Cleveland: The Northeast’s Best Kept Secret - Part I
Cleveland’s Fountain of Eternal Life
It is also known as The War Memorial Fountain and Peace Arising from the Flames of War. It honors those who have served and is located in the Veterans’ Memorial Plaza, formerly Mall A.
Ever wonder why people laugh when you say Cleveland? Ever notice how Cleveland tends to be the butt of so many jokes in movies and television? Yes, Cleveland has had its share of embarrassing moments, but what city hasn’t? What we like to point out is that the cultural, ethnic, and sports makeup of our East and West side boundaries is home to some of the most amazing theater, food, music, and natural beauty we’ve seen on our travels. I would guess that many do not know that outside the eastern borders of our fair city, you can visit over thirty wineries of the region. Not all in one day, mind you, but in your travels. You can even land at a crematorium if you miss your turn. Our whoospie that day.
For those who may not know, the history of Cleveland dates back to 1796 when Moses Cleaveland arrived on the banks of the Cuyahoga River to establish a new center for commerce and trade. It became the seventeenth state in 1803. Its rich natural resources helped forge the iron and steel industry and played a significant role in the Civil War. During the Gilded Age, it was known as “the richest city in the world,” with the likes of the Carnegies and Rockefellers driving the economic and cultural growth. The 1970s and 1980s saw challenging periods of crime and social unrest until, in the 1990s, redevelopment began in downtown with the addition of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This focus on cultural and economic revitalization remains a priority today. And speaking of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The structure was designed by iconic architect I.M. Pei and dedicated in 1995.
If you have never been, do yourself a favor and make the trek to the river banks of Cleveland and see everything from the most recent inductees to the man who coined the phrase “Rock and Roll”. Cleveland DJ Alan Freed began playing a new style of music that was emerging from a fusion of rhythm and blues, gospel, blues, and country. In 1986, it was decided that this was the mecca for the Rock Hall. Exhibits change regularly but include the staples of the genre from Les Paul to Etta James to the Beatles, Stones, and more. Recently, they added a studio where the common man off the street can come in and make his dreams of rock stardom come true. The top floor features a revolving exhibit that showcases early roots and industry icons. Watch any or all of the movies running in the cinema areas. Or shop for your favorite rock idol merchandise in the gift shop. Annual memberships have varying levels and offer year-round free admission. Stop and consider it while you enjoy a beverage and a bite while you listen to an up-and-coming artist on the plaza. https://rockhall.com/
Walk around the corner from the Hall and view one of the most quirky sights in any city - The Free Stamp. Grant Galvin tried desperately to climb to the top one afternoon. He just couldn’t find a way to get up there, and gave up as we were drawing a crowd and in danger of being arrested. The Standard Oil Company of Ohio commissioned the art, but when it merged with BP, the company was not enamored of the twenty-eight-foot-tall piece and banished it before finally donating it to the city. It now sits in Willard Park, near City Hall.
There are so many restaurants in Cleveland to try. If you can’t find what you want to eat, you’re not trying. The ethnicity of this city affords a hangry person anything from great Italian cuisine, Hungarian, Irish, Croatian, Polish, or just a plain old hot dog. A great place to get an all-American dog is at Progressive Field while you take in a baseball game.
Two areas not to be missed are The Flats and Playhouse Square. Another historic and iconic feature is Terminal City, which is rebounding from recent years of downturn. Terminal City will be featured in Part II. The Flats were once a strictly industrial area, featuring shipping, warehouses, and foundries, with all the boom a growing town can muster. All this progress came to a screeching halt when, in 1969, after years of manufacturing excess, the Cuyahoga River caught fire, only to be documented by none other than a Time Magazine photographer who just happened to be in Cleveland. Out of the ashes came the rebirth of Cleveland by prompting the 1972 Clean Water Act, and the ccreation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Drive down into the flats, or tie up your boat, and enjoy the restaurants, bars, and scenery of the railroad, bridges, and waterways. Want to get married? There’s a place for that as well.
Second only to Lincoln Center in New York City is Playhouse Square. It is the second largest performing arts center in the country and the largest outside of New York. Between 1921 and 1922, five extravagant theater venues opened up in the Euclid Avenue area of downtown Cleveland. The Mimi Ohio, Connor Palace, KeyBank State, Allen, and Hanna were showplaces for the showcases of the day. When urban flight came into play, entertainment fled to the suburbs and all but the Hanna were closed. The efforts of the community saved the Square from the wrecking ball, and has now grown to eleven performance spaces including the original five.
Another revitalization is underway for the not-for-profit, giving it the title of the world’s largest theater restoration project. Take in a concert, show, broadway event, or workshop for the family in one of the many spaces for the programs available. Make sure you stay after dark - you don’t want to miss the GE Chandelier, a crystal structure which commands the view of Euclid Avenue and East 14 Street. Forty-two hundred hand placed crystals stand twenty-feet tall suspended by a forty-four-foot-high steel beam. It was first lit on May 2, 2014 for a crowd of 25,000 onlookers. It truly is the heart of the theater district.
There is so much to see in Cleveland making it one of the best kept secrets from the rest of the cities out there. So, when someone asks you if you’ve been, just smile and nod politely and let them find out for themselves the hidden gems in and around the city on the lake.
