Vulpster03

Ricardo isn't actually the owner of Felice. He is the head chef and general manager. Many of the servers also work at Fat Cats and Lava Lounge. Felice is owned by Margaret Mueller. She is in her 80s, lives in the neighborhood, and I believe she owns a number of residential properties in the area that are leased. It was a contractor who suggested this property be converted into something commercial for public use. Anyway, everyone has done a really nice job making this a neat restaurant.

I've been hanging out on the East Side more lately. I had not really been on the Larchmere strip in about five years. I really liked how things are going vertical there. There are two very nice new condominium buildings I had not seen before, and some new shops like Four and Twenty and another one on the second floor of a building called Eclectic Eccentric. But I think the best thing on Larchmere is Felice Urban Cafe. The remodel of that century home into a three level restaurant is really cool. The first floor dining room, enclosed porch, second floor bar and lounge, and third floor lounge all have a different atmosphere. The music being played included jazz, rock and roll, and indie dance music. The crowd was diverse and lively. The food was superb and everything is under twenty dollars for entres and under ten for starters. The Shaker Square area needs more hip casual places like Felice. I guess Bon Vivant is following suit and plans to remodel its second and third floors into a bar and lounge.

The pizza from Crust on Kenilworth across from Visible Voice is pretty delicious. It opened a few days ago. Definitely worth a visit. I heard a rumor that Michael Symon is opening some kind of specialty meat retail shop in Tremont. Anyone else hear about this?

Construction is underway for a new subterranean speakeasy style cocktail lounge on E.4th Street. I believe the name is called Society Lounge, but I could be wrong. The entrance is at 2063 E. 4th (in between Saigon and Zocalo).

I don't know why that is the case, but I agree with you. The Observation Deck is open Saturday and Sunday. You can buy tickets at Customer Service or online for $5.

People at 668 seem to like it very much. It is one of the newest apartment building (conversions) downtown at the moment and very hot. I believe there is lengthy waiting list. Statler Arms and East Fourth Street Apartments are also in the same neighborhood and worth a try. I'd say this district and the Warehouse District downtown are very safe. Some Warehouse District buildings to check out are the Bingham, Bridgeview and Perry-Payne. As mentioned, The Healthline is Bus Rapid Transit line and operates like a streetcar. It will take you straight down Euclid to the Cleveland Clinic's main campus, so living downtown is great for your commute. I'm a huge advocate of the West Side (Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit-Shoreway, Edgewater and Lakewood) and it is great, but I think for what you are looking for - you'd be better off downtown.

If this has been posted somewhere else, please let me know. I became aware of this Downtown Photo Scavenger Hunt (http://photos.clevelandphoto.org/) organized by the Cleveland Photographic Society (http://www.clevelandphoto.org/). It is a really neat idea. They release particular architectural details and you must located them and then replicate the shot with your own photo. It is free to sign up, but you need to do so before you can get to the PDF file with all the images on a sheet to print. However, the scrolling images are actual photos from the contest to find downtown. It goes from March to November, so you've got all summer! Supposedly lots of prizes to be announced. Is anyone else participating? I have joined, printed out the images, walked downtown, and located many (it is really hard!), but I haven't taken any photos yet to submit.

Is anyone else concerned about the new trolley lines? They are getting all muddled up with odd times and routes. I've seen the detailed maps with hours of operation. They frighten me. 9/12 Line: Runs during rush hour on weekdays from the Muni Lot to the Q? Supposed to be for downtown commuters. By the way, I hate the Nine-Twelve name. I know it is E.9th and E.12th, but can we just use the original Erieview name? Nine-Twelve sounds like some kind of allusion to Nine-Eleven. Seems like the B-Line route should just be adjusted to achieve whatever is trying to be done here. Lakefront Line: Runs on weekend days. Supposed to be for visitors and local tourists to connect them with Tower City to Northcoast Harbor Attractions. Seems a little silly when the Waterfront Rapid line does exactly this. Or you could extend the B-Line service to weekends. Why not just rename the B-Line the L-Line (for the lakefront and lakeside avenue) and have it run both weekdays and weekends? Casino Line: Runs on both weekdays and weekends late into evenings, connecting Playhouse Square, the Casino and the Warehouse District. Absolutely absurd. Just keep the E-Line and Extend hours of operation!

I guess there were galleries in there, but if the arcades really got their act together to rebrand, they would get in touch with better quality artists and craftsman. Something like a year-round Made in the 216 or Cleveland Handmade Market (Tower Press).

Does anyone remember Market 25 - the venue/space - that existed prior to the Bier Markt? What about something like that for the arcades? Let artists/craftsman and other small vendors rent small space on a monthly or maybe even weekly basis. There are so many cool pop up shops during Christmas time, it would be great if there was a venue that was a more year round destination.

The downtown visitor center looks really great right now and has been redecorated for the Rock Hall Induction.

I live very close to the Settlers Landing stop. What is that utilitarian structure across from the station on the river? You know that really unsightly cube-like building with the weird dark glass on the river side?

The door to that storefront space on East Fourth was propped open today. I got a peak inside, and it looks like it is strictly a utility storage unit for East Fourth/MRN. No signs of development going on with the interior space.

The Happy Dog, though they are a bar with food for happy hour and dinner hours, is an actual concert club and music venue. They advertise as such with adds in the Scene and on their website and social media sites. They rarely have cover bands and feature original live music several nights a week. In addition to their stage, they have a regular "sound" guy and a regular "door" guy (when there is cover).

The Happy Dog is seriously being targeted. Members of the fire department came in to close the place one night because they were supposedly over capacity. There were empty bar stools and seats! Then, some state officials came in another night to make sure everyone in there had a valid state ID.

A good friend of mine in regular contact with CVSR leaders for business reasons, told me that she learned that CVSR hopes to have service to Tower City Center within the next five years.

The parking issue and transient population are two issues that were brought up by callers in this Sound of Ideas show, that are going to be inevitable realities of a densely populated and centralized urban district. Any major city in the world has these realities. I'm not going to suggest we need to just accept these realities and do absolutely nothing, but I'm not going to accept the argument that these issues are going to prevent us from creating a bigger and better downtown experience. I hate to sound like a cold-hearted capitalist, but the fact of the matter is that parking prices help manage traffic and the overall parking situation. If you valet park, or park at a centralized/attached garage or lot to your destination, you may pay a premium. If you are willing to circle blocks and look on the outskirts of downtown, there are plenty of affordable and inexpensive options as low as $1 or completely free on the streets. Parking prices also help encourage more environmentally and economically friendly options such as car-pooling or public transit use.

For me as well, the prices are on the high side. However, I don't think prices are exorbitant. Dredgers Union merchandise is priced equal or only a bit higher than similar concept stores such as J.Crew, Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters. The prices are competitive with higher end department stores' denim and contemporary departments. I can't afford to eat regularly (or even occasionally) at most of the restaurants on East Fourth, but other people seem to do this, and the Cleveland market appears to support them!

One thing I really liked in the NPR "Sound of Ideas" recent discussion on Downtown's Resurgence, was the discussion about the appropriate reach and scale of the current lakefront project. I have been saying for years and plenty of very early posts in this thread, "why focus so much on Burke, when there is all this available unused land around the Brown's Stadium, and opportunity in and around the harbor?" This isn't to say I like having Burke there. As the current plan and discussions have suggested, there is so much to develop and improve without having to jump through hoops to close Burke.

Aside from the parking issue brought up on this Sound of Ideas, I thought there were some other interesting notes in the discussion. On the issue of development competition and cannibalizing, I'm not worried about this downtown the way I once was. I used to think that East Fourth Street or W.25th Street were going to hollow out the Warehouse District, but I don't see that happening now. I think the Flats East Bank and Lakefront Development will be successful. I've lived in the Flats for about 1.5 years now, after living in Lakewood for three years. I'm downtown several days a week and I work a lot with visitors and various civic leaders. There seems to be a real momentum, and mainstream widespread acceptance of downtown optimism that didn't exist 5 years ago.

I believe the aquarium has intentions to expand, but I have no insider information. The price of admission is a bit high. What if they are taking advantage of initial interest by charging a higher admissions price in order to fund future expansion that will sustain its interest and justify its price? This might be how a not not-for-profit cultural attraction has to operate.

I really liked this Sound of Ideas discussion, but I was a surprised that a significant discussion was about parking. FIRST - Free parking doesn't really exist anywhere. There is some kind of cost for both the property owner and the consumer. For the property owner, he/she may be required to provide a parking lot by the (suburban) city. Those spaces cost money to create and maintain, but also a create an opportunity cost in lost capacity space for their actual building and how many customers/clients they can serve. For the consumer, some of those costs from the property owner are passed on in whatever goods or services they purchase. But there is also a cost for the consumer (especially in suburban locations) where they are forced to drive from one location to the other as opposed to parking in a single locale to accomplish a variety of things within a walkable distance of each other. SECOND - Downtown offers a variety of places to park at various prices, and many of those prices are extremely reasonable if not free. If you want to valet at a restaurant, park in a Gateway Garage during a special event, or park on Public Square parking lot, you will pay a premium. On the flip side for example, there are plenty of $1 all day parking lots in the Flats under the Detroit-Superior Bridge. As mentioned before, you CAN find free parking on the streets after 6PM and weekends. The key to finding reasonably priced parking downtown or free parking on the streets is to circle some blocks and look at your options. (I also happen to live on the West Bank of the Flats and have no trouble walking across the Center Street Bridge or Detroit-Superior Bridge to walk downtown in a matter of minutes. If you want an insider tip, park on the West Bank near the terminus of either of these bridges, and you can find free parking. There isn't even metered parking, so these spots are 100% free and walkable to downtown.) The idea of paying for parking as a negativism to the downtown experience is really disappointing, but apparently unavoidable (to any metro area). I am first and foremost a proponent of creating a downtown not reliant on automobiles. Let downtown foster and cater to the residents, visitors (hotel guests) and public transit riders. However, if we must cater to automobiles, perhaps Downtown Cleveland Alliance could create a user friendly online searchable database and interactive map of parking structures downtown with prices and distances to where they need to go. This could also be developed into a downtown parking app of some kind for smartphones.

I stopped in Dredger's the other day and noticed the entire section of the store (on the raised area) that was dedicated to home goods and decor has been nearly given away to apparel. My thoughts are that the storefront next to DU is going to be either a DU "Home" Shop, or perhaps a relocation of the DU Co-Owner Danielle Deboe's Room Service shop from Ohio City to East Fourth with an emphasis on home goods. There is also a possibility that will be the location of a "custom suit and clothing" portion of the DU business. I read an early article about DU (before its opening) with a quote from Co-Owner Sean Bilovecky that he wanted to introduce a custom suit business within the DU concept.

5801 Detroit is already operating as a mixed-use building. It is the Happy Dog. I think this zoning appeal has more to do with a legal issue over whether or not they can permit entertainment and dancing. The Happy Dog operates as a concert club, and this has maybe become under fire by neighbors. The Happy Dog is also wrapped up in political issue over the admissions tax controversy with the mayor's office, and the mayor may be trying to intimidate the Happy Dog with these legal issues.

Too early to tell about the 2012 concerts. They probably haven't even booked the bands. Here is a link to the 2011 information to get an idea: http://rockhall.com/events/summer-sessions/ ParkWorks did some summer programming on the Mall with free outdoor movies, but I think it ended in 2007. It was really nice and so underutilized! That would be something great to brink back downtown and possibly on the lakefront.