Columbus, Ohio USA
Return to Homepage www.shortnorth.com
Dis 'n' Data
By Margaret Marten, Editor
email margaret@shortnorth.com
March 2007
After a successful three-year run in the Short North, Pistachio will be packing its bags and heading south to a new home in German Village this summer. Spencer Budros and his sister Anne Fletcher opened the desserts-only bakery in August 2004 at 680 N. Pearl St., serving unique desserts using classic European techniques created with the finest ingredients available purchased from the North Market and imported from European distributors. They have continued to offer an ever-changing menu attuned to season as well as their creative inspiration without replicating design or flavor. The future location in German Village has been home to bakers for over 75 years – Thurn’s and Reiner’s. And the historic site at 541 S. Third St. is family-owned, which the pair believe will provide a more secure location for their blossoming business. Overall, the new site is said to be a perfect fit. 5,000-plus square feet will accommodate a custom kitchen. There is substantial parking available, and an outdoor garden courtyard is planned.
The Cowtown Art Closing Count-down continues through the end of March when the red-lettered sign publicizing the store’s closing sale will finally be removed from the storefront with the expiration of the lease. Owner Jason Slagle opened the shop at 668 N. High St. in June 2003, a space that formerly housed Ethniciti. Cowtown’s inventory of paintings, sculptures, glasswork, jewelry, mobiles and other kitschy curios grew steadily over the years, beginning with 40 artists’ works, and eventually representing as many as 100 artists at any one time. However, Slagle now has other irons in the fire. His pizza shop, Cowtown Pizza that opened over in Grandview last May is doing so well, he’s planning to open another before too long and needs that extra time to focus on expanding his new business. It’s what he wanted to do long before he opened the gallery: “It’s something I did when I was in college and really enjoyed and just thought one of these days I’m going to open up a pizza shop of my own,” Slagle said. “Finally I had the means to do it, so I did.” He admits he’ll miss the neighborhood, which is “loads of fun,” and teaching the mosaic class in his gallery, but Slagle says the gallery was never going to be a runaway success and that pizza making is much more profitable. “People have to eat every day,” he said, “but they might buy art twice a year. There’s really no comparison.” For those of you who haven’t stepped out yet for your semi-annual art purchase in 2007, the opportunity to grab a piece of cut-rate Cowtown Art should continue through March.
Byfords Salon recently moved from 8 E. Poplar Ave. into the Salon Lofts at 909 N. High St. Owner Tim Reynolds said the space where he had remained for almost eight years did not generate much pedestrian traffic and that parking would be more readily available at the Lofts. He also had made a life decision to downsize his business because he wanted more freedom, so when he was approached by Jeff Hersey, who was looking for a gallery space and was asked if he knew of any openings, he seized the opportunity to make his move from E. Poplar before the end of the lease. The storefront on Poplar, which faces the Poplar Plaza where Andrew Lidgus’s 15-foot sculpture In Dreams Again is standing, seems to be an ideal location for Jeff Hersey’s new gallery, Terra Gallery, which will open sometime in March. The gallery, which will include all genres of art – representational and abstract – intends to focus on contemporary local and regional artists, although they will also pull works from national and international artists. In addition, it will serve as a corporate art consulting and leasing business. Hersey, a keyboard musician with The Majestics and a metal sculptor working with Studios on High for the past four years, is founder of Abstract Earth Gallery, an online art consulting company representing over 170 artists – local, national and international. Hersey hopes to expand the online focus from abstract art to both representational and abstract, which would allow the Terra Gallery to serve as a physical space for his online business. “I wanted to open up a physical gallery that would be complemented by our online offering,” he said. And once he made that decision, Hersey hit the pavement. “I started walking down the street. I knew that Cowtown was available. Then I walked into Byfords and asked Tim if he knew of any spaces available, and he said ‘Well, guess what?’ So, the timing was perfect. Hopefully we have destiny on our side.”
Last month, Gallery On High, owned by Jay Xing, a native of China, opened at 147 N. High St. just south of the Elevator Brewery & Draught Haus between Spring and Long streets. The new gallery is a welcome addition to the Columbus arts scene with its contribution of reputable international works. Xing is a graduate of the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in China and earned his master’s at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He has lived in China, Germany, New York City, as well as Columbus, and his expressionistic works are held in both private and major museums. The gallery is currently exhibiting his paintings through March. The upcoming April show will include the watercolors of Professor Xiu Deng and Zhen Zhong Duan (watercolor with acrylic) focusing on natural and urban landscapes. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, April 7 from 7 to 9 p.m. Call 614-432-0236 or email info@thegalleryonhigh.com to learn more.
The Short North arches are scheduled for a relighting ceremony/celebration on Saturday, June 9, 2007. The event will be jointly sponsored by the Mayor’s office and the Short North Business Association (SNBA). The previous lighting event for the $3 million project designed by E.G.&G., Inc. occurred four years ago in December 2002, but a few months later only two of the 17 arches were functioning properly. The design of the arches themselves, included in the initial $3 million project, was satisfactory, but the lighting design failed, which resulted in the legal settlement of $1.2 million (rather than $3 million) between EG&G and the city. Unfortunately, that amount would no longer suffice after the price of copper rose last summer. However, the balance was subsequently met by the Short North Special Improvement District (SID), a non-profit corporation represented by 90 Short North property owners working with the city to realize the project. When news of the price hike surfaced, the city proposed plain white LED lighting (light-emitting diode system) rather than the flashier multicolored LED with strobe effects in order to cut costs, but the SID board unanimously voted to continue with the more expensive lights they had hoped for and decided to simply slash their planned streetscape projects earmarked with those funds. The light system installed in 2002 that failed was fiber-optic. The new LED-light system is said to withstand vibration and can instantly light, change color, grow dim and appear to dance.
Although no one has been arrested or charged, as part of an ongoing investigation into mortgage fraud, Columbus law enforcement officials presented a search warrant to the owners of the Happy Greek Restaurant in late January and proceeded to search the Short North business (as well as the owners’ home and an appraiser’s apartment) confiscating computers, mortgage files, counterfeit cash, phony immigration documents and fake driver’s licenses. The February 7 Columbus Dispatch front-page story stated that officials suspect the owners ran a multimillion-dollar mortgage-fraud ring and that “real-estate deals were hatched at meetings in the restaurant basement office, which had two desks and a fax machine buzzing paperwork to (mortgage) companies.” Their silver 2004 Porsche Cayenne and 2001 Volkswagen were also searched by the police. The Happy Greek is co-owned by Mohamed Hassan and Gihan “Gigi” Zalat who apparently have not been unhinged by the recent turn of events as the establishment is still up and running. When I called over there, I could hear the hum of conversation and the clatter dishes, but no faxes buzzing.
News about upcoming events in the neighborhood can be found in this issue on pages 16-17 as well as among the classified listings on pages 32-33.© 2007 Short North Gazette, Columbus, Ohio. All rights reserved.