metrocity

The John Hancock has an open-air section where the windows are removed (although it's not really outside) . Many of the condo's have open-air porch areas too....which is surprising because you can't tell from the outside. A tip for anyone traveling to Chicago...if you want to see the view from the "top of the cock" (as they say), and don't want to wait in line. Go have a drink in the Signature Room's lounge area on the 95th floor...it's really easy and the tables near the windows turnover pretty fast.

Great shots!

I think one area where they excel is the kitchen systems. If you look at what is available for kitchen cabinets at your standard Home Depot, Menard's or Lowes, the economical off the shelf stuff is just really bad. Ikea's kitchen cabinets are stylish and economical and look more like high end custom cabinets without the high price tag. The options for customizing them (hardware, glass, aluminum, styles) is really what sets them apart. This is perfect for someone like me that wants a stylish kitchen, but doesn't want to spend too much because I will probably rent out my condo once it is remodeled. I don't want to put high end european cabinets in my little rental property...but I also don't want those awful standard 'country' wood cabinets or so-called 'euro' white cabinets generally available at home stores. Also, you can dowload a program, put in your dimensions, and furnish the entire kitchen. It gives you the price and a list to take into the store.

^Barney's CoOp is cool, great stuff in that store. Did you see the giant Sears Tower model (20 ft tall or so?)on the first floor? My friend in NY bought all of the fixtures for that store and found that model in Salvage1 on the south side.

Nice pics! We need more pics of Akron...I would love to see some of the neighborhoods like Goodyear Hts, Firestone Park, North Hill, Highland Square and Fairlawn Hts

The earlier article about rental car agencies trying to give free upgrades totally hit home. I frequently rent cars and it keeps happening that they try to give me an SUV....almost pressuring me and acting like I am stupid for not wanting it. In Las Vegas recently the woman actually suggested that if I wanted to look cool in Vegas, it could only be accomlished by driving a bigger car. What a loser I am for driving a compact car. It also happened right here in the city a few weeks ago too. I firmly said no to the SUV....and stupid me ended up with a Passat.

Where is that book signing????

Thanks guys..my try at armchair photography. That is looking from my window northwest toward O'Hare.

Sorry...I am no photographer, but the sky looked cool tonight over the city

^And Jewish too You are right....Cleveland's diversity is one of the best assets

Hot Sauce Williams?

Alice Cooperstown 1 of 2 (Phoenix) Mike the Hatter Volks Loans Garfield 1 2323 Seeing a commercial for Rick Case Honda at a Cleveland Sports venue and everyone yellng "Dick Face"

^ I read the same thing, and a lot of the "investors" were more like average citizens that couldn't afford anything in CA, so they are looking at these slower markets. To them, the prices are ridiculously low in Ohio. It just made me uneasy thinking that a large stock of rental property in Ohio cities could be controlled by out of state people or armchair investors from CA. What if they are slumlords and treat the area as a way to make quick rental money and run the buildings in the ground. They already think of it as 'Flyover' and unimportant. They might have the same attitude about the housing stock. Is someone in CA that buys a rowhouse in OTR (site unseen)to quickly fix up and rent out... going to give a shit that it's an architectural gem? It kind of reminds me of that girl that lived in San Fran during the huge boom years and owned Franklin Castle in Ohio City. She would fly all of her friends in to host parties there and was not taking proper care of the building which is a treasured landmark in Cleveland. To her it was like a toy for her to play with. Does any one else get this feeling?

Hopefully Hopkins will see more growth as Continental grabs more market share from NWA. Then again, what if they merged and moved the hub to that fancy new terminal at Detroit Metro. Not that I heard anything like that....just saying 'what if'. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-060526continental-story,1,5469699.story?coll=chi-business-hed Continental passes Northwest in airline rankings By Mary Schlangenstein Bloomberg News Published May 26, 2006, 10:55 AM CDT

One thing Philly is doing though is also marketing itself to the gay crowd like crazy. Montreal has had that same strategy for many years now, and I think that is what Philly was emulating. Philly really seems to be trying to change the entire culture and thinking of the whole city. Cleveland will need to also try to think outside of the box in that respect too if a change is really going to happen. The racial crap needs to be addressed and dealt with, and it wouldn't hurt to have a gay friendly rep either. Both are signs of a progressive city that is changing. The new bricks and mortar are wonderful...but a new attitude to go along with it would be truely refreshing.

I was just in Philly a few weeks ago (took Acela :clap: from NYC 1 hour) and was surprised to see how vibrant the center city is now. It was great! I don't think there is any reason Cleveland can't duplicate Philly's success...although I think Philly has a much bigger public transit/walking culture being east coast and so compact. It will take a while to change that car culture in Ohio.

Mayday...I think you hit the nail on the head with parking and public transit. That is the main thing that people bitch about when they move from anywhere in the midwest to Chicago. They bring a car with them, and think that they are going to live the same car oriented lifestyle that they had before. After circling blocks looking for parking time after time, having rear view mirrors knocked off, getting scratches on the bumper from parallel parking, paying for city stickers and higher tag fees, getting that first, second and third street cleaning/fire hydrant ticket...etc...they complain about the city and city life. It usually always ties back to problems with driving and owning a car. Once you let go of that notion, your life becomes much better. Unfortunately they can't let go of it. Detroiters are actually the worst...If I had a dollar for every young kid with a Big SUV with Michigan plates or U of M sticker in Chicago, I'd be rich.

Nice tour! Thanks for the tip on the ABC carpet and home warehouse...is it worth checking out? The regular stores have some great stuff, but they are expensive!

From the Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0605200141may21,1,6813122.story?coll=chi-homepagetravel-hed A cheap bus ride and no chickens With fares as low as $1, Megabus delivers--in style By Phil Marty Tribune staff reporter Published May 21, 2006 [email protected] ----------

Actually, most cabs are equipped with GPS, just hand them a business card from your hotel and they punch it in and follow the directions. The door opens automatically for you too(which is cool). Also, from what I saw traffic wasn't bad at all, everyone takes the subway....so driving around is surprisingly easy. My experience was that Tokyo looks very chaotic in pictures, but it is really so well organized that it's not that hectic at all.

Very cool...I believe that may be the VW factory/museum in Dresden... http://www.caranddriver.com/features/7207/virtual-tour-of-vws-transparent-factory-page14.html http://www.metropolismag.com/html/content_1202/dre/index.html

What happened to Camelot Music in Canton? Hehe, are those stores even still around?

I seem to remember a commercial with a silver man...was the store Silverman's? Also I remember Northeast, Fretter and Sun TV for electronics and appliances. Miller Sales was a catalog showroom in Akron/Canton. Gray Drug and People's Drug. D&K stores seemed like they were in every downtrodden downtown business district, with a bunch of random shit heaped in bins. Is Acme/Click out of business? I thought at least the Acme grocery stores were still around as Akron's version of Heinen's.

The population of Stark isn't growing, just the amount of strip malls and fast food joints that service them. Jackson Twp and such are growing while Canton, Massilon and Akron shrink. The population is stagnant. Probably the main growing business for CAK is baby boomer snowbirds going to Florida or Las Vegas or going to visit their kids that have moved away and vice versa. Hence...Frontier probably saw a niche of Ohio transplants living in Denver and points West and thought there was enough leisure/holiday business to warrant the service. Business travel wise....those companies in Stark and Summit frequently bring in contractors for short/long term projects instead of hiring full time workers. I have a (surpisingly) large number of contractor friends that have been to parts of NE Ohio for that reason.

NE Ohians should definitely try to visit Downtown Canal Fulton in NW Stark County. The reason is that one of the BEST vintage toy stores is there called Toys Time Forgot. There is also a nice historic Downtown along the Erie Canal with some other interesting shops and you can ride a replica Canal Boat pulled by a mule. Trust me, the toy store is worth the trip(voted best of Scene Magazine a few years ago)! It's about an hour south of DT Cleveland and 25 minutes from Akron. http://www.toystimeforgot.com/ http://www.cityofcanalfulton.org/