Columbus organization seeks to save historic Spaghetti Warehouse trolley from demolition
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A local organization is making a last-minute push to save the trolley inside the former Spaghetti Warehouse building before it is demolished.
Rickenbacker Woods Foundation has been working on plans to relocate the trolley from the doomed building at 397 W. Broad St. in Franklinton to a site where it will be featured in an exhibit honoring African American inventor Granville T. Woods. Executive Director Michael Aaron said that since the building, which suffered a partial roof collapse in 2022, cannot be saved that rescuing the trolley that it was the restaurant's centerpiece is the next best thing.
RWF wants to preserve the trolley to 'provide a dynamic educational platform to celebrate Woods' inventions and their impact on modern technology.'
With demolition approaching, Aaron is concerned that time is running out. He stressed the urgency of taking action before it is too late, noting that the streetcar has been a key part of memories for patrons of the beloved restaurant, representing the 'joy of food and happy times.'
Aaron said the foundation has had discussions with Spaghetti Warehouse and the original rigging company that installed the trolley. Plans began early last year, but recent developments have raised concerns about their feasibility. RWF has secured $500,000 of federal funding through the city, in the form of a Community Development Block Grant, to build a park that would house the trolley, creating an educational space highlighting Woods' contributions to transportation and communication technology.
'We are submitting our proposal which is Project Genesis, which is the new start to the Rickenbacker Woods Foundation's education initiatives,' Aaron told Columbus City Council at the time. 'We've asked the City of Columbus and the federal government to fund a new park on Columbus' South Side. Where this park will go is replacing an alley. It's replacing a scary-looking part of the neighborhood with beauty.'
The building is owned by the Robert Weiler Company, which acknowledged the foundation's interest in the trolley car, as well as from other groups. But the larger concern remains the building's instability.
The RWF group is also seeking help from other preservation advocates and local leaders. Pointing to the financial and logistical challenges of moving and restoring the trolley, it is looking for support from those with resources and expertise. The organization said potential tax incentives and financial benefits could be available.
The Spaghetti Warehouse opened a new location in Downtown Columbus after the closing of the Franklinton restaurant, which had many of its antiques used for decor auctioned off in 2023. A video about plans for the original Spaghetti Warehouse site is available in the player above.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
2 days ago
- CNBC
5 stocks to buy for the second half from investors
The most popular stocks for investors heading into the second half of 2025 include Amazon , Nvidia and Newmont . The first half of the year was characterized by high volatility, as President Donald Trump's escalating trade war cast a shadow over the market. Although stocks have since recovered from the lows of the year in April, the Dow Jones Industrial Average remains underwater year to date. In the same time period, the S & P 500 has gained 1.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite has inched up 0.7%. But with trade negotiations ongoing, Wall Street is cautiously optimistic entering the second half of the year that deals can be reached. Earlier this month, the U.S. and China called a truce in the ongoing dispute. A smattering of sell-side shops have recently hiked their S & P 500 forecasts, including Deutsche Bank , RBC , Barclays , JPMorgan and Citigroup . CNBC Pro asked five investors for their top five stock picks heading into the second half of 2025. The most popular stock among these professionals was Nvidia, with three investors highlighting the chipmaker. Two investors also singled out Amazon and Newmont as potential winners. Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets Investor Jay Woods selected three technology names within his top five stock picks: Nvidia, Amazon and Cisco . Shares of Nvidia have risen 5% year to date, but Woods said that there's still more room to go. "It got through the tariffs, and now price action is telling us that it wants to go higher. Once this stock breaks 150 and closes above there, I think it's poised to have a great second half run," he said. "Maybe not a historic run by Nvidia's standards, but a run of, say, 25% to 30% to get this stock towards 200 by year end." Woods added that Amazon looks set up both from a technical and fundamental standpoint to rally into year end, with Amazon Web Services poised to boost its revenue streams. Cisco, on the other hand, is a "long-forgotten stock" that could rise on both increasing cybersecurity and artificial intelligence demand. Woods singled out generator manufacturer Generac as a "beaten-down" stock for investors looking for long-term growth. The company looks increasingly attractive in the second half of 2025 due to the arrival of hurricane season, which is from June 1 through Nov. 30. Coinbase is another name that could have further to go, Woods said. "The stock is breaking out now technically. It has the administration behind it," he said. "The crypto space has now been legitimized and has legs to stand on." Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management Echoing Woods, Jed Ellerbroek cited Nvidia as a potential second-half winner due to the upcoming release of its Blackwell Ultra chip, which is expected to meet with "exceptionally high demand." Likewise, the portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management highlighted Amazon for its strong cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services; more effective advertisements; and potential benefits from infusing AI tools into its e-commerce website. Aerospace manufacturer TransDigm Group is another pick. Ellebroek said the company has benefited from strong demand in all three of its major end markets: airplane production, replacement and maintenance, and defense. Meanwhile, ServiceNow looks attractive as it continues to acquire AI-centric companies and build AI functionality into its products, he said. Finally, Ellerbroek underscored life sciences and bioprocessing company Danaher as a favorite. "The bioprocessing end market is finally improving after two tough years," he said. "We've seen revenues go from contracting to growing, and we think that growth is going to accelerate as this year progresses." Jay Hatfield, founder and CEO at Infrastructure Capital Advisors Investor Jay Hatfield was the third to highlight Amazon as a second-half winner. While the company certainly has an AI tailwind, investors also seem to be underappreciating the extent of its potential cost cutting, according to Hatfield. The founder and CEO of InfraCap also brought up financial stocks Goldman Sachs and KKR , which he expects to rally on a stronger mergers and acquisitions market in the latter half of the year. Semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom is a "reasonably priced" stock that could continue riding the AI wave from here, he said. Hatfield anticipates shares will rise as orders from its clients, the major hyperscalers and cloud providers, ramp up. Hatfield's final pick was Cheniere Energy . He expects upcoming trade deals to create higher demand for U.S. natural gas. David Miller, co-founder and CIO at Catalyst Funds Instead of singling out Amazon like the aforementioned three investors, David Miller highlighted Meta as his preferred AI play. "While a lot of people are very concerned about where the spend is going and whether AI can really be monetized, Meta is one of those companies that's already doing it," the co-founder and CIO at Catalyst Funds told CNBC. "We think they have a great revenue engine. It's incredibly efficient." Ridesharing stock Uber could provide another good opportunity for investors, Miller said, due to its strong ad business, rising bookings growth and robust margin expansion and free cash flow. Meanwhile, brokerage stocks Raymond James and LPL Financial could offer discounts since both names are trading at a cheaper valuation than the overall index, but providing investors with materially stronger revenue growth and earnings, he said. Finally, Miller selected gold miner Newmont as a potential winner as the price of the precious metal continues to rally. Central bank gold buying has driven up its value as it's traditionally considered a safe-haven asset. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Like Miller, CFRA chief investment strategist Sam Stovall also likes Newmont due to his bullish outlook on gold prices. Stovall said more investors have flocked to gold amid heightened global geopolitical risks. Rising tensions are also contributing to an increased need for military deterrence, Stovall said, pointing to aerospace and defense stock RTX as an attractive pick. He also singled out energy stock Baker Hughes for its robust balance sheet and strong prospects in the liquid natural gas market. The strategist said he likes Chipotle Mexican Grill for its undervalued growth prospects. He said he sees the company as more resilient than its peers and expects it has "more compelling opportunities to improve restaurant-level margins." His final top stock pick was streaming platform Netflix , which he said could receive a boost from ad-supported plans, growing advertising revenue potential and its expansion into gaming and live sports. "The company's ability to curate local content and personalize user experience globally sets it apart from competitors," he told CNBC. "Netflix's subscriber base is less sensitive to an economic downturn for household entertainment versus significantly higher ticket prices for live concerts and sporting events."
CNBC
2 days ago
- CNBC
Wall Street will continue to monitor the Iran-Israel conflict next week, with stocks at an impasse
Wall Street will continue to monitor the Iran-Israel war next week, with stocks at a bit of an impasse as investors await greater clarity on the economic outlook. The S & P 500 remains on the cusp of an all-time high, more than 2% off a February peak it has yet to clear as investors eye an escalating conflict in the Middle East, the Federal Reserve's next move, the progress in Washington of the "one big beautiful bill" — all amid ongoing trade uncertainty and signs of softening in the economy. Whether stocks can continue to chart a path higher next week will depend in large part on developments on all of those fronts. On Friday, at least, stocks initially got a bit of a boost after President Donald Trump said he will wait two weeks to make a decision on whether the U.S. will join Israel's military campaign against Tehran — a relief for investors following more inflammatory language this week out of the president. Adding to bullish sentiment was Fed Governor Christopher Waller telling CNBC's Steve Liesman he doesn't expect tariffs to lift inflation significantly so policymakers could be looking to cut interest rates in July. "The market is cautiously optimistic that negotiations could lead to a de-escalation of the conflict and more importantly no involvement by the U.S. There is also skepticism that the 'two-week' timetable is a too familiar saying used by the President to delay making any major decision," wrote Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets. "Pausing the clock may be a good thing, but this delay is very familiar to the tariff delay and the so-called TACO trade," added Woods. "The markets remain in a wait-and-see mode and tread water around this 6,000 level for now." As of Friday afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S & P 500 are lower on the week. The Nasdaq Composite is poised to eke out a gain for the period, heading for its third positive week in four. Biding time, softening data The stock comeback of the last two months has perplexed many investors, who remain befuddled by the market's insistence to look past conflict, tariffs and major challenges to the economic outlook, to make short work of recovering their losses from their April lows. Several chart analysts are confident the stock comeback can continue, given the strength of the market beneath the hood. IBM is the top-performing stock in the Dow in 2025, up about 28% this year and outpacing the Magnificent Seven stocks. Industrials, these analysts point out, are the No. 1 sector in the S & P 500 this year, a favorable signal on the strength of the U.S. economy. Some expect semiconductors, which have led the comeback rally after getting punished earlier this year, could hold the key for the S & P 500 getting back to all-time highs. Freedom Capital Markets' Woods said he's especially keeping an eye on a close above $150 a share for Nvidia. NVDA YTD mountain Nvidia, year to date Yet there are also some signs of weakening in the economic data, giving investors some pause. Evercore ISI's Stan Shipley said in a Friday note that a raft of data this week — including retail sales, industrial production, homebuilders' sentiment, and housing starts data — are now "materially weaker." He wrote: "The hard data on a weakening economy is picking up momentum ." Elsewhere, JPMorgan economist Nora Szentivanyi wrote, "U.S. data for May reinforced signals that the early-year boost to activity has started to fade." "The continued rise in import prices suggests the tax bite is being felt domestically even if price increases for consumers are likely to be more delayed and drawn out than previously anticipated," Szentivanyi wrote. "A broad range of companies plan to increase goods prices in coming months and we continue to look for a material rise in consumer prices related to tariffs." .SPX YTD mountain S & P 500, year to date Yet many investors remain confident markets can continue to advance — even if they tread water for the next several weeks — largely because of the strength of the consumer that they expect can keep the economy from a recession, as well as the shot to productivity expected to come later in the year from artificial intelligence. Freedom Capital Markets' Woods said he expects the S & P 500 can get to 6,500 or 6,600, another roughly 10% from current levels, through the end of the year. "It is mind blowing to see that we climb this wall of worry with concerns over tariffs, and now, war," Woods said. "The sectors that have led us from this rally, some of the most beaten-down names were technology stocks, and technology continues to lead. And there are a lot of positive signs that really keep me in the secular bull camp in a way where I think we can go much higher here." Of course, there will be further challenges to that outlook. Next week investors will get the personal consumption expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge — after Fed Chair Jerome Powell this week voiced concerns around the effect tariffs will have on pricing pressures. In the prior reading, PCE rose 0.1% in April , and 2.1% on an annual basis. Consumers could also take a hit from rising oil prices, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. On the earnings front next week, FedEx and Nike will give further insight into the strength of the consumer. Micron, also reporting, can give some indication on whether the semiconductor rally still has some steam. Week ahead calendar All times ET. Monday, June 23 9:45 a.m. PMI Composite preliminary (June) 9:45 a.m. S & P PMI Manufacturing preliminary (June) 9:45 a.m. S & P PMI Services preliminary (June) 10 a.m. Existing Home Sales (May) Tuesday, June 24 9 a.m. FHFA Home Price Index (April) 9 a.m. S & P/Case-Shiller comp.20 HPI (April) 10 a.m. Consumer Confidence (June) 10 a.m. Richmond Fed Index (June) Earnings: FedEx , Carnival Wednesday, June 25 8 a.m. Building Permits final (May) 10 a.m. New Home Sales (May) Earnings: Micron Technology , General Mills Thursday, June 26 8:30 a.m. Chicago Fed National Activity Index (May) 8:30 a.m. Continuing Jobless Claims (6/14) 8:30 a.m. Durable Orders preliminary (May) 8:30 a.m. GDP Chain Price final (Q1) 8:30 a.m. GDP (Q1) 8:30 a.m. Initial Claims (6/21) 8:30 a.m. Wholesale Inventories preliminary (May) 10 a.m. Pending Home Sales Index (May) 10 a.m. Pending Home Sales (May) 11 a.m. Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index (June) Earnings: Nike , Walgreens Boots Alliance , McCormick & Co. Friday, June 27 8:30 a.m. Core PCE Deflator (May) 8:30 a.m. PCE Deflator (May) 8:30 a.m. Personal Consumption Expenditure (May) 8:30 a.m. Personal Income (May) 10 a.m. Michigan Sentiment final (June)
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: Instead of cutting Muni service, here's what S.F. can do to balance agency's budget
Regarding 'Muni is cutting service on five S.F. bus lines. Here's when the changes go live' (San Francisco, June 18): If Muni service cuts will save only $7.2 million, how many more cuts will we have to stomach to cover the projected $322 million deficit? Muni is an essential service for thousands of San Franciscans, including me. I take Muni every single day, including on the 5 and the 31 lines, which are among the cuts. Cutting or reducing service on these lines sets a terrible precedent; how many cuts will billionaire Mayor Daniel Lurie, who's probably never had to take Muni in his life, think are acceptable to balance the budget? The new budget shows Lurie's priorities: preserving tax breaks for billionaires and corporations while cutting the essential services working people need. Increasing taxes for billionaires and corporations by just a small fraction would easily fund all Muni lines. We must not let Mayor Lurie privatize public transit and sell it back to us at a steep price. The people need affordable and reliable public transit, and we will accept nothing less. Rhys Hedges, San Francisco Suisun City forever At a time when headlines often paint California as stagnant and dysfunctional, Suisun City is showing true leadership by advancing a reimbursement agreement tied to the possible annexation of the California Forever project. This bold move signals a commitment to tackling the state's housing crisis and reviving a core California value: the ability to build. California once led the nation in dreaming big, from aerospace to Silicon Valley, and built homes to match that ambition. But in recent decades, growth has slowed due to regulatory barriers, soaring costs and resistance to change. Suisun City's decision represents more than local planning; it is a vision for a future that includes homes and space for industries like advanced manufacturing, keys to restoring the middle class and keeping young Californians close to home. The City Council acted decisively and transparently, modeling the leadership that California needs. At the California Building Industry Association, we believe this is the path forward: communities that welcome innovation, embrace responsibility and reignite the California Dream. Suisun City just showed us what real leadership looks like. Bravo. Dan Dunmoyer, president and CEO, California Building Industry Association College preference unfair AB7, which has passed the California Assembly and is being debated in the state Senate, allows college admission preference in the state to descendants of slavery in the United States. The idea of favoring African American students for college admissions over others, when California was a free state, is an affront to the rest of us who have felt the sting of discrimination, too. Yes, California upheld the Fugitive Slave Act and practiced discrimination in everything else, from housing to equal education. However, if we are being fair, we need to consider those other groups that suffered discrimination but do not represent 'America's original sin' when applying to California universities. Thousands of Japanese Americans in California were imprisoned during World War II. Mexicans had their land stolen from 1848 and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo up to modern times in places like Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles, where a neighborhood was razed to make way for Dodger Stadium. Jews were once kept out of universities and subjected to repressive quotas at places like the USC. AB7 is a travesty and an affront to all of us who also suffered, and it needs to die in the state Senate. President for all President Donald Trump wants immigration enforcement to focus on Democratic cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and, I'm sure, San Francisco. Perhaps he needs to be reminded that he is the president of the United States, not just the states that voted for him, but all of them.
