Ridgeview
The streets around Upper Arlington High School on Ridgeview Road — Friday-night lights in autumn, silence the rest of the year.
Upper Arlington High School campus and playing fields seen from Ridgeview Road
Why people stay in Ridgeview
Ridgeview is defined by one institution: Upper Arlington High School at 1650 Ridgeview Road, with Marv Moorehead Stadium behind it and playing fields spilling out toward Zollinger Road. The streets around it are a mix of late-1940s brick and 1960s infill, sidewalks on both sides, and a bicycle count on a September morning that would embarrass most European suburbs. If you want to understand why families pay a premium to live in this city, park on Ridgeview Road at 7:45am on a school day and watch.
Autumn is when the area has a personality. Friday nights from late August to early November the stadium lights go on, the band is audible four streets away, and every kerb within half a mile fills with cars by 6:30pm. Tickets are single-figure dollars, the concession stand is a folding table, and it is the most authentically American evening you can buy in Columbus for under $10. From December to July, the same streets are as quiet as anywhere else in Upper Arlington, which is very.
Practically, Ridgeview is a good compromise base. You are central in the city, five minutes from Kingsdale and Tremont Center, ten from Lane Avenue, twelve from Ohio State and under twenty from downtown Columbus off-peak. From-prices sit around $90 in January and $145-$190 in late spring, when the combination of high school graduation, Ohio State commencement and the Memorial Tournament week in Dublin squeezes every room in the north-west of the metro. Book May and June dates in February, not April.
Skip Ridgeview if you need a walkable evening — there is nothing here after 8pm but a vending machine — or if you are visiting in term time and would rather not deal with school-run traffic and permit-parking signs on the streets nearest the campus. Also skip it if your trip is a two-night city break; you would be better off in the Short North or Downtown Columbus. Come here for the sports, the schools, the price, and the central position.
Best streets are the blocks north and west of the high school between Ridgeview Road and Zollinger Road — leafy, sidewalked, and a five-minute drive to both Tremont Center and Kingsdale. Expect $90 to $140 a night most of the year, $145 to $200 in May and June, and $250-plus with two-night minimums on Ohio State home-football Saturdays. The stock is overwhelmingly whole houses and basement suites; chain hotels are two to three miles east on Olentangy River Road, where $85-$120 buys a front desk, breakfast and a lift. Avoid the streets immediately fronting the campus in term time — several have daytime permit restrictions to stop student parking, and Friday football nights they are wall to wall cars until 10:30pm. One block further out and you will not notice a thing.
Things to do in Ridgeview
Behind Upper Arlington High School at 1650 Ridgeview Road, late August through early November. Single-figure ticket prices, a full marching band, and the Golden Bears name that traces back to Jack Nicklaus. Arrive by 6:15pm for a seat and park several streets out on Zollinger or Redding rather than fighting for kerb space.
Outside school hours the perimeter paths around the Ridgeview Road campus and its playing fields make a flat, well-lit two-kilometre loop that locals use at 6am and again at dusk. Free, no gate, and the safest running in the city. Avoid weekday afternoons in term time when the fields are full of teams.
At 3480 Kioka Avenue, five minutes west off Reed Road: mature trees, a good playground, ball fields, a shelter and a path loop. It is the best-shaded park in Upper Arlington on a 32-degree July afternoon and it never gets the crowds Northam Park does. Free, open dawn to dusk, small car park.
The city's family water park at 3675 Reed Road, ten minutes from the high school, with slides and zero-depth entry. Season runs roughly Memorial Day to mid-August, shortening once schools return in mid-August. Non-resident day passes are modest; check the city parks page for the current rate and the daily closing time before you commit an afternoon.
Five minutes south at Tremont Road and Northwest Boulevard. The Market District at 3061 Kingsdale Center handles groceries, a hot bar and coffee; surrounding units cover pharmacy and casual food. It is the one place in central Upper Arlington still busy at 8pm and the default answer to what to do about dinner.
Three miles east from Ridgeview Road via Zollinger and Lane Avenue brings you to the Ohio State campus, the Oval and Ohio Stadium. On football Saturdays this is genuinely faster than driving. Bike racks are plentiful on campus; lock properly, and use the Lane Avenue bridge over the Olentangy rather than the road shoulder.
What to see
Hotels near Ridgeview
No hotels are listed in Ridgeview yet. The nearest ones are on the region page.
Getting around Ridgeview
From John Glenn Columbus International it is 20-25 minutes: I-670 west, SR-315 north, exit Lane Avenue or Fifth Avenue and head west; rideshare $35-$45. Columbus has no passenger rail, and intercity coaches use 111 East Town Street downtown. For buses, walk or drive the mile south to Northwest Boulevard for COTA Line 3, which reaches downtown in about 25 minutes for $2.00, or $4.50 with a day pass; Line 5 on West Fifth Avenue is the other option. Neither runs usefully late. Within Ridgeview everything is a five-minute drive, cycling is genuinely good on the side streets, and parking is free except for the permit blocks by the campus.
Questions about Ridgeview
Yes — home games at Marv Moorehead Stadium behind 1650 Ridgeview Road are open to the public, with tickets in the single-digit dollars, cheaper for students. The season runs from late August to early November, kickoff usually 7pm on Fridays. Bring cash for the concession stand, arrive by 6:15pm for a decent seat, and expect the surrounding streets to be full.
Twice a day in term time, yes. Ridgeview Road and the approaches to the campus back up between 7:30 and 8:30am and again from 2:45 to 3:30pm. Several nearby streets carry daytime permit restrictions specifically to keep students from parking there, and they are enforced. Choose a let a block or two from the campus and you will barely notice either issue.
About six miles, which is fifteen to twenty minutes by car outside rush hour via SR-315, or roughly forty minutes door to door on COTA Line 3 once you have walked to Northwest Boulevard. A rideshare runs $18-$25 each way. For an evening in the Short North or German Village, driving in and parking in a garage for $8-$15 is usually the sanest option.
One of the best in the guide. Sidewalks on both sides of nearly every street, Fancyburg Park and the Reed Road Water Park within five to ten minutes, playing fields you can use outside school hours, and traffic that moves slowly because everyone here has children too. The trade-off is zero evening entertainment and a compulsory car for anything beyond the neighbourhood.
