colavitos ghost

For almost a year, I've assisted my friend and housemate (the aforementioned Mr McDermott) on his/our own urban farm on the city's near west side. The farm is called Urban Growth, is located south of Lorain on West 48th St, and can be seen and read about here: www.urbangrowthfarms.com We have had a series of successful crops already this year and have sold food to CSAs (Farm Share), restaurants (Ohio City's Flying Fig), and at market (Howe Meadow in Peninsula). Though I have played only a minor role in the farm's development--volunteering my labor when I can--I can say that it's been truly inspiring to see what can be done with a small green square in the city of Cleveland. Peter, our colleagues, and I all feel a tremendous groundswell surrounding issues of local and/or urban agriculture and I am confident that this is a trend that can do nothing but good things for the city of Cleveland.

great to hear from you, guv. your insight is worth a million bucks! but what exactly do you mean by "arts-intensive cities" :? :wink: :?

^^I have a nickname for that house that I stole from the title of a Joy Division song. I call it "Atrocity Exhibition". It is truly a hair-raising piece of work :-o

As someone who is 3000 miles away from the EC, I, too, would appreciate some visuals to know what all this stink is about. haha I'm farthest! :laugh:

^Don't you mean "Roma"? :wink:

^woops! not the same view. the picture was the brooklyn bridge; in the movie poster it's the manhattan bridge you see.

"light-catching"? errr... :|

^No, I'm gonna have to guess King's Island...

According to a couple black friends of mine, Little Italy residents "take care" of their neighborhood by being openly racist. I know at least two black guys who refuse to set foot in that neighborhood. Thankfully, they've never been violently attacked. But let's just say that they've been firmly warned on a number of occasions that they'd be better off not passing through the LI. I'm fully in favor of taking care of one's neighborhood, but perhaps some people in Little Italy have gone overboard?

Too bad I can't go back in time to when I was 10 years old. I would appreciate those yearly Severance Hall field trips a heckuva lot more these days...

^That is most def a Hector Vega. (He was my art teacher at Cudell Rec in the mid 90s!)

Good for you, Cincy, Dayton, and Cbus! It was only a matter of time. Anyone want to join my newly-formed Church of Google?

I know I'm a week late, but thanks for the link, KJP :wink: I don't want to some off as the ungrateful newby.

Wow, according to all y'all's comments, appartently Wal Marts close down all the time. Although if it's just to make room in the market for a Super Wal Mart I feel like it kind of doesn't count. I guess I was using a pretty narrow frame of reference when I made my initial comments. I'm pretty sure that we have no shut down Wal Marts in NEO, but SW Ohio is obviously a whole different ballgame.

^^Plus, it's by a really famous Ohio-born artist!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Dine No but really, I agree with you. I think the sculpture itself is okay, but it looks really out of place perched above the main entrance like that. Does anybody remember how much they paid for that thing? A couple million if I'm not mistaken...

I lived in Ohio City from my birth until leaving for college. In those years I was mugged in the neighborhood 3 times. Twice at gunpoint. I've noticed that many UO posters are put off by the PD's portrayal of Cleveland as a dangerous city; but hey, in my experience... it kind of is. I LOVE Ohio City, but it has a long way to go before it can be compared to the "nice" neighborhoods of America's more prosperous metropolises. The disturbingly frequent violent crime (not to mention home break-ins, car theft, etc) make it, in my opinion, pretty "rough around the edges".

Yeah, it seems like life's generally pretty hard for businesses in the OC. Other than some great dining options (Flying Fig, Great Lakes, Momocho, etc), there isn't a whole lot of interesting retail activity to speak of. It has some really lovely residential architecture and lots of pleasant tree-lined streets, but it's rough-around-the-edges essence has been hard to shake, which means some folks are reluctant to spend time out and about, which means less-than-ideal foot traffic, which tends to be tough on retailers. In all, far too many malls, not enough neighborhood businesses in C-Town (of course, I know it's not the only place with that problem) So I can understand that you weren't really blown away by the OC....we "Ohio Citians" ("Citiers"?) really do tend to talk it up; probably cuz it's such a great place to live! Thanks for your honest perspective, though :-)

^Hah! In fact I'm neither 15 nor from Spain :-D I'm a born and raised Clevelander who's lived in Spain the last couple years. I discovered OU a couple months ago and it has been vital in getting me revved for my return home in August.

I'm impressed! Can't wait to get that driver's license. So many midwest road trips to be made.... and Milwaukee's obviously one of the key ones!

Once again, phenonmenal pictures! I especially like your pics of the federal building and the Lakewood residential tower. They're dizzying; and I love the way windows and balconies, steel and glass can look totally abstract when shot the right way. A question, though: what was it that disappointed you about Ohio City? I'm curious to know a) what you expected, and b) what you found.

^I gotta agree with David on this one. That art deco beast is one of my favorites in all of downtown. Downtown are exciting, in part, for their ability to make you feel so tiny (I think). That said, wonderful pictures!

I wish there were Puerto Rican guys pulling shaved ice trucks around Edgewater beach. And guys with coolers selling ice cold cans of beer for a dollar. These are two phenomena I´ve seen at NY beaches but never in Cleveland. Shaved ice guy! Come to Cleveland! I will buy your goods!

dead big box i have seen; but a dead wal-mart, that might be a first for me. i've always thought that it was the wal-marts that put other big box stores out of business. although it seems like thats what happened in this case as well. apparently the first wal-mart just wasn't quite big enough. do you have any data about wal-mart closings around the country? i'd have to think that it's a pretty rare occurence... reminds me of how my friend from cleveland heights and brags about her suburb's starbucks being one of the only ones in america to close down because of bad business. i've always learned those types of places are supposed to put the other guys out of business. in any case, good work and really interesting. perhaps i'll make a daytrip down from cleveland to see this stuff up close. it's very sad but also fascinating.

I'd second the recommendation to take the rapid to E 79th and have a walk around. There are some pretty desolate sights to be seen, especially to the south of Woodland where the rapid lets off. Woodhill Rd. would also be an interesting one to check out. That said, in all of my exploration of Cleveland's "rough side" I can't say that there is a particular neighborhood that sticks out in my mind as "worst". I don't know your ethnicity, but if you happen to be white, be prepared to be at least lightly harrassed in some of these areas. Nothing serious ever happens to me, but residents of these areas aren't always the nicest to "urban explorer" types. Good luck.

KJP: do you have a link to that Atlantic Monthly article? I'd like to know more...