The Heights

The Heights is an aged neighborhood near the University of Cincinnati campus. It is a cramped neighborhood of older homes, many of them converted to multiple units, set on a hillside between the UC campus and Over-The-Rhine. Because of its proximity to campus, it is a great place for students to live with very reasonable rents. It is one of the more affordable areas for off-campus housing. However, because of the number of students living in this area, it also can get pretty rowdy. This area has been known to have major street parties that are verging on riots, so it is definitely not a quiet neighborhood. However, for a college student, it is a lot of fun.

The Heights is also home to one of the best little bars in Cincinnati, Murphy's Pub located on Clifton Avenue. In business since 1969, Murphy's is not just a college bar, it is a neighborhood hangout (not everyone living in the Heights is a student.) The Heights even has its own neighborhood grocery/convenience store, the Ravine Street Market, located at the corner of Ravine and Warner. There are also a number of restaurants and shops nearby along McMillan Street and other nearby streets. Because it is a college neighborhood, you can find some good food at great prices...no high class dining here.

There are some nice little parks in this area, I like Fairview Park. Fairview Park is a small, winding park that offers fantastic views of Downtown Cincinnati. Another neighborhood park with a great view is Bellevue Hill Park. I would, however, recommend exploring these parks during the daylight hours as the Heights has above average crime rates.

Parking in the Heights can be difficult any day of the week, but especially at night. Most of the parking is on street, making it difficult to find a space, especially on the narrow side streets. However, one of the benefits of parking in the Heights, if you are going to nearby businesses or the class at UC, is that there are very few parking meters in this area, so you can score some free parking.

Overall, I would recommend the Heights as a neighborhood for college students. If you are looking to purchase a rental property, it would be a good location to find a place, but I wouldn't recommend actually living there for the most part.

When going to school at UC, the Heights was my favorite neighborhood to live in. It simply was close to everything I needed and wanted and though the atmosphere was not as clean as the CUF or Clifton Gaslight district, It is way more affordable. While this neighborhood was fun for me, it is certainly not for everyone as there are lots of factors that make it great and unbearable at the same time.

The Heights has an amazing view of the city on the south side, If you are not lucky enough to get a place close to the overlook then go to Bellevue Park to see what it is like. Its a fun little park with a one of a kind gazebo shade structure that makes the park unique. (My favorite fun fact to share about this park is that the rock band Three Doors Down used the structure in their music video "Its Not My Time" http://youtu.be/qpfhcljJ9bQ . You can see exactly what I mean by the city view if you watch it. ) There is also Fairview Park, which is also a nice walking and driving park.

A great thing about the Heights is that there is always a party going on, and a bad thing about The Heights is that there is always a party going on. The noise can be intolerable if you are trying to sleep and the neighbors are cranking up tunes or any other noisy shenanigans they can think up, but if you are an active partier, then this scene may be a good place to settle for a few years.

The partying and the Height's close proximity to UC makes street parking pretty bad. At night, one is pretty lucky to find one under a 5 minute walk to their destination, and its even worse when school is in session. Another thing to look out for if you are parked off-street, is getting blocked in by unobservant drivers. This happened to me several times, and I had to get a couple cars towed after being blocked in for a ridiculous amount of time.

Being on the south side neighboring UC the Heights falls in between of Over-The-Rhine with the school and the CUF/Clifton Gaslight districts, because of this the neighborhood has a elevated crime rate compared to the other areas surrounding UC. I fortunately never experienced a break-in or anything even close to that, but I would recommend to anyone planning on living in the area to tak all the precautions necessary of living in inner city (i.e. always have entrance ways locked, keep valuable things out of the car, walk with a group at night, etc.)

Overall, the Heights is an area I would highly recommend to students to live in. There are some great coffee shops, bars and small restaurants in the neighborhood. The college-age scene is pretty fresh and best of all down to earth. The people in this area generally are responsible young adults that are working towards a college degree on a budget. They are not trying to impress anyone, their main objective is to get through school and have a good time in the process.