Just For Interest

Friday, my wife and I went to Indianapolis to celebrate my dad's 85th birthday. He celebrated by hosting a big band jazz group and playing his saxaphone at a place called the Jazz Kitchen in an older section of Indy called Broad Ripple. As we drove around the streets of Broad Ripple, I pictured how the area on College Ave. where the Jazz Kitchen is located, could be duplicated in our downtown Middletown. The "theme" of an "artsy" environment was present in this area. Surrounding the Jazz Kitchen were shops selling musical instruments. a Cuban restaurant, some "56 Degree" places with the umbrella tables out on the sidewalks with people dining and the large covered area outside the J.Kitchen where people were listening to a jazz trio before settling in to listen through speakers to dad's big band jazz show as they drank and ate. The problem is the clientele of the area and the difficulty of attraction between the two towns. Apparently, Broad Ripple is a community of some wealth and with people who are interested in this type of entertainment. In Middletown, one would have to rely on the Cincy/Dayton wealth influences to travel to downtown to enjoy the amenities like a Jazz Kitchen. Don't think there's enough folks here in town that would like this sort of thing. Just for interest.