10 hours in New York...a new inspiration for Over the Rhine

I had the opportunity to visit New York City Wednesday. I was in Philly for a test and my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until the next day at 9am. So, I just couldn't resist making the trip knowing that it was only a short hour and a half drive away. I rolled in to Brooklyn around 5:30pm (yeah traffic was insane) and I was on my way back to the airport by around 3:00am. I was supposed to meet up with the guys from The Tillers, but their train into town got delayed and then they had some difficulty getting all their equipment from Penn Station to Brooklyn, where they were staying for the night. So, I never got to meet up with them. However, it turned out to be a really exciting trip anyway.
First, I spent some time checking out a couple of really cool areas of Brooklyn. I had never been in Brooklyn before and I must say I was really impressed. Manhattan street was bustling with life, even at 9pm on a Wednesday. The neighborhood really reminded me of Over the Rhine.
I then got to drive through Manhattan for awhile, passing such incredible sites as Grand Central Terminal, The Chrysler Building, and Times Square. After that it was time to head over to Greenwich Village to meet up with The Tillers at The Baggot Inn on W. 3rd Street. On Wednesdays they have an impromptu bluegrass/folk music night where musicians from all over the city meet up and play together in big groups of 15 or more people. Its completely improvised and really impressive to say the least. The Tillers had participated in this gathering once over the summer and were planning on coming back that night for another visit, but it didn't work out. However, it was a lot of fun hanging out there for a couple of hours.
After that it was already pretty late, but I was able to squeeze in a quick trip through SoHo before heading out through the Lincoln Tunnel. SoHo was an amazing site. Again there was a huge resemblance to Cincinnati's Over the Rhine. People everywhere, every building full of shops and apartments/lofts. It gave me a lot of hope for Over the Rhine. I definitely think OTR could rival SoHo someday in terms of architecture and overall appearance. Let's all hope it comes to life!