Columbus is happening!
Love variety? Columbus is remarkably rich. You'll find a patchwork of communities, each with its own distinct character, offerings and lifestyles. You can sample the historic, the artsy, the sports-oriented, the high-fashion and the college life, all in one very manageable, very friendly Midwestern city.
Within five minutes drive are the Short North Arts & Entertainment District, the Brewery District, the Arena District and Columbus Blue Jackets Hockey, the Ohio State University, Buckeye Athletics, clubs and nightlife, COSI, the Columbus Museum of Art, and the CAPA Theaters: the Ohio Theatre, the Palace Theatre, the Southern Theatre, the Capitol Theatre and the Rife Center Studios.
Attractions & Activities
Brewery District
The story of the Brewery District spans three centuries.As early as the 1830s German immigrants found their way to central Ohio and began brewing beer to satisfy their own particular thirst for culture. They settled on the southern end of our downtown area, built their breweries, their churches and their homes - and some would suggest in that order!
Leading into the 1890s there were as many as six breweries operating in the neighborhood along South Front Street, Fulton, Liberty and Livingston. In the 1890, the breweries consolidated into three large companies - the City Brewery owned by the Hoster Brewing Company, the Schlee Bavarian and the Capital Brewery owned by Born family.
German Village Shortly after the turn of the century, the breweries began to decline due to anti-German sentiment with the onset of World War I, competition from other brewing cities such as Cincinnati and, of course, how would you like to have a brewery 12 miles from one of the hotbeds of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Let's drink to Westerville, Ohio — dry 'til 2006!
By 1919 when Prohibition was voted in, the Columbus breweries had pretty much all died. Many of the huge old brewery buildings on South Front Street lay derelict. They were used for odds and ends, storage, light manufacturing and even civil defense shelters throughout most of the 20th century.
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AIA Downtown Architecture Walking Tour
Info to come
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The Short North Arts & Entertainment District
An historic urban neighborhood known for great art galleries, unique boutiques and restaurants. Unusual places (beauty salons, taverns, back alleys) to discover!
GALLERY HOP — first Saturday of EVERY month. Shops and galleries stay open until at least 10 p.m. Street performers, art exhibit openings, vendors & fabulous people watching are just a few activities to enjoy! It's all in good fun!
Looking for art, unique shopping, dining or entertainment . . . the Short North is where it's at.
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Nationwide Arena District
For years, the area west of High Street between Nationwide Boulevard and the Short North was nothing but train tracks and the site of the old Ohio Penitentiary. Today, this 95-acre neighborhood is home to new offices, restaurants, entertainment venues and the 20,000-seat Nationwide Arena.
"The Arena District has nurtured a renewed excitement of Downtown," said Bob McLaughlin, director of the Downtown Development office. "It has been a catalyst for the 'return to Downtown.' "
Almost $500 million went into building the district, with $150 million of that going to build the arena itself. It is home to the Blue Jackets, Columbus' professional hockey team, and is also the home for the Arena Football League team, the Destroyers. Lifestyles Community Pavilion, an entertainment venue located just west of the arena, also aids to the district's success. It cost $5.5 million to build and has hosted many sold-out concerts. The 'LC' has about eight to 10 events each month.
"The Arena District has been a wonderful addition to Downtown," said Brent LaLonde, spokesman for Experience Columbus. "It sits across from the convention center and helps attract conventions from all over the country."
Accommodating 1.5 million visitors a year, the ColumbusConvention Center is ranked among the 25 most active convention centers in North America. With the Arena District in walking distance, it helps to attract even more visitors to Columbus. "The Arena District is great for the city and just continues to get better," LaLonde said.
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CAPA
It is the mission of CAPA, as one of the nation's premier presenters of the performing arts, to utilize entertainment to enliven and enrich metropolitan life through its work in all its venues, enhance a continuing downtown renaissance, instill an appreciation for diverse forms of entertainment, and awaken, enlighten, challenge, and invigorate its audiences.
CAPA's programming includes the nation's most successful classic film series (Summer Movie Series), its widely hailed blue-ribbon classical performances (Signature Series), and an eclectic mix of pop, folk, jazz, country, world entertainment, comedy, theatrical presentations, magic, and children's programming.
This wide range of arts and entertainment offerings is presented by CAPA in the beauty of the historic theatres including the Ohio, Palace, and Southern theatres in Columbus and the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, in the contemporary Riffe Center Theatre Complex (Columbus), and a variety of other performance facilities in Chicago, New Haven, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Toledo.
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CATCo
CATCo is central Ohio's only professional resident theatre company. They produce a seven-show season in downtown Columbus, across the street from the Capitol in the Riffe Center Studios.
Founded by Artistic Director Geoffrey Nelson in 1984, CATCO has grown from a small, quirky semi-professional theatre into one of the country's next major regional theatres.
CATCO produces plays that reflect Central Ohio: who we are, who we want to be, what we think is important. CATCO's repertoire includes the best new plays from the American theatre; American and international classics; new works; and wonderful but largely unknown works from around the world.
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COSI
COSI Columbus has been considered one of the most respected science centers in the nation — serving 18 million visitors in our building since 1964. For more than 40 years, we have been well known for creating programs and experiences that make science fun while empowering and engaging visitors through hands-on discovery. An additional five million teachers and students have participated in our innovative outreach education programs that are tailored to support national and statewide science curriculum and standards.
COSI features more than 300 interactive exhibits throughout our discovery-based and themed exhibition areas — Gadgets, Life, little kidspace, Ocean, Space, Progress and outdoor BigSciencePark — an Extreme Screen Theater, a restaurant, and a retail shop. The exhibition areas provide experiences for all age levels to creatively combine science facts and learning through play. COSI's extensive education programs include in-depth field trips as well as a range of outreach activities. Innovative programs such as Electronic Education and COSI on Wheels bring science learning to students throughout Ohio and neighboring states. Camp-In, an overnight experience for Girl Scouts that began 34 years ago, is now duplicated nationwide.
COSI opened to the public on March 29, 1964, as a venture of the Franklin County Historical Society, a private, not-for-profit Ohio corporation. It was originally housed in Memorial Hall, a historic structure that was a major performing arts hall dedicated in 1906 in Columbus. In 1999, COSI moved to a new location in downtown Columbus designed by internationally renowned architect Arata Isozaki. German Village
Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan, COSI's President Emeritus, is a former NASA astronaut and Chief Scientist of NOAA and shares her lifelong commitment to science education with COSI staff and guests. 333 W Broad St Columbus 43215 888.819.COSI
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Columbus Museum of Art
The Columbus Museum of Art houses an outstanding collection of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American and European modern art. This collection includes major works by Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, Hopper and O'Keeffe and other spectacular examples of Impressionism, German Expressionism, and Cubism. Also recognized for extraordinary regional collections, the Museum boasts the largest public collection of woodcarvings by Columbus folk artist Elijah Pierce as well as the world's largest repository of paintings and lithographs by Columbus native George Bellows, who is widely regarded as the finest American artist of his generation. 480 E Broad St Columbus 43215 614.221.6801
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Franklin Park Conservatory
The Franklin Park Conservatory nurtures plants and people. They promote environmental appreciation and ecological awareness for everyone. Unique botanical collections and gardens provide life-long learning opportunities in a friendly and accessible setting. 1777 E Broad St Columbus 43203 614.645.8733
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OSU
The Ohio State University (OSU) is a coeducational public research university. The university was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the largest university in the United States. Ohio State is currently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the best public university in Ohio, among the top 60 universities in the United States, and among the top 20 public universities in the United States. Ohio State is widely considered both within Ohio and outside of its borders to be the flagship institution of the state's public system of higher education and has been officially designated as such in the newly centralized University System of Ohio.
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