Five Things Every Cleveland Expat Should See
This week Megan Reardon (aka Not Martha) is visiting the land of her birth -- Cleveland -- after five years away, and she asks what she shouldn't miss. (Too bad there's not another Emerging Cleveland tour coming up....)
She wants to see things that have changed, things that she'd perhaps be pleasantly surprised by. So here are my suggestions:
1. The Windmill. Childlike delight: the only way to describe the sensation that flooded me upon seeing the windmill outside of the Great Lakes Science Center.
2. Detroit Shoreway. The main drag around Cleveland Public Theatre has built up splendidly thanks in large part to the Detroit Shoreway Development Corporation. Word has it that we'll finally be getting a west side art theater to rival the Cedar-Lee.
3. The Bier Markt and Bar Cento. I have mixed feelings about this place -- perhaps their wine and beer lists are a bit too extensive. (Yes, extensive, not expensive). But it draws a healthy-sized crowd on weekends, and there isn't anything else like it in the city.
4. Downtown: West 4th Street and the Euclid Corridor Project. I'm really curious to see what Megan makes of downtown -- whether it's going forward or backward.
5. All of the foreclosed houses. Yes, this is a bit of a departure from the first four, but it's important for the diaspora to see what we've left behind.
What would you add?
She wants to see things that have changed, things that she'd perhaps be pleasantly surprised by. So here are my suggestions:
1. The Windmill. Childlike delight: the only way to describe the sensation that flooded me upon seeing the windmill outside of the Great Lakes Science Center.
2. Detroit Shoreway. The main drag around Cleveland Public Theatre has built up splendidly thanks in large part to the Detroit Shoreway Development Corporation. Word has it that we'll finally be getting a west side art theater to rival the Cedar-Lee.
3. The Bier Markt and Bar Cento. I have mixed feelings about this place -- perhaps their wine and beer lists are a bit too extensive. (Yes, extensive, not expensive). But it draws a healthy-sized crowd on weekends, and there isn't anything else like it in the city.
4. Downtown: West 4th Street and the Euclid Corridor Project. I'm really curious to see what Megan makes of downtown -- whether it's going forward or backward.
5. All of the foreclosed houses. Yes, this is a bit of a departure from the first four, but it's important for the diaspora to see what we've left behind.
What would you add?
posted by Christine Borne at 8:18 AM
4 Comments:
I also visited home recently after a few years living in San Francisco. The West Side Market, the Grovewood, and Beachland Ballroom were places I frequented during the years before I moved. It was refreshing to see these places still drawing crowds when it was 15 degrees outside.
Asiatown has made some positive strides. Battery Park is a nice development. Definitely head to Stone Mad on West 65th.
On the negative side, check out Euclid Ave and the Art Museum. Deadsville.
Cleveland Epicure
My five favorite things to do in (Greater) Cleveland are:
5. Go to a Browns game before November because that wind in winter will freeze your arse off.
4. See a popcorn movie at the Cinemark or a real movie at Cedar/Lee. (The Cleveland International Film Festival is cool too.)
3. Go to only arcade that serves booze: Dave & Buster's in Westlake.
2. Cosmic bowling at Freeway Lanes in Brookpark. Something about those flashy pins and the music makes it much more fun. (Wouldn't mind checking out The Corner Alley downtown either.)
1. See the Cavs play during the era of LeBron and indoor pyrotechnics while we can.
I also love fireworks while the Cleveland Orchestra plays on Independence Day, the Great Lakes Science Center for the kids, and soul food from Everything and Then Some in East Cleveland (a nice break from the healthy diet I maintain most of the year).
I am a returnee, and I know what fed my soul when I visited (and still does) are the iron bridges and the steel mills. Something that never left me, a love of iron! I think these two things exemplify what is sturdy and honest and hard working about Clevelanders....so a trip to the Flats and at least the bridge on Abbey Road and Holmden Avenue in Tremont. Nothing like a smokestack to announce Cleveland! And I mean this all in a good way!
Besides all this, I miss you, Christine and hope you are well.
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