United States of America

In Akron, Questo turns a walk through the United States into a self-guided city game. Pick one of 4 active Questo quests, follow clues on your phone, solve puzzles, and unlock a story as you move from stop to stop. There is no guide to meet and no fixed start time, so you can begin when the day works for you. Akron works well for travelers who want more than a checklist of sights. Each quest gives you a route, a reason to look closer, and small challenges that make the city feel interactive. Use the game as a playful way to plan time around local places such as Cascade Plaza, Lock 4 Mural, and 182 S Main St. It suits couples, families, groups of friends, and solo explorers who like flexible outdoor activities. Choose a compact set of walking games, pause whenever you want, and turn time in Akron into a walk with a plot.

Akron, OH

182 South Main Street in Akron is home to the Akron Civic Theatre, one of the most extraordinary buildings in Ohio and one of only five remaining atmospheric theatres designed by the legendary architect John Eberson in the United States.

The story of how it got here is almost as dramatic as the building itself. In 1919, dance hall owner L. Oscar Beck began construction on a grand project he called "The Hippodrome," envisioning a 3,000-seat theatre with thirty stores and restaurants lining an arcade. He got as far as building the lobby before the project went bankrupt in 1921. The half-finished lobby stood alone, its theatre end boarded up, for a full decade.

Then Marcus Loew's theatre chain stepped in and hired Eberson to complete the project. What he created is stunning. The auditorium is designed to feel like sitting in an open-air Moorish garden at night, with twinkling stars and drifting clouds travelling across the domed ceiling. The interior features Mediterranean decor, medieval-style carvings, authentic European antiques, and Italian alabaster sculptures. The lobby retains its original Moorish castle design.

The theatre opened as Loew's Akron in April 1929 and seats 3,000 people. It's been in continuous use since, surviving the ups and downs of downtown Akron's history.

If a Questo quest takes you past this building, look up. The exterior hints at the magic inside, but the real stories are in the details of its turbulent construction and the world Eberson created within.

182 S Main St

The Lock 4 Mural in downtown Akron is a 45-foot-long, 20-foot-high tribute to the canal system that made the city what it is.

The mural sits at Lock 4 Park on South Main Street, right beside one of the original locks of the Ohio and Erie Canal, which was completed from Cleveland to Akron in 1827. During the canal's heyday, Lock 4 was a bustling commercial hub where goods from across Ohio were loaded onto boats and transported to distant markets, fuelling the economic growth that put Akron on the map.

Today, the rushing water of the canal still creates waterfalls through the lock, and the historic brick facades of some of the oldest buildings in the city give the space a distinctly urban feel. The mural captures this history in vivid colour, depicting scenes of the canal's role in Akron's development, from the early days of transportation to the industrial boom that followed.

Lock 4 Park has been transformed into one of downtown Akron's most vibrant public spaces, hosting events, festivals, and community gatherings. The mural is part of the city's broader effort to celebrate and revitalise its canal heritage.

If you're on a Questo quest through Akron, Lock 4 is a spot where history is literally built into the landscape. The waterfall, the lock, and the mural all tell different parts of the same story.

Lock 4 Mural

Cascade Plaza in downtown Akron is one of those urban spaces that has reinvented itself more than once. Dedicated on June 26, 1970, as part of a 43-acre urban renewal project, the plaza was designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin and originally sat atop a massive 2,150-car parking garage.

The 6.5-acre plaza features a fountain sculpture designed by artist Don Drumm, erected in 1968, with stainless steel rods and anodized aluminium panels that catch the light in unexpected ways. Four buildings surround the space: a 19-story modernist hotel (completed 1969), the 23-story Cascade I tower (also 1969), and the 27-story Huntington Tower, an art deco brick building that's been standing since 1931.

Over the decades, Cascade Plaza has been the home of Akron's Rib Festival, German Festival, Wine and Cheese Festival, a skating rink, a farmers market, concerts, and civil demonstrations. In 2013, the city voted to give the plaza a complete overhaul, partly funded by FirstMerit Corporation. The concrete was demolished, the deck resealed, and the space was converted to green space open to the street, completed in 2015.

It's a place that captures the ambitions and reinventions of downtown Akron over more than half a century. If you're passing through on a Questo quest, the mix of mid-century design, art deco architecture, and modern green space makes Cascade Plaza a landscape worth decoding.

Cascade Plaza

Explore Akron with 4 self-guided Questo quests. Follow clues, solve puzzles, and discover local stories at your pace in a flexible outdoor city game.

Must see places in Akron, OH

Akron, OH

All places to visit in Akron, OH

182 S Main St

Lock 4 Mural

Cascade Plaza