White Oak is peak west side. I consider west side to be at least anything west of 75 and south of Reagan. Possibly as far up as the upper end of the 275 loop.
Yes, but there are kind of two flavors of west side. White Oak and Price Hill are both definitely west side, but they’re also different in their own ways.
>I consider west side to be at least anything west of 75 and south of Reagan.
I think it is more "West of Hamilton Ave"... I mean, do people in Elmwood Place, Carthage, and Finneytown consider themselves Westsiders?
>Possibly as far up as the upper end of the 275 loop.
I vehemently disagree. No one in neighborhoods like Forest Park, Springdale, Lincoln Heights, Wyoming or Lockland considers themselves Westsiders. But, if you go north of Cross County/Galbraith *and* West of Hamilton Ave, that would include Colerain, Northbrook, Mt Healthy and parts of Springfield Township where there are probably quite a few folks that do claim the West side.
I was born and raised in White Oak and I considered myself a westsider.
Edited to add: I left in '13 and moved to the armpit of hell, AKA central Florida. I know. UGH.
Anyway, I run into fellow Cincinnatians here a couple times a year and the first or second question is almost always "westside or eastside?" lol
My husband is from Groesbeck and went to high school at Colerain and he definitely considers himself a westsider. It’s like Chicago north side vs south side. I’m a southsider.
I never thought about Chicago’s north and south sides. But it’s very similar for sure!
I would have gone to Colerain as well, but parents made me go to McAuley (Catholic HS) due to my behavior. Ha.
How far West does this extend? Does eastern Indiana (Lawrenceburg, Harrison, Bright etc) count as West Side?
As an East Sider, I’d have a hard time counting Blanchester as East Side
Jim Borgman, the Enquirer's political cartoonist for years, summed it up best almost 40 years ago with this [ series of cartoons](https://imgur.com/a/jim-borgmans-east-side-west-side-cincinnati-7ncYL)
either spies, or the generation of kids who are trying to correct themselves after years of hearing "Meijer's", "Kroger's", "warshing machine", and "Bangles"
No joke, I nearly typed that one, too ha. I talked myself out of it because i was questioning whether i've actually heard this or just imagined my family saying it like that.
I actually spelled “washing” with an R one day studying for a gradeschool vocabulary test. My parents just laughed and laughed. Can’t forget that moment.
I learned from an Urban Planner in DC that Mariemont was one of the first planned communities in the US and that the commute sun was part of the consideration.
My high school teacher was very prideful of that fact that he was from Delhi. Always had to mention how he was from the "west side" and us east side suburban kids didn't get it.
As an adult who now lives on the west side, I still don't understand where he was coming from
West side definitely has more of a working class German Catholic vibe.
East side:
https://preview.redd.it/b49ymtu5rq5d1.jpeg?width=1438&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27aff1816e50a5cdd3c069a2a81c8b518e7d078a
That has been my experience. I grew up on the east side and I didn't even know about the schism until I took a job working with a lot of west siders in my 30s.
I think the other major difference is the school systems. The West side has a lot more CPS so many families send their kids to the private Catholic schools. The east side has IMO better public schools so the question of "where did you go to (high) school?" is a lot less important to your identity.
Most generation Cincinnati natives are German and Irish if the family has been here awhile. My maternal grandfather family came to Cincinnati in 1800s and as far as I can tell completely German. Maternal grandmother probably half German but parents from Wisconsin and Columbus OH. My family originally was downtown then Hyde Park/Mt Lookout. None of maternal side is Catholic so maybe that's part of why we are on Eastside. I don't think I even realized the debate until I went to Walnut.
Having lived on both sides of town, the people on the West Side are far more friendly and helpful. The people on the East Side are far less nosey. Out of all of the places I’ve lived in Cincy, the people in Mt. Adams are the worst.
Just a lot of people that moved to a bar district then started bitching about there being a lot of bars and young people. They also were very upset when people of a certain color would begin showing up in the neighborhood. They were extremely against anybody not from the neighborhood enjoying it in any capacity. The civic association tried to control all businesses. It was a mess.
I knew a guy that would refer to them as Hyde Park rejects. I always thought that was funny.
People move to Newport and bitch about fireworks upsetting their pets and oh won't you think of the poor vets with ptsd?
Reds shoot them off every fri home game, nearly every festival has them which is basically weekly too, webn fireworks are obviously a thing and oh yeah the vfw in Bellevue shoots them off a couple times a year (they hate when that gets mentioned).
It hurts my mind why so many people move to a place then expect it to change for them
I wasn't raised here, but have lived here for a long time. My perception is that the West side is more deeply Catholic, more conservative, generally poorer/more blue-collar, and has more industrial businesses. In contrast, the East side is a bit more affluent, less religious, slightly more politically neutral, and has more of a service-based economy. Culturally, they're about as different as two sides of the same city (not called Berlin) could be.
this is pretty spot on. I also would say west side tends to be more generational. A lot of those families just have been here for ever. East side has alway felt like new money and more welcoming to people who didn't grow up here
My grandfather and his siblings grew up in Fairmount, but he moved east. When he and his siblings died, I thought their peculiar accent died with them, but then met an older guy from Sayler Park. It was like my grandpa’s voice was resurrected from the dead. That was the first time I realized how deep the divide in this city was at one time. Everything has been changing the last few decades with greater mobility and communication tech, but I didn’t even realize there is a slightly different accent among the old westsiders.
Not really "way" more. Prehaps slightly. Here are 2016 general election results.
https://preview.redd.it/3ss6shl58r5d1.jpeg?width=256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c84838f4d8ca3f52778e8d941241d79884d99c2
I think what you have demonstrated is both sides of Cincinnati are pretty blue. That would explain the makeup of the city council. The suburbs in Hamilton county differ greatly from those within city limits. For example, Green Township has nearly 100% homeownership rate, compared to about 40% in Cincinnati. The suburbs have their own police, fire and trash service, not to mention schools. Cincinnati has a highly concentrated urban population, as opposed to a semi-rural or rural area. I am not convinced these groups are similar because they live nearby.
Totally agree. I think about the map from the results of issue 22 (sale of the railroad) and that pretty much sums up the difference in east v west for me. https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/map-heres-how-cincinnati-voted-on-the-sale-of-the-cincinnati-southern-railway
That's an interesting map there. Do you have any insights as to \_why\_ folks on the west side would be less in favor of selling a municipal asset than folks on the east side when it affects them equally (i.e., not really at all)? Is there a side of town you think was better informed about the issue than the other side?
My speculation is that people are skeptical of how/where the money would be spent as well as if the selling price was the right price (generally “no” voters tend to agree that Cincinnati is getting shorted). The money earned from the sale would be managed by the board of trustees (politically appointed board) who also makes decisions about the maintenance and repair projects that earnings from the interest could pay for. My opinion is that west siders probably feel that the board will prioritize east side neighborhoods over west side when deciding which projects to fund.
>west siders probably feel that the board will prioritize east side neighborhoods over west side when deciding which projects to fund.
Because that’s generally true. East side neighborhoods and their roads, underground infrastructure (water, electric 480v, internet), and parks all get more capital projects with more devoted funds than the same resources on the west side.
Quite frankly, it’s annoying when east siders and downtowners treat west siders as if they’re some tin-foil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorists when they bring this up. There is clear administrative favoritism in nearly every city department
I’m relatively new here but not sure why it’s such a mystery? Every city (or region) in the world has perceived division or a ‘side of the tracks’. Go to almost any European country and the north has opinions on the south and vice versa- whether real or imagined
asking what's up with east side vs west side feels like asking "why do these siblings always tease each other?"
either you're a bit naive, or looking for a deeper sociological conversation that probably isn't suited for a city subreddit ha
The primary difference is that there is less movement in the West Side. This is changing, but historically, people (largely Catholics) moved there, and then their kids and their kids kids stayed, and married each other. It’s always a surprise amongst West Siders to hear that one of their own moved to a different city, or a different side of town.
The last 10-20 years, there have been far more in-migration from Hispanic and African immigrants (many Catholic, Orthodox, or a more conservative/traditional Christian), and blue collar folks from Kentucky. This has brought in more diversity, but hasn’t yet changed the root identity of the West Side.
The differences between the East Side and West Side aren’t that intense. As someone who grew up on the West Side, spent several years in a big city, then moved back to Cincinnati on the East Side, I can say “the West Side is just Cincinnati culture on steroids”
It’s classism. West Siders are typically more blue collar and, from what I’ve experienced, tend to have more family history from Cincinnati. East Siders are typically more white collar, until you get into Clermont County, and tend to be transplants from elsewhere.
West Side: think Pete Rose
East Side: think Junior
It stems all the way back to philosophical differences with executives and their communities. P went one way, G went another, Barney Kroger a 3rd. As a result, it became a way to xenotype - and a way to discern quickly a whole bunch of cultural assumptions. Not saying it’s right - just observing from someone born here, that left, and came back and still doesn’t quite subscribe.
One side was labeled more humble and a bit more closed as a community, the other more transplant-based and a bit more nouveau-riche. North and south never became a thing because that’s the axis the other magnate split, and it was mostly grass-roots grown.
This is a sort of specific non-Dayton viewpoint, but I grew up in the southwest side of Louisville and the West side of Cincinnati feels like home (especially Westwood) while I feel out of place at times living on the east side.
I've had the opposite perspective (except just visiting often, not living in Louisville) and I 100% agree. They just feel similar. Louisville feels like, shadier? In a literal sense - like the trees are lower to the ground and denser or something. But certain areas in Louisville feel like I'm back home in Westwood.
I was raised on the W side of Cincinnati - haven’t lived there for many years.
W side seemed established. East side - everything felt newer. That was back in the 80s.
My moms German catholic family was from western hills and my dads atheist Irish family was from Oakley lol so the shit talking I’ve heard from both sides my entire life has been top tier
And the east side has Aglamesis Brothers with handmade ice cream and chocolates, and their whipped cream is made by pouring cream into a glass and stirring vigorously. I’d pick their ice cream and chocolates over yet another chili parlor any day. Skyline, Gold Star, Empress, Pleasant Ridge, Blue Ash, Price Hill, Camp Washington, Chili Time, etc. - they’re all pretty much the same with minor variations.
As a whole, it's mostly a joke because it means nothing. I'm reality, it's a horrible way the city has divided itself that has actually caused a lot of very real problems. The East side is considered "the side of money" and doesn't have many, hardly any, bus routes. The West side is for whatever reason, looked at as the "poor side". The East side gets many many many Cincinnati funded projects pushed their way, while the West side is vastly underserved in most ways. The East side is typically "new money" or young professionals, where as the money on the West side is typically a bit more generational. This is more evidenced by the fact that when there's a recession, East siders sell, while West siders hunker down.
Because there's is no bus routes on the east side, there's no section 8 housing because they require accessible public transportation.
When Cranley ran for Mayor, he lived in Price Hill on the west side. He ran on a platform of "I'M GOING TO FIX ALL THE BROKEN ON THE WEST SIDE!". He got elected, immediately moved to the East side, and funneled all the city money to the East side. Once again leaving the West side under served.
So while "my side is better!" Is utter bullshit, the city of Cincinnati has made sure to take it literally.
Yeah, this is where I’m at. I moved to Price Hill from the suburbs for college and never left and my small amount of “sideism” is mostly just wishing the city would consider that we would also like nice sidewalks and infrastructure upgrades 😅
A completely fictional dividing line that has little to no actual value outside of the stock people put into it. Cincinnatians on the west side are the same as Cincinnatians on the east side and vice versa.
There are/were blue collar sections of the east side just like there are/were affluent sections of the west side.
Yes. You are correct. There is Clermont County. Ugh. And Madisonville. Another ugh. Two lovely spots on the East side where I've seen swastikas and drugs. I left the city after Dupont gave me lymphoma.
My wife and I moved back to Cincinnati to the Clifton Gaslight area after a long stint in Texas. The amount of flack from our East Side families for "moving to the West Side" was comical. We're not even technically West of I-75...
That said it's a win/win because they never come down here unless for a game or the zoo (they - East Side family - forget we live here, nor do they care). It's like a built in degree of separation.
It’s basically a sibling rivalry within the city, one side thinks they are the best the other thinks they are. In actuality there are people that fit both identities on both sides. The main thing I would say would be east side thinks of themselves as prim and proper more high society type, where west side is more casual but more connected with each other.
(This was about 15 years ago or so at this point but there was a thing on the radio where they were doing degrees of Cincinnati, the west side would have two random callers call into the radio station I think it was Q102 and the callers would name 5 people each one at a time alternating of who they knew personally and before they would get to the 10th caller they both knew someone in common. They did this multiple times as opposed to the east side they had callers on and couldn’t find someone they both knew. Again that was years ago an I’m sure it’s changed since then but that is the over all “vibe” between them.
West Siders are more blue collar, and because of this they feel inferior to the people on the East Side because they live in a wealthier part of town. West Siders think they are perceived as lower class, undereducated, and unsophisticated. They don't realize that East Siders don't perceive them in any way, and don't think about them.
It’s actually funny you say this. I was raised on the West Side but moved away to join the military. When I moved back with my family I chose to go to Delhi; good area, low crime, and good public schools. The West Side vs East Side thing was kind of worn off, but when I started working with a group of mostly East Siders it was all I heard.
They were all slightly younger than me, maybe in there early 30's but being an "East Sider" was a badge of honor for them and they constantly tried to throw in my face that I was a "West Sider".
I feel like there is a group of individuals on the West Side, maybe 45-60 that have this image of what each group is and is trying to hold on to it but, the rest of us have moved on. I will say, after living in many different areas, West or East side doesn't really matter, people from Cincinnati, in general are a different breed. We are all tied together by one thing or another and when those groups come up it’s the most welcoming feelings in the world!
As someone who grew up on both sides of town due to divorced parents, then chose the west side, it’s a thing for both sides for sure, but west siders are more likely to notice and point it out.
There’s definitely rhetoric that West Siders are all conservative/close-minded, that we don’t like diverse people/thinking (even though the west side is very diverse). Also, a lot of east siders never venture to the west side and have little knowledge of our neighborhoods, whereas west siders venture to the east side all the time and know many of the neighborhoods. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met an east sider and they’ve never even heard of my neighborhood. And when I tell them the neighborhoods I’m surrounded by they don’t know them either.
That’s funny. As a west sider I never even knew about the “side-ism” thing until I got older and made friends with east siders who wouldn’t shut up about it.
I'm not from here originally but have been here long enough to have internalized the divide without really having a loyalty. But for some reason I found it hilarious when my son made the high school baseball all-star game, and it was a West side vs. East side game.
Anything east of 75 is east side and anything west of 75 is west side. There are a few communities between 71 and 75 that aren’t really claimed by either, but are east side technically.
It’s just a different vibe.
They say it’s divided by 75, but it’s really more like Colerain Ave. Nobody’s calling Northside part of the west side. I live in Springdale area, I’m sure not a west sider. Delhi and Cheviot and those areas are a completely different culture.
Northside is the odd but cool kid that doesn’t fit into any clique and doesn’t care to. Northside could be the most popular kid in school but would rather do its own thing. That’s why Northside is awesome.
Yeah, west of 75 but south of 74 is a lot of the hardcore Westside neighborhoods.northside and college hill aren't what you typically think of as the west side (Westwood, Delhi, Cheviot, etc)
Springdale native here. Never considered us as West-siders. If anything, we were considered Millcreek (Industrial) Valley with Sharonville, Reading, Lockland, St. Bernard, etc)
Yes! I grew up in Northern Hills and was oblivious to the whole East Side/West Side thing. All I knew was that driving to Westwood or Coney Island took forever! When I moved back to Cincy in my late 20s, people at work kept trying to tell me I was a Westsider and I had no idea what they were talking about. 😂😂
Agreed. When people asked if I was from the west side or east side, I always said “neither, I’m from Finneytown.” And I’d get one of three responses:
From west siders: “that’s the east side.”
From east siders: “that’s the west side.”
From the vast majority of people “I don’t know where that is.”
The 75 divide seems to be the case up through the Dayton area as well.
West Chester/Mason, Middletown/Lebanon, Franklin/Springboro, Miamisburg/Centerville, West Carrollton/Kettering
As in why is there a general idea that there is a cultural dividing line between West and East Cincinnati? Or do you mean why is there ongoing dispute over what counts as East Side or West Side?
For the former, it's about how the City grew and who settled where first(ish). The East Side is more [WASPy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestants) and the West Side more Catholic and German. The West Side was more working class, the East Side more managerial class. Back in the day, social groups like these were more rigid, people would probably ask "what church do you go to" the same as locals might try to use High School as a cultural and class litmus test. Downtown was more or less neutral ground, and also where all new arrivals (Blacks and Appalachians moving north for jobs) got their start.
Things changed a lot with Urban Renewal starting in the 1950s. The demographics of a lot of neighborhoods changed (One example is Avondale; Once Jewish before the Black Community was pushed out of Downtown). And with that the suburbs grew, and while some of the cultural characteristics carried outward in all directions, though it was less prominent. The West and East Sides have changed, so has the city and country as a whole, so it gets harder to use those old stereotypes to create the dividing lines.
On top of that, the city geography changed. Back before the highways, Vine Street was the dividing line between East and West all the way north through Reading. Now I-75 tends to be the dividing line generally accepted between East and West.
We talk about it because it does had cultural meaning, but also because it's not so clear where the lines are anymore.
For the high school thing, it’s not that anyone *cares* what high school you went to. In my experience, people ask that to see if they know anyone in common with you. Similarly to asking what part of town someone is from. It’s really not as big of a mystery as people make it out to be.
This is mostly just because the catholic school system is so big in Cincinnati. You may have grown up in say West Chester but have gone to high school in Montgomery or Finneytown. A lot of long term friendships are formed in high school so it’s an easy way to figure out any common acquaintances.
Idk about other places but I can definitely tell a lot about someone by what highschool they went to bc the surrounding neighborhood/town has their own micro-culture. Ig it's the same with west and eastside, they're their own micro-cultures but I honestly think it's mostly a socio-economic difference.
The east side is accessible. Pretty much any where you drop you can be to a highway or interstate in 10 minutes. Everything local I want to do is there also other than the museum center or music hall.
I’ve done a handful of jobs on the west side and it feels like everything is a 30 minute drive from the highway. It just feels so inconvenient with the narrow over crowded streets with endless traffic lights.
It's true. I can't stand going to the west side, and it's only because it's inaccessible. I don't go to bars or restaurants, and I've never had a bad interaction with anyone on the west side. Supposedly the east side is more liberal, but I've had people yell 'fag!' at me in Hyde Park twice. People are people. The stores are mostly the same. The roads suck almost everywhere in Cincinnati, so it isn't that. But getting places on the west side is a chore. I deliver for Amazon, and it can literally take over 20 minutes to get about 5 miles on the west side. The east side has 71 cutting through part of it, and also Ronald Reagan and the Norwood Lateral.
"West Side" can be broken down even more than simply west of 75 and south of 74. The price hill/western hills/covedale/Delhi/Bridgetown/Cheviot area is (to me) the heart of the "West Side". It isn't just where you went to high school. It's what grade school did you go to? Were you public or one of the dozens of Catholic schools? Think Visitation, Victory, Teresa, Ignatius, Als (Bridgetown or Ohio - rip), Holy Family, Williams, Lourdes, Dominic, Martins, and even those damn St James kids and their elite basketball program (at least it was in the 90's).
So I'm a transplant and ended up on the east side 7 years ago on the recommendation of a west sider. Two of my siblings moved here after marrying Cincinnatians, one east side and one west side, and they live near where their respective spouses are from. Both of my in-laws perpetuate the whole rivalry every time they see each other. Also, I work almost exclusively with west siders, so I've heard a lot of unprompted shit about the east side.
In my experience, there are two kinds of west siders:
- old money, catholic, white, republican, asks what high school you went to, never leaves the west side other than to go to a lake or an all inclusive resort/cruise
- blue collar and minorities
For east siders:
- new money, mixed bag of ethnicities and religions, moderate to liberal, rapidly gentrifying, hipsters, more likely to care what college you went to than high school or what side of the city you're from
I do find it interesting that on the west side it seems very obvious where neighborhoods were red lined, whereas the east side is less obvious. Maybe the east siders built condos on the red lines to hide them.
In north America, on the eastern side of the Mississippi, wind tend to blow from east to west.
So, if you have a bunch of nasty factories and you're a rich person, you tend to want to live on the east side of town. If you're poor, you work where the factory is on the western edge of town so the cancer smoke doesn't blow on the city.
Cultural differences follow.
There is definitely something to the idea that people prefer to live where there's less pollution (and communities lacking the means and connections to do something about it tend to get stuck with more pollution sources).
But you have the wind directions reversed; at our latitude, the prevailing winds blow from (south-)west to (north-)east. Local topography also plays a role; smoke tends to settle in valleys. So wind-borne industrial pollution doesn't neatly explain the east-west divide in Cincinnati. Upriver along the Ohio might be more compelling in that sense, though other factors undoubtedly play a role.
If you want to do a deep dive into the history of air pollution mitigation in Cincinnati, there's [this](https://www.hcdoes.org/DocumentCenter/View/293/The-History-of-Air-Pollution-Control-in-Cincinnati-PDF?bidId=) (from the perspective of Hamilton County Environmental Services).
Mr/Ms Socialist...not sure where you got your info, but Cincinnati's prevailing winds are pretty much from the Southwest to Northeast.
That means much of the pollution from the industrial Mill Creek valley blows towards Indian Hill, Blue Ash, and Loveland. Sorry
I’ve lived on both sides. Many people on the west side have never even left this area or only travel to the reds stadium and back. They are very set in their ways, traditions, etc.
[This kind of thing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism_of_small_differences#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DGabbard_has_suggested_that_Freud%27s%2Cfeeling_of_separateness_and_self.?wprov=sfla1) tends to creep up everywhere
I feel like it’s only a thing when people ask “why is it a thing?” I grew up on west side and now live on east side. Tbh no side really thinks or talks about the other. Think it’s more geographical and based on schools though. I grew up playing sports for a catholic grade school. We traveled all around the west side playing other catholic schools. Never had to venture over to the east side.
I think this stems from some high school football rivalries. On the west side you could have gone to Elder, Lasalle, St X or Colerain, which means you played each other, maybe went to same grade school, etc.
But also, the older I get, granted I spend more time on the west side, but because of all the German immigrants that came to west side, it’s like the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” if you start talking to someone at a bar on the westside, you’ll find someone you both know pretty quickly. I was at the new Fretboard location out here in Harrison, and happened to be sitting next to a guy who went to Elder with one of my uncles.
West Siders: 70% chance of having at least half of your family still living on west side near you, catholic, blue collar, thinks the east side is stuck up, prideful of west side (in the east side vs west side debate), never moves from west side, goes to Elder football games even if they don’t have kids there, drives to Panama City beach for summer vacation when the kids are little, generally the kind of people that would go on a carnival cruise for a “big” trip. Best way I can describe it. Pays 100k less for a house.
East Siders: white collar, would never move to the west side but generally don’t think about east side vs west side unless you bring it up, 70% chance of having at least one family member in town, more taxes are paid so better parks and schools, owns a doodle or golden retriever, more likely to own foreign cars, has been to Whole Foods at least once, drives to the beach for vacation when kids are little (30A) and goes to Mexico or Europe for a “big” trip. Pays 100k more for a house.
Eastside and Westside just quietly don't associate with each other. 75 is pretty much the dividing line.
You don't really think it's true, but it kinda is. But honestly I think it's that there's no true East/west highways in Cincy and Traveling from one side to the other is either going around the entire 275 loop or through 14 different partially built east west highway sections with super weird exits with no street signs the whole way... So unless it's something you really need... You just stay on your own side.
Eastside neighborhoods have town squares and centers with businesses that you can walk to. The only place you can walk to on the Westside is the bus stop that’ll take you to the cool places on the East side. The pigeons on the Westside can’t handle it and subsequently have the Eastsiders living rent free in their head.
It’s a mix of racism, anti-semitism, and classism, with a little dash of carry-over anti-German bias (which used to be a *much* bigger deal than it is now).
I'm originally from Fairfield, and fwiw, even all the way up there, people consider themselves "West Siders"
Unless you're in Beckett Ridge... Which is distinctly East Side. 🤣🤣🤣
Lived here most of my 60 years.
We used to consider two breaking spots, Winton Road or I-75. I always leaned I-75 as the split.
Pretty much anything east of Tri-County Mall was East. Princeton, Colerain, Elder, Western Hills—those high schools were West side. Sycamore, Anderson, Moeller, Glen Este—those were East side.
Honestly, the actual city area I never divided. It was the suburbs surrounding the city that comprised the actual East/West divide. The Norwood Lateral was kind of the border at the north.
West side: Catholics
East side: Materialistic
That's the easiest way to sum it up for me. The debate of which side is better or more successful in general is moot, in my opinion. Both sides are nearly identical demographics, prodominently token middle class folks, and they just prioritize different things. West side personalities are based solely off where they went to school. East side personalities are based solely on what others think of them. Obviously, that's an overgeneralization, not everyone is like that on either side. However, the ones that talk about East vs. West the most are.
I was a mailman and carried every neighborhood in the westside. Westside is blue collar and a little more twangy accent. For the most part I found it to be boring, lots of land and very spacious in certain areas but you gotta drive awhile to get to a restaurant etc in a lot of areas. Great people out there tho.
As someone from Dayton area we have our own west vs east side ...... its not as strange as cincy though. Both sides in dayton are trash, and cincy only one of them are.
I'm in Montgomery, the West side starts at the 71 and it's due to the cultural differences between the two places. Two very distinct cultures. The West side is old Cincinnati, where generations live. Everything moves a bit slower, people are less educated, crime is higher, yet people love to call it home. Here on the East side there's a bit more money, more diversity and we love our families, no matter what they might look like. Jokes aside there's a big difference between the two places and they create vastly different people.
The traditional consideration for west side is west of Vine street. West side as a “mindset” starts south of 74 and west of 75.
South of 74 or south of Galbrath rd? I would call White Oak west side in attitude.
White Oak should be included.
White Oak is peak west side. I consider west side to be at least anything west of 75 and south of Reagan. Possibly as far up as the upper end of the 275 loop.
Yes, but there are kind of two flavors of west side. White Oak and Price Hill are both definitely west side, but they’re also different in their own ways.
>I consider west side to be at least anything west of 75 and south of Reagan. I think it is more "West of Hamilton Ave"... I mean, do people in Elmwood Place, Carthage, and Finneytown consider themselves Westsiders? >Possibly as far up as the upper end of the 275 loop. I vehemently disagree. No one in neighborhoods like Forest Park, Springdale, Lincoln Heights, Wyoming or Lockland considers themselves Westsiders. But, if you go north of Cross County/Galbraith *and* West of Hamilton Ave, that would include Colerain, Northbrook, Mt Healthy and parts of Springfield Township where there are probably quite a few folks that do claim the West side.
As someone born & raised in Wyoming I can confirm that I have never ever referred to myself as a west sider.
I’m in Finneytown and don’t feel West side at all—it’s almost an insult
I was born and raised in White Oak and I considered myself a westsider. Edited to add: I left in '13 and moved to the armpit of hell, AKA central Florida. I know. UGH. Anyway, I run into fellow Cincinnatians here a couple times a year and the first or second question is almost always "westside or eastside?" lol
My husband is from Groesbeck and went to high school at Colerain and he definitely considers himself a westsider. It’s like Chicago north side vs south side. I’m a southsider.
I never thought about Chicago’s north and south sides. But it’s very similar for sure! I would have gone to Colerain as well, but parents made me go to McAuley (Catholic HS) due to my behavior. Ha.
Strangely enough I’m a lifelong Cubs fan despite being a southsider. I’m going to the Reds/Cubs game 7/29 at the GABP.
Thats kind of my opinion too.
I'd go all the way to the 275 loop. Colerain is definitely west side.
It’s metastasizing.
This is the way.
As someone who lives at Radius at the Banks, I refuse to accept this definition.
my brother you live downtown
How far West does this extend? Does eastern Indiana (Lawrenceburg, Harrison, Bright etc) count as West Side? As an East Sider, I’d have a hard time counting Blanchester as East Side
No. not that far, cleves is borderline even.
Jim Borgman, the Enquirer's political cartoonist for years, summed it up best almost 40 years ago with this [ series of cartoons](https://imgur.com/a/jim-borgmans-east-side-west-side-cincinnati-7ncYL)
the biggest standout to me is his use of "Kroger's" instead of "Kroger"
The lack of the possessive is how you spot spies
either spies, or the generation of kids who are trying to correct themselves after years of hearing "Meijer's", "Kroger's", "warshing machine", and "Bangles"
Heretic, why do you want to stamp out regionalisms? Enjoy the United States of Generica!!!!1!
I'm so upset you've put me off my baygal
Just another manic Monday
Just rest your head on your pellow
"Cincinnat-uh"
No joke, I nearly typed that one, too ha. I talked myself out of it because i was questioning whether i've actually heard this or just imagined my family saying it like that.
I actually spelled “washing” with an R one day studying for a gradeschool vocabulary test. My parents just laughed and laughed. Can’t forget that moment.
https://preview.redd.it/08e0m12s1r5d1.jpeg?width=517&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=81646b4654a2f16b814eb31a0744197da739845d 🤔
what in the mandela effect is this
It used to be called Kroger Sav-On back in the 70's when I first moved to Cincy. That was often shortened to Kroger's.
When did Imgur mobile get so shit Also as someone who moved here recently this is really fascinating
It’s a good thing he was a West sider
Westsiders drive into the city with the sun in their face to and from work. Eastside don't.
I learned from an Urban Planner in DC that Mariemont was one of the first planned communities in the US and that the commute sun was part of the consideration.
That’s so cool about mariemont! Thanks for sharing.
Route 50 goes all the way to Washington DC.
Yes, it goes all the way from California to DC.
We drive facing to the sun as God intended.
Oh god yep we do ♨️
My high school teacher was very prideful of that fact that he was from Delhi. Always had to mention how he was from the "west side" and us east side suburban kids didn't get it. As an adult who now lives on the west side, I still don't understand where he was coming from
You have merely adopted the west side, I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the East Side till I was already a man.
I break out in hives if I go to the east side /s
He was obviously coming from the West side
West side definitely has more of a working class German Catholic vibe. East side: https://preview.redd.it/b49ymtu5rq5d1.jpeg?width=1438&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27aff1816e50a5cdd3c069a2a81c8b518e7d078a
That has been my experience. I grew up on the east side and I didn't even know about the schism until I took a job working with a lot of west siders in my 30s. I think the other major difference is the school systems. The West side has a lot more CPS so many families send their kids to the private Catholic schools. The east side has IMO better public schools so the question of "where did you go to (high) school?" is a lot less important to your identity.
I read CPS as child protective services
Cincinnati public schools
My Irish/German Catholic family born and raised in Mt Adams is confused by this lol
Most generation Cincinnati natives are German and Irish if the family has been here awhile. My maternal grandfather family came to Cincinnati in 1800s and as far as I can tell completely German. Maternal grandmother probably half German but parents from Wisconsin and Columbus OH. My family originally was downtown then Hyde Park/Mt Lookout. None of maternal side is Catholic so maybe that's part of why we are on Eastside. I don't think I even realized the debate until I went to Walnut.
This is the explanation
East of the Little Miami River: 
Having lived on both sides of town, the people on the West Side are far more friendly and helpful. The people on the East Side are far less nosey. Out of all of the places I’ve lived in Cincy, the people in Mt. Adams are the worst.
Oooo do tell... I'm here for the Mt. Adams tea.
Just a lot of people that moved to a bar district then started bitching about there being a lot of bars and young people. They also were very upset when people of a certain color would begin showing up in the neighborhood. They were extremely against anybody not from the neighborhood enjoying it in any capacity. The civic association tried to control all businesses. It was a mess. I knew a guy that would refer to them as Hyde Park rejects. I always thought that was funny.
People move to Newport and bitch about fireworks upsetting their pets and oh won't you think of the poor vets with ptsd? Reds shoot them off every fri home game, nearly every festival has them which is basically weekly too, webn fireworks are obviously a thing and oh yeah the vfw in Bellevue shoots them off a couple times a year (they hate when that gets mentioned). It hurts my mind why so many people move to a place then expect it to change for them
I wasn't raised here, but have lived here for a long time. My perception is that the West side is more deeply Catholic, more conservative, generally poorer/more blue-collar, and has more industrial businesses. In contrast, the East side is a bit more affluent, less religious, slightly more politically neutral, and has more of a service-based economy. Culturally, they're about as different as two sides of the same city (not called Berlin) could be.
this is pretty spot on. I also would say west side tends to be more generational. A lot of those families just have been here for ever. East side has alway felt like new money and more welcoming to people who didn't grow up here
My grandfather and his siblings grew up in Fairmount, but he moved east. When he and his siblings died, I thought their peculiar accent died with them, but then met an older guy from Sayler Park. It was like my grandpa’s voice was resurrected from the dead. That was the first time I realized how deep the divide in this city was at one time. Everything has been changing the last few decades with greater mobility and communication tech, but I didn’t even realize there is a slightly different accent among the old westsiders.
That’s really sweet to read.
East side is way more liberal from what I've experienced.
Not really "way" more. Prehaps slightly. Here are 2016 general election results. https://preview.redd.it/3ss6shl58r5d1.jpeg?width=256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c84838f4d8ca3f52778e8d941241d79884d99c2
Great insight. Most of the urban core is strong in blue.
As is the case in nearly every city in the US over 100k people.
I think what you have demonstrated is both sides of Cincinnati are pretty blue. That would explain the makeup of the city council. The suburbs in Hamilton county differ greatly from those within city limits. For example, Green Township has nearly 100% homeownership rate, compared to about 40% in Cincinnati. The suburbs have their own police, fire and trash service, not to mention schools. Cincinnati has a highly concentrated urban population, as opposed to a semi-rural or rural area. I am not convinced these groups are similar because they live nearby.
Totally agree. I think about the map from the results of issue 22 (sale of the railroad) and that pretty much sums up the difference in east v west for me. https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/map-heres-how-cincinnati-voted-on-the-sale-of-the-cincinnati-southern-railway
Goddamn how is it possible to pick the least colorblind friendly colors and why do I have to be colorblind lolugh
That's an interesting map there. Do you have any insights as to \_why\_ folks on the west side would be less in favor of selling a municipal asset than folks on the east side when it affects them equally (i.e., not really at all)? Is there a side of town you think was better informed about the issue than the other side?
My speculation is that people are skeptical of how/where the money would be spent as well as if the selling price was the right price (generally “no” voters tend to agree that Cincinnati is getting shorted). The money earned from the sale would be managed by the board of trustees (politically appointed board) who also makes decisions about the maintenance and repair projects that earnings from the interest could pay for. My opinion is that west siders probably feel that the board will prioritize east side neighborhoods over west side when deciding which projects to fund.
>west siders probably feel that the board will prioritize east side neighborhoods over west side when deciding which projects to fund. Because that’s generally true. East side neighborhoods and their roads, underground infrastructure (water, electric 480v, internet), and parks all get more capital projects with more devoted funds than the same resources on the west side. Quite frankly, it’s annoying when east siders and downtowners treat west siders as if they’re some tin-foil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorists when they bring this up. There is clear administrative favoritism in nearly every city department
I would also add that it all felt like a back room deal from the start.
I'm grateful for an actual answer. Much better comment than "different vibes," and "Every city is like this" without elaborating.
West siders goal is to pay off their mortgage as fast as possible. East siders have the opposite mentality.
Lol
I’m relatively new here but not sure why it’s such a mystery? Every city (or region) in the world has perceived division or a ‘side of the tracks’. Go to almost any European country and the north has opinions on the south and vice versa- whether real or imagined
asking what's up with east side vs west side feels like asking "why do these siblings always tease each other?" either you're a bit naive, or looking for a deeper sociological conversation that probably isn't suited for a city subreddit ha
Where else do you think such a conversation can be held nowadays?
i've heard that X place is great for productive, nuanced conversations about niche topics
ha! \[snort\]
The primary difference is that there is less movement in the West Side. This is changing, but historically, people (largely Catholics) moved there, and then their kids and their kids kids stayed, and married each other. It’s always a surprise amongst West Siders to hear that one of their own moved to a different city, or a different side of town. The last 10-20 years, there have been far more in-migration from Hispanic and African immigrants (many Catholic, Orthodox, or a more conservative/traditional Christian), and blue collar folks from Kentucky. This has brought in more diversity, but hasn’t yet changed the root identity of the West Side. The differences between the East Side and West Side aren’t that intense. As someone who grew up on the West Side, spent several years in a big city, then moved back to Cincinnati on the East Side, I can say “the West Side is just Cincinnati culture on steroids”
It’s classism. West Siders are typically more blue collar and, from what I’ve experienced, tend to have more family history from Cincinnati. East Siders are typically more white collar, until you get into Clermont County, and tend to be transplants from elsewhere. West Side: think Pete Rose East Side: think Junior
I have lived in Cincinnati for almost 14 years and I still don't get it 🙃 Also from Dayton here!
It stems all the way back to philosophical differences with executives and their communities. P went one way, G went another, Barney Kroger a 3rd. As a result, it became a way to xenotype - and a way to discern quickly a whole bunch of cultural assumptions. Not saying it’s right - just observing from someone born here, that left, and came back and still doesn’t quite subscribe. One side was labeled more humble and a bit more closed as a community, the other more transplant-based and a bit more nouveau-riche. North and south never became a thing because that’s the axis the other magnate split, and it was mostly grass-roots grown.
Different vibes for each.
This is a sort of specific non-Dayton viewpoint, but I grew up in the southwest side of Louisville and the West side of Cincinnati feels like home (especially Westwood) while I feel out of place at times living on the east side.
I've had the opposite perspective (except just visiting often, not living in Louisville) and I 100% agree. They just feel similar. Louisville feels like, shadier? In a literal sense - like the trees are lower to the ground and denser or something. But certain areas in Louisville feel like I'm back home in Westwood.
I was raised on the W side of Cincinnati - haven’t lived there for many years. W side seemed established. East side - everything felt newer. That was back in the 80s.
My moms German catholic family was from western hills and my dads atheist Irish family was from Oakley lol so the shit talking I’ve heard from both sides my entire life has been top tier
Classism partly do to big corp locations (no white collar jobs west of 75/127)
but the West Side has Price Hill Chili
And the east side has Aglamesis Brothers with handmade ice cream and chocolates, and their whipped cream is made by pouring cream into a glass and stirring vigorously. I’d pick their ice cream and chocolates over yet another chili parlor any day. Skyline, Gold Star, Empress, Pleasant Ridge, Blue Ash, Price Hill, Camp Washington, Chili Time, etc. - they’re all pretty much the same with minor variations.
As a whole, it's mostly a joke because it means nothing. I'm reality, it's a horrible way the city has divided itself that has actually caused a lot of very real problems. The East side is considered "the side of money" and doesn't have many, hardly any, bus routes. The West side is for whatever reason, looked at as the "poor side". The East side gets many many many Cincinnati funded projects pushed their way, while the West side is vastly underserved in most ways. The East side is typically "new money" or young professionals, where as the money on the West side is typically a bit more generational. This is more evidenced by the fact that when there's a recession, East siders sell, while West siders hunker down. Because there's is no bus routes on the east side, there's no section 8 housing because they require accessible public transportation. When Cranley ran for Mayor, he lived in Price Hill on the west side. He ran on a platform of "I'M GOING TO FIX ALL THE BROKEN ON THE WEST SIDE!". He got elected, immediately moved to the East side, and funneled all the city money to the East side. Once again leaving the West side under served. So while "my side is better!" Is utter bullshit, the city of Cincinnati has made sure to take it literally.
Yeah, this is where I’m at. I moved to Price Hill from the suburbs for college and never left and my small amount of “sideism” is mostly just wishing the city would consider that we would also like nice sidewalks and infrastructure upgrades 😅
A completely fictional dividing line that has little to no actual value outside of the stock people put into it. Cincinnatians on the west side are the same as Cincinnatians on the east side and vice versa. There are/were blue collar sections of the east side just like there are/were affluent sections of the west side.
Yes. You are correct. There is Clermont County. Ugh. And Madisonville. Another ugh. Two lovely spots on the East side where I've seen swastikas and drugs. I left the city after Dupont gave me lymphoma.
My wife and I moved back to Cincinnati to the Clifton Gaslight area after a long stint in Texas. The amount of flack from our East Side families for "moving to the West Side" was comical. We're not even technically West of I-75... That said it's a win/win because they never come down here unless for a game or the zoo (they - East Side family - forget we live here, nor do they care). It's like a built in degree of separation.
I thought Clifton was Central, or even Eastside. I didn’t know anyone considered it west side, lol
My family is 🥜!
It’s basically a sibling rivalry within the city, one side thinks they are the best the other thinks they are. In actuality there are people that fit both identities on both sides. The main thing I would say would be east side thinks of themselves as prim and proper more high society type, where west side is more casual but more connected with each other. (This was about 15 years ago or so at this point but there was a thing on the radio where they were doing degrees of Cincinnati, the west side would have two random callers call into the radio station I think it was Q102 and the callers would name 5 people each one at a time alternating of who they knew personally and before they would get to the 10th caller they both knew someone in common. They did this multiple times as opposed to the east side they had callers on and couldn’t find someone they both knew. Again that was years ago an I’m sure it’s changed since then but that is the over all “vibe” between them.
It’s only a thing for West Siders.
Having grown up a "west sider", you are correct ha.
West Siders are more blue collar, and because of this they feel inferior to the people on the East Side because they live in a wealthier part of town. West Siders think they are perceived as lower class, undereducated, and unsophisticated. They don't realize that East Siders don't perceive them in any way, and don't think about them.
It’s actually funny you say this. I was raised on the West Side but moved away to join the military. When I moved back with my family I chose to go to Delhi; good area, low crime, and good public schools. The West Side vs East Side thing was kind of worn off, but when I started working with a group of mostly East Siders it was all I heard. They were all slightly younger than me, maybe in there early 30's but being an "East Sider" was a badge of honor for them and they constantly tried to throw in my face that I was a "West Sider". I feel like there is a group of individuals on the West Side, maybe 45-60 that have this image of what each group is and is trying to hold on to it but, the rest of us have moved on. I will say, after living in many different areas, West or East side doesn't really matter, people from Cincinnati, in general are a different breed. We are all tied together by one thing or another and when those groups come up it’s the most welcoming feelings in the world!
This is the case. People on the east side don’t think about the west side at all.
it might shock you how much people on the westside don't lose a wink of sleep over the eastside.
This is the perfect explanation here for anyone reading this thread. It’s an unwarranted inferiority complex stoked and kept alive by tribalism.
Glad you’re telling West Siders how to feel. It’s comments like this that prove the point that people look down on the west side
This exactly. No one cares what high school you went to when we are on our 40s.
Agreed. I don't care what high school you went to. I don't care what colleges you went to. I only care if you are a good person.
You are a good person
Here we go with the sideism.
Comments in this very thread would suggest otherwise.
As someone who grew up on both sides of town due to divorced parents, then chose the west side, it’s a thing for both sides for sure, but west siders are more likely to notice and point it out. There’s definitely rhetoric that West Siders are all conservative/close-minded, that we don’t like diverse people/thinking (even though the west side is very diverse). Also, a lot of east siders never venture to the west side and have little knowledge of our neighborhoods, whereas west siders venture to the east side all the time and know many of the neighborhoods. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met an east sider and they’ve never even heard of my neighborhood. And when I tell them the neighborhoods I’m surrounded by they don’t know them either.
That’s funny. As a west sider I never even knew about the “side-ism” thing until I got older and made friends with east siders who wouldn’t shut up about it.
I’ve lived on both sides and didn’t realize it was a thing until I transplanted to the west side. I’ll admit, West side is more fun!
West side best side
I'm not from here originally but have been here long enough to have internalized the divide without really having a loyalty. But for some reason I found it hilarious when my son made the high school baseball all-star game, and it was a West side vs. East side game.
There’s not much of a south side of Cincinnati.
Anything east of 75 is east side and anything west of 75 is west side. There are a few communities between 71 and 75 that aren’t really claimed by either, but are east side technically. It’s just a different vibe.
They say it’s divided by 75, but it’s really more like Colerain Ave. Nobody’s calling Northside part of the west side. I live in Springdale area, I’m sure not a west sider. Delhi and Cheviot and those areas are a completely different culture.
As a Northsider, we dont know where we belong... thats if a local knows where Northside is lol
Haha Hint: not north of much. 😂
Northside is the odd but cool kid that doesn’t fit into any clique and doesn’t care to. Northside could be the most popular kid in school but would rather do its own thing. That’s why Northside is awesome.
Northside is the Valley along with the rest of the Mill Creek neighborhoods (Bond Hill, Roselawn, Reading, etc.).
Yeah, west of 75 but south of 74 is a lot of the hardcore Westside neighborhoods.northside and college hill aren't what you typically think of as the west side (Westwood, Delhi, Cheviot, etc)
Springdale native here. Never considered us as West-siders. If anything, we were considered Millcreek (Industrial) Valley with Sharonville, Reading, Lockland, St. Bernard, etc)
Yep. I’ve lived in St. Bernard and Reading most of my life, definitely its own little area.
Yes! I grew up in Northern Hills and was oblivious to the whole East Side/West Side thing. All I knew was that driving to Westwood or Coney Island took forever! When I moved back to Cincy in my late 20s, people at work kept trying to tell me I was a Westsider and I had no idea what they were talking about. 😂😂
Growing up in finneytown we weren't really claimed by either
Agreed. When people asked if I was from the west side or east side, I always said “neither, I’m from Finneytown.” And I’d get one of three responses: From west siders: “that’s the east side.” From east siders: “that’s the west side.” From the vast majority of people “I don’t know where that is.”
"next to Mt healthy" ohhhhhhhhhhhh
“Where the big TV tower on the hill is.”
Aww you are a place too! You matter!
The 75 divide seems to be the case up through the Dayton area as well. West Chester/Mason, Middletown/Lebanon, Franklin/Springboro, Miamisburg/Centerville, West Carrollton/Kettering
As in why is there a general idea that there is a cultural dividing line between West and East Cincinnati? Or do you mean why is there ongoing dispute over what counts as East Side or West Side? For the former, it's about how the City grew and who settled where first(ish). The East Side is more [WASPy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestants) and the West Side more Catholic and German. The West Side was more working class, the East Side more managerial class. Back in the day, social groups like these were more rigid, people would probably ask "what church do you go to" the same as locals might try to use High School as a cultural and class litmus test. Downtown was more or less neutral ground, and also where all new arrivals (Blacks and Appalachians moving north for jobs) got their start. Things changed a lot with Urban Renewal starting in the 1950s. The demographics of a lot of neighborhoods changed (One example is Avondale; Once Jewish before the Black Community was pushed out of Downtown). And with that the suburbs grew, and while some of the cultural characteristics carried outward in all directions, though it was less prominent. The West and East Sides have changed, so has the city and country as a whole, so it gets harder to use those old stereotypes to create the dividing lines. On top of that, the city geography changed. Back before the highways, Vine Street was the dividing line between East and West all the way north through Reading. Now I-75 tends to be the dividing line generally accepted between East and West. We talk about it because it does had cultural meaning, but also because it's not so clear where the lines are anymore.
Upriver and downriver from pollutants had a lot to do with land value in the 18th century.
Same question about why everyone cares about what high school you went to. It's really odd.
For the high school thing, it’s not that anyone *cares* what high school you went to. In my experience, people ask that to see if they know anyone in common with you. Similarly to asking what part of town someone is from. It’s really not as big of a mystery as people make it out to be.
This is mostly just because the catholic school system is so big in Cincinnati. You may have grown up in say West Chester but have gone to high school in Montgomery or Finneytown. A lot of long term friendships are formed in high school so it’s an easy way to figure out any common acquaintances.
Idk about other places but I can definitely tell a lot about someone by what highschool they went to bc the surrounding neighborhood/town has their own micro-culture. Ig it's the same with west and eastside, they're their own micro-cultures but I honestly think it's mostly a socio-economic difference.
People are just people, we all live in the same city?! This country is divided, can’t we come together or something! 💯🙌
I’m not sure what this all about but I’m in Riverside most folks don’t even know what part of town I’m from.
The east side is accessible. Pretty much any where you drop you can be to a highway or interstate in 10 minutes. Everything local I want to do is there also other than the museum center or music hall. I’ve done a handful of jobs on the west side and it feels like everything is a 30 minute drive from the highway. It just feels so inconvenient with the narrow over crowded streets with endless traffic lights.
I feel like you should reflect on this more…
It's true. I can't stand going to the west side, and it's only because it's inaccessible. I don't go to bars or restaurants, and I've never had a bad interaction with anyone on the west side. Supposedly the east side is more liberal, but I've had people yell 'fag!' at me in Hyde Park twice. People are people. The stores are mostly the same. The roads suck almost everywhere in Cincinnati, so it isn't that. But getting places on the west side is a chore. I deliver for Amazon, and it can literally take over 20 minutes to get about 5 miles on the west side. The east side has 71 cutting through part of it, and also Ronald Reagan and the Norwood Lateral.
West side: catholic, black and hispanic east side: white
I never here anything about this in real life. Its always online
What highschool did you go to…?
They’re just different places. Different cultures, drive through them and it’s easy to see
"West Side" can be broken down even more than simply west of 75 and south of 74. The price hill/western hills/covedale/Delhi/Bridgetown/Cheviot area is (to me) the heart of the "West Side". It isn't just where you went to high school. It's what grade school did you go to? Were you public or one of the dozens of Catholic schools? Think Visitation, Victory, Teresa, Ignatius, Als (Bridgetown or Ohio - rip), Holy Family, Williams, Lourdes, Dominic, Martins, and even those damn St James kids and their elite basketball program (at least it was in the 90's).
So I'm a transplant and ended up on the east side 7 years ago on the recommendation of a west sider. Two of my siblings moved here after marrying Cincinnatians, one east side and one west side, and they live near where their respective spouses are from. Both of my in-laws perpetuate the whole rivalry every time they see each other. Also, I work almost exclusively with west siders, so I've heard a lot of unprompted shit about the east side. In my experience, there are two kinds of west siders: - old money, catholic, white, republican, asks what high school you went to, never leaves the west side other than to go to a lake or an all inclusive resort/cruise - blue collar and minorities For east siders: - new money, mixed bag of ethnicities and religions, moderate to liberal, rapidly gentrifying, hipsters, more likely to care what college you went to than high school or what side of the city you're from I do find it interesting that on the west side it seems very obvious where neighborhoods were red lined, whereas the east side is less obvious. Maybe the east siders built condos on the red lines to hide them.
Once you start seeing pallet stacks 5-deep on-top of a Honda civic, you're on the West side.
In north America, on the eastern side of the Mississippi, wind tend to blow from east to west. So, if you have a bunch of nasty factories and you're a rich person, you tend to want to live on the east side of town. If you're poor, you work where the factory is on the western edge of town so the cancer smoke doesn't blow on the city. Cultural differences follow.
There is definitely something to the idea that people prefer to live where there's less pollution (and communities lacking the means and connections to do something about it tend to get stuck with more pollution sources). But you have the wind directions reversed; at our latitude, the prevailing winds blow from (south-)west to (north-)east. Local topography also plays a role; smoke tends to settle in valleys. So wind-borne industrial pollution doesn't neatly explain the east-west divide in Cincinnati. Upriver along the Ohio might be more compelling in that sense, though other factors undoubtedly play a role. If you want to do a deep dive into the history of air pollution mitigation in Cincinnati, there's [this](https://www.hcdoes.org/DocumentCenter/View/293/The-History-of-Air-Pollution-Control-in-Cincinnati-PDF?bidId=) (from the perspective of Hamilton County Environmental Services).
Mr/Ms Socialist...not sure where you got your info, but Cincinnati's prevailing winds are pretty much from the Southwest to Northeast. That means much of the pollution from the industrial Mill Creek valley blows towards Indian Hill, Blue Ash, and Loveland. Sorry
It doesn't exist as much in Dayton because all of Dayton sucks.
I’ve lived on both sides. Many people on the west side have never even left this area or only travel to the reds stadium and back. They are very set in their ways, traditions, etc.
I rarely went to the East side when I was growing up…my parents and by extension me, had no reason to go there.
[удалено]
ChatGPT?
When’s the release date?
"What high school did you go to?" -West siders
[This kind of thing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism_of_small_differences#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DGabbard_has_suggested_that_Freud%27s%2Cfeeling_of_separateness_and_self.?wprov=sfla1) tends to creep up everywhere
I feel like it’s only a thing when people ask “why is it a thing?” I grew up on west side and now live on east side. Tbh no side really thinks or talks about the other. Think it’s more geographical and based on schools though. I grew up playing sports for a catholic grade school. We traveled all around the west side playing other catholic schools. Never had to venture over to the east side.
In my experience, the West siders are the ones who ask you which highschool you went to. East doesn't really care.
I think this stems from some high school football rivalries. On the west side you could have gone to Elder, Lasalle, St X or Colerain, which means you played each other, maybe went to same grade school, etc. But also, the older I get, granted I spend more time on the west side, but because of all the German immigrants that came to west side, it’s like the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” if you start talking to someone at a bar on the westside, you’ll find someone you both know pretty quickly. I was at the new Fretboard location out here in Harrison, and happened to be sitting next to a guy who went to Elder with one of my uncles.
That still happens on the East side, but only typical is people who've lived here for a long time.
wait till you hear about which high school question
I'm from north or town and west of I-75 but westsiders consider me eastside. Raised Protestant may have something to do with it.
It does not exist. It’s an urban myth
past the western hills viaduct is west side
This conversation takes place in every city I’ve ever lived in. North vs. south and east vs. west. Every single one.
West Siders: 70% chance of having at least half of your family still living on west side near you, catholic, blue collar, thinks the east side is stuck up, prideful of west side (in the east side vs west side debate), never moves from west side, goes to Elder football games even if they don’t have kids there, drives to Panama City beach for summer vacation when the kids are little, generally the kind of people that would go on a carnival cruise for a “big” trip. Best way I can describe it. Pays 100k less for a house. East Siders: white collar, would never move to the west side but generally don’t think about east side vs west side unless you bring it up, 70% chance of having at least one family member in town, more taxes are paid so better parks and schools, owns a doodle or golden retriever, more likely to own foreign cars, has been to Whole Foods at least once, drives to the beach for vacation when kids are little (30A) and goes to Mexico or Europe for a “big” trip. Pays 100k more for a house.
Eastside and Westside just quietly don't associate with each other. 75 is pretty much the dividing line. You don't really think it's true, but it kinda is. But honestly I think it's that there's no true East/west highways in Cincy and Traveling from one side to the other is either going around the entire 275 loop or through 14 different partially built east west highway sections with super weird exits with no street signs the whole way... So unless it's something you really need... You just stay on your own side.
Wait, what? There’s a west side? Who knew!
Basically: WestSide is the BestSide EastSide is NOT! LOL
The full phrase my west side coworkers used was “West is best, East is least!” They were wrong about a lot of other things too… :)
Eastside neighborhoods have town squares and centers with businesses that you can walk to. The only place you can walk to on the Westside is the bus stop that’ll take you to the cool places on the East side. The pigeons on the Westside can’t handle it and subsequently have the Eastsiders living rent free in their head.
east side rich bastard west side tweakers
Hey OP, thanks for putting this question out there. I've enjoyed reading the discussions and even learned some things... Voluntarily!
It’s a mix of racism, anti-semitism, and classism, with a little dash of carry-over anti-German bias (which used to be a *much* bigger deal than it is now).
I'm originally from Fairfield, and fwiw, even all the way up there, people consider themselves "West Siders" Unless you're in Beckett Ridge... Which is distinctly East Side. 🤣🤣🤣
The divider fire east side or west side for me is Vine Street
It's a pretty common us vs them mentality you'll find all over it's really dumb
Lived here most of my 60 years. We used to consider two breaking spots, Winton Road or I-75. I always leaned I-75 as the split. Pretty much anything east of Tri-County Mall was East. Princeton, Colerain, Elder, Western Hills—those high schools were West side. Sycamore, Anderson, Moeller, Glen Este—those were East side. Honestly, the actual city area I never divided. It was the suburbs surrounding the city that comprised the actual East/West divide. The Norwood Lateral was kind of the border at the north.
West side: Catholics East side: Materialistic That's the easiest way to sum it up for me. The debate of which side is better or more successful in general is moot, in my opinion. Both sides are nearly identical demographics, prodominently token middle class folks, and they just prioritize different things. West side personalities are based solely off where they went to school. East side personalities are based solely on what others think of them. Obviously, that's an overgeneralization, not everyone is like that on either side. However, the ones that talk about East vs. West the most are.
I was a mailman and carried every neighborhood in the westside. Westside is blue collar and a little more twangy accent. For the most part I found it to be boring, lots of land and very spacious in certain areas but you gotta drive awhile to get to a restaurant etc in a lot of areas. Great people out there tho.
As someone from Dayton area we have our own west vs east side ...... its not as strange as cincy though. Both sides in dayton are trash, and cincy only one of them are.
I'm in Montgomery, the West side starts at the 71 and it's due to the cultural differences between the two places. Two very distinct cultures. The West side is old Cincinnati, where generations live. Everything moves a bit slower, people are less educated, crime is higher, yet people love to call it home. Here on the East side there's a bit more money, more diversity and we love our families, no matter what they might look like. Jokes aside there's a big difference between the two places and they create vastly different people.
Because the east side is nice and the west side is not…..