On Saturday David Giffels led a walking tour in Downtown Akron. He highlighted landmarks and stories from his book, 'The Hard Way on Purpose'. David's fond memories of coming of age in Akron are when most people remember Akron at its lowest - closed storefronts & abandoned buildings - pretty much a ghost town. The book is required reading for anyone from Akron, the Midwest, "the Rustbelt" or anyone interested in the Rustbelt. There was a post-tour reception on the roof of The Lockview where David hung out, talked and signed books.
Another great afternoon in Downtown Akron.
The tour started at the recently renovated plaza in front of Cascade. Quite the nice turnout as you can see.
Akron2Akron founder, Dina, introducing David and Akron2Akron.
"Walking"
David was talking about when The Clash played at the Civic Theater - and how great it felt when Akron gets one of Cleveland's "scraps" (it still does as a matter-of-fact).
At the Diamond Deli - above which lived David's best friend John Puglia.
Some of my favorite fellow Akron nerds on the tour.
It was kind of cool to stand in a fairly thriving Akron while talking about it being abandoned. On a Saturday afternoon 20 years ago it would have been pretty lonely.
In front of the Mayflower.
We were standing in front of the entrance to be out of the hot sun - these residents happened to walk out into the crowd of people. Everyone started applauding, and so did they. It was a random, fun moment.
These young ladies were working on a project about the Rustbelt and had read 'The Hard Way on Purpose' as part of a class assignment. Unfortunately their batteries died before they got a photo with David - so I took one.
Another great Akron2Akron walking tour - if you haven't made any yet you should really try to. I always learn something new and meet great new people who really care about our fair city.
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