Old AmrapinVA

Why be a jackass about this? I don't see all tourists on those busses, son. But if it makes you feel better, I'll lie and say I do. :)

Berea is probably the funkiest inner-suburb of Cleveland, considering it was never truly a suburb to begin with. It has some beautiful homes and the Metroparks is pedestrian accessible from virtually all areas of the city. It's about 5 minutes from Hopkins too.

Jaime, are you staying at the Ramada New Yorker?

Do people really waste this much gas driving to this big box? Why? What rock have you been living under? ;) Living under a rock, I'd agree with that. Don't they have a catalogue and website. Why put 500 miles on the car? I'm admit I'm not much into IKEA, so someone please illuminate me on this subject.

Tokyo makes Chicago look like Peoria. :)

Do people really waste this much gas driving to this big box? Why?

Actually, headed eastbound Brookpark becomes Granger at Schaaf Road, then becomes Libby Road when crossing the Norfolk Southern tracks in Maple Heights. In any event, it has its share of disasters--but Rockside/Snow has more than its share too! That's my bad. My grandparents always went to that Brown Derby near the cloverleaf of 21 and Granger. Rockside/Snow is at least a little less run down...and the views of driving down Rockside into the valley are pretty nice. There's also some pretty funky views of d'town Cleveland in that suburban office mess of Rockside between I-77 and 21. It's pretty funny how western Cuyahoga and eastern Cuyahoga share the same road with different names. There's also Bagley/Pleasant Valley and Alexander. I take it they were all seperated rds. at one point.

^^MTS, the Express Bus is a ripoff if you are at Terminals 1-4 at JFK. Other than that I'd call it far from a ripoff. It's $12 which is $20-$25 cheaper than a cab from LGA. It takes the same damn route, through the Midtown Tunnel. Saves me the hastle of dealing with a cab and their creative routes past the Triboro. Sure MTA is cheaper....but it does take longer to get to Midtown. The one thing about the Airport Express, it ain't pretty. :)

Yeah, I take the Airport Express Bus almost every time I'm in NY, even on business, and it's not too bad, but if I'm in a absolute rush I take a cab. The bus stops at Grand Central AND Penn Station for the same price. Stops at Grand Central first. Taking the M60 from Queens to Manhattan then riding the 2 or 3 train is the cheapest option but definitely the more time consuming. If your looking to travel that way, you might be better off taking the MTA bus to Jackson Heights and taking the 7 train in and transfering subways in Manhattan. A bit of a shorter bus ride. I wish NYC would build an AirTrain system like they have at JFK for LGA.

My point exactly. Why the thread on a Big Box?

Just out of curiosity, what urban design will be used for this IKEA in West Chester?

yes, I had my borders wrong. Most of the "decent" gay bars were closer to mickey d's and wendys & KFC. Well that Best Western isn't any prettier than any property on Brook Park. You've only been in DC a hot minute...that area was REALLY if you think it was bad in 2001, you should have seen it (and most of DC) in the mid 80s and 90s. I agree with ya, MTS. The city looked alot different in 1994. Although, just like with Verizontown, sometimes newer and safer dosen't always mean better.

The Ramada and Malleys I believe are between W. 130th and W. 150th closer to the GM Parma plant. That's a "higher class" neighborhood over there. BTW, completely off topic, I believe driving the length of Ohio Rt. 17 Brookpark/Rockside Rds. might be the best highway to highlight suburban "planning" gone awry.

Except poor people. I remember when that area was like clevelands warehouse district, tons of black bars. however, the DC area's bars were located in low income areas. that south capital area will never be the same. There are some black bars, but "Dream" was always filled with white people. There were alot of gay bars down there too like Traxx. But even with the bars South Capitol was always about two steps away from becoming Brookpark Rd. between Engle and W. 150th without the charm of airplane noise every three minutes. :)

I hear that. DC has had a lot of neighborhood success stories over the past 15 years, but Chinatown isn't one of them. Don't get me wrong, it's becoming an urban planners dream, but at a big cost by ruining one of the unique neighborhoods of the city. Talk to the folks that run the Korean shops in Annandale. They'll tell you how they tried to make it work in DC, but were pushed out by the movement started with Jemal and Pollin. Columbia Heights/Mt. Pleasant is still trying to stay a very real Hispanic neighborhood with awesome restaurants. But block by block it's becoming one Starbucks. The Nats Stadium is just like the Jake...it can only improve the area around it.

When I returned to Chinatown after a four year absence, the area had gone (is going) condo/apartment/gentrification crazy..... When I moved to DC is 1994, Chinatown was just another Metro stop along the way to Barryville. My wife worked in the area and we used to eat in Chinatown all the time. It was a divey neighborhood but definitely Chinese with a sprinkling of Thai and Korean. Now the Chinese influence of the neighborhood is being squeezed out by the $400K condos and the crap they're building for those people around Verizon. Most of the Asians have moved to the burbs where the housing is cheaper. In about 10 years it'll be Verizontown.

There are cheap hotels on NY Ave heading out to Bladensburg. That's EconoLodge/Days Inn living out there and getting the city is a bit more time consuming. Also, if you are looking for cheap hotels by a Metro (but a long ride into the city) you can look at Rockville or Gaithersburg....most hotels have busses that run to a Red Line station. But be advised it's 40 minutes to over an hour to get to DC depending on the day. Rando, Crystal City is pretty urban. Sorry I should have been more clear....Crystal City is quite urban...just not as much as the area surrounding Chinatown. That's my bad, Rando.

There are cheap hotels on NY Ave heading out to Bladensburg. That's EconoLodge/Days Inn living out there and getting the city is a bit more time consuming. Also, if you are looking for cheap hotels by a Metro (but a long ride into the city) you can look at Rockville or Gaithersburg....most hotels have busses that run to a Red Line station. But be advised it's 40 minutes to over an hour to get to DC depending on the day. Rando, Crystal City is pretty urban.

Adams Morgan has great food, so does U St. Gerogia Brown's is great food/enormous portions. Old Ebbitt is OK, but it's more of a place to be seen than a good food joint. It's not much different than your Cheesecake Factory. Mind you, d'town DC is not like Manhattan in terms of food. If you want great Italian, you ain't gonna find it in DC. If you want great Thai, you gotta head up to Wheaton and the north central Maryland burbs where alot of the Thai folks live. I don't each much Indian...I know of a pretty good place on Conn. Ave. near the Scientology center/Dupont Metro. And Chinatown isn't like NY's Chinatown. That damn Verizon Center is changing that area into one giant TGI Friday's. Just a few pointers too, if you go in the spring the museums are a zoo (depending on the weather). If you want to go inside the Washington Monument, I would call now for tickets. Be cautious on the Mall, there were some schmucks that went on a stealing spree last summer, just keep your eyes open. Also the cab zone fare is lunacy, and while most cab drivers are half decent, make sure you know where you are going. Some of these guys try to drive out of the way to go through 3 or 4 zones so they can jack your rate up. Also if you plan to go to VA to see the Cemetary or shop at Pentagon City....take the Metro, avoid a cab. Also, I stayed at the Hay-Adams once for a wedding maybe 5 years ago, it's a beautiful hotel. The only detrement is that DC police set up spotlights around the area due to it being a bit of a red light district. But the area has changed alot, it's much better now. Also, the air conditioning didn't work and it was 100 degrees the day of the wedding. But I digress. ;)

The biggest problem with a CLE-AMS run on a 767-400 would be take-off weight. I don't think CAL is running 757's to Europe because of pax demand...but more from a safety/profit standpoint. On a nice spring or fall day, the 767 would have no problems. But on days when there is snow or high heat they would possibly have to dump cargo or pax or cancel the flight altogether while at say Newark there wouldn't be that issue. Hopkins has only two real directions they can run the flight.....either from 6 or 24. While at most other airports you may have one or two other runway options for wide-body flights. The runway extention is needed in order for wide-body to take off in inclement weather or when it's say 80+ degrees outside. Even then if there's a strong wind around 150 (SE) or 330 (NW) degrees and it's snowing or raining it's still likely to get stuck at the gate.

Plane Runs Off Cleveland Airport Runway Feb 18th - 9:34pm CLEVELAND (AP) - A commuter plane carrying more than 70 people ran off the end of a snowy runway and pierced a fence after landing at the Cleveland airport Sunday, officials said. No injuries were reported. The plane came to a stop more than 150 feet past the end of the runway, said Thonnia Lee, a spokeswoman for Delta Air Lines Inc. The engines were partially buried in snow and the tip of the plane's nose was resting on a roadway the airport uses to get to perimeter buildings, she said. The cause was not yet known, airport spokeswoman Pat Smith said. Visibility was reduced to about a quarter- to half-mile because of the snow, said Dan Leins, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Three people onboard the Embraer 170 asked to be checked out at a hospital as a precaution, Smith said. The flight, traveling from Atlanta to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, landed around 3 p.m. It was operated by Shuttle America, a Delta Connection carrier, Lee said. The airport was closed for about an hour and a half and some planes were diverted to other cities, Smith said. The runway where the incident occurred will be closed indefinitely, she said. Another aircraft that landed on the runway about eight minutes before reported no braking problems, she said. The National Transportation Safety Board was on site to investigate, Smith said.

It's probably somewhere in the Sapporo burbs.

Oh hell, I like this game: Berea - small triangle and main street Olmstead Falls - intersection Parma - shopping mall. What would be the main st.? Ridge, Ridgewood, State? Parma Heights - Pearl might be considered the main street. North Royalton - wouldn't the center be the triangle of Ridge, Bennett and Royalton? Broadview Hts. - Intersection Brecksville - Intersection

Just to clarify...I've never been to Paris or Munich...I have been to Tokyo and Osaka. This is only the second thread I've said anything about P-burgh. The other time I said I have love for the 3 C's and Detroit, not so much for Pitt, it was a little too W. Va. for me. Again that was about diversity. BTW, I spend most of the time here complaining about Cleveland, posting articles about Hopkins and Akron/Canton Apt. or arguing KI vs. CP. So tone it down a bit. It's not like you have a positive attitude about C-land. Your knocks are bit more back handed than mine, but they are knocks nonetheless. I don't sit there and say you don't make 'real contributions' to the forum. We can agree to disagree without you going nuts. I'm not trying to hurt people's feelings, I'm just saying a city is more than about buildings and layouts...it's about people too. The more diverse your city is, the better off you'll be in the future. Think I'm alone in that thinking? Pittsburgh city leaders seem to agree with me: http://www.diversecitypittsburgh.org/

Ask yourself, at what point am I supposed to care what you think? Aw hell, you can think P-burgh is as diverse as NYC....it's not my problem, I'm never gonna live there. ;)