Oberlin visit - things to do
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Anonymous
| We are headed to visit Oberlin soon and I want the trip to be as fun as possible. Does anyone have any recommendations for restaurants, experiences or anything generally fun to do near the campus? |
Anonymous
| It's a very small town. My son enjoyed eating at Gibson's (especially the donuts) and checking out the merch. We popped into the Allen Museum on campus, then drove to Cleveland for the afternoon. |
Anonymous
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We really enjoyed:
The Slow Train Cafe Ratsy’s (vintage store) Blue Rooster Bakehouse The Feve Had a really nice (more formal) dinner at the Hotel Oberlin restaurant. There is not a lot there, but it’s cute and quirky. We also went in to Cleveland and went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ultimately, it was way too quiet for my daughter, but it has a lot to offer. She did get in with a nice scholarship, but turned them down for Pitt. |
Anonymous
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Eat at Alladin’s in Oberlin
Check out Crocker Park in Westlake if you have time Visit Cleveland if you have time- Rock Hall of Fame, Tremont neighborhood, University Circle, West Side Market |
Anonymous
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We stayed at the Oberlin hotel. If you call you can ask if they have rates for visiting students.
They have art from Maya Lin there. Had dinner there in the less formal part of the restaurant and it was FANTASTIC! I grabbed pastries from Gibsons and they were so kind there (and they were really good). |
Anonymous
| When you tour Oberlin - they highlight all of the art museums. They talk more about the art than most of the campus. GO visit! |
Anonymous
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The Feve and Blue Rooster Bakery are both great.
Alladin's is good. There is also a Thai place we haven't tried and a classic pizza joint (I forget the name, it is literally on edge of campus) that is good. The Art Museum is really great for its size. Be sure to check out the plaque in its front garden dedicated to the sister of Wilbur & Orville Wright---she graduated from Oberlin and was Latin teacher before helping her brothers with their business. There is also a Frank Lloyd Wright house just outside of town that is open for touring one weekend a month (I think it is the first but can't recall). |
Anonymous
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Thini Thai and Bingo are both far more authentic than you’d expect for a small town in Ohio. Blue Rooster is fabulous. If you’re there on a weekend Feve brunch is a must—and the prices will make you cry, if you’re coming from the DMV.
Overall the Feve is a remarkably succcessul town/gown local institution. So is Lorenzo’s but this New Yorker by birth can’t stand their pizza… |
Anonymous
| I agree about Blue Rooster! And Aladdin’s (they used to have a location in Arlington/Shirlington many years ago). The Oberlin Inn is really nice! |
Anonymous
| Wanted to love but man is it tiny and bleak. It made Ann Arbor feel like Paris. |
Anonymous
Recommend all of the above too. Also there is a good Thai place hidden behind the Blue rooster Bakehouse area in parking lot. Cleveland is nearby and lots to do there too. It you want oberlin to seem fun as a visitor don’t stay too long in the town itself beyond the day of touring where you can get breakfast somewhere fun before that and then stay for dinner, walk around the campus one more time if you want to before leaving the next day. Then spend a day or two in Cleveland then go home. When you’re visiting a small school like oberlin you don’t have access to all the fun things that the students are actually doing on campus as a part of the school community so if you stay too long in the small town as a visiting HS student it seems less fun than it actually would be if you were actually attending the college. |
Anonymous
+ 1 Also from NY/NJ area; the pizza is bad and I’ve had a lot of ad pizza since moving to DC |
Anonymous
Good summary. My additions to this list. The Hotel at Oberlin was a great hotel when we visited. Right on campus and is truly a pleasure. The restaurant in the hotel is very good and it's at modest Ohio prices. The Allen museum is impressive and free. We went to a concert and a recital at the conservatory. Looks like there are performances almost daily during the school year. During our second visit, we caught a $5 movie at the old time campus theater, next to a film studies room dedicated to Oberlin parent Danny Devito  I should add that the campus is beautiful. One of the prettiest liberal arts colleges we visited, with several buildings by the same architect who designed the Supreme Court. Our rising hs senior loved his visits, and is planning to ED.
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Anonymous
| If you have time and your kid is also seeing Wooster, check out Ohio’s Amish country in Holmes County. |
Anonymous
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Get the Camus paper and go see some of the live music
Go hiking in the Arb There is a a Frank Lloyd Wright house Oberlin owns you can tour Go to the Art Museum Visit the memorial for the stop on the underground railway Definitely Blue Rooster and the Feve The Hotel at Oberlin is nice and they have good food They gave me a discount when I mentioned I was staying to visit a student - “friends and family” My kid visited in 2019 and was able to spend the night with on a students on their dorm room floor, visit the observatory and visit classes Visit Lake Erie. There is a way to Kayak |