Take a Virtual Tour of Over-the-Rhine’s Historic and Beautifully Dilapidated Emery Theatre
Inside the Emery Theatre. PHOTO: PROVIDED BY AMERICAN LEGACY TOURS
From CityBeat: American Legacy Tours, one of CityBeat readers’ favorite tour companies in our annual Best Of Cincinnati poll, has released a cool new feature in light of the COVID-19 pandemic: they’ve gone digital.
The company is now leading virtual video tours of some popular local sites. Episode one takes you inside the Kauffman Brewery’s lagering tunnel, which they generally feature on their Queen City Underground tour.
10 vintage photos of Milwaukee gas stations
This Clark Station was located near the northwest corner of Silver Spring Drive and Fond du Lac Avenue. PHOTO: Courtesy of Scott Plunkett; PHOTO: Old Milwaukee Facebook
From OnMilwaukee: These days in Wisconsin, filling up your car is a no-nonsense affair and one in which, increasingly, there is absolutely zero interaction now that we can and do pay at the pump.
But back in the day, you didn’t even get out of your car. Instead, a gas station attendant did the dirty work – often in a crisp white uniform – and checked your oil and washed your windows while you waited.
Route 66 landmarks, businesses brace for reduced tourism
A sign at the Blue Whale in Catoosa shows mileage to different stops along Route 66 in this March 15 photo. Businesses and landmarks along Route 66 are preparing for closures and various travel bans due to COVID-19. Kristi Eaton/For The Oklahoman
From The Oklahoman: TULSA — Dries Bessels had it all planned out: he was scheduled to leave his home in Amsterdam on March 26 and arrive in the city of Springfield, Missouri, for a Route 66 conference. He would then fly to Amarillo, Texas, and traverse the famed Route 66 highway — a decommissioned highway that spans 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica, California — for about a week and a half.
Then President Donald Trump announced a travel ban for Europeans that ultimately included the United Kingdom. The ban, Trump said, was to curb the spread of COVID-19. But European officials said it was done unilaterally, without their consultation, and that the virus spread requires cooperation across countries.
Spend Local Safely: Five Ways You Can Support Your Main Street Businesses During the Coronavirus
Main Street in Wheeling, West Virginia before the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Ben Muldrow
From the National Trust for Historic Preservation: The new coronavirus is first and foremost a threat to the health of millions of Americans. Thousands of suspected cases have been confirmed with countless others yet to be tested, putting an unprecedented strain on health care professionals and hospitals.
But the effects of COVID-19 are being felt just as acutely by small businesses. Across the country, main street corridors packed with historic buildings stand silent, as the customers who typically flock to these places wisely stay home. The results are exactly what you’d expect: Without their primary source of revenue, local shops and businesses must make difficult decisions about whether to lay off workers, or even close permanently.
The National Trust’s Main Street America program is seeking to minimize the blow by guiding Main Street communities through the crisis. “The impact of COVID-19 on small businesses and local economies is already significant and appears likely to become even more extensive,” says Matthew Wagner, vice president of revitalization programs at Main Street America.
A 1940s-Era Motel in Vegas Offers a Lesson in Historic Preservation and Human Resilience
Courtesy Aimlee Photography
From Metropolis: Away from the usually throbbing Las Vegas Strip, where COVID-19 has caused casinos to close and the Fountains of Bellagio to stop dancing, there lies Fergusons Downtown, a 1940s-era motel turned retail and community space. In its own significant way, Fergusons tells a story of historic preservation in one of the country’s newest cities—as well as a story of human resilience in the age of a pandemic.
First opened as the family-owned Franklin Motel, the traditional, U-shaped building changed hands to the Fergusons family in the 1960s. “The way that we went about revitalizing and building our business model and connectivity is embracing that family mentality and model, just at a bigger scale,” says co-founder and creative strategist Jen Taler, who launched Fergusons Downtown in December 2019, six years after business partner Tony Hsieh purchased the property.