Columbus Local News

Top Story for Columbus

Why Should You Visit Columbus?

If you think Ohio is a flyover state, you might change your mind after visiting its cool capital city. Find out why Columbus is a city to watch and a place to visit.

The capital of the Buckeye State is cheap, busy, and young, with a big chunk of its population under 40. Hipsters from around the country are becoming more interested in living there or visiting for a long weekend.

Some locals, like Jim Kaniaris, who is a vice president at the Columbus-based company Express, think that the city is the clear winner when compared to its local rivals.

Kaniaris says, “Cincinnati is too far south.” “Cleveland? They have ethnic neighborhoods, like Little Mexico, Little Italy, and even a Little Macedonia. Still, Columbus? We have pockets for living.”

Even though Columbus is called the “Biggest Small Town in America” (Travis Samson, owner of the cool men’s store Samson, says, “Everyone is friendly here. “It’s like living and working on Sesame Street.”), it also competes with the country’s biggest cities in a few key ways.

Columbus has more fashion designers than any other city in the United States, even more than New York and Los Angeles. The city is also where Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret do most of their business. It also has a “farm-to-fashion” system that gets new talent from the well-known Columbus College of Art & Design.

If you don’t think the runway is cool enough, think about Columbus’s graphic art reputation.

James Thurber, a cartoonist for the New Yorker, grew up here. The city honors him with Thurber’s Bar and the Thurber House, which is a literary center and museum in the home he shared with his family while he was a student at Ohio State. And the fairly new Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC), which is a good way to keep Thurber’s legacy going, is quickly becoming the SXSW of graphic artists.

To complete the picture, here are five more ways this Ohio staple is having its moment in the millennial sun:

1. It’s a good fit for makers.

Columbus has more than its fair share of butchers, bakers, and would-be candlestick makers. Many of them are setting up shop on Gay Street downtown or just off High Street, a busy and thriving retail corridor in the city’s Short North neighborhood.

Robert Grimmett, an entrepreneur in retailing who is from West Virginia, says, “It’s so easy to meet people and share ideas.” “Columbus has stolen my heart.”

At Stump, a “curated” plant store in Columbus’ Italian Village neighborhood, the succulents and handcrafted flower pots are moved out of the way for a pop-up Sunday brunch. There, you’ll find the usual hipster assortment of beards, tattoos, and piercings, along with Andrew Worth’s delicious pastries and small-batch, cold-brew coffee from Lokal.

The Columbus Idea Foundry, a kind of tinkerer’s paradise in the historic Franklinton neighborhood, is also in the city. It’s full of 3-D printers, robot makers, metal cutters, a few steampunks, and Alex Bandar, who started the company and is now its president.

Bandar says, “I think Columbus is the smartest city in the world” as he uses pure electricity to burn designs into a piece of wood in the shape of Ohio. (It’s like watching Dr. Frankenstein give a cheese board an electric shock.) “We’re giving technologists in central Ohio more power.”

And just regular Joes and Janes, too. Anyone can go to the newly remodeled three-story factory space and sign up for classes in welding, woodworking, entrepreneurship, and other subjects that help people (or pay $35 a month to become a member).

2. There is a huge amount of craft beer.

Over the past few years, microbreweries have become very popular in Columbus.

There are dozens of craft beer pubs and breweries in the city. Land-Grant, Barley’s, and Four String Brewing are some of the best.

Watershed, Middle West Spirits, and Brothers Drake Meadery are three distilleries in Columbus that are becoming popular in the city’s cocktail bars. This is because mixologists are making ordinary ingredients like herbs, bitters, and even ice cubes into things to worship.

3. Art is taking over the city.

People who like to be on the cutting edge of contemporary art are drawn to the city by places like the Columbus Museum of Art, the Wexner Center, and the Pizzuti Collection, which are full of life.

In fact, the Columbus Museum of Art is changing the way people look at art in galleries with a bold new $38-million modernist wing that opened in 2015 and hands-on programs like “Think Like an Artist Thursdays” that encourage visitors to interact with local artists.

At the Pizzuti, which is in the Short North Arts District and is in a stately insurance building, impressive modern art from the collection of construction magnate Ron Pizzuti is on display.

Also, the philanthropic businessman worked with his son Joel to build a 135-room luxury hotel next door. The Joseph is full of world-class art, much of which was made by artists from the United States.

4. There are a lot of old-fashioned barbershops.

The Old Familiar Barbershop is in the Old Towne East neighborhood. The women there remind me of Bettie Page, and the men’s style is like that of the 35-year-old owner, who is friendly and has tattoos. (Though not many people have tattoos on their chins like Prince. The words “Tip Your Barber” are always there as a subtle but permanent reminder for his customers who look up.)

The store itself looks like a cross between a VFW Lodge and a hip haberdashery, with deer heads on the walls and toiletries from Cliff Original, a line of natural grooming products made by a Columbus native, Jared Friesner.

“This is a low-stress job,” says Prince as he gives a trendy young man in one of the barbershop’s four chairs a high-and-tight cut while the black rotary phone rings away. He goes on to say, “Barbers don’t retire.” “They end up dying.”

5. The best beer is made in Columbus.

There are a lot of interesting cafés in the city that serve slow-drip coffee and creative food.

Run by serious foodies, pour-over palaces like Fox in the Snow in the city’s Italian Village (try the cinnamon-sugar cobblestone muffin) and Pistacia Vera in the German Village (the macarons are the stars here) are known for delicious treats that could make even those who don’t like gluten leave their gluten-free ways.