The Clyffside and Kauffman Breweries

Steve had been kind enough to invite us along for more secret tunnels and forgotten breweries. A couple weeks ago he let me tag along while he and a group of volunteers worked on preparing the former Crown Brewery for this years Prohibition Resistance Tour. This week, Seicer and I were meeting up with him and his crew outside the former Clyffside Brewery in the heart of Over-The-Rhine.


- The former Clyffside Brewery on West McMicken.

How Things Came to Be - Part 2: The Ballad of Ben, The Birth of Queen City Disco(very)

"The other night I was on top of a parking garage listening to the Reds game with a friend. Three years earlier I had been at the same parking garage with the same friend. We had gone there after setting out with my first digital camera with one goal in mind; to explore. I've been doing the same thing ever since then. As we overlooked the nearby suburban shopping center and cinema, I made the remark: "You know? Shit never really got better.""

From: "Why Does Anyone Take Pictures?" - August 9, 2009.

This is part 2 of a look at the people, places and events that have shaped who I am as a photographer and as a person up to this point in my life. My Grandfather and my Father first showed me how to use a camera. In high school Mrs. Metz and Mrs. Palmer taught me a lot about creativity, expression and art. Mr. Rains taught me about how to not take shit from anybody. Ben though, is the friend mentioned in the above quote from an update this past summer and he's the one not only responsible for the name of Queen City Discovery, but for teaching me to do what I do.

It started with Peters Cartridge Company in the Spring of 2006...


- The imposing smokestack of the Peters Cartridge Company in Kings Mills, Ohio.

How Things Came to Be - Part 1: Valentines Day 2006, Surf Cincinnati

It was February 14, 2006, Valentines Day. Most people were talking about the flowers they had received in homeroom that morning from significant others or friends, but Jon and I had other priorities. We were scouring the internet looking for any information or pictures on "Surf Cincinnati," a waterpark that had closed down a few years earlier. As people reveled in the excitement of the holiday during our first period journalism class, one of my best friends and I were planning what would be our first urban exploration. Information on the internet was scarce, it seemed no one had yet gone to photograph and explore Surf Cincinnati much less remembered it. We decided we would go immediately after school that day. Had it not been for Mr. Allen and his journalism class I might not have ever started writing about and photographing abandoned buildings. Nor would I have ever gotten to be good friends with Jon. Until Jon and I sat together in that class our junior year of high school, where we wrote for the Badin High School "Ramble," I found him to be incredibly annoying and didn't know him that well. The first time I met Jon he told me that "CKY [my favorite band] sucks!" Yet here we were, two years later, two friends sneaking into an abandoned waterpark.

This is part 1 of a 2 part story on how Queen City Discovery came to be and how certain people around me have come to shape who I am as a photographer and as a person today.


- Remnants of a water slide left behind at the Surf Cincinnati Waterpark in Forest Park, Ohio.

The Cincinnati North Hotel

"Awful Hotel. Stayed here two nights on a business trip. The hotel was horrible! It was dirty, old, broken down, and the shower was moldy! Will not return!!" Those comments echoed so many other negative ones in the online review section of a hotel that had a "100% Do not recommend" rating on "TripAdvisor.com." I couldn't tell you from personal experience as that cold winter evening when Venkman, Lance Delune and myself ventured to the Cincinnati North Hotel was the first night I ever spent in the place. My only other memories were vague childhood thoughts of a ten story hotel that is now a modern ruin towering over the Cincinnati suburb of Springdale, Ohio.

The Schmidt Brothers/Crown Brewery

Not many people realize the proud beer brewing tradition that once dominated Cincinnati. Over The Rhine not only received its name from its large German population, but those same immigrants brought along their taste for good beer. Before the neighborhood's decline, subsequent neglect and present resurgence, it was the densest neighborhood in all of Cincinnati and much of it's Romanesque architecture and former brewery's still remain today hidden behind industrial facades. In an effort to raise awareness of this neighborhoods historic significance and redevelopment potential, the people of the OTR Brewery District Redevelopment Corp. hold a "Prohibition Resistance Tour" every year, allowing participants to get a rare, up close look at these former breweries. Steve Hampton was kind enough to let me come into the former Schmidt Brothers/Crown Brewery, the newest location on this years tour, and shoot some exclusive photos.


- The former Schmidt Brothers/Crown Brewery on McMicken Ave.