Originally published in the March 4, 2008 edition of The Lantern. It is posted here unedited.
If it was up to the national media, Columbus would be known as a riot-happy, sniper-producing, red-headed swing-state capital that sometimes ruins elections (knock on wood) and most often wins football games.
Thankfully, that’s not the case.
In 2007 several major media outlets looked at our not-so-cowtown-anymore city in a positive light. In September The New York Times featured Columbus as a “Midwestern style capital,” referencing the Short North and our flagship brands such as the Limited and Abercrombie & Fitch. On the same day the Times led their U.S. section with a story about Bexley’s Jeff Frank and his Drexel Movie Theater, which survived the past century and the sprawling cinemas of today.A few days later the Washington Post gave us two more stories. I love reading how outsider journalists write about Columbus because they often miss the mark. Not to belittle the Post, but no one inside the outerbelt considers the “Bruce Lee Legends of Martial Arts Hall of Fame Museum” a paragon of our athletic offerings (I, for one, didn’t know it existed). And I doubt the “Olentangy River Greenway” is anyone’s first choice for nature exposure here.
But that’s beside the point. Columbus might be quickly transforming into the “full-blown metropolis,” as written in the condescending Post piece, that Mayor Michael B. Coleman reassures us of at every turn. That’s not what people are noticing, though. It’s the Short North, the Arts District, German, Italian and Victorian villages and the one-screen movie theaters that pine for simpler times. It’s the boutique shops and chainless restaurants. It’s the unexplainable small town, big city feel. It’s all of that and more, wrapped up in a swathe of Midwestern attitude.
Much of Columbus’ art culture can be attributed to its rich history of cinema. During the depression, Bexley alone had more than five movie theaters, and Columbus’ grand total is largely unknown. The Ohio, Palace and Southern Theaters, in all their grandeur, were originally built as movie theaters. Luckily, we live in one of the few places left in the country where the proliferation of mega-chain movie theaters hasn’t completely squashed the lowly, art theater competition. For that, I’m thankful.
North Campus’ Studio 35 and Bexley’s Drexel East both recently celebrated their 70th anniversaries, notching an accomplishment on a long list of hardships and trying times. (Studio 35 once hocked porn to get by, and the Drexel was in shambles before Frank purchased it in 1981.)
As it turns out, Ohio’s ties to the movies goes back farther than Columbus’ first theater (the Southern). The man who gets most credit for inventing motion pictures and the movie theater is Thomas Alva Edison. But, according to the Ohio Historical Society, Charles Francis Jenkins, from Dayton, OH, patented his “phantoscope” in 1895, and sold the rights to Edison in 1896. It was that blueprint that eventually made its way into movie houses nationwide.
With or without the cinema scene, the national media got one thing correct about our city: It’s transforming. Probably the biggest indication of this is the Short North, which every major news medium makes sure to include in its coverage. Ask any tenured professor or long-time Columbus resident what the area was like 20 years ago, and you might be surprised when they mention rampant crime rates and seedy strip joints. Through community action and investment in the arts, that’s changing.
Thankfully, the media glitz and talk-show punditry will leave Columbus after today’s primary election. But it’s we, the citizens who will continue to make headlines while making Columbus a better place to live.
That seems worthy of a toast. Here’s to 2008.
