavored vodka, have your citrus flavored vodka.

But what the hell do you mix with strawberry flavored vodka?


And is there really a difference between orange-flavored Stoli and clementine-flavored Svedka? Not when you mix it with Diet Cherry Coke, sugartits.


Behold yet another nuance, your orange whipped vodka, which is just one selection in a positively terrifying line up that makes monstrosities such as a chocolate chip pancake martini possible.

Are you kidding me?


Liqueur used to be sophisticated, people.

You chose a Tia Maria, Drambuie or Benedictine, not some goddamn dessert. I mean COME ON. Pineapple upside down cake is not an after-dinner drink. It's something your Aunt Edna brings to the Memorial Day Picnic every year.


Well well well, straight to the whipped creme and bubble gum.

Bubble gum, eh? Really? All you booze hawkers need to take a look behind your backs. That there's Joe Camel grazing in the pasture, you rat bastards.


Do you candy asses want to have a goddamn drink, or a graham cracker?

I swear I should be in charge.


This is some sort of alcohol-infused whipped crap. No comment, just this:





Apparently this darling flavor trend is sneaking into the world of beer. Say Lime-A-Rita out loud. Go ahead, do it.

Is that bullshit or what? Lie. Muh. Ree. Tuh. GAWD.


But oh would you look at that ... talk about your pure Goat love.

Enough is enough. Happy Friday. I'm off to find a bottle of this.

Love, Erin


* * *

27 Eylül 2012 Perşembe

How to Grow Giant Tomatoes

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1. Chose to grow only known a large-fruited tomatoes:

- 'Beefsteak'-type variety
- 'Big Beef'
- 'Big Rainbow'
- 'Dinner Plate'
- 'Giant Belgium'

2. Build your soil with a lot of organic matter/fertilizers in a 2-foot radius (at least) around the plants' future sites so they'll have an ample, natural food supply throughout the growing season. Ensure soil pH of 6.0 to 6.5.

3. Start plants indoors at least 2 months before the time to plant them outdoors. Keep seed pots slightly warmer (70° to 80° F) than average indoor temperatures. When the height of the seedling is three times the diameter of the pot, transplant it into successively bigger pots.

4. A week before transplanting outdoors, harden them off, stop fertilizing and watering, and put plants outside each day to help them adjust to new growing conditions.

5. Give your plants room to grow; 3 to 4 feet apart is about right. Until outside temperatures are above 60° F, cover them or enclose them with cloches, Wall O' Waters, clear plastic, or floating row covers.

6. Feed diligently during the growing season with weekly applications of a liquid supplement such as:

- a complete soluble fertilizer
- manure tea
- fish emulsion

Provide enough water so plantroots never dry out.

7. Support your plants with cages, stakes, or trellises. The fruit's weight can tear the branch away from the main stem, so support branches and large individual fruit with ties made from old pieces of cloth (wire or string ties tend to cut the stems).

8. Prune all suckers and remove the smaller flower clusters so your plants put all their energy into just a few tomatoes from the largest flowers. The largest fruits tend to develop on the lowest branches. Hand-pollinate selected flowers with a small paintbrush or by shaking the plants gently.

References:

Ten Steps to Giant Tomatoes - Gardening Articles :: Edibles :: Vegetables :: National Gardening Association - http://goo.gl/PqAw7

Terrific Tomatoes - Gardening Articles :: Edibles :: Vegetables :: National Gardening Association - http://goo.gl/zrHyR

High Yield Tomato Plants: 50-80 lbs per Plant - YouTube http://goo.gl/65JmE

Restaurant Mehanata offers traditional Bulgarian cuisine in Chicago

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The restaurant Mehanata offers traditional Bulgarian cuisine in Chicago, or to exact in one of the Chicago suburbs, Des Plaines, Illinois. The online reviews are generally positive. I have been there 2-3 times and the reviews are accurate. However, the acoustic is poor and the place can get really loud. Please note, restaurant Mehanata has a completely different atmosphere from the avant-garde bar Mehanata in New York City.

Here are some items from the menu:

http://www.restaurantmehanata.com/Menu.html

Location:

1141 Lee Str, Des Plaines, IL 60016


View Larger Map

Here are some excerpts from an Urbanspoon review:

Traditional Bulgarian Delight! As I understand it, (and totally enjoyed it) most Bulgarian meals begin with a salad without lettuce and with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and using Bulgarian Feta, which is a creamy subtle version that is delicious! The specialty here is the rich and very hearty stews cooked in earthenware pots. There seems to be a big Turkish or Greek influence, and everything is delicious. Mehanata has a wonderful atmosphere, very homey and comfortable with very good service. You have to understand though that typical Bulgarian service does not include hovering over your table or repeated visits from your waitstaff once the food and drinks have been served. It's very laid back and ultimately relaxing. Wonderful experience.

Related:

Restaurant Mehanata - Des Plaines, IL - Yelp http://goo.gl/7f0fI
Mehanata Restaraunt - Des Plaines | Urbanspoon  http://goo.gl/D4se6

Hemp seed as "super food"

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What is hemp?

Hemp describes low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) strains of the plant Cannabis sativa. Of the approximately 2,000 cannabis plants varieties known, 90% contain only low-grade THC and are used for their fiber, seeds, paper, textiles, clothing, biodegradable plastics, construction and medicinal oils. Hemp is one of the earliest domesticated plants.

Hemp is thus legally grown in many countries across the world including Spain, China, Japan, Korea, France, and Ireland.

Hemp is one of the faster growing biomasses known and requires few pesticides and no herbicides.

What is the difference between industrial hemp and marijuana?

Cannabis sativa L. subsp. sativa var. sativa is the variety grown for industrial use, while C. sativa subsp. indica generally has poor fiber quality and is primarily used for recreational and medicinal purposes. Oilseed and fiber varieties of Cannabis (industrial hemp) produce only minute amounts of THC, not enough for any psychoactive effects. Typically, hemp contains below 0.3% THC, while cultivars of Cannabis grown for recreational use can contain anywhere from 2% to over 20%.





Hemp seeds as food

Hemp seeds can be eaten raw, ground into a meal, sprouted, made into hemp milk (akin to soy milk), prepared as tea, and used in baking. Dehulled hemp seed is the whole seed without the mineral rich outer shell.



References:

Hemp. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp

Garbanzo Beans, No Salt Added in BPA-free containers from Amazon

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Ingredients: Organic Garbanzo Beans, Water, Kombu Seaweed.

Nutrition Facts:

Serving size: 0.5 cup

Amount Per Serving
Calories 120
Calories from Fat 15
Total Fat 1.5g (2%)
Sodium 10mg (0%)
Potassium 250mg (7%)
Total Carbohydrate 19g (6%)
Dietary Fiber 5g (20%)
Protein 7g (14%)

I have tried these and they are tasty considering they do not have any salt. This is a good, healthy lunch option.


How to make bread - without a breadmaker machine

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This is a no-knead bread. It relies on slow, low-temperature fermentation in the refrigeration overnight to do the kneading for you. The dough can be kept in a container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. You can use portions of the dough as needed during that time period of 3 weeks.

Ingredients

1. Active dry yeast
2. Salt
3. Flour
4. Large, resealable container (large water pitcher would do) and a measuring cup
5. Warm water and a spoon

Process

1. Take 3 cups of warm water and pour it into the container. Stir in 1.5 tablespoons of salt (I use less salt). Add 1.5 tablespoons of dry yeast and stir. Let the mixture sit for 2-3 minutes, until the yeast fully dissolves and starts bubbling.

2. Add approximately 6 cups of flour. Stir the mixture together with a spoon until a loose sticky dough forms.

3. When there are no more pockets of unmixed flour or water left, place the lid loosely on top of the container, and let the dough sit at room temperature until it rises. It typically takes 1-2 hours.

4. When the dough has risen to the top, punch it down slightly to fit the lid onto the container. Seal it and place the container in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight. You can keep the dough in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

5. Take a loaf pan or whatever you want to bake on, and preheat your oven to 450 Fahrenheit (230 Celsius). Grease the pan with oil. While your hands are still oily, pick off a part of the dough. Form it into a loaf and slash the top. Bake the loaf for 30-35 minutes at 450 Fahrenheit (230 Celsius). You can increase the temperature up to 500 Fahrenheit (260 Celsius) for the last 5-10 minutes to improve the crust.

Mnemonic -remember the rule of 3's:

3 cups of water
1.5 tablespoons of dry yeast
1.5 tablespoons of salt
3+3 (6) cups of flour
30 minute baking time
3 week storage in the fridge

References:

How to Make Easy, Fast, Foolproof Bread from Scratch http://bit.ly/UvJQsv

26 Eylül 2012 Çarşamba

Whidbey Island Confidential

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Welcome to Whidbey Island

As I'm now living in a new place, I'm pleased to present Whidbey Island Confidential. Be sure to check out my new digs and see what island life is like. Of course, I'll be leaving in a few days for Geneva, so there won't be a lot to see. I'll be posting photos from Geneva here. Be sure to visit and see what I'm seeing.

P.S. Yes, you've probably seen the above photo before. I won't have time to get out and take new pictures before I leave, so this is a rerun from last winter.

Photo copyright: Janet Kincaid

U.S.A. Confidential, Part II

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Sea Foam and Kelp : Fort Bragg, CA

Traveling the United States for the next few weeks. Come along and see what I see. I'll post updates to this entry as I travel and will include a photo at the top as a teaser for those of you coming to this blog from City Daily Photo.

04.19.09: Charlottesville Confidential
04.20.09: Biltmore Confidential
04.21.09: Georgia Confidential and Birmingham Confidential04.22.09: Cullman Confidential: Ave Maria Grotto, Abbey Cemetery, and Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament04.23.09: Meridian Confidential and New Orleans Confidential: The Twilight Edition
04.24.09: New Orleans Confidential: The Daylight Edition and Oak Alley Confidential
04.25.09: Missions Confidential
04.26.09: San Antonio Confidential, Hill Country Confidential, and LBJ Confidential
04.27.09: Coleman Confidential: Family Edition and West Texas Confidential
04.28.09: Carlsbad Confidential
04.29.09: Northern New Mexico Confidential
04.30.09: Acoma Pueblo Confidential and El Morro Confidential
05.01.09: No photos today! But I did get a haircut. And it only cost $30. I think I'm moving to Flagstaff, Arizona! :-)
05.02.09: Sunset Crater Confidential and Wupatki Confidential
05.03.09: Sedona Confidential and Two Things Challenge: Open / Road
05.04.09: Grand Canyon Confidential
05.05.09: Flagstaff Confidential
05.06.09: Route 66 Confidential
05.07.09: Bakersfield Confidential
05.08.09: Yosemite Confidential
05.09.09: Cordelia Confidential: Family Edition
05.10.09: San Francisco Confidential
05.11.09: San Francisco Confidential, Part II
05.12.09: Fort Bragg Confidential
05.13.09: Humboldt County Confidential
05.14.09: Oregon Coast Confidential
05.15.09: Whidbey Island Confidential

Europe Confidential?!?!

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Hiking the paths at the base of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park last Wednesday, my cell phone rang. On the other end, a contact of mine at a client I have at a multi-national, intergovernmental agency. Would I be interested, she asked, in coming to Geneva, Switzerland, ASAP for at least a month or more to be an on-site editor and writer for them?

Um. YES!

Problem, though. I was still nearly 1,000 miles from my final destination and my passport was expired. The result: we spent Monday in San Francisco having my passport expedited, then finished driving up to Langley, Washington. I arrived Friday night (May 15) and am trying to get some of my boxes unpacked while also trying to pack for a six week stay in Geneva.

I'm bummed not to be starting my Whidbey Island Confidential blog and I still have five or six posts to put up on my D.C. Confidential blog finishing up our road trip across America. On the other hand, I'M GOING TO GENEVA, SWITZERLAND! Yoda-lay-hee-hoo!

So, I'll be blogging from Geneva and photographing life in Switzerland, France (where I'll be living), and any other countries I happen to visit during my days off. Stay tuned...

Best and Worst of Road Tripping

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Photo of me at the Grand Canyon : Taken by Maya Lucchitta

I give you the best and worst of road-tripping. I've had two of those this year. The first one was in March and involved driving a good stretch of I-90 in the north. The second is the one I ended on May 15 and involved driving through the U.S. South and then up through California and on into Oregon and Washington. Both were great! I highly recommend a good, hearty road trip.

Best Natural Wonder: It's a toss up between the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Both are spectacular!
Best Humanmade Wonder: The Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
Worst Natural Wonder: Is there such a thing?
Worst Humanmade Wonder: The Houston Expressway. 16 lanes. Really? Is that necessary? Come on Texas, get green already!
Best Breakfast: A toss up between The Eggshead Restaurant in Fort Bragg, CA, and Cafe Pasquales in Santa Fe, NM.
Worst Breakfast: The diner off of the interstate in Georgia. Hands down horrible. Puke worthy. Wish I could remember the name to ward you all off, but alas.
Best Hotel: Any of the Best Westerns we stayed in were good.
Worst Hotel: The Motel 6 20 minutes north of San Antonio, TX.
Best Accommodations with Friends: They were all good! Thanks Lisa, Cal and Ann, Senga and Joni, Virginia, Ivo and Barbara, Heidi and Joe, Gram Kincaid, Sid and Toz, and Cele.
Worst Accommodations with Friends: None of the above.
Best Roads: Is there such a thing?!
Worst Roads: All of them.
Funnest Backroad: Old Route 66. The Burma Shave ads alone made it a blast!
Coolest Sight: Everything. The San Francisco Peaks at sunset, Carlsbad Caverns, the Badlands and Mount Rushmore, El Morro, the Lincoln Presidential Museum, the Nauvoo Temple. It was all cool!
Most Disappointing Sight: All the traffic in Yosemite.
Most Surprising Discovery: The beauty of Texas' Hill Country. Wasn't expecting that. And the use of styrofoam containers in the South. And Sedona, Arizona. That blew me absolutely out of the water!
Least Surprising Discovery: New Orleans. I expected it to be a little sleazy and seedy. It more than lived up to that expectation, which was kind of disappointing in its own right.
Cheapest Gas: Somewhere in Alabama, I think.
Most Expensive Gas: Southern California, of course.
State with the Stupidest Law: Oregon, where it's illegal to pump your own gas.
Number of Tickets: 1 for doing 74 in a 60 mph zone on the last day of the trip in Washington State. There's a story all it's own, too.

Photo copyright: Maya Lucchitta, 05/09

So Long, Farewell, Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehen...

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My inspiration for my photography: Daniel Chester French's iconic memorial to Abraham Lincoln. This grand monument has been the backdrop of D.C. Confidential for 800 posts. It seems only fitting that it should be the last photo on this blog.

Well, folks, let's face it: D.C. Confidential's time has come. I love this blog and I love the city it initially covered. I've featured a lot of what makes Washington, D.C., beautiful and worth visiting and I'm proud of many of the photos I've posted here.

This blog started out with two purposes: 1) to allow me to develop my photography skills and 2) to get out and discover Washington, D.C., as more than just a place where I was working. I think I've accomplished both goals.

In May 2009, I relocated to Whidbey Island, Washington, and was fully prepared to start a blog there, but I was only on the island three days before I left for a "temporary" job in Switzerland. That's where I am now and I've covered a bit of what I've seen in Europe. But this blog isn't the appropriate site for that, so I'm starting anew.

My thanks to everyone who has visited D.C. Confidential over the last two years or so. Your comments and support have meant a lot to me and I appreciate the time you each took to look at my photos and leave comments. My thanks also to Eric and all the folks who make up the Daily City Photo community. I've been privileged to meet and become friends with some of you and I look forward to continuing that trend!

Now, please join me at my new photo blog: The F-Stops Here...

See you through the aperture!

Janet M. Kincaid

25 Eylül 2012 Salı

Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, Akron

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On the one hand, you can get in your car and drive to Toronto to visit Casa Loma spending all that money for gas. When you cross into Canada, those used to that great currency exchange rate will be sorely disappointed to find that right now it is about equal, 1 dollar for 1 loony. On the other hand, you can visit Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in Akron, and see a spectacular piece of Americana that not a whole lot of people from the Youngstown area know about.

Stan Hywet was the country estate of Franklin Augustus Seiberling, the founder of Goodyear Tire in Akron. Built in 1912 at the height of the American industrial explosion, it is representative of that golden and gilded era when country estates for American industrialists were making the scene. Is that the Great Gatsby walking in the distance? Akron was becoming the rubber capital of America, and this was the fitting palace for its industrial patron. It is fabulous.

Stan Hywet is a 65 room mansion sitting on 70 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds and gardens, pared down from its original 1000 acres. It is intimidating and inviting all at the same time. And what is most remarkable is that it was an actual home until 1955 when F.A. Seiberling died at the age of 95. People actually lived like this. It served as host for a who’s who of American politicians, industrialists, and celebrities, as well as a home for the Seiberling family. Its history is filled with parties and family gatherings, and it is still hosting people today.

In 1957 the Seiberling family donated the house to a non-profit preservation society who has lovingly restored, preserved and enhanced this marvelous piece of architecture and American history. Today, the mansion house is open for tours, and be prepared to be wowed with its stunning architecture, 23 overwhelming fireplaces, 21000 panels of glass, and woodwork, furnishings and objects imported from around the world. Everything that has been restored has been done in period fabrics and style. It has to be seen to be believed.

Outside, the gardens are designed so something is blooming all of time. There is a Japanese Garden, and English Garden, a wild flowers meadow…one is more stunning than the next. Not only will you walk in these meticulously designed gardens by renowned American landscape architect Warren Manning, take a look around at the stunning views of the valleys surrounding the grounds. These folks knew how to live.

Stan Hywet runs numerous events throughout the year from concerts to plays to antique car shows to quilt shows to an outstanding Ohio mart that covers the grounds with craftsmen from all over the country. Plan on spending some time at the mart. It is a huge show. At Christmas, the place is decorated to the nines with all sorts of seasonal activities scheduled throughout November and December. Check the website for special events for whatever time of the year.

If you still have some time after your visit to this wonderful place, you may want to take some time to drive through the nearby Cuyahoga Valley National Park, especially in the fall. It is a magnificent ride that will take you through Peninsula, Ohio. Folks, New England has nothing over this part of the great State of Ohio. It is amazing what is so close to home.

Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens
714 N. Portage Path
Akron, OH
330 836-5533

Granville, Ohio: The Jewel of Licking County

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In the center of Licking County, just east of Columbus, you will find Granville. This is just a really pretty little town , which also is the home of Denison University. Founded in 1805, it was originally settled by folks from Granville, Ma., looking to move west. Current population is around 3200 people.

It is not a particularly easy place to get to. It is about 15 miles north of I 70. There are numerous state routes out of Columbus to the west and Newark to the east to get you here, but it is not exactly along the beaten path. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful drive through some of Ohio’s prettiest farmland. The village itself is situated midst the rolling hills at the beginning of the Appalachian range.

I will be honest. If you are looking for splashy and excitement, this isn’t the place to go. The stores are OK, but not great. Many of them are closed reflecting the general economy. It has several sidewalk cafes and restaurants, all of which are worth a close look. There are several museums along the street highlighting the history of Granville and Licking County. The library looks like it was taken right off an MGM sound stage. The entire town and surrounding countryside are picturesque in the extreme, and the people are so friendly, and there are so many trees. It is a great place to park your car and just walk around and enjoy its outstanding atmosphere. Scenery is its strong suit. It is gorgeous in the summer, and must be simply breathtaking in the fall. Is that Jimmy Stewart walking down the sidewalk??

On Saturday, there is a farmers market in the center of town with plenty of street parking. The central intersection is 4 cornered with gorgeous churches. The sidewalks are wide, which accommodate the strollers as well as the local runners and bicyclists. It is an extremely affluent community with lots of expensive real estate, and it shows. This is upper middle class small town America.

Two inns are on opposite sides of the street. The Buxton Inn is a series of connected, fully restored houses. Great common areas with individually decorated rooms are the centerpiece of this beautiful facility.

Across the street is the more famous Granville Inn. Built in the style of an English Tudor Manor complete with arches and attendant views, it offers 30 rooms along with a consistently good, award winning restaurant which draws folks from all over the state. It is listed on the National Register of Historic places. It is stunning.

There are also several B & B’s located in Granville. One is nicer than the next. If you are into this type of atmosphere, spend some time and research. It will be worth the effort.

If you are going to stay for the weekend, play 18 holes at the award winning Longaberger Golf Course, one of the top ranked public courses in the United States. Designed by Arthur Hills, one of the top golf course architects around, you will find it hard to believe you are on a public course. Another choice is The Granville Golf Course, right in Granville, a 1924 classic designed by Donald Ross. It plays along the gentle hills and is filled with stunning vistas and views. It ranks 4 stars from Golfer’s Digest.

Denison University is a liberal arts school devoted entirely to undergraduate education. It is an elite school, and has a history of associations with major United States icons such as the Rockefeller family. It is the quintessential liberal arts college campus, and is worth an hour of time to stroll around its manicured landscape, and enjoy the views from the top of the hills. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous.

And so is Granville. Spend a day or weekend. You will leave refreshed and rested.

A Fall Drive

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I don’t think there is anyplace prettier in the United States than northeast Ohio in the fall. I have traveled many places, and I am always happy to come home and enjoy some of our spectacular scenery any time of the year, but autumn is always something special. I find four areas particularly stunning.

The first is the drive southeast of Youngstown in Columbiana County off of Route 11 along State Route 154 west toward Lisbon and then on to Hanoverton on Route 30. The ride down Route 11 itself has stunning vistas of color as you drive into the hills up from the Ohio River. When you get to Hanoverton, stop and have lunch or dinner at the Spread Eagle Tavern. It is a terrific restaurant, and one of the bastions of Republicanism in the Ohio, hosting just about every major Republican presidential candidate in recent history. Going the other way off of Route 11, drive east on 154 through Elkton and past Route 7, Beaver State Park is about as pretty a place in the fall as you will find anywhere. This trip is worth the gas.

If you want to drive west/northwest, take Route 303 through Hudson and on to Peninsula, Ohio, and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It is a breathtaking ride in the fall. This gem of a park is not well known to those of us from Youngstown, and is also worth the gas. Peninsula is in the northern part of the park, and tends to be extremely crowded in the fall, so it isn’t particularly “getting away from it all”. There are hikers and bikers and drivers galore, as well as a few specialty shops. Numerous roads run through the park, however, and are much less congested. It is worth the time to do some exploring. Get a map!!!!!!!

The drive my wife and I took last Saturday was north along Chagrin River Road off of Chagrin Boulevard, aka the Chagrin Valley Parkway, between Chagrin Falls and Woodmere. The road goes both directions off of Chagrin Boulevard, but we like to drive north to Gates Mills. This is one of the most spectacular drives around. It starts in Moreland Hills, then into Hunting Valley (yes, that is the name of the village) and on into and past Gates Mills. This is horse farm country, complete with the Cleveland Metro Parks Polo Grounds along the way. It is lightly traveled by cars, and goes along the Chagrin River with magnificent homes back off of the road. Chagrin River Road is the end point for Shaker Boulevard, Cedar Road and other major Cleveland streets. At Gates Mills, at the Chagrin Valley Hunt Club no less, it turns into State Route 174 up to the North Chagrin Reservation and Chardon Road. This is how the other half lives. This is northeast Ohio at its best.

For those who don’t want to drive to take a “drive”, our own Mill Creek Park is just about as good as it gets. Too many of us take the park for granted, and many of us don’t know our way around the park roads. There is a surprise at every turn. Drive past all three lakes. Visit The Old Mill museum, and end up at Fellows Gardens. The park is close. It’s free. And magnificent in the fall, as well as any other time of the year.

Happy foliage watching.

WHY NOT CHOOSE YOUNGSTOWN?

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I recently received an email from a reader who advised me that he was thinking of retiring to Ohio from California. He was particularly interested in small towns around Cleveland, and liked the article I wrote several months ago about Chagrin Falls. I told my wife he really ought to be looking here in Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. I know numerous folks who have retired here, and have described the area as the nation’s best kept secret. While the press has dwelled on our industrial past and colorful mob history, today’s Mahoning Valley is a great place to live, with more to offer than cities like Columbus. As my mother-in-law says, we are never bored. So, to my reader, below is a letter I wrote to Southern Living Magazine after a derogatory comment was made about my hometown in one of its articles. Come to Youngstown. I will show you around. You will want to stay.
_____________________________


MARK G. MANGIE
Attorney at Law
945 Windham Court, Suite 3
Youngstown, Ohio 44512
Phone: 330-726-1444
Fax: 330-726-5926
E-mail: Mangielaw@AOL.com


November 1, 2007

Editor
Southern Living Magazine
2100 Lakeshore Drive
Birmingham, AL 35209

RE: Youngstown/Warren, Ohio

Dear Editor:

For some reason known only to your magazine and the author of a fishing article, your magazine described Youngstown, Ohio as a “black hole”. As a long time subscriber to your magazine and purchaser of many of your books, I think you should investigate this northern bit of paradise before passing judgment. I invite you, or any of your editors, to come here and see what this area has to offer. It is a beautiful area in which to live. Our orientation is more eastern than Midwestern. We are hardworking and self reliant. Below is a perfunctory list of this area’s highlights.

1) The Youngstown-Warren area boasts two symphony orchestras. The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra is one of the few orchestras which own its own performance hall, a spectacular former movie palace built by the Warner Brothers in honor of one of the deceased brothers. The Warner Brothers were from this area. In addition, there are numerous community choruses, including Seraphim, the Stambaugh Chorus, and the Reardon Singers. The Youngstown Opera Guild mounts a full opera production every year. The Ballet Western Reserve also offers several performances throughout the year. This past year, the Seraphim Chorus combined with Westminster College Chorus, the Stambaugh Chorus, and the Warren Symphony Orchestra for a rare and outstanding performance of the Verdi Requiem.

2) The Butler Institute of American Art is the first art museum in the United States dedicated solely to the American art. It is world renowned and loans many of its pieces of art to museums all over the world, including the popular “Crack the Whip”. Its recent million dollar purchase of Norman Rockwell’s “Lincoln, the Rail Splitter” is just one more addition to its world class collection.

3) Youngstown State University boasts 12,000 students, and has won numerous academic excellence awards for achievement in undergraduate education. The Business School holds the nation’s highest accreditations. Dana School of Music is among the oldest and most honored music schools in the country. Its Engineering School is rapidly regaining the national prominence it enjoyed in the steel mill glory days.

4) Youngstown State’s football team is continually nationally ranked in the Division 1-AA rankings, and has won numerous national championships. Its immediate past coach is now the head coach of the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes. In addition, high school football reigns supreme on Friday nights as the area has fielded numerous state championship teams from schools like Cardinal Mooney and Ursuline High Schools, who have also produced numerous college athletes and professional football coaches.

5) Legitimate and amateur theater is rampant in the area, including The Oakland Theater for the Performing Arts, The Victorian Players, TNT Theater in Trumbull County, community theaters in New Castle and Salem, as well as the professional locally based troupe, Easy Street Productions. Easy Street has the capability of presenting performances that rival anything, anywhere. Its production of Annie is better than the one I saw in New York. It is renowned for its multi-year run of Pump Boys and Dinettes.

6) Youngstown boasts three primary performance venues for the arts and other events: The recently expanded Youngstown Symphony Center with 2 auditoriums and a pavilion, the Stambaugh Auditorium, a Greek revival architectural gem; and the new Youngstown Chevrolet Center, a 5,700 seat venue and convention center. In addition, The Youngstown Playhouse and Oakland Theater maintain their own individual performance venues.

7) Mill Creek Metro Park is one of the largest metropolitan parks in the United States consisting of 2700 acres, and is the first municipal park in Ohio. It boasts three lakes, a beautiful 36 hole golf course, an 18 hole short hole golf course, a brand new nature and garden center located in Fellows Gardens, which can hold its own with any public garden in the country, and numerous recreation venues, wetlands, and wildlife preserves. In addition to miles of hiking and bike trails, Lanterman Falls Mill is a working grist mill and a centerpiece of the park.

8) Canfield, Ohio, Youngstown’s southwest suburb, was recently named one of the top 100 places to live in the United States. It hosts the Canfield Fair, which is the largest fair in Ohio. Poland, Ohio, Youngstown’s southeast suburb, the cornerstone of the Connecticut Western Reserve, is New England personified, and has been used for location shooting in various movie and television productions. Poland also is becoming a bedroom community for Pittsburgh as Allegheny County residents look for more affordable housing.

9) Youngstown’s location places it 60 miles from Pittsburgh and 60 miles from Cleveland. Those of us who live here are within an hour’s drive of 2 professional football teams, 2 professional baseball teams; a professional basketball team and a professional hockey team. It also opens up all of the cultural, dining, and retail opportunities in both cities. I live in Canfield. From my driveway to downtown Pittsburgh is 55 minutes on a bad day. We are also located 10 miles from the Western Pennsylvania rural Amish country in Mercer and Lawrence Counties, making for many beautiful, sunny fall afternoon excursions. Although Youngstown has its own regional airport, most service is offered either through Canton/Akron, 45 miles to the west, or through Pittsburgh International, 45 miles to the south. There is easy access to both.

10) Our cost of living is among the lowest in the nation. Come here and see what kind of a house your money can buy.

11) While our weather tends to be on the damp side, our location puts us too far south for the lake-effect snows, and too far north for the southern storms. Our location is just south of the snow-belt off of Lake Erie. Chagrin Falls?? Right in the center of the snow-belt. We are the garden spot of Ohio.

12) Numerous golf magazines continually rank us as one of the top areas in the United States for the number and quality of golf courses, both public and private. All of these are top notch, with reasonable greens fees. In addition, both Youngstown Country Club and Tippecanoe Country Club offer outstanding private courses and facilities.

13) Our rich ethnic heritage makes this a center for a diversity of cultures, food, and festivals, including Italian, Greek, Jewish, German, Russian, Eastern European, African American and growing Hispanic community.

14) There are many architectural treasures located here. The configuration of the Central Square has been nationally recognized. The Metropolitan Tower is a recognized art deco masterpiece, along with other art deco buildings such as the WFMJ building, the Youngstown Police Department, and the Youngstown Vindicator building. The County Courthouse has been recently renovated and is recognized as the finest in the state with massive murals depicting the history of the county throughout the entire building. Multi styled churches grace the entire area from the gothic St. Patrick’s Church to the strikingly modern St. Columba’s Cathedral, and everything in-between from Onion Domed Orthodox Churches to the St. James Meeting House, the first Episcopal church west of the Allegheny Mountains.

15) Last, but not least, no matter what happens in the United States, there is ALWAYS a Youngstown connection. From professional athletes, to major university football coaches, to actors, to politicians, to businessmen, to musicians and health care, those that hail from the Mahoning Valley are quick to rise to the top of their chosen professions. This is due to the large talent pool, perseverance, hard work and dedication of those who our former Congressman called “junk yard dogs.” Above all, we are survivors.

Escape the southern heat and humidity this summer and come and visit us. Bring your golf clubs, and your passion for the arts and history. It will be the most interesting black hole you will ever visit.

Thank you for your consideration.

Very truly yours,

Mark G. Mangie