Dayton photo tour

[Jeff]

So you want urban denisty and grit...

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...and you've heard of this place called the Stage Door....
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...your homoesexual tour guide will lead you through the lures and snares of downtown Daytons demimonde

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We'll start our tour, appropriatly, in the shadowy side streets of downtown, at the Stage Door Musical Bar, the oldest gay bar in Dayton (tho not always at this location). A real sawdust on the floor kind of place, esp. when "Willy" owned it.*
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(there is another gay bar..a disco..on this street, but its new and not open yet.* Run by the guy who runs Diamons "gentlemens club" in Washington Twp.

...not the place to take pix, so we will continue elsewhere...nice highrise shot from the front door of the 'Door.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/Jeff59c/Your%20Homosexual%20Tourguide/8IMG_0899.jpg

...so we will continue to Ludlow Street on the west side of downtown, to the Deco-meets-ModernTalbot Tower complex, with its nice pedestrial-freindly street level shops, to the City Cafe
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...Oh Well.* Not open yet...we can still check out the fab murals in the Talbot Tower arcade.

Painted in 1950, I think..sort of a last gasp of that 1930s WPA mural movment...

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The Arts and Religion

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Farm to City....Industry, transportation, commerce, and city lights...you can see the tower of union station, a cash register, refigerator, paper rolls, the Air Force, and I really like that city lights part of the panel....you can see red radio lights from the broadcast towers..the words TV & Radio.....artist was probably influenced by Demuths' "Figure 5 in Red"....and how about that premonintion of the Mead Tower behind the courthouse (remember this was 1950)..

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Streetscapes around the City Cafe

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Daytons Deco Delight!* Yummy!

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Ludlow was a great street a few years ago,..you could walk down to Wilkies and browse their magazine racks (including a good "adult" section),pick up the Villiage Voice (Wilkies had the best out of town paper selection) then head down to the Spaghouse for dinner with the Freinds of the Italian Opera.* The Spaghouse had gay staff..the SpagFags...your waiter for lunch or dinner might be your bartender elsewhere downtown...or might even be on stage in drag.* Changes..sort of a gay dive bar with these neat skylights...was across the street.

Thats all gone now, except for the Freinds dinner at the Spaghouse.*

Oh, and for the really sleazy sisters, there used to be a porno movie place on the corner of 5th & Ludlow, whith movie booths and glory holes, which burned. I actually met someone who was in the fire, the day it burned..he had "smoke damage" ...and was at the Stage Door "recovering" w. a cocktail.* LOL...what a town!

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A quick walk down 2nd..we'd be heading this way if we where going back to the Jefferson Street bars....and some good pix on how they've "activated the facade" of the old Elder Beermans..with a pretty nice coffeeshop.* Also, a peek towards courthouse square and the shuttered arcade

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Your homosexual tour guide is walking past a local attempt at an urban rowhouse on the once-fashionable Monument Street...Ludlow Manor coming up.

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Downtown, want to go downtown, etc etc, apologies to Petula Clark

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The apartment building from Blue Velvet....your homosexual tourguide is a suave guy, real suave.
...not really..this is Ludlow Manor,Daytons' oldest "elevator buidling' high rise.... not exactly a "pink fairy palace"..thats Crisco Towers over in Grafton Hill... but this is the kind of place I'd like to live in (and did, when in Sacramento)*

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Shut up and walk..ok..here is the Monument block, and your homosexual tour guide wil buy you a drink in the gay bar arcoss the street...DJs Saloon.
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Not only that, but great views of downtown from the front window and party deck

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OK, lets split this joint and head on down Main Street

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Streetscapes around DJs...and if you drink too much, theres the gay AA meeting in the church in the last pix

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The Theatre District!* *

This being Dayton, its only one block long, but what-evah!* The Opera! The Ballet! Acting!...and one of Daytons 1960s* "Boys in the Band" era gay bars was in the second story of the Victory..now Victoria...white mansard roofed bldg in the first pix.

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ooh..whats this!* Big old high-rise

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Moloch!* Moloch!

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Wait a minute isn't the Keybank Building in Cleveland?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/Jeff59c/Your%20Homosexual%20Tourguide/44wrongKeybankBldg.jpg

And a quick detour south of Third to see a nice little vestpocket park, former site of the market house.

Facade Save...
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Density
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Vest pocket park next to the derelict "Admiral Bimbo" hotel...these bldgs should be apts or condos...
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Heading back to Jefferson to the (soon to be moving) Wright Corner....

Check out the fab penthouse on top of the red brick buidling, including the swag drapes....Ive heard various stories about who lives or lived there...this is going to be part of that "entertainment district":
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show me/the way/to the next whiskey bar....
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The money shot
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The Wright Corner..the green* one story building....awaits.
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but be carefull crossing Third
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The view from the front door of the Wright Corner

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...the Edge of Night!

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..and a good view from inside the front door of the Wright Corner...this bars front is a huge tinted plate class window where you can watch the passing streetlife as the sun sets.* This bar has one of Daytons favorite bartenders .."Tommy"....and also incorporates bits and pieces of the old Changes bar ..tho the interior is mostly retro-deco.

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Your homosexual tour guide and friend hope you enjoy your stay in the Gem City....
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("freind" used to be active in local preservation action, and still is a source for local scuttlbutt).

...and, we leave you explore on your own....the lights of city as night falls.....

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[BigDan35]

Umm okay. Was it really necessary for you to mention that you are a homosexual? That would be like me saying "Los Angeles - your straight tour guide" doesn't seem to fit does it? Anyways...nice pics, just make sure next time there are less of you. :)

[Jeff]

What makes you think they are any of me there.

[yo]

is it just me or is there only 5 people in dayton besides the homo? Tons of pictures... a total of 5 people outside...

Dayton... Cincinnatis largest suburb...

[BigDan35]

What makes you think they are any of me there.

Wild guess. It doesn't really matter either way though, nice pics.

[Jeff]

Wild guess. It doesn't really matter either way though, nice pics.

Heh...not me......but thanks. I was trying for a diffent take on the a downtown pix thread. Dayton is fairly nondescript, but, like all cities, it has its quirks.

[JJC80]

very nice Jeff, up close. Dayton looks very different than i'd imagined. It looks big.

JJC

[DMRyan]

That smoky, gay tour guide looks pretty scary.

He looks like a member of the El Salvadorian mafia or something. Thanks for the different take on Dayton. Some never before seen stuff here, including the smoky, gay tour guide.

[SChristopher]

Great pictures, Dayton is a pretty cool city, I was very surprised the first and well second times I was there at how large it seemed. In a state of so many other cities of interest I guess it kinda gets drowned out.

Big Dan, you whiney bitch, quit polluting every thread with your PC BS..

[BigDan35]

Big Dan, you whiney bitch, quit polluting every thread with your PC BS..

I'm a whiney bitch? Why is that? Because I asked the guy if it was really necessary to add that he was a "gay" tour guide? That doesn't seem like I'm whining, just trying to get some insight. Not to mention I was just givin him a hard time. He's a grown man, I'm sure he can handle it.

[SChristopher]

Sorry that was uncalled for, I was tired and in a bad mood and felt like being one myself, just after I had read about 4 different threads of you bantering and picking at crap ... whatever its none of my business carry on.

[BigDan35]

Sorry that was uncalled for, I was tired and in a bad mood and felt like being one myself, just after I had read about 4 different threads of you bantering and picking at crap ... whatever its none of my business carry on.

It's cool. I'm a very observant guy. And I have to know everything in detail. So if I see something on here that I don't know, or don't understand, or want to know more about...I'll ask. Some people look at it as me tryin to start fights on here. But I'm honestly just tryin to get more insight on things.

[Indyman]

Dayton...its dirty to me. Its like you could walk a long and scrape grit off the houses. Maybe i was just there at a bad time but it was real depressing. Almost as bad as my hometown (Fort Wayne) on a winter day. lol

[BuffCity]

Dayton unplugged?

Nice tour, lively and actually the loft development tells me that the city might be returning to says of prosperity.

Dayton...damn.

[jimbojoe45]

I go to school in Dayton and the place kicks ass for such a small unheard off midwestern town

[Expat]

Excellent pics. I had no idea Dayton had so many good looking buildings and potential. And nice to know that gay life exists there, too. Thanks for the tour.