I always knew Powel Crosley, Jr.

My family had been members of the YMCA that bears his name in Springfield Township along Winton Road – across the street from the neighborhood where my grandma lives – for as long as I can remember. There was a big painted portrait of the famous Cincinnatian, radio pioneer and inventor of putting shelves in the door of your refrigerator right behind the front desk where we used to show our membership cards.

So, I was pretty excited to learn that Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory and Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell were going to tour Crosley’s Mount Airy Mansion. And even better, they were there to tout restoring the old house into a museum and quasi-conference center.

I think next it would be worthwhile to turn the old Crosley factory in Camp Washington (visible from Interstate 75, it’s the big, yellowish approximately 5-story building with the billboard/for-sale sign on top that has been graffiti’d to hell and back). That’s WLW-AM’s original broadcasting studio and where many notable entertainers would go to broadcast on the 500,000-watt behemoth known as the “nation’s station.”

In this photo, Mallory and Tarbell share a laugh with Dave (I lost his last name), the facilities director for Mercy Hosptial Mount Airy. They were in Crosley’s spacious home office, where Tarbell had come across a secret closet that apparently was designed as a gun rack. The Crosley home is on the grounds of the hospital.

Also, the photo that accompanies this story (which I also shot) is inside the bathroom off this office, just a few feet away. Besides the stunning Rookwood Pottery, the bath’s shower had body jets, those nozzles that spray water on the body below the top nozzle. It also had leg-level air heaters built into the pottery. Amazing for a place built in 1927 and 1928.

I’ll keep this short because the Cincinnati Blog beat me to it, but this week’s column in The Cincinnati Post is about 3CDC Fountain Square Managing Director Bill Donabedian’s plan to create a little fun around the water being turned back on to the Tyler Davidson Fountain March 27. It’s a wild and wacky idea – but a fun one – that could be a neat way to celebrate our city and the return water to the city’s centerpiece.

What do you think of the idea?

The ubiquitous scooter and its even more ubiquitous fun-loving owner had their own special parking space this morning at California Woods Nature Perserve for the annual “Pancakes in the Woods” event to raise money for nature education. It’s like a sign was even necessary for the famous red scooter.

Both Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell and Council Member David Crowley shared flapjack flippin’ duty during the four-hour event. Also seen at the event were Council members John Cranley and Chris Monzel, as well as Park Board Director Willie Carden and Community Development and Planning Director Michael Cervay.

More than 400 people were expected for a $6 breakfast of pancakes, sausage and maple syrup made right on the preserve, said Brewster Rhodes, a board member for the nature perserve and regional representative for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.

For the record, the food was delicious and the park is beautiful. There’s plenty of trails in the natural growth park, just east of Lunken Airport along Kellogg Avenue. Pancakes or not, I’d highly recommend checking the place out.

For another photo of the event, see Monday’s .