Cincinnati's Main Street, as do most Main Streets in other towns, stretches right through the heart of the city. Most people cross it to go to baseball games or cross under it on the highway. I rarely have the chance to visit OTR stretch of Main Street, but this section is experiencing a revival to rival any going on in Over-the-Rhine.  

I have such fond memories of Joe's in a previous incarnation, as The Diner on Sycamore. Saturday nights, the girls and I would begin our evening with a few delicious nibbles, have some wine, then make our way up the hill to Milton's. My good memories gave me high expectations. But, like projecting experiences with a former flame onto the present one, it's not especially fair.  

If there were ever a perfect vantage point to watch the kind of moments that make city life so fascinating, it's at ForkHeartKnife, the tiny kitchen at Main and Liberty that's owned and operated by some of the friendliest and most creative women in Over-the-Rhine. After two visits to ForkHeartKnife, I'm a big fan. It's just such a personal experience, like dining with friends.  

Senate is the new place where the cool kids go, and I know why: It's fun, the menu doesn't take itself too seriously and its location is red hot. Senate's mission is to present upscale street food, and they've done a terrific job of planning a menu that's varied enough to suit most appetites but taken up a few notches so no one is disappointed.  

Symbiotic, which organizes arts and music shows in alternative places, will drain the swimming pool at Ziegler Park in Over-the-Rhine Saturday for its newest installation art excursion: Six Feet Deep. The park's empty public pool will feature swimming instruction a la music, with performances by Matthew Shelton, Wonky Tonk, Envelope from Columbus and The Sundresses.  

Where in Greater Cincinnati can you find a beer festival one week, indoor bike races the next, weekly wiffleball games and flamboyant, sweaty dance parties in honor of Queen's Freddie Mercury all in one place? Why, Grammer’s bar of course.  

CITY ONLINE HELP: The city of Cincinnati has started a Web site with a simple online form so residents can report problems and request services. Among its various uses are letting the city know about street lights needing new bulbs, pot holes, illegal trash dumping, bed bug infestations and more.  

Hopefully this isn't goodbye. But with the way things are in this economy and in this world today, I'm being forced to take a break from this column. We hope it can come back in the fall. Meanwhile, I'll be putting my reporter’s hat back on and writing in the news section.  

They say when one door closes another opens. I was reminded of that truism last week in Over-the-Rhine. Kris Sommer took me on a walking tour of new housing projects along Vine, Main, Pleasant and Republic streets, many of them developed by the company he works for, Urban Sites. In a former life, Kris was an advertising sales rep here at CityBeat.   

All the world's a stage, a famous writer once said, and we're simply players on it. We have our exits and entrances, taking on many roles throughout our lives. The stage we play on today is Over-the-Rhine, the oldest, most abused and most misunderstood neighborhood in Greater Cincinnati. A cast of thousands awaits.