Why the South Park Historic District is the best place to live in Dayton

I bought my home on January 28, 1986. That was also the day the space shuttle Challenger blew up. $14,500 for 1700 square feet of Victorian wood frame home. A 2 car detached garage, fenced in yard for the dog- and a lot of work staring me in the face.

Seven years of living with a decor that I came to call “early American toolbox”- with a table saw in the living room- and I finally had the house I still call home.

I had no idea what kind of neighborhood I was buying into- but it turned out to be a pretty good one. So good, that in 1997 I made a 30 minute video with my former employee Kevin Moran (who still lives in the ‘hood) about what made this neighborhood special. It’s called “South Park Soliloquy” and today, I pulled out the master tape- digitized it, compressed it- and put it up on YouTube for all to share.

If you are wondering about the really cool music- it’s 4 time Grammy nominee, Buckwheat Zydeco ^[1]. We did his site in trade for the rights to use the music (the site still uses most of the visuals that we did for him). I remember trying to explain why we should use Zydeco to sell a turn-of-the-century neighborhood- it seemed like such a disconnect- but, I still say that happy music is the best soundtrack for a happy neighborhood.

I hope you enjoy it.