southsider

Were any of you with me at the Cleveland Tweed Ride this weekend?? The rain let up just in time for the ride at 3pm. Rode from Mall A around the city and stopped at East 4th for a tea party at Erie Island and at Happy Dog for hot dogs and some beers. Met some great people and had a blast! Pics from the event here: https://www.facebook.com/TheFantasticClevelandTweedRide

Cincinnati has their Oktoberfest (largest in USA) right in the heart of Downtown. They close 5th St for 3-4 blocks. It is truely one thing I miss, the fact that Cleveland does not seem to have any street festivals Downtown. It would be great to close down PS (like they are doing for the 9/11 concert) and have the festival there. Cincy's is great! I was there a few years back. Columbus apparently had theirs in German Village at one point, which I'm sure was awesome. I think something smaller scale in Cleveland, in addition to the "official" Oktoberfest at the fairgrounds, could work.

i just read the article in the PD about the upcoming Oktoberfest, which got me thinking ... is there any way that an urban venue could host a (perhaps smaller-scale) Oktoberfest celebration? An Ohio City Oktoberfest would be amazing (in the green space by the Carnegie branch library, maybe? Or at multiple spaces throughout the neighborhood at the same time?). It'd be nice to bring some German flavor back to the traditionally German and Irish Cleveland neighborhood. Temporary euro-style "gartens" sprinkled throughout the neighborhood would be awesome...possibly a far-fetched dream, but it'd be awesome. Quite honestly, nothing appeals to me about celebrating anything at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds. I've never been to the event, but I think the location certainly has something to do with that.

the tipoff column in the PD today mentioned that another new brewery (in addition to market garden) is potentially opening in ohio city, possibly in the old moda space. info, anyone?

When I saw this thread, I vaguely remembered reading about the reasons for the width of Euclid, Superior, etc, so I did some research and found these bits of info: regarding the layout of Cleveland as planned in the 1790's: "The square was divided by Ontario Street, which ran north and south and was 90 feet wide. The east-west street, Superior, was 40 feet wider than Ontario because it led to the riverbank, where most of the river and lake traffic was expected to come into town." (excerpt from Cleveland: A Concise History, 1796-1996 2nd edition, by Carol Poh Miller and Robert A. Wheeler.) (Does anyone know if the current street width footage?) regarding the width of Euclid Avenue later, in the 1800's: "The vision that took shape on the Avenue, first voiced by residents as early as 1855, was 'a continuous avenue of shade running like the Boulevards of Brussels ... a drive and a promenade of about 5 miles.' Armed with an irrepressible vision from their European grand tour travels, the Avenue's patrons sustained their dream of a grand boulevard through the early 1870's, to 'make Euclid Avenue the finest thoroughfare in the world.'2 The strongest push by private citizens to make the Avenue the spine of a city-sponsored boulevard scheme occurred in the mid 1890's, but it too ultimately failed." (excerpt from Euclid Avenue: A Linear Neighborhood of Grandeur by Jan Cigliano. link: http://www.case.edu/artsci/wrss/documents/Cigliano_000.pdf) So essentially, the widths were established first to serve commercial purposes, then later to establish a Euro-style boulevard.

thanks for the suggestions! i heard a really interesting piece on NPR a few months back about its history and am eager to check it out.

these are the highest quality pics i've seen in a long time. period. great job! i'm really familiar with cleveland and columbus, but not cincy. what bar is pictured in #42? i'm hopefully gonna take a weekend trip down there with some friends at some point this spring and am looking forward to checking out some of the cool bars and neighborhoods you've documented.

thanks for the info! i figured it was definitely a penthouse of some type.

nice pics! i love visiting UO for picture sets like this. i'm a 3-year reader of urbanohio and finally decided to become a registered user tonight. quick question for all of the UO experts: what is that red structure sitting atop the holiday inn express building on euclid?