Downtown Observations, Part Two
[advance warning: will be brief; I smashed my fingers in a heavy door this afternoon and typing hurts]
My husband Jim and I went to Tower City this weekend to see The Golden Compass. (I'll tell you what I thought if you really want to know; I don't want to ruin it for anyone.) This was the first time Jim had been downtown in oh, three years, and to Tower City in he couldn't remember how long. It was the first time he'd ridden the Rapid in 20 years, at least!
The Rapid.
Ahh, the Rapid. It's like a little toy train (that would sound condescending if I didn't feel the same way about the Boston T). But the view going over the Cuyahoga River ... you just can't beat that. It's way better than the Roosevelt Island tram. But like the Roosevelt Island tram, taking the Red Line over the Cuyahoga River into downtown should be on one of those Top 20 Must-Do Things in some future Cleveland guidebook.
If you care what I have to say about RTA maps and schedules, please see my comments on Tim Ferris's blog. (And the responses of Jerry Masek from RTA).
Tower City.
I don't care what my sister says, I think Tower City is an attractive mall. That said, it's still a mall, which means I won't be going there much. (I just don't shop). It's too bad...I'd like to go there, but I just don't see any reason to. Maybe if it had a farmers market. What about a CityFresh stop at TC, for all the yuppie locavores who care about that stuff? (Ahem, I mean the good people who work downtown....)
Public Square.
Pretty Christmas lights. Pretty tree. Scary crossing the street.
Warehouse District.
When I visited Cleveland about two and a half years ago, I took a look at the Warehouse District for the first time since I was at Cleveland State, when there was pretty much nothing there. It looked good. It looks even better now. Whoever said Constantino's was small -- you've never been grocery shopping in Queens, have you? (Let me repeat: for an urban grocery, Constantino's was freaking huge.) Jim and I were pretty impressed at the scale, and especially the wine selection. I'm still glad we picked Ohio City, though - I don't think I could've handled all the young professionals drinking and carousing.
Also - I might be missing something, but does RTA not really go through the Warehouse District?
I'm really curious to go down and have a look at the Flats, because guess how many times I've been to the Flats? Once. Ever.
My husband Jim and I went to Tower City this weekend to see The Golden Compass. (I'll tell you what I thought if you really want to know; I don't want to ruin it for anyone.) This was the first time Jim had been downtown in oh, three years, and to Tower City in he couldn't remember how long. It was the first time he'd ridden the Rapid in 20 years, at least!
The Rapid.
Ahh, the Rapid. It's like a little toy train (that would sound condescending if I didn't feel the same way about the Boston T). But the view going over the Cuyahoga River ... you just can't beat that. It's way better than the Roosevelt Island tram. But like the Roosevelt Island tram, taking the Red Line over the Cuyahoga River into downtown should be on one of those Top 20 Must-Do Things in some future Cleveland guidebook.
If you care what I have to say about RTA maps and schedules, please see my comments on Tim Ferris's blog. (And the responses of Jerry Masek from RTA).
Tower City.
I don't care what my sister says, I think Tower City is an attractive mall. That said, it's still a mall, which means I won't be going there much. (I just don't shop). It's too bad...I'd like to go there, but I just don't see any reason to. Maybe if it had a farmers market. What about a CityFresh stop at TC, for all the yuppie locavores who care about that stuff? (Ahem, I mean the good people who work downtown....)
Public Square.
Pretty Christmas lights. Pretty tree. Scary crossing the street.
Warehouse District.
When I visited Cleveland about two and a half years ago, I took a look at the Warehouse District for the first time since I was at Cleveland State, when there was pretty much nothing there. It looked good. It looks even better now. Whoever said Constantino's was small -- you've never been grocery shopping in Queens, have you? (Let me repeat: for an urban grocery, Constantino's was freaking huge.) Jim and I were pretty impressed at the scale, and especially the wine selection. I'm still glad we picked Ohio City, though - I don't think I could've handled all the young professionals drinking and carousing.
Also - I might be missing something, but does RTA not really go through the Warehouse District?
I'm really curious to go down and have a look at the Flats, because guess how many times I've been to the Flats? Once. Ever.
posted by Christine Borne at 3:35 PM
12 Comments:
As a resident of Roosevelt Island and one of its resident bloggers I wanted to learn more about the Rapid and the views as you pass over Cuyahoga River especially since you have those views topping those of our Roosevelt Island Tram. Am I correct that the Rapid is a Train? Or is it a trolley or something else? I honestly don't know. Any pictures I can be directed to? Thanks, Eric
http://RooseveltIsland360.blogspot.com
Hi Eric,
Don't get me wrong - I love Roosevelt Island. It's NYC's last best place. I used to go there after work and sit down by the river - I was always surprised that more people didn't do this.
Our Rapid (or, the Red Line) is a light rail train. Oddly, I'm not finding any pictures that really capture the soul of what you see - they're all from the wrong perspective. (I'll have to take some, and post them.)
I think the view is better from the Red Line than the RI tram because on the RI tram, you only get to see a limited part of the NYC skyline - basically just the UES and the Queensboro Bridge. Cleveland is on a smaller scale, so you get to see the entire skyline, the Flats, the Cuyahoga River (which is an interesting curvy shape - makes a nice contrast with all the steel and skyscrapers and remnants of old industry), half a dozen bridges, and Lake Erie (if it's not too dark out; if it's dark, you get the added bonus of seeing everything lit up.) I think it makes for quite a composition. If you ever visit, let me know!
Also - I might be missing something, but does RTA not really go through the Warehouse District?
Do you mean the buses? The Warehouse District isn't on the way anywhere. Every bus in the city goes through Public Square, which isn't that far.
I'm really curious to go down and have a look at the Flats, because guess how many times I've been to the Flats? Once. Ever.
Uh oh. Uh, the parking is much much easier than it used to be.
Also, the Rapid bridge over the Cuyahoga was originally built as part of the Cleveland Union Terminal project in the 20s. It was used by most passenger trains to and from the west from its opening in 1930 up until, well, I don't know when Amtrak stopped using the Terminal, but in the early 70s anyway. The Rapid shared the bridge with the regular passenger trains starting in the mid 50s, then became the sole occupant. Cleveland State has a collection of photos of the building of the bridge online somewhere.
Plenty of free parking in the Flats, huh?
I did not know that about the Rapid bridge. I have half a mind to just ride the train back and forth over the bridge a few times. I wish the ride was longer than three minutes.
The thing about no buses directly in the Warehouse District is...it's kind of unpleasant to walk from the Warehouse District to Public Square -- you have to walk past all these parking lots. As Snoopy would say, "Bleah!"
Isn't there some kind of circulator bus in the Warehouse District? I think I've seen a little green bus made up like a trolley car in that area.
You're right...looking at the RTA downtown map, it looks like both of the trolleys run through the WD - not on the weekend, though. Maybe Cleveland is not at the point yet where we can have a lively downtown on the weekends. I wonder how many people who live in the WD are car-free....
The 24 hour transit service idea is really difficult to justify everywhere, not just Cleveland. In Washington, DC, people complained for years that the Metro didn't run between midnight and 6am, which made it very difficult to use it for going out purposes. They finally extended the hours to 2am on Friday and Saturday nights, I think, but that was just a couple of years ago that they finally did it. Washington is a comparatively bigger city than Cleveland, has more economic growth, much much more car traffic, and a lot more young people with going out proclivities, but it was still difficult to justify. The New York experience doesn't scale in many cases.
24 hours is one thing, but the weekend? I think Cleveland can be a weekend city at least....
Christine, I have to say I'm loving this blog more all the time. You're beginning to hit the kind of stride where you seem physically unable to write an uninteresting sentence. Needless to say, that's a fairly good stride to be in for any writer. It always keeps me coming back for more. I hope you'll continue to develop this uniquely powerful and lively voice, and let it be heard elsewhere too, like in print somewhere, anywhere.
You said 'locavore' :-) did you make that up? I love it.
As to the Metro in DC. I was obsessed with it when I lived there. It's true that they finally extended the hrs. For large events like the Fourth celebrations on the Mall, hours would be accomodating (but then a half mil people were Downtown). However, even in DC there are cutbacks in service now and always new fare increases.
One of my favorite spots is the view from Riverbend Condos down into the River and the 'trolley' stop located below. You might want to check that out. I think it's near Robert Lockwood Park? Someone will tell me if I'm wrong! I love your blog!
I wish I made up locavore - it's the Oxford Dictionary word of the year.
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