The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 50

G4 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2004 THE ENQUIRER Rockin' Robins favorite spots where you can take care of business 0 COFFEE Address: 5765 S. Ohio 48 I I i ryfc' vol 'It 4 vn 7 Hl Contact: Robin Fine Phone: (513) 494-9453 Founded: 2004 The story: Unlike most coffeehouses, Rockin' Robins is a place where mothers can bring noisy children, jukeboxes blare '50s oldies and all age groups gather. Rockin' Robins lives up to its name. It rocks. Owner Robin Fine, a former disc jockey and radio advertising sales representative, said she chanced on the idea when she took her 2-year-old son to a well-known coffee shop for her daily java.

"I felt out of place with a 2-year-old," Fine said. The coffee shop was typically quiet, peaceful. "You go in with a screaming kid and they treat you as if you are not welcome." Rockin' Robins is just the opposite. With high quality product coffee and sandwiches it caters to noise but also has a quiet niche in the back. It doesn't even open early "because we're not on the main drag," Fine said.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, including Sunday. There's '50s rock on the juke box and the television sets feature the likes of Abbott and Costello, I Love Lucy, Shirley Temple and the Three Stooges. An Elvis impersonator drops in on occasion and Blair Carmen and the Bellevue Boys play rock 'n' roll at occasional parking-lot parties outside.

At 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, there's a Classic Cruise-In with '30s, '40s and '50s cars in the lot. Betty Boop greets customers. "I got her from a local department store and brought her out here in a white convertible. People were screaming" when they saw her, Fine said.

"I'm here because Warren County is such a growing area," Fine said. "I try to keep the place upscale and I've done something different," Fine said. This isn't the same old, same old coffee shop." Quick facts: Fine is buying a classic car to drive to and from Rockin' Robins Coffee a 1954 Chevrolet Bel Aire Po-werglide. "I'll drive it to work every day. If people see a car like that, they'll stop automatically." Fine is considering franchising Rockin' Robins Coffee, with interest in opening stores in Clifton and Blue Ash.

Nancy Broemsen of Morrow is delighted to meet Elvis (Bob Lovelace) at Rockin' Robins. "I was going to the gym when I heard him singing" and had to stop, she said. sip. 'k rr: 'I 1 f'' oil he Train Stop Inn in Foster is close to the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail. Testerman PARK Maineville PIZZA in mi 1 "iinii Boyd Sandusky (left) and Tim Tipton display their channel catfish at Lake Cozy-Dale.

Crossroads CAFE special cheeses. "We serve beer and wine and have steak hoagies, burgers, chicken fingers and hot wings, too." Business is back to where it was, Bishop said, "And things are growing up out here. We're getting a lot of new customers." Quick fact Sports nights are big draws at Maineville Pizza. Locals congregate at the restaurant to watch the Bengals, Reds and other sporting events "with a beer or maybe a couple of pitchers of beer," Bishop said. Train Stop INN Address: 7837 Old 3C Highway, Hamilton Township Contact Kenneth Harris, Mel DeCarlo Phone: (513) 683-0207 Founded: Late 1800s The story: The building that houses the Train Stop Inn has hugged the banks of the Little Miami River in the hamlet of Fosters for more than a century.

It began as a hotel The Blue Danube catering to city folks. Those customers would come by horse and buggy to escape the hustle and bustle of Cincinnati. Later, a railroad line paralleled the Little Miami and brought more visitors to the scenic river valley, said Kenneth Harris, who has owned the Train Stop Inn the old hotel for 30 years. "There were three covered bridges out there on the old Three Highway and the first iron bridge was built in 1914," Harris said. The Train Stop Inn is a two-story, brick tavern with an outside veranda along the river and an outdoor facility for barbecues and cookouts.

Harris also operates a horse livery serving riders along the Little Miami Scenic Trail which follows the old railroad line. He offers one-, two-, and three-hour scenic trail rides at $20 a hour and $5 pony rides for children under 12. Quick fact The inn's claim to fame was Sam the Chimp a smoking, beer-drinking chimpanzee Harris kept in a caged, air-conditioned concrete enclosure -equipped with a television -outside the bar. Sam was a permanent conversation piece until a group of animal rights activists took Harris to court about eight or nine years ago. "Sam's retired to Florida to enjoy the sun.

He's doing just fine and I still see him," Harris said. "He'll be 35 in November and still enjoys his beer and a cigarette." Address: 8373 Maineville Road, Hamilton Township Contact: Township offices Phone: (513) 683-8520 Founded: 1975 The story: Hamilton Township purchased its first tract of parkland 23 acres along Loveland-Maineville Road in 1975. It was a three-year land contract with Ed Stotler. The original plans included ball fields and a toddler play area. State grants were secured to develop the park with help from scouts, the township athletic association and residents.

Activity increased, and in 1979, a township park board was created, said Jackie Terwilleger, township clerk and treasurer. At the same time, a group of residents made a formal request to dedicate a ball field in memory of William "Bill" Testerman, who was township clerk prior to the purchase of the land. The park was dubbed Hamilton Township Tester-man Park, Terwilleger said. Baseball, soccer and football are played there. There is a basketball court, tennis court and horseshoe pits.

Additional land has been added over the years, enlarging the park to about 32 acres. Quick fact The park also features shelter houses with grills and picnic tables. A hiking trail surrounds the Address: 8133 Ohio 48, Maineville Contact Kelly Bishop, owner Phone: (513) 683-9532 Founded: 1996 The story. Eight years ago, Kelly Bishop was tired of commuting from Warren County to downtown Cincinnati to work as a paralegal. So she reopened a pizza parlor in an old Angilo's location.

Her father, Alvin, had just purchased the building. She called it Maineville Pizza. "This is a local, local place a family place with a lot of regulars and a part of the community. If anybody needs anything, I'm ready to help -the police department, schools and athletic groups. I sponsor about five teams a year Softball, football, baseball.

I'm from Maineville, a graduate of Little Miami High School," Bishop said. A pizza chain opened a store nearby and Bishop's business dropped off for a brief time. "It was new. People wanted to try it and I did coupons and was accepting their coupons. But, people began to realize we're different," Bishop said.

"We make our own dough daily nothing is frozen. We make our own sauce. We have "If you have a family of five and you want the 99-cent menu, you go to the fast-food restaurant. If you want good food at reasonable prices, you come here," Dressier said. "Our lunch cost is $5.50 to $5.75.

Dinner's 7 or 8 bucks. I don't make as much profit and I'm no franchise where they get food price cuts, but I believe in giving people a good meal and when they leave they've had enough to eat," she said. Dressier got in the restaurant business on a lark, Her husband, Ronald, was driving by the eatery and saw that the place was going out of business. "They were closing the restaurant that was here before us and we found out they were selling the business." With Dressler's background at Frisch's, the Dresslers jumped at the opportunity. Quick fact: There's a circular table inside the door.

The locals have dubbed it "The Table of Knowledge" "where the local customers solve all the problems," Dressier said. Address: 15 E. Fosters-Maine-ville Road, Maineville Contact Pat Dressier Founded: 1997 The story: It's the "local touch" that makes Crossroads Cafe a neighborhood magnet. The little restaurant at Fos-ters-Maineville Road and Ohio 48 is the place to go in Maineville for stick-to-your ribs fare and community news. "And no one's a stranger," said owner Pat Dressier, who worked for Frisch's Restaurants for 24 years.

"If a first-timer walks through the door and the locals are talking, he'll find himself part of the conversation. That's what's different here from a lot of other places particularly the fast-food places that are coming out this way" along Ohio STORIES BY WALT SCHAEFER PHOTOS BY DICK SWAIM.