Oakley : Development News

After Amber Fowler, 32, gave birth to twins in August, she started teaching group fitness classes at Body Boutique in Oakley. But she and Body Boutique’s owner, Candice Peters, 34, felt they weren’t servicing an important group in the community: moms and their young children.
 
Last week, Fowler and Peters started Fit Mommies, a fitness class for moms who need help getting back in shape after having a baby or who need help staying in shape, period. The class is unique in that it’s held in local parks, and is focused on moms working out with their children.
 
“We wanted a place for moms to bring their kids while they were working out,” Fowler says. “It’s like a playgroup atmosphere at the same time—moms don’t have to find a sitter, and their kids get to play with others in the fresh air.”
 
Besides a playgroup, Fit Mommies is also intent on building a community for moms. Fowler says it’s like a group therapy session and workout all in one. The women want their clients to be able to vent, get advice and get great ideas from others, all while working out.
 
“Fit Mommies is a place where moms can go to talk about things that they’re going through,” Fowler says. “It’s stressful for new moms; and it’s helpful to see other people going through the same things you are.”
 
Fowler and Peters also plan to offer Family Fit Days each month, where the whole family can come and work out for free. Fit Mommies will also host a Final Friday zoo workout—the workout is free, but you need a zoo pass.
 
The pair will also be sending out monthly newsletters and provide a resource list for clients that includes ideas from moms, family-friendly meal ideas and contact information for dentists, doctors, hairstylists, etc.
 
Fit Mommies offers power-walking and circuit training combination workouts for women who are at all different fitness levels. Classes run from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays in Hyde Park’s Ault and Alms parks, and Tuesdays and Thursdays in Loveland’s Nesbit and Paxton Ramsey parks. Classes are $59 per month for unlimited sessions; class passes are available.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Coffee and a good book go hand-in-hand, but what about a good book and lunch? Joseph-Beth Booksellers at Rookwood Commons recently remodeled its full-service restaurant, Brontë Bistro, to better serve its customers.
 
Joseph-Beth opened at Rookwood Commons in 1986. At the time, the Bistro was a smaller component, and was added on to in the early 1990s. But there haven’t been any significant changes to the Bistro—until now.
 
The remodel began on Jan. 7, and was 99 percent complete as of Wednesday. The entire restaurant was gutted and remodeled, from the kitchen—where new equipment was put in, including a grill—to the front of the house—where there is now a coffee kiosk for customers on-the-go. Before renovations, the only entrance to the Bistro was through the bookstore; now, there’s a front entrance that is accessible from the parking lot.
 
“The remodel really adds more offerings to our customer base,” says Joseph-Beth Booksellers’ CEO Mark Wilson. “Our goal is to create an experience for our customers. We want them to find a place where they can broaden their perspective and deepen their thinking, and the bookstore and Bistro provide that now with a nicer ambiance.”
 
The Bistro’s menu isn’t going to change much, but there will be a few new entrees available for dinner, says John Gains, general manager of the Bistro. In April, the Bistro will roll out a new dinner menu, which will include about two-thirds of the Bistro’s favorite lunch offerings, plus the new dinner offerings.
 
A meeting space was also created at the far end of the Bistro, complete with presentation screen that has the ability to house 50 people for business meetings and community events. There’s also a smaller part of the large meeting room that seats 20.

"With the remodel, we wanted to make seating more comfortable," says Gains. "Before, the dining room was loud, but we put in booths and put a wall up between the restaurant and the kitchen so people would be able to enjoy a meal and have a conversation."
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The City of Cincinnati has taken out the back-and-forth that can occur when residents try to reach them to report issues in their neighborhoods. At the Neighborhood Summit on Feb. 16, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls announced that the Cincinnati City Hall mobile app is available to the public.
 
With the app, residents can look up trash, recycling and street sweeping days, and set reminders; locate and report problems by address; bookmark locations for quick reporting; and track the status of reports. City Hall mobile also has GPS, so users can report issues, even without an address. There’s even a searchable map with property owner information, which enables residents to see if a property is occupied or vacant.
 
A few years ago, residents had to use the Yellow Pages to look up the number for city departments to file complaints, says Kevin Wright, executive director of Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation. The city then implemented a hotline for all complaints, but residents never knew the status of their reports.
 
“It’s amazing how comprehensive the app is,” Wright says. “If you see a broken window, pothole, graffiti, hanging gutter or anything else that is physically wrong with your neighborhood, street or community, you can report it in an instant. It’s a great tool for neighborhood redevelopment.”
 
The app can also be used as a community-organizing tool, Wright says. For example, if there is a property owner who historically hasn’t taken care of his or her property, social media can help organize a community and target the property to enforce codes until the property is fixed, which is what neighborhood councils and organizations like WHRF do.
 
“We’re really putting power in the hands of the citizens of the neighborhoods,” he says.
 
As with most tech programs, the app has room to grow, too. In the future, it could be linked with Facebook or Twitter, so your friends and followers will know who reported problems and where they are.
 
Cincinnati residents can download the app in the Apple App Store or download it through Google Play.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Although she has a background in finance, and experience sussing out business plans from a career launched at IBM, Stephanie Rozanovich says she was surprised by some intial costs at her Oakley-based Trend Boutique. 

She didn’t want customers to be worried about the cost of clothing at her boutique. Tired of the equation of “boutique” with “expensive,” she now offers most of her items for $100 or less.

The demographic for her store is roughly women ages 25 to 45. Rozanovich, 37, says she looks for designers that offer a young, contemporary look and whose fashions “don’t look like the stuff you see in chain stores.”

She takes buying trips each year, traveling to Chicago, New York and as far as Las Vegas, but stays focused on clothes that will work in the Midwest. Compared to, say, Los Angeles or New York, Rozanovich says her picks are a touch more conservative and take Ohio’s cold winters into account. “A lot of the designers in Los Angeles can do lighter knit year round, whereas we need warmer stuff in the winter, like coats that are a little bit thicker.

“I start out honestly buying things I like because I don’t feel comfortable selling [clothing] to people if I don’t like it, the fit, or the brand,” Rozanovich adds. She chose her Oakley space for its proximity to her east-side home and the area’s up-and-coming vibe. After weeding out a few out-of-town landlords – she was concerned they didn’t have a vested interest in the neighborhood – she found a local landlord whom she liked and who serves on an area community council.

Today, Rozanovich employees three part-time staffers and spends time on the sales floor as well. Trend Boutique is open seven days a week on Oakley Square, plus online.

By Robin Donovan

As many areas of Cincinnati are being rejuvenated, including OTR and Washington Park, the City of Cincinnati approved a comprehensive approach to focus on development in the city as a whole, not just targeted neighborhoods. 

Last Friday, the City Planning Commission approved and adopted Plan Cincinnati, which was designed with input from residents. The Plan is an opportunity to strengthen what people love about the city, what works and what needs more attention, says Katherine Keough-Jurs, senior city planner and project manager.
 
The idea is to re-urbanize suburbanized Cincinnati; in a sense, to return to the strengths of the city's beginnings. Cincinnati was established just after the American Revolution in 1788 and grew into an industrial center in the 19^th century. Many of those industries no longer exist in the city, which is part of why Cincinnati has become more suburbanized in the past 50 years. One of the long-term goals of the Plan is to bring new industries to Cincinnati.
 
With a new approach to revitalization, Cincinnati is blazing the trail for other cities. With a focus on building on existing strengths rather than tearing down structures and creating new ones, the Plan aims to capitalize on the city's “good bones” and good infrastructure.
 
Cinicinnatians had a huge role in developing the Plan. The first public meeting for the Plan was held in September 2009, when residents offered their insights into “what makes a great city?" and "what would make Cincinnati a great city?” A steering committee of 40 people representing businesses, nonprofits, community groups, local institutions, residents and City Council helped develop the Plan.

The Plan also got support from a grant from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which the City received in 2010. The grant allotted $2.4 million over three years to support the Land Development Code, which combines and simplifies Cincinnati's codes, reviews the development process, implements Form-based Codes and considers more creative uses for land. The grant allowed the city to start implementing some of the ideas voiced in public meetings.
 
Visionaries included youth, too. City staff worked with community centers and Cincinnati Public Schools to develop an art project for children. They were given clay pots and asked to paint their fears for the city on the inside and their dreams for the city on the outside. The children saw the big issue was quality of life, just like the adults did.
 
“It was an interesting way to get the kids involved and thinking about the future,” Keough-Jurs says.
 
The Plan aims to strengthen neighborhood centers—the neighborhoods’ business districts. It maps out areas that people need to get to on a daily basis and found that most are within about a half-mile of the business districts. But in some neighborhoods, residents can’t access their neighborhood centers. 

The accessibility of a neighborhood center is based on walkability—not just for pedestrians, but also about how structures address walking. For exampke, if a pedestrian can walk from one end of the neighborhood center to the other without breaking his or her pattern (the window shopping effect), the area is walkable; if he or she has been stopped by a parking lot or vacancies, it’s not walkable, Keough-Jurs says.
 
The neighborhood centers are classified in one of three ways in the Plan: maintain, evolve or transform. Some neighborhoods have goals to maintain levels of walkability, whereas others need to gradually change or evolve. Still others need to completely transform in order to strengthen their business districts.
 
“Cincinnati is at the heart of the region,” Keough-Jurs says. “If we strengthen Cincinnati, we strengthen a region.”

The next step for the Plan is to go before the Cincinnati City Council, specifically the Livable Communities Committee, which is chaired by Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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According to Kirstin Eismin, jewelry artist and owner of Funky Artsy, there is no such thing as a piece of jewelry that is too big.

Eismin travels three to four weekends a month to attend art shows in the Midwest or along the East coast, creating most of her pieces in her rare free time; she works full-time as a social worker, in addition to spending nearly 40 hours per week on Funky Artsy in her Pendleton studio.

Originally from Lafayette, Ind., Eismin attended Purdue Universty, majoring in sociology and minoring in art and design. These days, she sees jewelry making as a way to help women explore their self-identity and have fun.

“I try really hard to create pieces that showcase women and their independence and their beauty," she says. "For me, it’s about finding something that will highlight some sort of color or inspiration that may come from the earth or that individual person.”

She frequently alters her pieces on the spot for shoppers and meets with women to sketch commissioned items in front of them after gathering information.

Her colors and materials' palette includes metals with natural accents, such as gemstones, shells, rocks, and, occasionally, found objects, such as antique broaches. As far as size, she says, “My big funky pieces are the large ones you can see from 100 feet away, and then I’ll do small simple, elegant petite pieces that still have some funk to them, that speak to a woman’s personality.”

The fun of owning Funky Artsy, Eismin says, is watching women take a risk on bold, oversized necklace and discover that their new look works.

“It’s really important for women to try new things, go outside their comfort zone and see that there are things that can brighten up an outfit or themselves. … They don’t have to wear just the classic pearls.”  

Earrings, necklaces and other jewelry items and accents are available at Oakley’s Trend Boutique and via the Funky Artsy website and Etsy shop.

By Robin Donovan

Comfy. Transparent. Energetic.

That’s how Leigh Enderle, owner of Maribelle’s eat + drink, describes the new location in Oakley.

Maribelle’s, which used to be located on Riverside Drive, reopened late last June in the space that formerly housed Hugo restaurant on Madison Road. The restaurant’s newly remodeled space is based on the idea of transparency and comfort.

“Transparency is the concept we’re going for,” says Enderle. “We want people to know where their food comes from and how it’s made. We want them to understand the sourcing and we want them to understand how much work goes into the restaurant, too.”

The restaurant kitchen is completely exposed, so guests in the dining area can watch chefs prepare their food. And the staff at Maribelle’s invites diners to sample food or ask the staff questions pertaining to their meals and drinks.

“The open kitchen has brought awareness to our guests,” says Enderle. “They really get to see how a restaurant kitchen operates, it’s almost like watching a show.”

The menu items at Maribelles run from $8-15, and include both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Chefs use local vegetables when in season, and source all chicken and turkey products from Gerber Farms in central Ohio. Maribelle’s beer list includes domestic porters, lagers and IPAs.

Enderle, who is originally from North Carolina, says she wanted to create an atmosphere not unlike a kitchen at home. She says that at home, she’s never afraid to ask questions, and that’s how she wants guests to feel.

And although she admits that it’s tough to get fresh local ingredients in an urban area, she agrees that it’s worth the extra effort.

“I care about what I eat. Not all the time, but I do care,” says Enderle.

“I care about where things come from, and I care that the animals are treated well. At Maribelle’s, we want to make sure we know the story behind the ingredients that we’re getting, and we want to make sure it fits into our concept of transparency.”

By Jen Saltsman
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For the past year, the Wasson Way Project has been a point of contention between advocators of public transit and those who want to transform the six and a half mile railroad track into a public bike path. 

The railroad, which is owned by Norfolk Southern, runs from Newtown to the heart of Downtown Cincinnati and would give the city a nearly uninterrupted trail running through much of the urban core of the city. Many think it should be saved for potential light rail in the future, but Eric Oberg, of the Rails to Trails Conservancy thinks the two can work in unison. 

Last week, the Wasson Way Project presented their project in front of the Strategic Growth Committee with a goal to show why the project is beneficial and why it should be a next step for the city. Oberg said they also wanted to present that many trains coexists next to recreational trails in many places. 

"We wanted to make sure council knew this wasn't a case of either or," Oberg says. "We also wanted to impress upon them that every supporter of the Wasson Way Project is happy to sign what ever needs to be signed so that in the future, if light rail becomes a reality, the trail won't stop it from happening." 

The Wasson Way Project is planning meetings with those who oppose the trail to discuss future plans and rather than working against each other, to work together to find a middle ground. 

Oberg says the next step for the Wasson Way to move forward is to meet with Norfolk Southern to discuss purchasing the old section of track. This is an important step, because, as of now, the trail is in good condition, but if it sits unused, tracks and bridges could fall into disrepair, making a recreational trail, and light rail, harder to build. 

"No matter what, transit will happen there, if and when a transit project gets off the ground," Oberg says. "The long term vision is transit, but what we don't want to see is a six and a half mile corridor sit there and deteriorate." 

By Evan Wallis

Inside a small bakery case, cupcakes adorned with Oreo cookies, sugar wafers and even a pair of green frosting legs signal that the freshly opened Yum! aims to satisfy sweet-minded customers.

Open since Labor Day in the compact, free-standing building off of Oakley Square that used to house a neon sign shop, Yum! offers flavored cupcakes made from scratch using recipes owner Peggy Bailey and her employees have perfected through years of personal practice.

Autumnal offerings include apple cider cupcakes and cinnamon roll cupcakes. Summertime favorites, like strawberry lemonade, will no doubt make a strong return next year. In addition to regularly stocking staple flavors—your basic chocolate, vanilla and buttercream—the shop has added cookies and cream cupcakes because of continued popularity.

Baker Pam Cacura shuffles between creating and selling her edible wares, pointing out special offerings like smores’ bars that fill regular trips to Yum! with tasty suprises.

Yum! Gourmet Cupcakes and More, 3923 Isabella Ave., Oakley, open 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. 513-351 YUMM.

By Elissa Yancey

The Brush Factory is moving back to its roots.  

After a year in Oakley retail space, the designers and makers of casual, eclectic sportswear and accessories are returning to Brighton, a pocket of industrial history within Cincinnati's West End neighborhood.  

"Our hearts belong to Brighton," admits Hayes Shanesy, co-owner of The Brush Factory.  "When I first moved here, I couldn't believe a place like this still existed."  Vestiges of the community's rich history – its canal traffic, streetcar line, and industrial architecture – give the past an almost tangible quality to Shanesy. 

"If you squint, you can still see it."

Both he and his partner Rosie Kovacs draw inspiration from the neighborhood, once a center for furniture manufacturing, meat-packing and distillery operations in Cincinnati. The design shop's 120-year-old building, at one time the workshop and showroom of the Cincinnati Brush Manufacturing Company, makes a fitting home for the designers' interests, his industrial and hers fashion. In the building's garage and upstairs workshop, Hayes focuses on 3-D forms in design, handcrafting wood furniture and restoring motorcycles and old sewing machines. In addition to her tailoring business, Kovacs creates her clothing line downstairs, where design patterns and hand-woven fabrics make each item unique.

"Nothing is shipped out and our hands touch every part of it," Shanesy says. 

The closing of the Oakley storefront will allow the designer-craftsmen time to expand their latest creative endeavor, melding their two worlds of soft and hard materials through a new line of accessories and bags. Without the demands of a retail operation, they say they can now concentrate on their wholesale business with boutiques here and across the country.

Christopher Dam, The Brush Factory's director of men's and women's sales, believes that Shanesy and Kovacs' vision, inspired by the high-quality products of the past, is a response to America's growing rejection of mass-produced quantity. The Midwest lags behind fashion centers like New York and Paris in embracing this quest for quality and uniqueness, but Dam sees great potential in Cincinnati.

"With wonderful neighborhoods [in the city] like Oakley and Northside, we know the customers are out there."

By Becky Johnson

Photos courtesy of The Brush Factory

The publishing and bookselling industries bore witness to the death of a giant last week when Borders ran out of options to stay in business. But as the second largest bookstore chain in the nation closes its doors for good, a new generation of the stores it once replaced say the future looks bright.

Richard Hunt, co-founder of Roebling Point Bookstore in Covington, says the year-old store is gaining a steady following of patrons who appreciate its focus on travel and outdoor recreation titles, as well as its large selection of books on local topics and by local authors.

"We wanted to be a resource for people here," he says. "Our grand aspiration is to be the best resource for these categories."

Hunt says the bookstore is expanding to add a community meeting room, more shelf space and possibly a coffee shop. That may not be much different from the features of the large chain bookstores, but he notes that Roebling Point's knowledge of local authors, and its ability to find the niche books desired by its patrons, give it a leg up in the market.

"That's one of the things the bigger bookstores don't focus on so well," he says.

Serving profitable niches is a specialty of another successful independent bookstore in Cincinnati: Blue Manatee Children's Bookstore in Oakley. Events Coordinator Kelli Gleiner says the small store's deep knowledge of its customers is a huge tool in keeping the business vibrant.

"We're such a small store with a small staff, that most of our customers know the staff well," she says.

For Blue Manatee, that means providing programming that customers won't find in big-box bookstores. The store offers the story times one might expect, but also hosts weekly yoga classes and brings in authors for book signings with the frequency one might only expect for a store catering to adult readers. Again, it's simply a response to customer demand, Gleiner says.

"We have to know what they want, otherwise we wouldn't be here," she says.

Ben Vore, general manager at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Norwood, says the parallel themes of greater customer awareness and adaptability to customer desires are more than just good marketing plans for independent bookstores.

"I think that, to me, is the only way we're going to continue to survive, and to thrive," he says. "With Borders going down, I feel that, with fewer bookstores out there, we're going to really need to be very rooted in the community and in tune to what's going on around town."

Story and photos by Matt Cunningham

Follow Matt on Twitter @cunningcontent

Dutch's Wine Bar in Hyde Park has been in operation since 1947, first as a popular neighborhood carry out. Renovations of late expanded the store's wine offerings and interiors. In keeping with both the establishment's history and the historic inclinations of its owners, Jay Ashmore and developer/manager Jim Cornwell, a new expansion at the bar's location on Erie Avenue will include a fine foods store that will carry the traditional name larder, rather than other names that could hang on a supplier of gourmet and seasonal food.

"We believe in the slow food movement and we want to showcase that belief to people and to demonstrate that their food can be prepared in a slow natural way," Ashmore stated. "We loved the whole idea of larder, which is a space for food storage, that once it came up we realized that it fits with our philosophy and the history of our property."

Ashmore said Dutch's Larder will carry high quality protein sources as well as secondary items such as breads, coffees, olive oil, cheese, and potentially a small seasonal produce section. The owners hope to support the community by providing local products alongside imported items.

But serving quality products is not Ashmore's and Cornwell's only concern: the proprietors also plan to educate their customers about the artisan process and the importance of the slow food movement.

"This will become an even more enriched resource for people to learn about hand crafting the artisan process, which we already do with beer and wine," Ashmore explained. "Education is paramount to what we do. We want someone to learn and continue to enjoy a quality product that they appreciate."

Even though the new addition is still in the planning process, Cornwell explained that he hopes to connect with more local farmers who support free-range farming, in order to support the local community and sell their products.

"Supporting locally owned businesses has always been an important goal of mine," Ashmore said. "By having most of the revenue staying in the community, your creating a sustainable community by not only enriching lives financially, but also from a knowledge perspective. Supporting these creates an enriched community."

The owners also plan to incorporate green construction and practices by incorporating energy-efficiency and reuse programs, such as selling refillable glass bottles for olive oil.

An opening date has yet to be announced, but could occur in fall 2011, Ashmore said.

Writer: Lisa Ensminger

A group of residents from several Cincinnati neighborhoods spoke at the June 7 meeting of Cincinnati City Council's Quality of Life Subcommittee. Their subject? A recently closed railroad spur and a proposal to change it into a 6.5-mile cycling and walking path.

"This could really serve as an important connector for the many [multiuse path] projects Cincinnati has going on," said project advocate Jay Andress.

The proposed project would convert a Norfolk Southern Railroad spur into a path that would connect with the Little Miami bike trail in Newtown and run into the heart of downtown. Advocates at Tuesday's meeting pointed out that the path would only cross seven roads in its entire length, making it a true rarity: a nearly uninterrupted trail running through several neighborhoods in a major urban area.

But beyond the health benefits and transportation options that the path could provide, some residents at the meeting brought up another point: building the path could resolve a growing problem with the semi-abandoned line.

Hyde Park Neighborhood Council President Anne Gerwin said the point where the line crosses Wasson Road has been a maintenance and safety issue for years. "We struggle many times each year to have the city and railroad maintain it," she said. The neighborhood's council passed a resolution supporting the project.

Likewise, Hyde Park resident Lindsay Felder, who said her home is within sight of the track, said there's been a visible deterioration of it - and an uptick in people loitering along the weedy path - since it became inactive in 2009.

"We've always wondered about the tracks," she said, explaining that she began going door to door to drum up local support after meeting Andress and learning about the proposed project.

"We see it as a great upcycling of existing property that is underutilized," she said.

Subcommittee chair Laure Quinlivan said there are a number of details to clarify before the project moves further forward, such as determining if Norfolk Southern has future plans for the line, and if an arrangement can be made that would allow the city to adapt the path into light rail if that becomes a future transit option.

"This is really a great proposal," she said. "The best ideas don't always come out of City Hall. If we could make this happen, it would be such a great asset to so many residents."

Story: Matt Cunningham
Photo: Wasson Way Project

An effort to reopen Hyde Park Elementary is underway by a small group of energized and concerned neighborhood parents. The school was closed in 2005 due to a decline in enrollment and has since been used as temporary location for Kilgore and Mt. Washington schools as they renovated their buildings.

Since the absence of a public elementary school in Hyde Park, the community has seen a loss in young families seeking an affordable public education. The Parents for Hyde Park School now want to make a difference as they try to convince Cincinnati Public Schools that reopening Hyde Park Elementary would benefit greatly both the school system and community.

"On the whole, this is a win-win situation for all parties involved. The community wins as it attracts more young families to the area. The current and new residents benefit by having access to an elementary school for their children, and CPS benefits by having an excellent rated school in their portfolio," Tom Rowe explained. Rowe is an active parent in the fight for this cause. "If everyone gets on the same side of the table to work on solutions, we think we can get this thing accomplished. We are extending our hands to work with CPS to resolve these issues."

Hyde Park students currently attend Kilgore in Mt. Lookout, which is supposed to house 450 students. Currently, the school houses 629 students, almost 200 students over capacity. Another solution included sending children to Parker Elementary, a school currently on academic watch.

"We think that a quality public school option is critical for the vibrancy of any community. We want to increase the sense of community within three neighborhoods including Hyde Park, Oakley, and East Walnut Hills by having a better public school system," Rowe said. "The school serves the community in general as it serves as a foundation and meeting place for members of the community to interact."

Although efforts have been ongoing for three years, the recent involvement of concerned parents has gotten the attention of CPS. The Parents for Hyde Park School claim reopening the school would help save CPS money in the long run and provide a necessity for a vibrant community.

"Our goal is to have CPS reopen Hyde Park School as East Side Elementary providing top notch elementary education to the children of Oakley, East Walnut Hills, and Hyde Park," Row said.

Writer: Lisa Ensminger

Brazee Street Studios is a driving force behind efforts to raise awareness of art happenings in Oakley and surrounding neighborhoods. The resource center houses the Brazee Street School of Glass, Gallery One One and more than 20 artist studios. Now it's looking to expand on those efforts and reach out to art businesses beyond Oakley.

Let's start with the most immediate effort: Oakley After Hours, which was rescheduled to avoid conflicts with other art events in the Cincinnati area. Happening 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, April 8, the event highlights businesses in the neighborhood, mainly along Madison Road and Oakley Square. It's organized by the Oakley Community Council and happens the second Friday of each month through August. Brazee and other art houses such as Redtree Art Gallery and Coffee Shop and The Brush Factory will stay open later than usual.

"Brazee has been really excited about the support we've received in Oakley from families and artists," says creative director Leah Busch. "It's a nice eastside vantage point. We're just trying to be a bulls eye for art here."

Collage artist Sara Pearce, a former arts editor at the Enquirer, rents a studio space at Brazee. She had approached Oakley Community Council about moving Oakley After Hours, formerly happening the last Friday of each month, to the second Friday. The move was inspired by Redtree, which had been keeping its doors open then.

The "2nd Friday" concept works, she says, because it doesn't conflict with Final Fridays in Over-the-Rhine or First Fridays in Covington.

"It just seemed like an opportunity to carve a new niche on a different weekend," Pearce says.

Councilmembers Lindsay Hooks and Gina Brenner are planning After Hours. Hooks says places like Brazee, Country Club art gallery and Voltage furniture are developing the neighborhood's identity as an arts district.

"I'm really hoping that (After Hours) brings more awareness to what we have here," she says.

Brazee will open its artist studios from 7 to 9 p.m. April 8. It's previewing a new concept, too. Called "Art Between the Lines," an outdoor market for artists, designers, food vendors, event organizers and non-profits. They can purchase a nine foot by eight foot space outside the studios.

Busch says Brazee is in the "infant stage" of organizing an art walk that weaves through Oakley, Hyde Park, Madisonville, O'Bryonville, or "pinpoints eastside art destinations on (and around) Madison Road."

The visionaries behind this effort include Busch, Pearce, and Lisa Merida-Paytes and Tom Funke of Funke Fired Arts, based on Wasson Road.

"It seems like there is a lot of going on in eastside art, but there's no unifying thread," Busch says. "There's no web site you can go to; there's no postcard that says 'Here are the hotspots where you can see.' We want to make it a 'You can make a night out of it' idea."

Writer: Rich Shivener
Photography by Scott Beseler.