I’ve been saying for years that my favorite road in Columbus is Henderson, or what me might more accurately call Henderson/Cooke. What’s not to love here? You’ve got a little bit of everything, and the landscape changes often.
Its western edge dead ends into the winding, California-esque highway of Riverside, & overlooks the Scioto River. Tracing its route eastward, Henderson rises up a hill past a few pseudo-mansions, moves through the dignified suburbia of Upper Arlington, into Columbus proper & a strip mall/sports bar region, briefly accelerates & becomes a 4 lane highway, dips down & under a freeway, over the Olentangy River, creaks across some cracked sidewalk terrain into the vaguely hippie-ish neighborhoods of Clintonville, crosses High Street, curves sharply to the right, doesn’t exactly end but rather mysteriously becomes Cooke at this point, straightens out due east again, bobs along a hilly, heavily wooded & sparsely populated 25 MPH region, before coming to an abrupt halt at Indianola Avenue. At this point, Cooks jogs one block to the south, just long enough to creep beneath I-71, then ascends – legally, I assure you – up the right hand lane of the interstate ramp, hangs a 90 degree right turn, thus regaining its original rough latitude as it moves east, through a fading but still semi-respectable & quiet series of residential inner city blocks. At Karl Road, it zags a block to the south before continuing and then finally, at Cleveland, it jogs one block yet again, ending shortly thereafter for good in the heart of a north side, lower income area.
Even so, I guess I wouldn’t say there are a ton of iconic places located along Henderson/Cooke. It’s more that just owing to its placement, this has proven an extremely handy conduit over the years, toward whatever else you might have going on. Although quite clearly many of these haunts have not exactly been unfamiliar ones, over the years.
In the spirit of that bizarre trajectory I have outlined above, let’s move in that direction, then – starting at Riverside and going east. One thing you will note about these businesses, which is true today as it was decades ago, is that the “West” part of the address is only randomly used, apparently upon the whims of the owner. This is in part because there’s very little of an East Henderson before it becomes East Cooke instead. But keep that in mind, that you are basically just focusing on the number. I’m using it all the time here to eliminate any confusion whatsoever.
It’s pretty much all residential from Riverside up until you see that multistory block of the Arlington Centre on your right, with the exception of the First Alliance Church (3750 W. Henderson Rd) at the corner of Sawmill. During this stretch the houses steadily move from eye popping to still-really-quite-nice. Arlington Centre itself does not have a Henderson address, but the buildings just before it, on the opposite (left) hand side of the road do. These are the charming little buildings of Henderson Park Office (3262-3240 W. Henderson) extending a good distance backwards from the road. Tenants past and present include By River’s Way Skin Spa, Futurety, Monarch Health, OSI Staffing Services, a State Farm agency, and Storm Guard Exterior Restoration.
2280 W. Henderson Rd: Was most recently the Cbus Sports Pub, located in this charming little Cobblestone Center. Before that it was Joni’s Place, and in between the two it was UA Pub, possibly rechristened UA Tavern at one point, which I visited once or twice. And actually, it was during this UA Pub/Tavern era that I had what I consider to be my final argument with Lisa, right here in this parking lot. Now there’s a Cbus fun fact for ya!
2264 W. Henderson Rd: currently the home of the awesomely named ILoveKickboxing, with its equally alluring bright red facade.
2260 W. Henderson Rd: Penzone Salon & Spa now shares this space with AutoSweet, right beside the kickboxing place. This was formerly a treasured destination for renting one’s video cassettes and/or digital video discs (more on that in a minute).
Wendy’s (2226 W. Henderson Rd): Everyone knows that the first ever Wendy’s was opened downtown. What’s much less well known is that the second was on Henderson, which is where they debuted their initial drive through. However, having said that, I’m not sure exactly where on Henderson that store was located – I’ll have to do more research on that front. But I can tell you that this particular Wendy’s has been right here for at least 25 years, and is possibly the one I’ve visited the most. This spot used to be a regular staple of not just my lunchtime diet but also mighty handy for fueling up before going out at night as well.
Some of this minutiae about worldwide franchises might seem a little redundant and insignificant, I’ll be the first to admit. I can totally imagine a reader thinking, “who cares about the history of a totally average looking Wendy’s location!” Where I think this becomes interesting is when you consider the context, and how unlikely it is for any business to survive, or just the vagaries of commerce and public taste in general. For example, during this same era, a nearby Blockbuster Video (2260 W. Henderson Rd) was also an instrumental piece of our near-daily repertoire – so yeah, let’s think about that for a second.
2222 W. Henderson Rd: well, with an address like that (it would after all be a huge poker hand), you might expect that the luck would run wild in a spot like this. Let’s just say it’s been a mixed bag. Looking at the building, it’s not exactly shocking to learn this was once a Pizza Hut, up through the late 1990s. Following that a Golden Palace restaurant, then Mannequins, briefly a Vinny’s, also a Voodoo something or other, is currently a Starr Bar that has one of the most boring streetside signs I’ve seen. Possibly a few more businesses I forgot about thrown into the blender as well.
But it’s those short lived Mannequins years (2001-03) during which we did the most damage here. A handful of disconnected occurrences stand out. One year I remember it was Tim’s birthday and a bunch of us were heading out around the noon hour to celebrate – I was off for once, and able to join them. Matt Montanya was renting a room off me at the time and had been out mighty late the night before, had just woken up and drifted out of his room, as we were leaving. Was still in his pajamas when we talked him into joining us. Within an hour, he and Tim had already downed two Irish Carbombs apiece here at Mannequins and were about half ripped. Our party starts out small but has swollen considerably by the time we leave here, with further adventures to follow, even though it’s still only mid-afternoon: Tim, Miles, Matt, me, Melissa, Mo, Julie, Carrie, Dave Norris and one of his friends, then Maria and Clif rolling in together near the end. Walking to our cars, Matt wheezes, “Jesus Christ, McGathey!” and laughs, wondering just what I have gotten him into today.
This place received bonus points on account of this incredible blonde named April working behind the bar; there was also this night where for some reason a bunch of us were out on their dance floor, and they had this box of weird props sitting out that you could throw on to really kick things up a notch – the most memorable moment of which finds Miles slow dancing by himself to Marc Anthony’s You Sang To Me (most of us had been out there moments earlier, but just deserted him), while wearing this gigantic fake disco afro wig (a prop) but holding someone’s shoe (not a prop) as though it were his dance partner; still another night (at least I think it was another night) where he and I had just arrived at Mannequins, as we were trying to ditch Lisa…but then see her car whip into the parking lot, because she’s looking for us. So he and I duck down and are crouch walking in between cars to avoid detection, moving away from the door now, without even entering the place. Our plan is to hide out and wait for her to enter, then return to my car and leave. While creeping around in the manner, we’re laughing and I remember telling Miles that this was getting crazy and I should probably stop messing around with her.
There’s also this moment that always felt like some kind of missed connection episode from a movie, at least to me. It was a day where I had an hour or two to kill in between two jobs. I had waited tables that lunch shift over at DaVinci’s but it wasn’t yet time to go into my meat department closing gig. Therefore I’m sitting at the bar in a white dress shirt, tie, black dress slacks, black non-skid shoes, but also, due to the fact that it’s winter time, I have my black Wild Oats skull cap on. This is an era where some of us were wearing outrageous outfits around town on purpose, but that’s not what I have on here – that ensemble, apart from the hat, is what I wore waiting tables.
Anyway this party of about 4 is hanging out by the door, with their coats on, saying their goodbyes to one another. Except then one of them, this slightly older but really sharp looking chick with dark hair, breaks away and strolls over to me. Though I could hear them talking loudly and guffawing over there, it seems unlikely a normal conversation would travel much distance, i.e. I didn’t get the impression she was just showing off for her friends. At any rate, she tells me, “I just wanted to say, mmm! A suit and a skull cap – it’s working.”
“Yeah?” I question.
“Oh yeah.”
And then tells me exactly what time she will be here again, on what day. Asks me if I will meet her then, right here where we are. We exchange names and shake on it, and then she walks away, this being the extent of our conversation. I showed up at the agreed upon time days later, but she did not. I don’t know, it was just so weirdly specific and forward, and she clearly wasn’t drunk, to where I’ve always wondered what happened. But there for a little while there, I guess an encounter like that does put a little extra spring in your step, for sure.
2170 W. Henderson Rd: Is presently known as Front Row Sports Bar. But from 2000-21, it was Best Shot Tavern. If it seems as though I know an awful lot about every drinking establishment up and down this road, you are not wrong. However I think a few factors, luckily or coincidentally or whatever, were working in my favor, to keep me generally not nearly as wasted as many of my colleagues. For one, I was often popping in only briefly, either in between two jobs, or else coming out after the second, by which point many of them had been after it for hours; as a writer my mindset was usually devoted to trying to remember as much as possible, which also tended to slow down the drinking; I’ve also generally not found drinking for its own sake to be that enormously entertaining – crass or not, meeting girls was just about always the primary focus; something else I’ve thought about now and then, about life in Cbus, was that you could usually get along just fine without a car. When one of my jalopies would stop running, I might go months without replacing it. I think this in part not only helps explain the relative lack of auto related mishaps (like for example how a wide swath of my friends got DUIs yet I never did), but also that the plotting required and time eaten up by something like riding a bus was working to your advantage too. Or even physical exercise, when riding a bike from place to place.
2122 W. Henderson Rd: The Rock N’ Roll Sunoco! Yes! Still going strong for at least 20+ years!
The reason you might hear old timers refer to it as such is that there used to be an employee who called it this. He was this hilarious middle aged guy with shaggy hair who would greet you in this manner, using this phrase, pretty much every time you came here. As in not just going inside, but even if just remaining outside to pump your gas, would hail you over the intercom as soon as you got out of your vehicle: “thank you for shopping the Rock N’ Roll Sunoco!” Occasionally with still more tacked onto the end of that phrase.
After a few years of this, he eventually wound up at this other gas station over on Kenny. Though also employing the same slogan there (calling it the “Rock N’ Roll Speedway” or whatever it was at the time), it didn’t have the same bite, his heart didn’t seem to be into it as much. And then after only seeing him there a short while, he eventually just kind of disappeared from sight. I often wonder about characters such as this, whom I never really got to know at all, and now regret not learning a little more.
2094 W. Henderson Rd: former home of Keg N’ Bottle Carry Out, which was conveniently located in front of my good friend Clif Davis’s apartment complex. Since that went out in 2005, it has been a Cash Plus, an Ewaves Wireless, and an Identity Tattoo Parlor, its present occupant.
2086 W. Henderson Rd: Whether connected to the previous incarnation up the street or just recycling the name, a different U.A. Pub eventually opened here in the early 2000s. I don’t think this is still open, although their Facebook page and some other online info makes it sound as though it is.
Fifth Third Bank (2081 W. Henderson Rd): Has been here for at least 25 years. And the building looks as though it has always been a bank, in whatever incarnation.
The Gyro Shoppe (2061 W. Henderson Rd): Owner Maher Shamrukh has kept the lights on at this charming little restaurant for equally as long.
2051 W. Henderson Rd: United Dairy Farmers, Quiznos, and I think maybe even Starbucks have all given this spot a go. In more recent times it has been a Hibachi Express, and still is. At some point, part of the space was farmed out to a Domino’s Pizza (2049).
2031 W. Henderson Rd: Was a Bank One up through 1999, before becoming a Chase Bank instead.
2011 W. Henderson Rd: Is currently the Clothes Mentor depicted above. Prior to that, this space belonged to Plato’s Closet and, even earlier, Howard’s Office Supplies.
U.S. Bank (1991 W. Henderson Rd): They’ve been here for as long as I can find any record of this address.
1975 & 1965 W. Henderson Rd: The 1975 part of this equation used to belong to Arlington Cafe. If you want to get technical, I’m looking at a 1999 business directory and the name is listed as “Arlington Billiard & Cafe” with a certain Fhahriar Kazemi as the person running the show. This half of the business was accessed via the side door, i.e. the one facing Nugent Drive. Meanwhile around back you had an entrance numbered 1965, which belonged to the attached Cazzie’s portion of the business. Right now, this is a huge space that is totally empty, in between the Kroger and four smaller storefronts.
Kroger (W. 1955 Henderson Rd):
This whole strip of shops used to be known as Arlingate. That was kind of a stupid name, but I suppose it did have a handy ring to it, a la Watergate, when discussing various scandals. For example veteran meat cutters would usually refer to this store as “Henderson Road” except when discussing what a messed up place it was, in which case it would become a derisive “Arlingate” instead. Kind of like a mom who only shouts out her son’s middle name when he’s in trouble – “you can’t get away with that here, okay? This isn’t Arlingate,” for example, or maybe a, “well, this isn’t Arlingate, you know, so we actually have to pull a decent margin if we want to keep our jobs.” Nowadays this is known as the Greentree Shopping Center, in case anyone out there is unaware and needs to update their insults.
1940 W. Henderson Rd: Currently Kelley’s Pub & Patio, coupled with Ridiculous Eatz. Was formerly an Anthony Thomas candy shop up through I think 1997. But after the candy store went bust, it was Cemento’s, a great hangout while it lasted (2002-11). I remember when they first opened, Miles and I stumbled upon the bar in our travels, and agreed it would make for an awesome “safehouse” type place to hide from, for the most part, certain women that we knew. It’s hard to explain now, but this was a high-drama era, and you seemingly couldn’t go anywhere around here without running headlong into it.
“I hope it doesn’t catch on,” I’m telling Miles, as we sit there at the bar, our first visit.
“I don’t,” our bored bartender pipes up and says. Well, yeah, obviously, but we have our reasons for feeling this way.
First Miles and I had been at Mannequins, this same early evening. But it was karaoke night, dead and full of old people, so we moved on. Before we did, though, exactly one chick (in a pattern that will repeat) approaches the bar and begins hitting on us, or at least talking our ears off. At Mannequins it’s this middle aged brunette named Jackie who’s already wasted.
“What brings you two here?” she asks.
“We snuck out of the house,” I tell her.
“Me too!” she enthuses, “I was here for happy hour, then went home, then snuck out again.”
This is when we start driving up Henderson, bound for Traditions Tavern, before unexpectedly spotting this place. Cemento’s is located on the side of the strip mall, at the opposite end from the post office and Spuds’ and all that. Its sign features a dump truck depositing its cargo into a cocktail glass, which looks pretty freaking awesome. So we agree to pop in there and check it out. While here, again exactly one woman approaches the bar to chat, a classy, beautiful blonde whose name I forget. She’s here with some other guy, yet nonetheless hangs out with us long enough for Miles and I to polish off two beers apiece in that time. Then, as she walks away, touches my arm and says goodbye – it’s funny how some nights are like this, others you are a pariah. He and I continue to Traditions.
Anyway, I would continue to dip into Cemento’s now and again, with/without Miles and/or other friends. A handful of years later, around 2007 or 08, my former associate Stacey unexpectedly began bartending here. So it was cool to connect with her again. Tracing exactly what’s happened through the years at this back corner is a bit tricky, though. Beloved pizza establishment DeArini’s (sometimes stylized De-Arini’s) was back here for about five decades, until only recently going out of business. That would have been 1942 West Henderson. Then the Tarini family which owned DeArini’s, they were also responsible for opening Cemento’s.
The border has been a fluid one between these two addresses, inside. Fast forward to the present tense, and though most of this expanse is now known as Kelley’s Pub & Patio, a smaller section of 1942 is occupied by Ridiculous Eatz. They are running a carryout operation yet also serving Kelley’s patrons. Hope you got all that.
1873 W. Henderson Rd: Though once a Taco Bell, it has been a Starbucks for quite some time.
1851 W. Henderson Rd: a second Wendy’s within a relatively short distance of the same road. Then again, this is the town Dave built. Or something like that. This one is far newer, only arriving on the scene somewhere around 2019.
T.J. Maxx (1871 W. Henderson Rd): My good friend Maria Yanik used to work here, along with her basement dwelling roommate at the time, Junior, last name unknown, and also Jennifer Thomas, the sister of one old friend slash former girlfriend of another. This triumvirate reigned for a stretch (you guessed it) in the late 1990s, possibly early 2000s. I only remember setting foot inside this place once, however, I think with Jill – not exactly a big hotspot for most guys to be spending their free time.
One thing that’s mighty unique about this L shaped shopping center is that one row of businesses (the north facing ones) has a Henderson address, as do the standalone buildings in front; the other row, east facing, has Reed Road addresses instead. So some businesses that are much closer to Reed are considered Henderson, and vice versa.
1836 W. Henderson Rd: this is now BIBIBOP Asian Grill – a fun name to say aloud, though making me go crosseyed to look at it.
Formerly the home of a Schlotzsky’s Deli where, now that I think of it, once again I knew a lot of the help. Two of its employees wound up being roommates with me over the years, which means I partied with at least a handful of them. Including, on one occasion I know of, owner Paul Grandy. Clif was a manager at this location for quite some time and I think it opened somewhere around 1997.
Roosters (1832 W. Henderson Rd): has been a Roosters restaurant for as long as I’ve been paying attention. So this would be from 2001 onward. And I have to think it’s probably been one of their most successful overall, is personally the one I’ve frequented the most. In the early going, actually, it was probably a toss up between this spot (worked over here) and the one up on 161 (lived over there). But the wait staff here was on balance much friendlier and far better looking, so they soon won that battle.
Prior to this, it was a Bob Evans.
1828 W. Henderson Rd: Currently a MoneyGram location, but this address used to belong to a real life Lazarus department store! It was but one anchor of the Northwest Shopping Center, back in “the day.” Lazarus closed up shop in either late 2001 or early 2002.
1810 W. Henderson Rd: Sigh. Another empty storefront, once belonging to a bar called Spuds’ as owned by one Brenda Belisle. Spuds’ was never a personal favorite, although it has a soft spot in my personal lore as the first place here in town where I met a woman and brought her home with me the same night. Ah, the memories. At one point, this bartender named Molly was pulling off a hat trick I’ve never seen replicated before or since: she was working at Arlington Cafe, Spuds’, and then Polo’s over on Bethel all at once. So on any given night you might be served by her at any of these establishments. Although you’d have to be making the rounds quite a bit yourself to know this, clearly.
1800 W. Henderson Rd: was once a Sears Hardware location, which hung in there a lot longer than you might suppose. One day I happened to be in this area and, knowing my lawn needed cutting but that the mower had recently bit the dust, popped in here on my way home. And unexpectedly bumped into John Ivanovich (seafood manager at Worthington Mall Kroger store) back there, shopping . He was checking out mowers too, or at least something in the same aisle. When a clerk came over to ask what I wanted, I told him just to give me the cheapest mower he had, I didn’t care. John laughed and said something to the effect of, “that bad, huh?” This place finally gave up the ghost in 2018, and I see it’s now a Volunteers Of America thrift store.
