lafont

What a shame about Euclid Avenue Congregational! The Clinic had spared those two churches so there has been some continuity and historic architecture and associations amidst all the contemporary Clinic buildings. And I've heard the Clinic has plans in the offing to demolish its own historic light brick building at Euclid and E. 93rd.... I suppose the Clinic soon acquire the Euclid Congregational land. Assumingly the green stone church next door, with its very elaborate and expensive addition, will remain and not succumb to the Clinic's likely strong desire to now take over that entire block. Sure hope so. Wonder if there's any possibility Euclid Congregational will build anew on its current land.

I have this extensive Euclid Avenue collection and can't imagine where this apartment house might have been located. This postcard was in Walter Leedy's collection. Perhaps the street is a misnomer? Speculative drawing of a building never built? It really does look like a photo, of the usual postcard quality. In East Cleveland? I can't picture such an extravaganza anywhere on the Avenue, and I don't recall seeing any other reference to it, which to me is super suspicious.... Can anyone place this ultra-ornate apartment building anywhere else - e.g. W. 14th Steet? Superior Avenue? Prospect Avenue? The house to the right resembles a Euclid Avenue mansion in the 8800 block but is not close enough. Big mystery!

Does anyone know if Chinato's is planning to put up a sign that juts out, like most of the other restaurants on the street have? It's sort of a trademark of the East 4th district and would be seen from a distance. Understated is usually good, and it looks quite classy, but in this particular stretch it would enhance the streetscape if Chinato's joined its neighbors and came out with a sign that stands out; the uniform sinage era is in decline. The rest of the building doesn't look that great or classy such that minimalist signage would come off as a truly elegant look.

Very little left of stores anything like City Blue left in downtown Cleveland. Some in Tower City a little like it, and a little around Prospect and the one one W. 9th but that's about it. Very few clothing stores left right on sidewalk, in general. Someone wrote there's not a single wig shop left in downtown Columbus - I wonder if that's true.... Anyway, we have a few of those downtown.

Yes - I just noticed City Blue today, too. I was there quite recently - no sign of this coming, though I never saw many customers in there. They last their Randall place a few years ago but, as you may know, they took over a large part of what was Dallas, outside Randall. Phone book (so, so out-of-date this year!!) says they're in East Cleveland. Anyway, I suppose they wanted to really concentrate on the N. Randall place. So that was the last of the what-I-call shlock clothing stores on Euclid in downtown Cleveland! That one near E. 12th - south side - with the suits, coats, and ties may still be eeking it out but that place is definitely borderline. Manager or owner had said months ago he had "10 days left" or something like that, before moving to The Arcade (where otherone was on Superior end). We can see where that plan went.... He was (or is) getting awfully desparate wtih the reductions. A bit too desparate, for my taste. Of coruse they had closed their place on St. Clair in the Standard Building over a year ago, I believe. Can't blame the Euclid Corridor now....

What became of all those plans to open a bunch of upscale chain stores at Hopkins Airport??? I haven't been there since August '09 - and it's always a shame one must pretty much be a passenger now to patronize this retail - but according to the website the shops sound about the same as the past ten years. If some names are different they're still the same basic types. Nothing exciting. I thought they were to be more like Pittsburgh's airport, for example. When we went last year there was a great deal of construction, and I understood there'd be a long chain of food takeout places. They may be there but what about the rest??? Even the food names on the website appear about the same.

What is REI? The GNC guy mentioned how well his place is doing (though I have heard him or another manager there badmouthing downtown Cleveland for retail). He mentioned the Casino and how it still uncertain location would make a significant difference to TC. He also said he could see a whole remarketing of TC shops.... As to the LL Bean reference, maybe but TC already went through J Crew and other shops not too different (i.e. Preppy sporting casual).

Anything new with the plans for site at 7338-7350 Euclid? I'm intrigued with the two apartment hulks - Eton and Rugby Hall - and really wish they could be renovated (or even restored!) and put to great use. Walked around these the other day and they have really fine details - must have been spectacular in their day. Does anyone know of postcards or photos of these on the web? Nothing else like these on Euclid in Cleveland. If you know about the current project plans (e.g. if they're going ahead and a proposed timetable), please share that information here. Thanks.

Many who frequent Tower City are not, but there still a lot of us "suits" who walk through there - at least "business hours."

Okay - Yesterday some Brooks Brothers salespeople were finally talkin' - the Beachwood Place outlet is to close March 28th - a few days before Eton opens. Still not in the news media, but this replacement will take place. It seems much more in the expected order of things than if Tower City were to close, and is what I originally had anticipated, but there have certainly been rumblings about Tower City's closing for some time, and BB has been closed a while on Sundays, for example, which hasn't helped its image. I do wonder how permanent Tower City's BB really is. I imagine the decision to closed Beachwood but not Tower City was not made that quickly....

Can anyone picture some of the Healthline runs, during rush hour, making that loop up the the Cedar Rapid Station and then back to Euclid? That's what's proposed to connect the 7's and 32's that will no longer go past the station, to downtown during rush hours. We had envisioned, possibly, the 7i's and 32's making that extra loop to and from E. 107th and Euclid.... Well, Apr. 4th will be interestin'.... Here's hopin', of course, all this nonsense is dropped and the 7's and 32's keeping going downtown as they now do - at least during rush hours.

Back to original question: Does anyone here have an "in" with these people? When the new, stated-to-be-only-8,000 sq.ft. Brooks Brothers opens at Eton about 4/1 (only 1/1/2 months away), what will become of the existing two? Studying the number of BB's in other metro. areas and their populations, it's almost impossible for me to imagine either only one here or three....

Downtown has one traditional men's barber shop, two opticians, one photography store, two or three shoe repair businesses, one home furniture store, a few traditional menswear stores, one not-too-large book store, only a few traditional jewelers, zero hardware stores near the center, on and on - Ridiculous!! Btw, the number's I've seen show fewer than 100,000 individuals working downtown, though your borders may be larger than what I'd consider.

I believe Pittsburgh has at least somewhat weaker retail in the suburbs. I don't know about right downtown but it has many very "good" (i.e. residents with money) neighborhoods within a few miles. A denser downtown, indeed. Downtown Columbus had better retail than Clevelands' downtown about eight years ago but that Columbus' downtown retail has diminished drastically.

Tower City - after losing the somewhat and truly high-end stores (Gucci, Fendi, Peer Gordon, Bally, Calvin Klein, Liz Claiborne, etc., etc.) it is now mainly a mall of one-of-a-kind shops or small chains, with much emphasis on shlock and youthful, trendy, "urban" fashions. Still doing somewhat better than these downtown malls in many other cities (however, a drop in the bucket compared to what's going on in NY, Chicago, Toronto, Boston, Washington, San Francisco, etc., etc.).

Yes, J & M closed about two weeks ago. They may have been profitable but I saw few customers there lunch hours. Actually, I can also say that about the Beachwood store.

A manager of one of the shops in Tower City tells me "five stores are closing." I believe he said this could include some that have closed - i.e. Sbarro and the calendar stores but maybe not - perhaps five new ones. This leaves a lot to the imagination. When I mentioned the possibility of Brooks Brothers he seemed taken aback, but then turns out he didn't even know about Eton's coming, nor did he seem to be aware of the one at Beachwood Place (his reaction was that Eton's not very far from Tower City....). Any ideas as to the five? Perhaps that clothing store next to Carvel? They're having a large sale and I hardly ever see customers there (in contrast to the other new one next to the food court - location, location, location....).

Regarding the facility for the mentally ill to be constructed around E. 59th, is it to be all new or is it to incorporated the massive old facotry building with the windows out? I thought it was all to be new but someone suggested otherwise. Actually, I wish they could incorporate the old. Meanwhile, is it to be on both sides of E. 59th? Is E. 59th to be removed?

I straightened it out with the reporter about the remark the building is "a 1920s addition" to the bank. Apparently that structure behind was built well after the 1890s years both those Euclid buildings were constructed - like in the '20s.

Is there any construction going at all with this building? I haven't noticed anything since the windows were removed from the dental office space.... : :?

They'd better restore (i.e. rebuild) the corner tower, or else....

It was a nuisance for pedestrians, too.

Sounds, and looks, like Home and Flower Show or County or State Fair exhibits.... Anyway, I'm so glad to see something decent in these windows, and the brick walk open and lane finally open to traffic! It was a miserable impediment for vehicles and pedestrians so many months!

Thank heavens - the sidewalk in front of 668 is once again open to the world! Now that the attractive scroll decoration above the arcade roof is exposed, it looks like it's two-tone. I'd like to think this will remain and it's based on the original terra-cotta decorative effect; is there someone out there involved with the preservation efforts who would know if this is to resemble the original terra cotta. That facing did often have pronounced colored accents in it, though we have little of that around Cleveland.

Again - the facade is so dramatically different I'm always amazed at how few people walking by seem to take any notice....