I spent a summer in Cincinnati. These are the 7 spots I'll remember most

I spent the summer of 2023 interning for The Cincinnati Enquirer. I wrote about some big concerts that came to town, historic stores closing after 50 years in business and how Cincinnati can become a safer city for bikers.

I spent my free time hanging around Clifton, Northside and Over-the-Rhine, popping into boutique stores and bakeries, wasting away at local bars, letting go at nightclubs – making (and losing) friends along the way.

This article is a list of the seven Cincinnati spots that will stay with me when I move on. This is where I spent my time, where I shopped, where I ate, where I went to catch the sunset, where I spent late nights reviewing Cincinnati Music Festival and where I wound down after a long day.

These are the places I'll remember most.

Highland Coffee House

Highland Coffee House has been a second home for me in Cincinnati.

Open every night 5 p.m.-2:30 a.m., this Corryville cafe is something special. Order a bottomless coffee and work the night away. Fill up with a pizza bagel, down a pint of Guinness or two. You can't go wrong at Highland.

Pack a book, bring a date. Tuck away in a corner and catch up with an old friend. Share a smoke with the cute stranger on the back patio whose name you forgot to ask and who you'll never see again. Bring a whole team, push the tables together and ask the lone studier to borrow his extra chair. Then reach behind the bar, pull out Scrabble or Monopoly or a deck of cards, and banter away until close.

That's what I did at Highland, and that's what I will remember.

2839 Highland Ave., Corryville.

Somerset and OTR bar-hopping

I've written about Somerset already this summer. This chic OTR bar was recently awarded a spot in Yelp's top mom and pop shops in the country. But award or no, Somerset is a top-notch spot and deserves a place in any best-of-Cincinnati list.

I start all my OTR nights out at Somerset. Propped up at the greenhouse bar, shmoozing in the lounge or surrounded by bamboo in the open-air RV in the backyard garden – at Somerset, I always feel cooler than I really am. The cocktails are subtly flavored and strong, and the menu changes regularly, so it never gets old.

After Somerset, I'll walk across Liberty Street to Mecca, another hip bar with a well-developed outdoor patio. The indoor dance floor is an added bonus. Then it's off to Somerset's sister bar, Alice, on the corner of Liberty and Main. Developed by the same owners, Alice is like Somerset, but with less shmoozing and much more dancing. The majority of the space is devoted to an expansive, high-ceiling boogie room.

And then I dance, and then I go home.

Somerset: 139 E. McMicken Ave. Mecca: 1429 Walnut St. Alice: 1432 Main St.; all in Over-the-Rhine.

Afternoons in Northside

I started the summer hanging out in OTR. But as the hot months wore on, I found myself yearning for a new walkable neighborhood. I tried out Clifton and College Hill, but eventually, I settled on Northside. Strolling up and down Hamilton Avenue, I would pop into a bar here, a record store there. Northside was exactly what I was looking for, and these are the spots that made it so.

Darau Salam Restaurant - Hidden behind a garden patio on the main drag of Hamilton Avenue, the rich flavors of this authentic Senegalese restaurant are singular in Cincinnati. For those unfamiliar with Senegalese cuisine, Darau Salam will offer a dazzling new sensation. For those who are familiar, it might feel more like a hug. 4163 Hamilton Ave.

Shake It Records - Shake It Records is simply a very cute record store with a wide enough selection to excite any music-loving browser. Walk downstairs and you'll also find an abundant supply of used books, with everything from classic fiction and philosophy to Cincinnati history. One could spend hours there. I know I did. 4156 Hamilton Ave.

DSGN CLLCTV and Tenzing Murals - The front door to Design Collective was always locked, so I would just look in through the large glass windows. But the last time I visited the windows, I noticed a tattooed, beanie-wearing couple walk down the alley alongside the building's Tenzing mural and enter through a side door. I followed them inside. What I found was a small, hidden vintage-style clothing store and a cute stage to host an oft-indie band. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. 4150 Hamilton Ave.

Mike's Music

I am first and foremost a music critic. But I am also an avid music lover and an amateur musician. For music lovers like me, Mike's Music on Short Vine, with Ohio's largest selection of vintage guitars, is something of a heaven in Cincinnati.

You walk into a room full of standard electric guitars hanging on the wall, asking to be plugged in and jammed. Then there's the room completely devoted to Stratocasters, the Ferrari of electric guitars. Then there's the amp room with machinery stacked 5 feet high, and the acoustic room, walls lined with wide classicals, standard Martins and even a few 12-string Gibsons.

But my favorite room in Mike's Music is the one that's packed with vintage keyboards. It's almost as hard to plug in one of these antique music-makers as it is to meander your way into a comfortable position to play one, but it is more than worth it. Who needs comfort when you have a 1960s Wurlitzer?

If you're looking to kill some time in the Queen City, I cannot recommend Mike's Music any higher.

2615 Vine St., Corryville.

Saigon Subs and Rolls

The Enquirer offices are on the corner of Plum and Third streets, in the southwest corner of downtown Cincinnati. Downtown is a little bit of a food desert. The few available lunch options are expensive and not particularly tasty to this particular critic. Everything except Saigon Subs and Rolls, that is. The banh mi is flavorful, well stocked and only $7. The rice vermicelli bowl is $5 more but comes with a fried spring roll. This little shop, tucked into an office building was my happy place twice a week for a whole summer. How can you forget something like that?

151 W. Fourth St., Downtown.

Downtown Nostalgic

Downtown Nostalgic is also a shop I've written about before, but I have no reservations about writing about it again. The store, and its owner, Ossie Johnson, are both a little magical.

It's the way the door creaks open, the way dust particles glow in the light through the front windows. It's in the way Ossie greets you, asks for a hug and smiles glowingly as you walk away.

But it is no magic trick that will make Downtown Nostalgic disappear. That decision was Johnson's. She has been running the shop for close to 50 years now, and she wants to be free. So here's another reminder to head over to Clifton Heights to check out this magical, historic store before it's too late.

119 Calhoun St., Clifton Heights.

Bellevue Hill Park

The first thing I did when I got to Cincinnati was take a nap. The second thing was watch the sunset at Bellevue Hill Park. It was just what I needed.

With the low-rise stretch of OTR in the fore, Downtown's skyscrapers just beyond and the rolling Kentucky hills in the background, I got a full view of the city that was to become my home for the summer. All within my line of sight from atop that hill, I found cute coffee shops to toil away the day, dancing bars to spend the night, pickup soccer games to break my legs and friends to carry me home.

None of it will be forgotten.

2191 Ohio Ave., Clifton Heights.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 7 spots I'll remember most after a summer in Cincinnati