Sunday, March 22, 2015

Akron2Akron IV: Wallhaven

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Jason Segendy led the latest in the Akron2Akron neighborhood walking tour series in his longtime hood of Wallhaven. I've lived the majority of my adult life in the Wallhaven so I was interested to see what I had left to learn. We started behind Westgate Plaza near the awesome used book store, 'The Bookseller'.


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Dina kicking off the tour.
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"Crossing Exchange"
Anyone who was unfamiliar with the neighborhood quickly learned that the business district isn't exactly a pedestrian friendly area - the sidewalks are nice but the crossings are quick and tricky. As I well know drivers aren't used to looking out for walkers - so staying alert goes with the territory.
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We headed back into the neighborhood on the South side of Exchange - here Jason is talking about a beautiful, but empty home.
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"Walking"
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Crossing the five-way intersection to Schneider Park.
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Jason talking about the under-utilized 15 acre Schneider Park. It was once home to the Summit County Infirmary and part of it was a cemetery. They say the graves can be made out from aerial photos.
I actually play football here every Thanksgiving morning with childhood friends and family.
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"Walking Towards St. Sebastion's"
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Looking at the amazing canopy of trees down Greenwood Ave.
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One of the seemingly awkward placed Spanish Revival houses in the area.
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"Walking Down Orlando"
I actually shot this from my brother's yard. I stopped to talk to my sister-in-law and nephews.
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"Forest Lodge Park"
St. Sebastian's recently took control of the lodge and park from the city. My brother rented the shelter last Memorial Day - we had a great cookout here.
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Our second to last stop was at the soon-to-be-opened Teriyaki Madness.
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Their special utensil - half fork, half chopstick.
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"Madness"
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This will be the first of the franchises in the state. It sounds like it might be an interesting place to check out.
We wrapped up the tour at El Rancho(former Yokono's) with snacks, drinks and discussion. Its always nice to learn something new about our city - but my favorite thing about these tours has become meeting people and the great conversations we have along the way.

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