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Toledo Folk

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created by djimpelr on Nov 14, 2007 at 03:48:30 pm     Comments: 25

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My wife and I are seriously considering moving to the Carolinas. Why did you leave. What cities would you reccommend moving to?

posted by Kooz on Nov 14, 2007 at 03:52:44 pm     #

We left because "Uncle Sam" told me to wink wink In seriousness, my four years were up there, and I didn't get any of my other choices. I always felt that at least one of my units would be one at home, and so I'm getting this out of the way.

posted by djimpelr on Nov 14, 2007 at 04:05:16 pm     #

Tony Packo's
The Mud Hens

Decaying industry and the anxiety that comes from blue collar job losses.

They will give you the shirt off their back, no question.

Temples, Churchs and Mosques exist respectfully side by side.

Much, much less prejudice than that which I encountered in a short stay in Atlanta but racial tensions and prejudice still exist.

Use your turn signals, wait your turn and don't cut anybody off in traffic.

There are entire neighborhoods where no one locks their doors. Others where you can't have a lawn ornament.

The weather here makes you somewhat of an achiever. Short summers and very cold winters mean you work outdoors whenever you can. Tomorrow may be impossible. You might run your air conditioner and your furnace in the same 24 hr period.

You'd better know about dotting the "i" at The Ohio State University.

Get a snow blower.

The Toledo Symphony is outstanding. Or you could try bowling.

Most people fly out of Detroit rather than Toledo Express Airport. Sigh.

Eight presidents come from Ohio. (That work ethic thing again. Get it done today 'cause tomorrow you might not be able to.)

Welcome!

posted by holland on Nov 14, 2007 at 04:14:53 pm     #

I chuckle about the weather vs. AC/furnace because my wife and I have been doing that yo-yo act lately. Although we were raised in Cincinnati, we still have to get reacclimated to those winters here again after those NICE Decembers in Charleston. I've heard some things in regard to the weather here. The location of us being in a "pocket" on the lake prevents us from getting what Cleveland and Buffalo get.

posted by djimpelr on Nov 14, 2007 at 04:23:41 pm     #

If you want to get an insight into what Toledo is all about, read COSI: A Lesson for Columbus, posted Nov, 9th, on this page. Be sure to read all 24 comments. After you get through all of that, I'd be interested in your comments( did it give you a better insight into what Toledo is all about).

posted by lew on Nov 14, 2007 at 04:45:04 pm     #

The pocket is usually referred to by Blizzard Bill as a dry slot. It can also cause your lawn to go brown in July and August.

posted by holland on Nov 14, 2007 at 04:45:36 pm     #

Lake Erie.

posted by jr on Nov 14, 2007 at 04:50:12 pm     #

Yes I've read COSI: A Lesson for Columbus. Nice, brilliant, economics and politics. That didn't answer the questions initially posted here however.

posted by djimpelr on Nov 14, 2007 at 04:59:30 pm     #

As you can see. Its hard to get a straight answer out of a Toledoan, especially our politicians.

To answer your questions.

1. What makes Toledoans tick?
Answer: A big union pay check.

2.What motivates a native Toledoan in life?
Answer:Trying to find employment with a decent wage.

3. Are people laid back or blunt.
Answer: For the most part laid back. They won't necessarily go out of there way to say hello if you walk by them, but they won't spit on you either.

4. Ethnic backgrounds/habitual influence.
Answer: Toledo USED to have ethnic neighborhoods. Hungarian, Polish, etc. These neighborhoods are still called ethnic but really are not anymore. Most of the North End polish have moved out and just about all the Hungarians have moved out of the east Toledo area...or they have died or are about to. These neighborhoods are primarily gang and thug saturated now. One of my good friends owned the bar that was set on fire in the riot. His whole family lived in the neighborhood their whole lives and have since moved out.

5. What are some of the driving habits of Toledoans?
Answer; We like to take left turns onto main roads and then drive straight in the turn lane for about 2-3 miles instead of just waiting our turn.

6. Are there catch phrases?
If your over 62 it would be "Holy Toledo." If you're under 62 the usual catch phrase you would here is "Do you know someone who could get me in?"

7. What makes Toledo weird?
Answer: You actually have better odds of winning $10 million dollars in the lottery than getting hired on the Fire Department.

8. Is the city open-minded?
Answer: Publically, people will say yes. But, if you talk to people one-on-one about issues like race and sexuality, you will usually find they are not.

9.What makes Toledo a part of American Culture.
Answer: Jamie Farr, MASH, MudHens, Danny Thomas, Katie Holmes, Tony Packo's,

posted by Kooz on Nov 14, 2007 at 05:48:43 pm     #

What makes a Toledo tick?
** hard to say on an overall basis. Many people grew up here and plan to stay. Generally a lower cost of living and affordable housing - especially when you consider the availability of waterfront property at an extremely affordable price in Point Place. People who live here like it here.

What motivates the native Toledoan in life?
** different for every person. For me, it's that stubbornness developed (or inherited?) early in life that if I can help improve something, I should. Personally, I'm motivated by the sunrise every morning and the moonrise on many nights over Maumee Bay.

Are people laid back and hospitable like those in say, Charleston,SC? Or are people hard-core and blunt?
** Hospitality here is different than in the south (originally from Nashville, best friend from Charleston - spend time there yearly). People will bend over backward to help you and others in need, but often can seem a bit rough on the outside because of the 'manufacturing/union/blue collar' reputation. But for most of those people the rough appearance hides the fact that they are soft and cuddly inside.

I'm aware of the heritage here (Polish and other European backgrounds here). How much of their habits influence the city?
** It's hard to find someone who's never been to an ethnic festival or had the ethnic food so readily available. Kielbasa, tortillas, kibbee, Guinness, Ouzo, Spanakopita, Chicken Paprikash ... most of us grew up eating these kinds of things and making the yearly festivals a 'must do' activity during the summers.

Much of our reputation as a port city is due to the Irish immigrants who came here to work on the docks. Our Hungarian immigrants (many seeking safety following the revolution in '56) brought a lot of tool&die skills. You'll find colorful homes in the Old South End which celebrates its Hispanic heritage. The Polish Village and Birmingham neighborhoods will feature as much Polish and Hungarian as they do English and the many restaurants which feature the ethnic foods are loved by all.

We've all learned a lot about other cultures through the activities the churches and neighborhoods sponsor and, because of this, it's hard to look at ourselves and identify habits unique to each because we incorporate them into our everyday lives.

What are some driving habits of the Toledoan?
** Some don't understand the concept of the far left lane being a passing lane. We either hate or love red-light cameras. We can get anywhere in the county in about 20 minutes so if we have to wait 10-15 minutes because of construction or an accident we go nuts. Some have no concept of how to merge onto a highway, so don't be surprised when the merging car doesn't look and is only going about 30 mph... Overall, though, our driving habits are not as bad as ... Memphis. LOL

Are there catch phrases, idioms or most common words used (like in the movie Fargo)?
** We have a few phrases which are derived from political events. "Carty gets results" gets twisted in so many ways. "The Blah" is a derogatory term for the local paper, The Blade. I'm sure others who post here can give you more examples...

Is the city, for the most part, open-minded culturally especially race relations(Post-Riot) Is there a spirit of diversity and well, color blindness?
** In general, yes, but every community has people who aren't so tolerant or accepting of others - especially when they're different.

What makes a Toledoan weird or insane?
** where to start??? We're a 'big' town made up of a lot of unique and terrific neighborhoods. Sometimes, we're our own worst enemy but mostly not. Sometimes we're like a pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other. We're pretty dull compared to the some of the characters you'd find in New York or LA, but that sort of comes with being a midwest city. We've been known to have an inferiority complex when it comes to the attention our state capital ladles upon the three Cs (there's a saying for you: Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland) and it's how we got the reputation for being a part of the "other ohio" (as in not a 'C'). We're a bit finicky about what constitutes a good perch sandwich and probably eat out more than other cities.
Anything else, I wouldn't admit to in public.LOL

But what's makes a Toledoan a special part of American culture?
** I think this is something you should discover for yourself rather than be told what someone else thinks. I'd be interested in having your answers to these questions one year from now.

posted by MaggieThurber on Nov 14, 2007 at 06:21:38 pm     #

Also, I've found most Toledoans are pretty 'conservative' in terms of the values of family, community and charity.

posted by MaggieThurber on Nov 14, 2007 at 06:26:12 pm     #

Thank you for those answers. Some were humorous, well, I could see the humour attempt. This is my kind of town in terms of international elements. I'm HUGE into international affairs and when it come sto food, I just have to eventually break out of my crave for Japanese, Italian and Latin American cuisine. I keep being led to the Middle Eastern cuisine, but I've never made that move yet.

posted by djimpelr on Nov 14, 2007 at 06:45:23 pm     #

A quick caveat about the North Toledo riot:

This, despite the efforts of mainstream media, was not a "race" riot per se. It was about people angry about the city's decision to let a bunch of idiotic neo-Nazis march through an integrated neighborhood and shout racial epithets, and the perception by the large crowd that assembled to jeer at the swastika-waving clowns that the police were "protecting" the Nazis when the rally was cancelled.

Yes, some crowd members engaged in violence, but the decision to allow the rally was a foolish one. I am a dorky-looking middle-aged white guy, and at no point was I ever hassled in the middle of the riot. Besides, there were plenty of white, Hispanic, and even Arabic protesters, too, though the videocameras that fed the national media only seemed to locate black protesters.

Funny, that.

Here and here are some riot photos that show a more comprehensive view of who was out there that day.

Anyways, to answer your question, people in Toledo are generally quite accepting of those who look different from themselves. I find race relations to be better in Toledo than other places I have lived, such as Dallas and Detroit.

Are there problems? Certainly. Are they so serious as to prevent people from getting along with one another? Rarely.

posted by historymike on Nov 14, 2007 at 09:34:22 pm     #

djimpelr - for good Middle Eastern food, try Tiger Deli or The Beruit.

I'm a fan of sushi, so I know you'll find plenty to satisfy that food craving. :)

posted by MaggieThurber on Nov 15, 2007 at 08:34:12 am     #

Local residents may know the details about the North Toledo riot, but it still happened, and it made Toledo look bad. People outside Toledo could base their views on sources like YouTube, Google or Wikipedia. Just do a search on the word "Toledo" at YouTube, and you will get a couple news videos related to the Nazi visits.

The first video is from channel 7 out of Detroit about the December 2005 Nazi visit, but it naturally includes video from the October 2005 Nazi visit as well.

And then the homemade music and propaganda videos created from media footage :

historymike, do you have your sticker sold at CafePress?

Toledo didn't do itself any favors in the last quarter of 2005.

posted by jr on Nov 15, 2007 at 08:49:48 am     #

food wise Toledo is a great place to be.

Pizza - Gino's, Inky's, J & G's, Homeslice
Thai - Bangkok Kitchen, Thai Rose
Vietnamese - Saigon Bistro
Sushi - Siri, Yoko, Kotobucki, Fujiyama
Italian - Mancy's, Ciao'
Mexican - El Vaquero, Mi Hacienda, El Camino
Middle east - Tandor, Grape Leaf, Beruit

posted by transcom on Nov 15, 2007 at 08:57:48 am     #

I'd add Tee Tree Asian Bistro for sushi...it's not in Toledo proper but certainly in Lake Erie West...

posted by MaggieThurber on Nov 15, 2007 at 11:21:13 am     #

Pasta - small, family owned and operated - exquisite! Pasta Fina

http://www.pastafina.net/

posted by holland on Nov 15, 2007 at 11:51:45 am     #

I'm HUGE into international affairs and when it come sto food

I am too, one thing that shocks me about Toledo is the lack of asian culture for such a large city. Almost every big metro I've lived in has had a china town. Granted some are smaller or bigger than others but exist. I've had a hard time just finding an import store to get ingredients.

posted by jshriver on Nov 16, 2007 at 01:06:19 pm     #

I'm HUGE into international affairs and when it come sto food

I am too, one thing that shocks me about Toledo is the lack of asian culture for such a large city. Almost every big metro I've lived in has had a china town. Granted some are smaller or bigger than others but exist. I've had a hard time just finding an import store to get ingredients.

posted by jshriver on Nov 16, 2007 at 01:08:22 pm     #

I didn't see this mention..but as far as resteraunts go, IMHO You can also add both Al Smith's and Uncle John's to the list. Both are located in the westgate area and are really good. There is also an little out of the way Italin resteraunt over in the area that is fairly good.. I think the name of it is Calvino's.

posted by drunkenwildmage on Nov 17, 2007 at 11:41:31 am     #

jshriver - what about the Asian store at the corner of Douglas/Tremainsville/Laskey? That's where hubby goes...

posted by MaggieThurber on Nov 17, 2007 at 04:30:21 pm     #

Drinking imported beer while watching Nascar is about the extent of the cultural diversity one could expect to find here in Toledo.

posted by miket43551 on Nov 21, 2007 at 01:56:29 pm     #

At least it's NASCAR and not that open-wheel racing crap.

posted by jr on Nov 21, 2007 at 02:28:44 pm     #

And my imported beer comes from Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo. Long live the imports.

posted by jr on Nov 21, 2007 at 02:33:25 pm     #

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