conovercourt

I believe that when I was studying Urban Planning in the 70's, Columbus was lifted as an example of a smart city, because it would not extend water and other utilities to adjoining areas unless they joined the city. Cleveland and Detroit were lifted up as examples of cities who failed to do so, and found themselves with former townships, incorporating individually, but living off of city services. St. Louis was an example of the worst kind of city: in an act of hubris they cut themselves off from their county, and froze their city limits around 1876. St. Louis was once the third largest city in the country. Thanks for bringing back an excellent thread for us newbies...

Can someone tell me more about this space? Is it in a renovated building, or historic structure like Cleveland's Arcade? Is it a true urban space, or a suburban place that got lost?

I love the Fries and Schuele Bdg. on West 25th St. (Cleveland) Could be more sentimental than anything else ...

Euclid Beach. The childhood place of my dreams! My uncle worked for GE at Nela Park (is that in East Cleveland?), and every year they would rent the Euclid Beach for an all day company party. The Racing Coasters! The Butterflies! Laughing Sal! Most of Euclid Beach is Condos now, but I seem to have read that part of it is preserved. Has there been a Euclid Beach thread or one on other late great Ohio amusement parks? I remember Memphis Kiddieland (in Brooklyn?) it seemed real sucky compared to EB or Cedar Point ...

A great site on ruins/grit/blight in Detroit: www.detroityes.com Great pictures, thoughtful commentary on all aspects of decay in Detroit. Caution: I belong to that forum also -- the members are not nearly as polite as you guys! Youngstown sounds like my kind of town -- I love Flint, Lansing, Saginaw, Toledo, Scranton, Oakland, and other smaller cities with serious issues. My cousins were from Youngstown, and they thought it was the greatest place on earth (1960s). Crime is nothing new. My family lore includes stories of a relative who kept a brothel in Youngstown in the 20s. A lower charge was assessed if you only wanted to view through a peephole... We're all related to royalty and horse thieves!

So what happened to Niemann-Marcus?

I was researching something about Detroit, and one of the hits was about improvements in the Detroit/Shoreway area of Cleveland. Being a native of that patch of real eastate, I clicked on the site, and stumbled here from the links page. This was on Sunday, today is Tuesday, and I already feel at home. Keep posting things folks -- it's too cold to venture far...

Is there room for a casino or two around there?

Great pix and text, great photos. I am a third generation native Westside Clevelander. My mother always talked about taking the "Hough" Streetdar to visit my aunt when she was in training at Mt. Sinai. I also have fond childhood memories of Kuchen and other goodiies from the Hough Bakery branch on Lorain Ave. Our family always pronounced it Hoff. Curious what others say: Huff or Hoff?