I can definitely see how someone unfamiliar would automatically go to a city’s “downtown” to see the busiest and most vibrant part of a city. Omaha’s busiest areas include Benson, Blackstone, Little Bohemia, South O Askarben and Dundee. Most of your time downtime was in the business district where people either go to work early in the morning and stay in the building or are working from home. Omaha is much more like an east coast city in layout of neighborhood and grid areas of town. You literally walked past a ton of cool spots in Little Bohemia into the less developed part of it. You go to a particular area for the night. Thanks for visiting!
When you were coming North, you turned back just before the “Prettiest Mile” historic homes near Miller Park and then Historic Florence where the Mormons crossed into Nebraska. The South Omaha area was home to many immigrant populations when South Omaha had a huge stockyard. Little Italy, Little Bohemia, Polish, German etc all started to migrate to the west starting in the late 50’s-60’s etc. You missed a fascinating Midtown and historic Gold Coast homes (castles). Oh and the fountain as you discovered is gone…Conagra left the city and Omaha decided to create a much better riverfront that is indeed under construction. This week we have the College World Series….Downtown is completely full of people. Evenings in the Old Market are amazing. Our sprawling West Omaha spans the rest of the entire county. Our metro includes Bellevue, Papillion, LaVista, Ralston, Millard, Elkhorn and Carter Lake, IA…then the other side of the bridge with Council Bluffs, Ia. I give you lots of props actually walking some of the hills. Up in Florence and Ponca Hills, South Omaha and Bellevue and of course Council Bluffs….are named bluffs for a reason. Very steep hills. In fact, many streets including early Dodge Street had to be shaved down quite a bit in order to be street. A church at 19th St and Dodge had to be changed as they dug to bring the street level down (you can still see where the original door was and is now much higher) I am glad you came to my hometown.
@@markettradinggenius due to the practice of redlining in the 50’s thru the 90’s, sadly opportunities for real estate movement to the western part of Omaha was held to a minimum. Omaha has a very bad record with regard to equal opportunities. Things are changing, but still we have a lot of bigotry in this city that we need to overcome. Even today, your question was posed with an lol at the end. It’s not a joke, it is an ongoing travesty. I love my hometown, warts and all, but I will continue to hope for better of all our citizens.
@@VikiAnderson Yeah, that makes a little sense with the 'Redlining' and all. That doesn't have much history here in Virginia(northern virginia) and has NEVER occured back home in Hawaii(island of Oahu); so it behooves me as to why a 'northern state', like Nebraska, would even entertain such an idea, such as redlining. But, where there's a bible there's a belt to go with it...lol...(get it..'bible belt'...haha). In any case, there are now alot more black real estate agents and if someone, of a 'minority' group wanted to buy a mansion in West Omaha, in a place like Bennington Lake or the likes, there are now laws in place to make sure that NO prejudice can be shown against the buyer in an area that is majority 'white'. With technology doubling every 18 months, sooner or later more and more blacks/minorities will gain both wealth and political power, such as what is now already present here in Virginia. Virginia, Maryland and D.C are ranked highest in the nation for having, per capita, the most educated and wealthiest blacks; beating out California, Texas and Florida. Matter of fact, in a district called Stafford, Virginia, even though blacks, as a population, is less than whites, blacks are actually averaging more income per year than whites !! There's a very famous business owner, a black man by the name of Thomas Moorhead, who used to reside in Omaha many decades ago, but now lives here in northern Virginia, is the ONLY black family own Rolls Royce dealership in the United States. Period ! His car dealership(s), including his line of BMW's and other high end cars, is located in Vienna, Virginia. I could go on and on, but the point is that Virginia, Maryland and D.C and to some extent North Carolina, as far as education, political power and financial wealth is concerned, this is the area where blacks are thriving the most...
I have watched so many of your travel videos, really enjoy your laid back narration and vlog. I wish I knew you guys were coming to Omaha, would have loved to help you "see the sights". Omaha is on the west bank of the wild Missouri river, so yes, especially east/south-east Omaha can be really hilly! I live just off 13th in south Omaha and drive down 13th on my motorcycle quite often, drive through the Old Market, down by the fountain (it is completed now!) and so on. Thanks for passing through! Omaha is outgrowing it's roads and as a long time resident (lived my whole 63 years here), I can say the driving is noticeably way worse in the last 10 years or so. People are so impatient and rude. But off the roads...there is a lot to see and do here: Omaha Symphony, Opera Omaha, Joslyn Museum, Lauritzen Gardens, Henry Doorly Zoo, Old Market, Riverfront, more Restaurants and good food, than you will ever be able to eat at in a lifetime, Golf courses, historic homes, Fontenelle Forest (we live about 1 mile from Fontenelle, and 1 mile from zoo). It gets hot in the summer, and cold in the winter, but we always seem to get through it all and be better for it. Thanks for your nice take on Omaha!
I have really enjoyed your travels across the U.S. You have truly accomplished your goal of sharing video of the places you have visited, so I could feel as if I had visited also. Good job!
I respect you for actually visiting the places you talk about. I live in Cleveland, so many people that have never been here talk badly about the city that it's comical at this point. I saw your video from Cleveland, nice weather haha, you should make a trip back sometime, experience a baseball game in the fall and some Friday nightlife. Baseball, beer and the grit of the city are my favorite parts of Cleveland.
Omaha is actually a very interesting city, it is a city that you don’t hear a lot about. The city is pretty large, but it’s metro is not very large compared to its city. Omaha may actually be a hidden gem for people looking for a large city with low crime and not heavy traffic congestion
As an Omaha native, I once got in a fight with one of my best friends over the fact he thought Omaha was flat. Omaha is in fact not flat, not even close. It's rolling hill after rolling hill. "The loess hills" It might be flat to someone that lives in a mountain town but, to me, someone that's travelled all over the country, I'd rank it one of the hilliest places in the country.
I really love your videos. Best tours of any city. I think it’s because I love downtown areas, the old neighborhoods surrounding it and an ice cold beer at a historic watering hole. Hope you get some snow tires for the bronco and keep adventuring this winter!!
We will be, Erik. You know, great minds think alike. :) So I will continue to visit downtowns and drink beer in cool watering holes. I'm glad you're coming along for the ride.
This one's familiar to me as I had commuted from Ohio to Denver CO back in the day on I-80. Lucky for you; You have a fun companion to travel with as well. Thanks...
Born and raised here in Omaha for 30 years. Love that You touched on a lot of good points including the Reuben! You hit plenty of good spots, I enjoy Upstream from time to time as well. Thanks for immersing yourself and not just saying that Omaha is "flat" . 😀
If you had driven a few more miles North you would have seen a beautiful area and You turned north at the yellow building in South O which is the beginning of Vinton Street Art District. Beautiful historic area... 24th street takes you through the coolest part of South Omaha. Too bad you didn't ask for a guide to show you all around. Omaha is a magnificent city. So many amazing places.
You were about a block away from Warren Buffet's house @25:00 in. Glad you enjoyed our city. I love it here. Not too big, yet not too small. The people are nice, the traffic isn't too bad, and there is tons of philanthropy and civic pride. You should come back in a few years when the downtown parks are done with construction.
Oh, another fun fact. The county to the south of Omaha, Sarpy County is the smallest county in Nebraska and the only Sarpy County in the entire United States. It is also home to Bellevue (part of the Omaha metro area) and contains a large accessible forest, Fontenelle Forest. This woodland represents what most of the upland and bottomland Missouri Valley woods used to be. It is also reputed to have the last bit of virgin forest in east-central Nebraska.
This was a pretty good video about my hometown although a lot of things were left out (both good and bad!)... The reason the "business district" seems so dead is because a lot of people are still working from home...and the reason there's so many new apartments and condos going up downtown (and Midtown, a booming new section you didn't cover) is because our state of the art medical center (UNMC) is rapidly expanding and 3000 people are expected to move to Omaha in the next few years. Gentrification is a big problem in this town, affordable housing is nearby impossible to find and our homeless/near homeless population is exploding. So honestly, I find it kinda gross...
Grew up in Benson, couldn't afford to move back because of all of the gentrification! All of our historic neighborhoods are full of ugly bars and axe throwing places
@@helenwinston9455 so what about the benson theatre that just opened? I get that the bar scene is not welcomed but the theatre was a big add for the community.
Omaha, birthplace of the Reuben Sandwich. The origin story goes as follows: Reuben Kulakofsky (his first name sometimes spelled Reubin; his last name sometimes shortened to Kay), a Jewish Lithuanian-born grocer residing in Omaha, Nebraska, asked for a sandwich made of corned beef and sauerkraut at his weekly poker game held in the Blackstone Hotel from around 1920 through 1935. The participants, who nicknamed themselves "the committee", included the hotel's owner, Charles Schimmel. Schimmel's son, who worked in the kitchen, made the first Reuben for him, adding Swiss cheese and thousand island dressing to his order, putting the whole thing on rye bread. The sandwich first gained local fame when Schimmel put it on the Blackstone's lunch menu, and its fame spread when a former employee of the hotel won the national sandwich idea contest with the recipe.
Downtown area was a lot more active at lunch hours prior to pandemic. Nowadays, big employers in downtown allow employees to WFH, such as Union Pacific, Mutual of Omaha and First national bank.
Omaha is exactly what I always imagined Midwest cities to be like, quiet downtowns and lots of old brick buildings. Doesn't look like a bad place to live (No I'm not actually considering to live in Omaha, I'm just saying it seems like a nice place to live)
Omaha, in general is a good place to live. Some areas are rougher than others, especially some tougher to live in neighborhoods in North & South Omaha.
Great tour of Omaha. The water front is usually full of people and is very nice (when not under construction) as is the Old Market. The Hispanic neighborhoods south of downtown have improved drastically over the past few years. Looking forward to your trip to the zoo, they are always improving it. Suprised you didn't mention that Omaha is the home of the college baseball world series. Thanks again for the great tours.
Thanks Steve. Yeah, I drove by the baseball stadium several times, made a mental note to say something everytime and still forgot. You'd think I'd remember because I've watched my Sooners play there many times on TV. BTY, I went to the Speedway Museum yesterday in Lincoln. Thanks for suggesting it - it was freakin' AWESOME! I collect pedal cars - I've never seen so many beautiful pedal cars, including the oldest one in the world. The Lincoln video is going to be mostly that museum. It's easily the equal to the Ford Museum near Detroit.
Actually for 13th St near Little Bohemia, that neighborhood has been around for about a century and some change. 7pm is a little too early for that area too. The bars are busy usually closer to 10pm in that area
Usually downtown is packed. I think it's kinda dead because it was the week before The College World Series and lots of temporary construction is being set up. Omaha is very busy normally. I was surprised to see & hear how quiet it was downtown while you were filming. I hope you enjoyed our beloved city. Safe Travels ♡
Thanks for visiting the place I have called home for 15 years (originally grew up in IL in the 80s). You missed the large unique late 19th Century structures of Midtown and the Bemis Park district. Midtown is traditionally one of the busiest and most culturally rich vicinities of Omaha. I actually reside in one of the large dwellings in the Midtown area. However you would have a difficult time seeing it during the summer since it is concealed by a mini-woodland oasis on the second highest point in Omaha. Due to the elevation and location it is a great migrant trap for neotropical migrants during the spring and fall following the Missouri flyway. Speaking of avefauna, the American Robin you encountered on the Bob Kerry Bridge had its bill open because it was panting due to the heat. Like dogs, birds cannot sweat so they have to pant to keep cool. You were very close to my workplace when you were heading down Leavenworth St. towards Saddle Creek Rd. If you stop by again in the late summer, and wish to see a great natural spectacle, then don't miss the large urban Purple Martin Roost at 42nd and Farnam. Several thousand birds layering, in vortexes, and eventually swooping out to the sky to roost in a few select trees.
That was definitely an oddly quiet day downtown. The Omaha metro has grown considerably in the last 10 years. The last census, like a lot of the country is wholly inaccurate. Traffic is so much worse than it was just a few years ago, plus we have a lot more tech industry and jobs like Facebook, Google, and Amazon that brought a lot of people to the metro. One of the nice things about Omaha like some other Midwest cities is that it's very spread out. Most of the growth has been in western Douglas county and Sarpy county. It really is one big spread out metropolis consisting of 7 or 8 counties in two states.
The area west of southern bellevue along capehart is booming with neighborhoods. I predict that in the future capehart will be one of the busiest roads in bellevue, and have stores and shopping centers along with tons of neighborhoods along it. I also saw that in the 2010 census bellevue had 53k people and it now has 64k, meaning it grew around a thousand people each year and is now larger than one of the metros principle cities, council bluffs!
Omaha reminds me of Fresno but without tweakers and tent cities. Omaha being spread out isn't a good thing because that necessitates a car just to get around but with so many apartments being built downtown that could change and it would be interesting what Omaha evolves into the future.
@@AlexCab_49 they also announced that a freeway running through down town will be demolished at the end of its planed life and the land will be redeveloped
3:50 Tallest building in the state. Used to be Woodmen of the World building. Rose Blumkin, founder of Nebraska Furniture Mart (largest furniture mart in North America).
Hey Lord Spoda, Toot your horn! You do an excellent job! Totally NOT a rant, and I’ve heard some RANTS (that record guy on UA-cam trashing Eric Clapton, “When Did Clapton Become Such A Wanker?,” now that’s a RANT, and a most excellent one, if I’m any judge!). No, you do a wonderful job, offering colorful commentary and you do very well going with your own flow, and that of the places you visit! I especially enjoy when you show yourself, it feels like I’m glancing over at you, my friend! And more of the Lady as well, I find you both very human and accessible! I’ve left likes with all of your postings, and I’m about to subscribe, once I finish this most enjoyable outing in Omaha! - Namaste, Glenn C. B. Jones
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Effortless, kids! Appreciating your work is like falling off a log! To wax anecdotal, I hitchhiked across Omaha TWICE in the 1970's! The 2nd time through it took TWELVE grueling hours just to get to the east side of town! But I was a hippie, and Omaha wasn't too high on hippies just then (probably STILL aren't!). Boulder was a "horse of a different color," I'm here to attest! Best regards always, your pal, Glenn
When going north you should’ve turned onto 24th St. and driven that north to Florence. You would’ve seen a good representation of North Omaha. And then go south on 24th all the way to the queue you would’ve seen a good representation of South Omaha.
I sure enjoy getting to adventure with yall! Hehe thanka for sharing and also for thr knowledge you carry of each place!! You both are a beautiful couple!
Downtown is a bit more populated on the weekends when the rich people from west Omaha are feeling spendy or if there is an event of some sort going on (art festival, farmers market, concerts, ect.). Otherwise it's just people who work downtown. Unfortunately Omaha is one of the most segregated cities in the USA. The midtown to downtown area is a good mix of people and cultures but everything around it is very different from each other. Construction is a constant and the roads are full of potholes year round. Overall life is pretty good in Omaha. It could be a lot better for those of us who are living paycheck to paycheck but we get by. Downtown/old market used to be a great and wonderful place to find all kinds of interesting things and such but it has slowly become less and less interesting as businesses closed down due to high rent or lack of customers. It can be a tough city to live in sometimes but I've had some really rewarding and memorable life moments here. It is not a city that is active all day AND night though. I wish there was more to do at night. Everything closes at 8-9-10pm except bars. Night life could be better.
As always your presentation is fantastic, you give a great view of each place you visit. It gives me many ideas of what to visit, when we make are trip west.
Theres been recent news omaha is going to add a skyscraper, as well as build many apartments in the downtown area. They also plan for a street car, and adding lids over some areas over i80.
Funny you'd remark on how expensive that neighborhood at about 25:00 is. Thats Dundee and you were darn close to Warren Buffets home. Also his son Howard Buffet. I used to live a few houses down from Howard and when I'd walk my dog I would pass him mowing his lawn and think. There goes the son of a billionaire mowing his own lawn. Anyways you have my sub its cool to see you go darn near everywhere in the towns you visit what a fun perspective you dont often see.
Omaha has the highest proportion of Fortune 500 company headquarters to population in the United States. Marlin Brando, Fonda family, Fred Astaire, Malcolm X, one of Jimi Hendrix drummers are from Omaha.
I'm surprised you mentioned Malcolm X considering what the KKK, of Omaha, did to both him and especially to his father when Malcolm was at a young age...
I use to work downtown it seems so odd no one is out. Thanks for not showing Omaha as a cornfield. Seeing all this makes me miss my home “town” so much.
My wife two months ago drove across country through Omaha on interstate 80 and said it was the worst bumpy roads ever -did you have a problem with bad roads in Omaha?
I do really like this candid take on our city. It's not perfect but it's still a nice place to raise your kids. You missed a few things and we'd love to have you back for. Fun random stuff. We're the largest city in SD. We have the most per capita restaurants to people anywhere in America. You missed Falls park at night. There's a light show that's beautiful. During the Christmas season lights are strung through that entire park. It's fantastic. You like food trucks? We do a burger battle downtown in the summer. We don't necessarily need growth but we love tourists!
As a native - what you are calling "south Omaha isn't really "south" much.... Same with what you are calling "west" Omaha. I think the sign on the side of Noli's pizza says it best (40th & farnam). "Welcome to West Omaha circla 1930" or something like that. We don't really call it "north" til you are past Cuming, you aren't "west" until you are past 72nd (some would say 90th now), you aren't "south" until you are around "L". The "nice part of town" you speak of is called "the gold coast". All older nice homes, some have been split into separate apartments while others have been nicely refurbished. Also those older houses you comment on 'probably have basements' - most of those older houses do have a basement but they tend to be unfinished. If you want to see the NICE homes of today go to the area called "Regency" south and east of Westroads shopping mall. Tourist places to hang out on your next visit: Benson like around 63rd and Maple, Dundee like around 50th and Underwood, the area around Mutual of Omaha has a lot of bars and restaurants - go look from Turner bvld on Farnam all the way to the other side of Saddle creek. If you liked the Dubliner, you should go to Crescent Moon there on "Beer corner USA".
Yes, I give you lots of credit for going to the places you are talking about. (Seems a no-brainer but not these days!) I saw a video of somebody who was talking about one town but his pictures were of someplace else altogether; I had been to those places! Anyway, we had taken a 4-H exchange trip out to Cheyenne in 1976 on a Greyhound bus and had a layover in Omaha. The thing that surprised me (I was quite young 😁) Were the hills! . I Googled it and the bus station is on Jackson, not too far from Dodge Street that you rode in on. I remember standing at the top of the hill looking down, quite a nice view IIRC. So even 46 years later I would have squawked at somebody claiming Omaha was flat. (I did see the title of this video but didn't get the joke at first But I was thinking that if YOU said it was flat then I must have had a gaping head wound when I visited so "misremembered" the whole city 😂because I know the high quality that you put out there.) I did love those statues, the more art the better in a city. I know the Oregon Trail followed the Platte but I think they started on it a bit west of Omaha, coming up from Independence, MO. And those apartments looked great, and the Riverwalk a great way to liven up the city. There was an episode on Dateline called "Haunting" from the "Dundee" neighborhood of Omaha. It's the older, upper-middle class section that you went to last. The neighborhood almost seemed like another character in the episode; the juxtaposition of the beauty and sedateness of the neighborhood with the ugliness and violence. So I think that's the 'upper middle class' neighborhood you were driving in, according to the street signs. I was hoping you'd go there!
62 year old native. I'm still furious Jobbers Canyon was demolished. It would have been the hippest, coolest, most be there or be square area of Omaha. Right on the waterfront. Cobble stone streets and five story red brick buildings. I, years ago ran in to a young upcoming real estate developer who was pro tear it down. I told him in thirty years, this will be the biggest regret of your life. I was right.
We'll be getting a new skyscraper taller than the First National Bank Tower here soon. Also, there is a food court beneath the streets of downtown. Usually gets busy for lunch around 1pm
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip The skyscraper would be put in front (or just west) of that redevelopment of the downtown park, and to my understanding, where the current library is at. There would also be a free trolly going between downtown and midtown to connect both places and our City Council mentioned they wanted to add 30k more residents in the midtown and downtown area in the next 10-15 years
I'm from Sioux Falls and Omaha especially downtown Omaha has always felt like a big Sioux Falls. Its a nice city. Clean for the most part. Gets outshined by KC for sure due to food and sports
At 11:22 the contrasting decoration around each window sets the building apart from just another dark brick oh-hum building. And at 30:30 The car may be a King Midget Roadster, originally built in Akron Ohio. Probably from the early to late 1960s.
I've partied in Omaha over the years. Some great times. Try Farnam St in the Blackstone District. I was gonna rag on ya about Omaha being flat, but you got some great shots of a city built on the bluffs of the Missouri River. Cool city.
The hispanic representation of South O is definitely emphasized on 24th street, if you ever come down here again in the summer we celebrate a big cinco de mayo event!
Born and raised in Omaha and I was a cop there for 23 years. Only flat part I know of is North O and it’s only a part of it. Omaha not flat overall. Drive in the winter and find out😂
I live here in Omaha. Even though this obviously isn’t a mountainous region, Omaha is actually one of the top 10 hilliest cities in the United States. When you’re in Omaha you are almost never standing on flat ground. Ha ha! Glad you enjoyed your visit! Great video!
Thank you, Travis. On the first afternoon we arrived, I drove around Omaha and was surprised at the hilliness. Many places where similar to driving in hilly San Francisco. When I was in the hotel room that night I was browsing the Omaha Reddit boards and UA-cam videos, which I do to get a feel at what locals think of their city. One of the first videos I watched was "10 worst things about Omaha" and one of the reasons was that Omaha is flat. Made me laugh, and watching the video you could see the poster didn't actually go to Omaha, but instead just pulled pictures off the internet. Anyway, that was the reason for the title. :)
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip In fact the area I live in Omaha is so high up on a hill (Midtown area) that during the winter I can see 5.6 miles into Council Bluffs (and beyond) with my spotting scope.
I have not seen the streets so empty, than again, all of us are working around that time. Great video. And Omaha is growing very fast. There is a future Ice rink being built where half of the lake used to be. At the Riverfront
Go to NYC. An extra million commute into the city each day. The sidewalks are always full of people. But in Omaha, people complain about parking if there isn't a space within a block.
I must say Omaha look very interesting. Love all the statues telling the history. Beautiful ❤. Nature reminds me of where I live in Sweden. Beautiful old houses. Buildings in US are way different from here in Sweden. So interesting 🤔😁
I'm going through your videos looking for the people. You'd think around lunch time they'd come out but no... no people. I'm beginning to wonder if something is happening and we haven't caught on yet.
Here is what is so deceptive about Nebraska. At least 80% of the state population lives near Iowa and near the Missouri and Platte Rivers and the where the most famous Colleges and Medical Institutions are too. The state has a large land area of little over 77,200 sq miles, so this leaves the rest of the state very unpopulated with less than one person per sq mile in many places. It has with small, mostly dying towns due to lack of job opportunities. Also when you leave the south part of Nebraska near Interstate 80 and travel North, ii becomes mostly gentle rolling hills until you reach South Dakota. The terrain is also diverse in that roughly half is farmland growing mostly corn, soybean, and beef and cattle, the western part is ranch land. Not many years ago there were many dairies in the eastern part, but that too is mostly thing of the past. Nebraska is home to several Native American Indian Tribes that are their own nation with their own laws, police and governments. While I am not a native Nebraskan, I had lived here for a while and did much research and travel around the state. It has its own rich and interesting history. We have lived in many states and places in our lives and we find Nebraska a really good place to live. Thanks for visiting.
Bro...at around 17:00 when you said, "well looks like the house are getting older and this part hasn't been gentrified"...I was like, white boy you better make a u-turn...lol....The problem with gentrification is that it starts out real nice and then those, who weren't able to afford such places(most minorities; blacks, latinos, etc...because technology, which did not exist 10 years previous all of a sudden allowed these 'minorities' to get a piece of the political and financial pie) start buying places to live the 'american dream' the way the very people who gentrified the neighborhood to begin with wanted to live; and that's actually a good thing. And the cycle then repeats itself somewhere else over and over again...haha Warren Buffet's sister used to live 2 blocks from where I presently live at here in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She ultimately remodeled her downtown Fredericksburg home and sold it. She then moved further up to a northern state where she passed away from old age. When she had a book signing, in downtown Fredericksburg I told her that I was basically her next door neighbor and told her where I lived and she gave me an autograph inside her book and gave it to me. I have her book on my desk in a glass case :) You guys should have walked around North 24th street to see what that was like(the good parts if such a thing exist; due to historical reasons of course)...I'm from Hawaii, but lived on north 24th street when my uncle was in the airforce running exercises; when I was around 9 years old until 11 years of age. I lived with my aunt and got a chance to go to some of the schools like Miller Park and Sunny Slope. We lived in a fairly large home by Lothrop Elementary school way back in 1980's. Don't know if that house is even there since alot of things have probably been torn down and rebuilt back up. I then went back home to my native Oahu, Hawaii island. Now, I live on the east coast in Virginia and it's been a true blessing here in virginia with very open minded people, nearly every neighborhood, including the ultra wealthy guard gated neighborhoods, are very interracially mixed. Not too sure if wealthy neighborhoods, like Bennington Lake area there in West Omaha, have a good mix of different races of people or not(my guess is probably not, but I could be sorely wrong). Perhaps I could ask a real estate agent, but I doubt I'll get an answer since that would probably break some kind of rule....so who knows...
North used to be (1900's) where the doctors and lawyers lived. That Hispanic area is / was little Italy, you caught the "little Bohemia" Thanks for stopping in our city!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip I just got through watching the video, and I really enjoyed it! I haven't been to the zoo since my daughter was 12 years old, and she's now 51! So I can say it's been awhile! 😂😆🤣😂 I'm glad you and your wife had a good time! 🤗
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip lol 😅😅🤣 That made my day! Nah, I'm to old and have trouble breathing....I can just see me going along all those paths with a walker, I'd never survive! Ha! You should see me getting groceries, I have to take those little old lady electric carts that you sit on.... I'm just falling apart, so I'll leave the zoo visiting up to you and others. 🤗 Can't wait to see your other videos as I really enjoyed the one you made of Omaha.....not because it's my hometown, but it encompassed the different areas of town and was well explained for anyone who's not from here.👍🤗 You both stay safe, take care and God bless
Another great video. I have been following the channel for quite a while now and really enjoy your insight into the cities you have visited. Just a quick question if that’s okay. You have always referred to your lovely wife as “the wife”. I was just wondering why you don’t use her name? After this trip is done, any idea of what’s coming up next?
Calling her the wife is a bit of a joke between us. She calls me “the husband” back but you don’t hear it because she doesn’t narrate the videos. As far as our continuing trip, after our visit to Wichita we will be shifting to smaller cities and more out of the way places in the US. To be honest, this is the part of our traveling that I’ve been looking forward to the most.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip thanks for the reply. I have been loving the series so far. I have been incredibly surprised at the decay in the “downtowns” in so many cities I have always thought of being vibrant and active when I travelled pre-Covid. It seems the smaller cities are doing better than the larger ones.
I was born in Omaha in 1953 and left her in 1976, I could've taken you on a magical mystery tour, at one time north 16th. street was a happening street, I'm 70 years old now and not able to travel home one more time before I die, but thanks for your video, BTW, Omaha at one time was hillier look at it's history.
When driving into West Omaha there’s so many different sections it’s hard to get a representation for driving around just for a little bit. There’s the Benson area there’s central area there’s a Millard there’s the Blackstone area. There are so many different places and different neighborhoods that you can see. Plus you were really close to Warren Buffett’s house you could’ve driven by that and seen it.
How do you like your Bronco? My Grandparents were from Omaha! I am very grateful that you are actually visiting these places. So I discovered the UA-cam channel you were talking about and I had to call them on their lie. My grandparents honor is now secure.
While in the Old Market, I am sorry that you didn't notice that practically all of the businesses you walked by had occupied condos or apartments above them. The warehouses were converted decades ago to residents, a couple of thousand people live downtown. The apartments that you saw on the 'edge' are a recent reclamation project of public spaces and the former headquarters of ConAgra and are adding to, not exploiting an untapped, residential housing market downtown.
I’m not a local, so they’re really the ones to tell you, but if you like zoos definitely visit the one in Omaha. It’s widely regarded the best in the world.
Benson is really happening right now as is the Blackstone area. Joslyn Museum, Old Market, Durham Museum are some cool places to check out. And of course, the Henry Doorly Zoo.
Omaha is not flat!!!
Oh yes it is! It’s as flat as a pancake!! 😂
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip I agree with Ellen. If you go to UNMC it is hilly. It is not all flat.
@@KatiTheButcher Might want to have another listen to the video old blue eyes, at the very least cut down on thse Cheeeesterfieeeelds.
@@11474403a Im a little slow, had a concussion saturday and didnt realize I was being "trolled" until it was too late.
@@KatiTheButcher only you can get away with it Mr Sinatra only you
I can definitely see how someone unfamiliar would automatically go to a city’s “downtown” to see the busiest and most vibrant part of a city. Omaha’s busiest areas include Benson, Blackstone, Little Bohemia, South O Askarben and Dundee. Most of your time downtime was in the business district where people either go to work early in the morning and stay in the building or are working from home. Omaha is much more like an east coast city in layout of neighborhood and grid areas of town. You literally walked past a ton of cool spots in Little Bohemia into the less developed part of it. You go to a particular area for the night. Thanks for visiting!
Also if you don’t go the old market you missed like half the city lol
These are fantastic pointers!!! ^^ as an omaha native you hit the nail on the head with those active areas.
@@sirrivet9557 old market is one of the worst parts of town followed by Benson.
This is true, many little hot spots outside of downtown. And literally 5 minutes from there.
@@Ryan-kc5pl old market was really cool in the seventies.havent been back since 84.
As someone who has biked all over Omaha as a child, those hills are BRUTAL. Thank you for showing off my hometown!!
When you were coming North, you turned back just before the “Prettiest Mile” historic homes near Miller Park and then Historic Florence where the Mormons crossed into Nebraska. The South Omaha area was home to many immigrant populations when South Omaha had a huge stockyard. Little Italy, Little Bohemia, Polish, German etc all started to migrate to the west starting in the late 50’s-60’s etc. You missed a fascinating Midtown and historic Gold Coast homes (castles). Oh and the fountain as you discovered is gone…Conagra left the city and Omaha decided to create a much better riverfront that is indeed under construction. This week we have the College World Series….Downtown is completely full of people. Evenings in the Old Market are amazing. Our sprawling West Omaha spans the rest of the entire county. Our metro includes Bellevue, Papillion, LaVista, Ralston, Millard, Elkhorn and Carter Lake, IA…then the other side of the bridge with Council Bluffs, Ia. I give you lots of props actually walking some of the hills. Up in Florence and Ponca Hills, South Omaha and Bellevue and of course Council Bluffs….are named bluffs for a reason. Very steep hills. In fact, many streets including early Dodge Street had to be shaved down quite a bit in order to be street. A church at 19th St and Dodge had to be changed as they dug to bring the street level down (you can still see where the original door was and is now much higher) I am glad you came to my hometown.
I know I hoped he would have kept driving.
Ive lived in omaha my whole life not knowing some of this stuff!
You got all these other groups of people migrating to the west, but my question is, where did the blacks migrate to?....lol...
@@markettradinggenius due to the practice of redlining in the 50’s thru the 90’s, sadly opportunities for real estate movement to the western part of Omaha was held to a minimum. Omaha has a very bad record with regard to equal opportunities. Things are changing, but still we have a lot of bigotry in this city that we need to overcome. Even today, your question was posed with an lol at the end. It’s not a joke, it is an ongoing travesty. I love my hometown, warts and all, but I will continue to hope for better of all our citizens.
@@VikiAnderson Yeah, that makes a little sense with the 'Redlining' and all. That doesn't have much history here in Virginia(northern virginia) and has NEVER occured back home in Hawaii(island of Oahu); so it behooves me as to why a 'northern state', like Nebraska, would even entertain such an idea, such as redlining. But, where there's a bible there's a belt to go with it...lol...(get it..'bible belt'...haha). In any case, there are now alot more black real estate agents and if someone, of a 'minority' group wanted to buy a mansion in West Omaha, in a place like Bennington Lake or the likes, there are now laws in place to make sure that NO prejudice can be shown against the buyer in an area that is majority 'white'. With technology doubling every 18 months, sooner or later more and more blacks/minorities will gain both wealth and political power, such as what is now already present here in Virginia. Virginia, Maryland and D.C are ranked highest in the nation for having, per capita, the most educated and wealthiest blacks; beating out California, Texas and Florida. Matter of fact, in a district called Stafford, Virginia, even though blacks, as a population, is less than whites, blacks are actually averaging more income per year than whites !! There's a very famous business owner, a black man by the name of Thomas Moorhead, who used to reside in Omaha many decades ago, but now lives here in northern Virginia, is the ONLY black family own Rolls Royce dealership in the United States. Period ! His car dealership(s), including his line of BMW's and other high end cars, is located in Vienna, Virginia. I could go on and on, but the point is that Virginia, Maryland and D.C and to some extent North Carolina, as far as education, political power and financial wealth is concerned, this is the area where blacks are thriving the most...
I have watched so many of your travel videos, really enjoy your laid back narration and vlog. I wish I knew you guys were coming to Omaha, would have loved to help you "see the sights". Omaha is on the west bank of the wild Missouri river, so yes, especially east/south-east Omaha can be really hilly! I live just off 13th in south Omaha and drive down 13th on my motorcycle quite often, drive through the Old Market, down by the fountain (it is completed now!) and so on. Thanks for passing through! Omaha is outgrowing it's roads and as a long time resident (lived my whole 63 years here), I can say the driving is noticeably way worse in the last 10 years or so. People are so impatient and rude. But off the roads...there is a lot to see and do here: Omaha Symphony, Opera Omaha, Joslyn Museum, Lauritzen Gardens, Henry Doorly Zoo, Old Market, Riverfront, more Restaurants and good food, than you will ever be able to eat at in a lifetime, Golf courses, historic homes, Fontenelle Forest (we live about 1 mile from Fontenelle, and 1 mile from zoo). It gets hot in the summer, and cold in the winter, but we always seem to get through it all and be better for it. Thanks for your nice take on Omaha!
I have really enjoyed your travels across the U.S. You have truly accomplished your goal of sharing video of the places you have visited, so I could feel as if I had visited also. Good job!
I really enjoy your walks through areas and drives through neighborhoods. Helps you get a feeling of the city. Thank you.
That's the idea, Peggy! Thank you for watching. :)
I respect you for actually visiting the places you talk about. I live in Cleveland, so many people that have never been here talk badly about the city that it's comical at this point.
I saw your video from Cleveland, nice weather haha, you should make a trip back sometime, experience a baseball game in the fall and some Friday nightlife. Baseball, beer and the grit of the city are my favorite parts of Cleveland.
I plan on it. Loved the R&R Museum. I've wanted to see it all my life. :)
Thanks! Keep em coming Joe and Nic
Thank you!
Omaha is actually a very interesting city, it is a city that you don’t hear a lot about. The city is pretty large, but it’s metro is not very large compared to its city.
Omaha may actually be a hidden gem for people looking for a large city with low crime and not heavy traffic congestion
1 million people isn't exactly small either.
As an Omaha native, I once got in a fight with one of my best friends over the fact he thought Omaha was flat. Omaha is in fact not flat, not even close. It's rolling hill after rolling hill. "The loess hills" It might be flat to someone that lives in a mountain town but, to me, someone that's travelled all over the country, I'd rank it one of the hilliest places in the country.
It is hilly. It's like driving in San Francisco in places!
Agreed!
If you think Omaha is bad try out council bluffs
@@blairefanning3717 lol ur so right council bluffs in the highest crime rate in Iowa while omaha is almost the lowest rated crime in Nebraska
It is very hilly.i used to ride my bike everywhere in Omaha .
THANKS LS AND NICOLE FOR DOING THESE VIDEOS.GOD BLESS THE 2 OF YOU!!!
That river front area that you see is now done and it’s so beautiful
I really love your videos. Best tours of any city. I think it’s because I love downtown areas, the old neighborhoods surrounding it and an ice cold beer at a historic watering hole. Hope you get some snow tires for the bronco and keep adventuring this winter!!
We will be, Erik. You know, great minds think alike. :)
So I will continue to visit downtowns and drink beer in cool watering holes. I'm glad you're coming along for the ride.
This one's familiar to me as I had commuted from Ohio to Denver CO back in the day on I-80. Lucky for you; You have a fun companion to travel with as well. Thanks...
Born and raised here in Omaha for 30 years. Love that You touched on a lot of good points including the Reuben! You hit plenty of good spots, I enjoy Upstream from time to time as well. Thanks for immersing yourself and not just saying that Omaha is "flat" . 😀
Thanks Christopher. I've had quite a few commenters post indignantly that Omaha is not flat. It's pretty obvious they didn't watch the video. :)
Omaha is probably the hilliest city in Nebraska. Also, the downtown park renovations are complete and turned out very nice, come check it out!
Great Video! Too Bad you didn't show up a few days later because the city is popping for the College World Series!
Thank you for this Omaha tour. After living in congested, overrun Denver, Colorado Omaha is like Nirvana.
theres a lot of crackheads not as pretty as it seems
If you had driven a few more miles North you would have seen a beautiful area and You turned north at the yellow building in South O which is the beginning of Vinton Street Art District. Beautiful historic area... 24th street takes you through the coolest part of South Omaha. Too bad you didn't ask for a guide to show you all around. Omaha is a magnificent city. So many amazing places.
You were about a block away from Warren Buffet's house @25:00 in. Glad you enjoyed our city. I love it here. Not too big, yet not too small. The people are nice, the traffic isn't too bad, and there is tons of philanthropy and civic pride. You should come back in a few years when the downtown parks are done with construction.
I will definitely be back. I wish I had known I was so close to Buffet's house!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Dont get to excited, Mr Buffet lives rather modestly. Most of those houses you were showing were larger than what he lives in.
Oh, another fun fact. The county to the south of Omaha, Sarpy County is the smallest county in Nebraska and the only Sarpy County in the entire United States. It is also home to Bellevue (part of the Omaha metro area) and contains a large accessible forest, Fontenelle Forest. This woodland represents what most of the upland and bottomland Missouri Valley woods used to be. It is also reputed to have the last bit of virgin forest in east-central Nebraska.
This was a pretty good video about my hometown although a lot of things were left out (both good and bad!)...
The reason the "business district" seems so dead is because a lot of people are still working from home...and the reason there's so many new apartments and condos going up downtown (and Midtown, a booming new section you didn't cover) is because our state of the art medical center (UNMC) is rapidly expanding and 3000 people are expected to move to Omaha in the next few years. Gentrification is a big problem in this town, affordable housing is nearby impossible to find and our homeless/near homeless population is exploding. So honestly, I find it kinda gross...
Grew up in Benson, couldn't afford to move back because of all of the gentrification! All of our historic neighborhoods are full of ugly bars and axe throwing places
@@helenwinston9455 yeah it's terrible!! I like hobos much better than hipsters LMAO 😂😂
@@helenwinston9455 so what about the benson theatre that just opened? I get that the bar scene is not welcomed but the theatre was a big add for the community.
I love your channel! Greetings from Switzerland 🇨🇭 ✌️
Thank you, Ante!!
Nice tour of my hometown. Grew up there and it’s crazy to see this video because so much has changed since I moved from there.
Omaha, birthplace of the Reuben Sandwich. The origin story goes as follows:
Reuben Kulakofsky (his first name sometimes spelled Reubin; his last name sometimes shortened to Kay), a Jewish Lithuanian-born grocer residing in Omaha, Nebraska, asked for a sandwich made of corned beef and sauerkraut at his weekly poker game held in the Blackstone Hotel from around 1920 through 1935. The participants, who nicknamed themselves "the committee", included the hotel's owner, Charles Schimmel. Schimmel's son, who worked in the kitchen, made the first Reuben for him, adding Swiss cheese and thousand island dressing to his order, putting the whole thing on rye bread. The sandwich first gained local fame when Schimmel put it on the Blackstone's lunch menu, and its fame spread when a former employee of the hotel won the national sandwich idea contest with the recipe.
I knew it was something like that, it’s my favorite deli sandwich. 😀😀
That kinda sounds like the story of the first sandwich in general.
ShirleySerious ...Facts! 🤣
Runza - the sandwich of Nebraska
Downtown area was a lot more active at lunch hours prior to pandemic. Nowadays, big employers in downtown allow employees to WFH, such as Union Pacific, Mutual of Omaha and First national bank.
Good video! Omaha native here. Job well done.
Thank you for the kind words, Dan! :)
Omaha is exactly what I always imagined Midwest cities to be like, quiet downtowns and lots of old brick buildings. Doesn't look like a bad place to live (No I'm not actually considering to live in Omaha, I'm just saying it seems like a nice place to live)
Normally it's more busy but this video really shows how chill it is here.
Omaha has been or was in the top 10 cities to raise a family, to work, and make a decent living. Just a happy place😁
Omaha, in general is a good place to live. Some areas are rougher than others, especially some tougher to live in neighborhoods in North & South Omaha.
Great tour of Omaha. The water front is usually full of people and is very nice (when not under construction) as is the Old Market. The Hispanic neighborhoods south of downtown have improved drastically over the past few years. Looking forward to your trip to the zoo, they are always improving it. Suprised you didn't mention that Omaha is the home of the college baseball world series. Thanks again for the great tours.
Thanks Steve. Yeah, I drove by the baseball stadium several times, made a mental note to say something everytime and still forgot. You'd think I'd remember because I've watched my Sooners play there many times on TV. BTY, I went to the Speedway Museum yesterday in Lincoln. Thanks for suggesting it - it was freakin' AWESOME! I collect pedal cars - I've never seen so many beautiful pedal cars, including the oldest one in the world. The Lincoln video is going to be mostly that museum. It's easily the equal to the Ford Museum near Detroit.
Glad you enjoyed the museum, looking forward to the vid
Thanks for showing off the dublinar pub that is the best place I'd recommend they got the best guiness
Actually for 13th St near Little Bohemia, that neighborhood has been around for about a century and some change. 7pm is a little too early for that area too. The bars are busy usually closer to 10pm in that area
Usually downtown is packed. I think it's kinda dead because it was the week before The College World Series and lots of temporary construction is being set up. Omaha is very busy normally. I was surprised to see & hear how quiet it was downtown while you were filming.
I hope you enjoyed our beloved city. Safe Travels ♡
After rush hour, before lunch hour, best time to do service work downtown. Hard to find parking otherwise.
There are plenty of days when downtown Omaha is busy or fairly busy. Some days? Not as much.
@@damienwhited87 Now that the new riverfront park is open it's always full of people.
Thanks for another night of great entertainment ❤️
Thanks for visiting the place I have called home for 15 years (originally grew up in IL in the 80s). You missed the large unique late 19th Century structures of Midtown and the Bemis Park district. Midtown is traditionally one of the busiest and most culturally rich vicinities of Omaha. I actually reside in one of the large dwellings in the Midtown area. However you would have a difficult time seeing it during the summer since it is concealed by a mini-woodland oasis on the second highest point in Omaha. Due to the elevation and location it is a great migrant trap for neotropical migrants during the spring and fall following the Missouri flyway. Speaking of avefauna, the American Robin you encountered on the Bob Kerry Bridge had its bill open because it was panting due to the heat. Like dogs, birds cannot sweat so they have to pant to keep cool. You were very close to my workplace when you were heading down Leavenworth St. towards Saddle Creek Rd. If you stop by again in the late summer, and wish to see a great natural spectacle, then don't miss the large urban Purple Martin Roost at 42nd and Farnam. Several thousand birds layering, in vortexes, and eventually swooping out to the sky to roost in a few select trees.
That was definitely an oddly quiet day downtown. The Omaha metro has grown considerably in the last 10 years. The last census, like a lot of the country is wholly inaccurate. Traffic is so much worse than it was just a few years ago, plus we have a lot more tech industry and jobs like Facebook, Google, and Amazon that brought a lot of people to the metro. One of the nice things about Omaha like some other Midwest cities is that it's very spread out. Most of the growth has been in western Douglas county and Sarpy county. It really is one big spread out metropolis consisting of 7 or 8 counties in two states.
I saw a lot of apartments under construction in downtown Omaha. It will definitely be a busier place in the next year or two.
It's very small compared to other big cities.
The area west of southern bellevue along capehart is booming with neighborhoods. I predict that in the future capehart will be one of the busiest roads in bellevue, and have stores and shopping centers along with tons of neighborhoods along it. I also saw that in the 2010 census bellevue had 53k people and it now has 64k, meaning it grew around a thousand people each year and is now larger than one of the metros principle cities, council bluffs!
Omaha reminds me of Fresno but without tweakers and tent cities. Omaha being spread out isn't a good thing because that necessitates a car just to get around but with so many apartments being built downtown that could change and it would be interesting what Omaha evolves into the future.
@@AlexCab_49 they also announced that a freeway running through down town will be demolished at the end of its planed life and the land will be redeveloped
My truck was in your video. Parked in the parking lot at 19th and St. Mary's Ave
Next to mine😂
@@Gabbermans57 now I know who to blame for the door ding!
@@michaelbailey4442 lol!😂
3:50 Tallest building in the state. Used to be Woodmen of the World building.
Rose Blumkin, founder of Nebraska Furniture Mart (largest furniture mart in North America).
I really love these traveling videos of Texas, Kansas & Nebraska. seen 9 so far!
Thank you, Joe!!
When you’re back, check out the Aksarben, Blackstone & Benson districts!
And west Omaha like 144th and further. There's a lot of newer shopping centers out there
Hey Lord Spoda,
Toot your horn! You do an excellent job! Totally NOT a rant, and I’ve heard some RANTS (that record guy on UA-cam trashing Eric Clapton, “When Did Clapton Become Such A Wanker?,” now that’s a RANT, and a most excellent one, if I’m any judge!).
No, you do a wonderful job, offering colorful commentary and you do very well going with your own flow, and that of the places you visit!
I especially enjoy when you show yourself, it feels like I’m glancing over at you, my friend! And more of the Lady as well, I find you both very human and accessible!
I’ve left likes with all of your postings, and I’m about to subscribe, once I finish this most enjoyable outing in Omaha!
- Namaste,
Glenn C. B. Jones
Thank you for the kind words, Glenn!!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Effortless, kids! Appreciating your work is like falling off a log! To wax anecdotal, I hitchhiked across Omaha TWICE in the 1970's! The 2nd time through it took TWELVE grueling hours just to get to the east side of town! But I was a hippie, and Omaha wasn't too high on hippies just then (probably STILL aren't!). Boulder was a "horse of a different color," I'm here to attest! Best regards always, your pal, Glenn
When going north you should’ve turned onto 24th St. and driven that north to Florence. You would’ve seen a good representation of North Omaha. And then go south on 24th all the way to the queue you would’ve seen a good representation of South Omaha.
I sure enjoy getting to adventure with yall! Hehe thanka for sharing and also for thr knowledge you carry of each place!! You both are a beautiful couple!
Thank you, illy! 😀
Downtown is a bit more populated on the weekends when the rich people from west Omaha are feeling spendy or if there is an event of some sort going on (art festival, farmers market, concerts, ect.). Otherwise it's just people who work downtown. Unfortunately Omaha is one of the most segregated cities in the USA. The midtown to downtown area is a good mix of people and cultures but everything around it is very different from each other. Construction is a constant and the roads are full of potholes year round. Overall life is pretty good in Omaha. It could be a lot better for those of us who are living paycheck to paycheck but we get by. Downtown/old market used to be a great and wonderful place to find all kinds of interesting things and such but it has slowly become less and less interesting as businesses closed down due to high rent or lack of customers. It can be a tough city to live in sometimes but I've had some really rewarding and memorable life moments here. It is not a city that is active all day AND night though. I wish there was more to do at night. Everything closes at 8-9-10pm except bars. Night life could be better.
Yea that closing everything by 7-8 really irks me especially the restaurants what they doing waiting for Walmart to go back to 24hrs
As always your presentation is fantastic, you give a great view of each place you visit. It gives me many ideas of what to visit, when we make are trip west.
Thanks, keyup!! 😀😀
Theres been recent news omaha is going to add a skyscraper, as well as build many apartments in the downtown area. They also plan for a street car, and adding lids over some areas over i80.
Thanks for this. Got yourself a new subscriber 👍🏽
Awesome!! 😀
Very interesting series. Common denominator in many states seems to be homelesness. Beautiful lady! 😇
Funny you'd remark on how expensive that neighborhood at about 25:00 is. Thats Dundee and you were darn close to Warren Buffets home. Also his son Howard Buffet. I used to live a few houses down from Howard and when I'd walk my dog I would pass him mowing his lawn and think. There goes the son of a billionaire mowing his own lawn. Anyways you have my sub its cool to see you go darn near everywhere in the towns you visit what a fun perspective you dont often see.
Omaha has the highest proportion of Fortune 500 company headquarters to population in the United States.
Marlin Brando, Fonda family, Fred Astaire, Malcolm X, one of Jimi Hendrix drummers are from Omaha.
You're right on all counts. :)
I'm surprised you mentioned Malcolm X considering what the KKK, of Omaha, did to both him and especially to his father when Malcolm was at a young age...
311, Bob Gibson, Gail Sayers , Boxing champion of the world, Bud Crawford.
I use to work downtown it seems so odd no one is out. Thanks for not showing Omaha as a cornfield. Seeing all this makes me miss my home “town” so much.
My wife two months ago drove across country through Omaha on interstate 80 and said it was the worst bumpy roads ever -did you have a problem with bad roads in Omaha?
That sounds like about the time pothole season was in full fling here. It’s usually not that bad, though never amazing.
We didn't have any problems. The roads overall were in good shape.
Yea our mayor suck
I enjoyed my 6 months in Omaha ( worked at the famous insurance company ) but dang, way too humid in the summer.
I do really like this candid take on our city. It's not perfect but it's still a nice place to raise your kids. You missed a few things and we'd love to have you back for. Fun random stuff. We're the largest city in SD. We have the most per capita restaurants to people anywhere in America. You missed Falls park at night. There's a light show that's beautiful. During the Christmas season lights are strung through that entire park. It's fantastic. You like food trucks? We do a burger battle downtown in the summer. We don't necessarily need growth but we love tourists!
As a native - what you are calling "south Omaha isn't really "south" much.... Same with what you are calling "west" Omaha. I think the sign on the side of Noli's pizza says it best (40th & farnam). "Welcome to West Omaha circla 1930" or something like that. We don't really call it "north" til you are past Cuming, you aren't "west" until you are past 72nd (some would say 90th now), you aren't "south" until you are around "L". The "nice part of town" you speak of is called "the gold coast". All older nice homes, some have been split into separate apartments while others have been nicely refurbished. Also those older houses you comment on 'probably have basements' - most of those older houses do have a basement but they tend to be unfinished. If you want to see the NICE homes of today go to the area called "Regency" south and east of Westroads shopping mall. Tourist places to hang out on your next visit: Benson like around 63rd and Maple, Dundee like around 50th and Underwood, the area around Mutual of Omaha has a lot of bars and restaurants - go look from Turner bvld on Farnam all the way to the other side of Saddle creek. If you liked the Dubliner, you should go to Crescent Moon there on "Beer corner USA".
"Circa 1915."
Yes, I give you lots of credit for going to the places you are talking about. (Seems a no-brainer but not these days!) I saw a video of somebody who was talking about one town but his pictures were of someplace else altogether; I had been to those places! Anyway, we had taken a 4-H exchange trip out to Cheyenne in 1976 on a Greyhound bus and had a layover in Omaha. The thing that surprised me (I was quite young 😁) Were the hills! . I Googled it and the bus station is on Jackson, not too far from Dodge Street that you rode in on. I remember standing at the top of the hill looking down, quite a nice view IIRC. So even 46 years later I would have squawked at somebody claiming Omaha was flat. (I did see the title of this video but didn't get the joke at first But I was thinking that if YOU said it was flat then I must have had a gaping head wound when I visited so "misremembered" the whole city 😂because I know the high quality that you put out there.)
I did love those statues, the more art the better in a city. I know the Oregon Trail followed the Platte but I think they started on it a bit west of Omaha, coming up from Independence, MO. And those apartments looked great, and the Riverwalk a great way to liven up the city.
There was an episode on Dateline called "Haunting" from the "Dundee" neighborhood of Omaha. It's the older, upper-middle class section that you went to last. The neighborhood almost seemed like another character in the episode; the juxtaposition of the beauty and sedateness of the neighborhood with the ugliness and violence. So I think that's the 'upper middle class' neighborhood you were driving in, according to the street signs. I was hoping you'd go there!
Thank you for the great comment, Joyce. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. :)
Maybe when they talk about flat they are talking about the plains sections of the state where the cattle and crops are?
Well ya you get credit for visiting ..and you even take us. Its pretty cool to see places
Love your vids! This is a great tour of America!😉
62 year old native. I'm still furious Jobbers Canyon was demolished. It would have been the hippest, coolest, most be there or be
square area of Omaha. Right on the waterfront. Cobble stone streets and five story red brick buildings. I, years ago ran in to a young
upcoming real estate developer who was pro tear it down. I told him in thirty years, this will be the biggest regret of your life.
I was right.
Absolutely...what the old Con Agra area would look like right now if they hadn't torn all that area down to kiss their a$$. Sad to think about...
I was surprised at how deserted downtown was, so we googled. It says there are underground tunnels. I can’t wait to check them out.
We'll be getting a new skyscraper taller than the First National Bank Tower here soon. Also, there is a food court beneath the streets of downtown. Usually gets busy for lunch around 1pm
I look forward to seeing that! A new skyscraper would give the skyline nice balance, if it's put in the right place.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip The skyscraper would be put in front (or just west) of that redevelopment of the downtown park, and to my understanding, where the current library is at. There would also be a free trolly going between downtown and midtown to connect both places and our City Council mentioned they wanted to add 30k more residents in the midtown and downtown area in the next 10-15 years
That would look great. There are a lot of apartments under construction in downtown. It’s going to be full of residents in no time.
The artist in charge of designing that park gets a big and everything in it gets a major👍👍👍
Bonus! You absolutely have my taste in buildings and houses… and FOOD!
Wasn’t that a Talking Heads album?
- Glenn
I'm from Sioux Falls and Omaha especially downtown Omaha has always felt like a big Sioux Falls. Its a nice city. Clean for the most part. Gets outshined by KC for sure due to food and sports
At 11:22 the contrasting decoration around each window sets the building apart from just another dark brick oh-hum building. And at 30:30 The car may be a King Midget Roadster, originally built in Akron Ohio. Probably from the early to late 1960s.
I love all your videos but could you tell me why there's so many of the little scooter's in the big cities?
It's public transportation. You can rent them and scoot around the city.
I've partied in Omaha over the years. Some great times. Try Farnam St in the Blackstone District. I was gonna rag on ya about Omaha being flat, but you got some great shots of a city built on the bluffs of the Missouri River. Cool city.
Nicole waited till the fountain stopped, got lucky 😅lol
The hispanic representation of South O is definitely emphasized on 24th street, if you ever come down here again in the summer we celebrate a big cinco de mayo event!
It is like a gateway to the Great Plains.
Born and raised in Omaha and I was a cop there for 23 years. Only flat part I know of is North O and it’s only a part of it. Omaha not flat overall. Drive in the winter and find out😂
I live here in Omaha. Even though this obviously isn’t a mountainous region, Omaha is actually one of the top 10 hilliest cities in the United States. When you’re in Omaha you are almost never standing on flat ground. Ha ha! Glad you enjoyed your visit! Great video!
Thank you, Travis. On the first afternoon we arrived, I drove around Omaha and was surprised at the hilliness. Many places where similar to driving in hilly San Francisco. When I was in the hotel room that night I was browsing the Omaha Reddit boards and UA-cam videos, which I do to get a feel at what locals think of their city. One of the first videos I watched was "10 worst things about Omaha" and one of the reasons was that Omaha is flat. Made me laugh, and watching the video you could see the poster didn't actually go to Omaha, but instead just pulled pictures off the internet. Anyway, that was the reason for the title. :)
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip you did a great job. I subscribed!
@@travishayes840 Awesome, Travis! 😀
Place looks flatter than Florida. As someone from East Tennessee it's so flat there it's weird to me
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip In fact the area I live in Omaha is so high up on a hill (Midtown area) that during the winter I can see 5.6 miles into Council Bluffs (and beyond) with my spotting scope.
I have not seen the streets so empty, than again, all of us are working around that time.
Great video. And Omaha is growing very fast.
There is a future Ice rink being built where half of the lake used to be. At the Riverfront
Go to NYC. An extra million commute into the city each day. The sidewalks are always full of people.
But in Omaha, people complain about parking if there isn't a space within a block.
5:44 WoW look a green empty lot in the middle of downtown, how unusual.
I must say Omaha look very interesting. Love all the statues telling the history. Beautiful ❤. Nature reminds me of where I live in Sweden. Beautiful old houses. Buildings in US are way different from here in Sweden. So interesting 🤔😁
Glad you enjoyed it!! :)
Have family in suburban Omaha, about twenty five miles from downtown. Really nice place. Growing like a weed patch.
I'm going through your videos looking for the people. You'd think around lunch time they'd come out but no... no people. I'm beginning to wonder if something is happening and we haven't caught on yet.
If I'm not mistaken, Johnny Carson said he was from Omaha.
Home of the TV dinner? Now there is a life changing invention. Now that is an unusual corn dog
Really enjoying your tour of the states.Obviously it's not all bad but it is quite sad to see once great cities in a really bad way.Hope they recover.
Best tours wonderful videos
the website that said omaha was flat obviously needs to go back and drive through omaha again in this reality not a fictional one
Right!
Here is what is so deceptive about Nebraska. At least 80% of the state population lives near Iowa and near the Missouri and Platte Rivers and the where the most famous Colleges and Medical Institutions are too. The state has a large land area of little over 77,200 sq miles, so this leaves the rest of the state very unpopulated with less than one person per sq mile in many places. It has with small, mostly dying towns due to lack of job opportunities. Also when you leave the south part of Nebraska near Interstate 80 and travel North, ii becomes mostly gentle rolling hills until you reach South Dakota. The terrain is also diverse in that roughly half is farmland growing mostly corn, soybean, and beef and cattle, the western part is ranch land. Not many years ago there were many dairies in the eastern part, but that too is mostly thing of the past. Nebraska is home to several Native American Indian Tribes that are their own nation with their own laws, police and governments. While I am not a native Nebraskan, I had lived here for a while and did much research and travel around the state. It has its own rich and interesting history. We have lived in many states and places in our lives and we find Nebraska a really good place to live. Thanks for visiting.
Bro...at around 17:00 when you said, "well looks like the house are getting older and this part hasn't been gentrified"...I was like, white boy you better make a u-turn...lol....The problem with gentrification is that it starts out real nice and then those, who weren't able to afford such places(most minorities; blacks, latinos, etc...because technology, which did not exist 10 years previous all of a sudden allowed these 'minorities' to get a piece of the political and financial pie) start buying places to live the 'american dream' the way the very people who gentrified the neighborhood to begin with wanted to live; and that's actually a good thing. And the cycle then repeats itself somewhere else over and over again...haha
Warren Buffet's sister used to live 2 blocks from where I presently live at here in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She ultimately remodeled her downtown Fredericksburg home and sold it. She then moved further up to a northern state where she passed away from old age. When she had a book signing, in downtown Fredericksburg I told her that I was basically her next door neighbor and told her where I lived and she gave me an autograph inside her book and gave it to me. I have her book on my desk in a glass case :)
You guys should have walked around North 24th street to see what that was like(the good parts if such a thing exist; due to historical reasons of course)...I'm from Hawaii, but lived on north 24th street when my uncle was in the airforce running exercises; when I was around 9 years old until 11 years of age. I lived with my aunt and got a chance to go to some of the schools like Miller Park and Sunny Slope. We lived in a fairly large home by Lothrop Elementary school way back in 1980's. Don't know if that house is even there since alot of things have probably been torn down and rebuilt back up. I then went back home to my native Oahu, Hawaii island. Now, I live on the east coast in Virginia and it's been a true blessing here in virginia with very open minded people, nearly every neighborhood, including the ultra wealthy guard gated neighborhoods, are very interracially mixed. Not too sure if wealthy neighborhoods, like Bennington Lake area there in West Omaha, have a good mix of different races of people or not(my guess is probably not, but I could be sorely wrong). Perhaps I could ask a real estate agent, but I doubt I'll get an answer since that would probably break some kind of rule....so who knows...
Had you turned right while being on the corner of that parking garage, walk a block and a half and you would have seen the beautiful Court house.😊
Thank you, great tour
North used to be (1900's) where the doctors and lawyers lived. That Hispanic area is / was little Italy, you caught the "little Bohemia" Thanks for stopping in our city!
Thank you for your kind words about our city! Enjoy the zoo, best one in the country!!
We did. That zoo is amazing!! :)
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip I just got through watching the video, and I really enjoyed it!
I haven't been to the zoo since my daughter was 12 years old, and she's now 51!
So I can say it's been awhile! 😂😆🤣😂 I'm glad you and your wife had a good time! 🤗
@@leewomack3498 Well, you gotta go again! :)
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip lol 😅😅🤣 That made my day! Nah, I'm to old and have trouble breathing....I can just see me going along all those paths with a walker, I'd never survive! Ha! You should see me getting groceries, I have to take those little old lady
electric carts that you sit on.... I'm just falling apart, so I'll leave the zoo visiting up to you and others. 🤗 Can't wait to see your other videos as I really enjoyed the one you made of Omaha.....not because it's my hometown, but it encompassed the different areas of town and was well explained for anyone who's not from here.👍🤗 You both stay safe, take care and God bless
@@leewomack3498 Thank you, Lee. 😀😀
I used to live there for about a year and a half loved it
Another great video. I have been following the channel for quite a while now and really enjoy your insight into the cities you have visited.
Just a quick question if that’s okay. You have always referred to your lovely wife as “the wife”. I was just wondering why you don’t use her name?
After this trip is done, any idea of what’s coming up next?
Calling her the wife is a bit of a joke between us. She calls me “the husband” back but you don’t hear it because she doesn’t narrate the videos. As far as our continuing trip, after our visit to Wichita we will be shifting to smaller cities and more out of the way places in the US. To be honest, this is the part of our traveling that I’ve been looking forward to the most.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip thanks for the reply. I have been loving the series so far. I have been incredibly surprised at the decay in the “downtowns” in so many cities I have always thought of being vibrant and active when I travelled pre-Covid.
It seems the smaller cities are doing better than the larger ones.
I was born in Omaha in 1953 and left her in 1976, I could've taken you on a magical mystery tour, at one time north 16th. street was a happening street, I'm 70 years old now and not able to travel home one more time before I die, but thanks for your video, BTW, Omaha at one time was hillier look at it's history.
When driving into West Omaha there’s so many different sections it’s hard to get a representation for driving around just for a little bit. There’s the Benson area there’s central area there’s a Millard there’s the Blackstone area. There are so many different places and different neighborhoods that you can see. Plus you were really close to Warren Buffett’s house you could’ve driven by that and seen it.
I used to work out of Omaha in the late 90s - early ots? I always heard their zoo was one of the better ones, but never went
The Omaha Zoo is widely regarded as the world's best. We visited it, and it will be the next video. It is amazing.
Go there today an you see one of one the best zoo
You drove right past my apartment on Dodge
How do you like your Bronco?
My Grandparents were from Omaha!
I am very grateful that you are actually visiting these places.
So I discovered the UA-cam channel you were talking about and I had to call them on their lie. My grandparents honor is now secure.
The Bronco is doing great, Shaun. Thank you for watching. :)
You guys need to check out the Blackstone District if you want to see some cool bars
Get coneflower too
I do not think your title was funny. You laugh ALONE.
"Riverfront Development" was done in 1975, and extension in 1988. THIS PROJECT is another renovation.
While in the Old Market, I am sorry that you didn't notice that practically all of the businesses you walked by had occupied condos or apartments above them. The warehouses were converted decades ago to residents, a couple of thousand people live downtown. The apartments that you saw on the 'edge' are a recent reclamation project of public spaces and the former headquarters of ConAgra and are adding to, not exploiting an untapped, residential housing market downtown.
Was just in Omaha. LOVE this city. Market District is awesome.
I am planning on going to Omaha this January. I'm from Georgia. Any tips or advice? Never been to Nebraska nor really the midwest for that matter.
I’m not a local, so they’re really the ones to tell you, but if you like zoos definitely visit the one in Omaha. It’s widely regarded the best in the world.
Benson is really happening right now as is the Blackstone area. Joslyn Museum, Old Market, Durham Museum are some cool places to check out. And of course, the Henry Doorly Zoo.
January bring a coat we been lucky lately but that's usually when the cold hits