8ShadesofGray

Yes, but they're only tearing down the part that is vacant (the more beautiful part by far, in my opinion). The part that is still being actively used will remain. Move your arrow two spots to the right (north) to get a better idea of the breadth of the part that's getting demolished and a couple more to see how, with a little love, this could be a beautiful courtyard and residential rehab just down from W. 78th St. Studios and a few blocks south of Battery Park. Instead, if this plan goes through, we'll have a better view of the godawful ugly add-on and a giant vacant parcel fronting Detroit.

It is delicious ... I get them "delivermefood.com"ed all the time! And yeah, they do have a veggie burger in their "Build Your Own Burger" section, as well as a number of apparently vegetarian-friendly appetizers and sides (I say apparently only b/c I haven't investigated, and I know a lot of people have had trouble citywide with "hidden duck fat"). If they ARE vegetarian-friendly, I HIGHLY recommend the sweet potato fries ... some of my absolute favorite fries in town.

Several including the abandoned section of Watterson-Lake :( :( :( :( If I'm reading that right, that's the really striking dark brick building that sits at a diagonal on Detroit in the W. 70s, just down from Battery Park. One of my absolute favorites citywide :( :( :( :(

That being said, in reviewing their portfolio more fully, it appears that some of their work is more about stand-alone pieces of starchitecture than about urban continuity (particularly when it comes to eds & meds). Hopefully, given their previous successes with master planning and given the apparent attention of the Clinic to neighborhood connectivity, this will result in a more welcoming and pedestrian-oriented campus ... but I don't know that it's necessarily a given.

I got to see an incredible amount of work he has done in Germany, including a large amount of adaptive reuse. He's well-known for the Reichstag, but I would also look to examples in industrial cities like Duisburg (where he has played a pivotal role in master planning of the city as a whole and of its inner harbor more specifically) and Essen (where he helped convert a shuttered smelting plant building into an industrial design museum). In all these cases, attention was placed on converting largely industrial and car-oriented environments into pedestrian-oriented areas that incorporate a lot of public space and create density by rehabbing vacant buildings and constructing new to create density of activity: - http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/1443/Default.aspx - http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/0956/Default.aspx - http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/0576/Default.aspx - http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/0495/Default.aspx

Congratulations, Tripspapa! That's great news! Is the cafe and tanning still scheduled to open up upon move-in? I know that was your initial intent. Can't wait for some performance smoothies! :)

This is the most disturbing thread on urbanohio EVER ... but not necessarily in a bad way :)

Where is Koko located? I love bubble tea and I haven't found a place to get some in such a long time! There's a lot of bubble tea places to get bubble tea, but I swear by my Koko! Wider flavor assortment and homemade tapioca pearls :) They're located at Payne Ave. and E. 38th ... and definitely worth a visit! At one point, there was also a bubble tea cafe in the same complex as Superior Pho (Superior and E. 32), but alas, bubble tea alone does not a successful business make.

Where is the lovely brick house with the turret? Is that Slavic Village?

All great suggestions so far ... I would say Koko is a must (Thai Tea Bubble Tea!) ... for eccentric, you can't go wrong with the Asiatown neighborhood :) Koko is a must, Slyman's is a must, either #1 Pho or Superior Pho (two Vietnamese restaurants literally next door to each other that are both going strong) would be great. Garden Cafe next to Koko is another gem that I NEVER hear people talk about ... Taiwanese place next door to Koko Bakery. For lunch, Tastebuds is another one in the neighborhood that I think is unique (gourmet spin on cafeteria food ... great space and inexpensive. People swear by Wonton for the best / most authentic Chinese food in town, but I honestly haven't been overly impressed. Empress Taytu further into the neighborhood has yummy Ethiopian. While you're in the neighborhood, you should definitely also check out one of the Asian markets ... I'd recommend Tink Holl (just south of Payne & 36th). My favorite local beer, Indigo Imp, is brewed in the neighborhood. They sell to the public direct from the brewing space on Friday afternoons last time I check; otherwise, you have to get it from local restaurants/bars (places like Bier Markt). But enough about my beloved Asiatown/St. Clair-Superior ... the website is http://www.asiatowncleveland.com :) I agree on Lucky's ... best brunch EVER. I'm serious ... it's sooooooo goooooood. Just a couple of doors down is Lily's Handmade Chocolate ... expensive but addictively good. In between the West Side Market and Tremont, Sokolowski's is also a local institution. Not amazing food, honestly, but just steeped in character. And I have a special nostalgia for Michael's Diner on Shaker Square, aka Shack on the Track, for late-night eats (although "Dirty" Diana's on W. 117th is also a great 3-in-the-morning joint).

Not sure that it's been mentioned yet (maybe I missed it in another thread), but the new bus shelters have been installed, and man, do they look great. I do use "shelter" pretty loosely, though. As has been mentioned before, the design is aesthetically really nice ... but in terms of functionality, I don't think it will serve as much of a windbreak, and the perforated metal is probably going to get you as wet in a rainstorm, and potentially wetter, than if you were standing in open air. But really, really nice looking ... and definitely an improvement over the nothing that was there a couple weeks ago :)

Welcome, peds! I think all of the suggestions so far are spot on. Top on my list for you to check out would be: - Cedar Fairmount (1920s architecture, a handful of restaurants, a full grocery, very close to the hospital); - Shaker Square (dense urban neighborhood, several restaurants, a full grocery, a movie theater, lots of mass transit connections, maybe 1 mile from the hospital [and accessible by the 48 bus until you would have a car]); - and possibly Little Italy (dense, vibrant neighborhood, a lot of [mostly Italian] restaurants, a small organic grocery [the Cleveland Food Co-op] a short walk away, the hospital only a few blocks to the west). I agree with doctabroccoli ... I think you'll like all of the neighborhoods around the hospital, based on what you've described. Coventry, Cedar Fairmount and University Circle are also worth checking out, and you might want to take a look at downtown and Ohio City just for comparison, but I think you'll be well-served by the neighborhoods right around the hospital. Good luck with your move, and let us know if we can help!

Website for the initiative: http://www.healthtechcorridor.com/.

Cleveland partners unveil plans for a health-tech corridor along Euclid Avenue By Tom Breckenridge, The Plain Dealer April 19, 2010, 9:45PM CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A downtrodden, gap-toothed stretch of Euclid Avenue from the Cleveland Clinic to Cleveland State University is the target of the latest effort to leverage Cleveland's health-care muscle. Public-private collaborators today announced the launch of the Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor, which aims to harness two powerful forces to redevelop Euclid Avenue -- space demands of new companies and the supply-chain needs of growing entities like the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals. The latter three purchase some $3 billion annually in goods and services from vendors that could locate to Euclid Avenue, say corridor proponents like Steven Standley, chief administrative officer for University Hospitals. He has a message for some of the vendors supplying goods and services to the health system: "You need to move into the city, or we will find somebody who will" ... ... More at http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/04/cleveland_partners_unveil_plan.html.

I understand your hesitation, although I would point out that age and maturity are surprisingly unrelated ... I've always tended to date guys a bit older than be, but recently several guys in their early 20s have appeared out of nowhere (there must be some kind of young gays convention in town!), and I've been surprised by how kind and thoughtful each of the three seems. Meanwhile, I've had guys on up to their early 40s absolutely devastate me because of their childish and selfish shenanigans :) I don't know ... there's something to be said for catching a guy before he hits the "bitter 30s"; if a guy is still single by then, he's usually developed a bit of a thick skin. And if you don't want them, PM me their contact details. Haha.

But it's interesting that it's a very similar menu to #1 Pho in Asiatown and brings in comparable or larger dinner crowds than the more Americanized Chinese restaurants in the neighborhood. I'm wondering if it's a demographic mismatch ... that the people who seek it out are more likely to want to eat in Asiatown than on East 4th, while, as you noted, the casual walk-by customer on East 4th might not be drawn to Vietnamese cuisine with more accessible choices (i.e. choices that are more familiar to the average American) available on all sides. And there's also something to be said for the comment above about it always looking closed, whereas with its giant windows and uplighting on E. 32nd, you can see all the activity from the street.

^^ It's always been really odd to me that Saigon seems empty every time I walk by (and I didn't even know about the outpost in Middleburg), when it does so well on East 32nd ... Seems to be an Asiatown favorite among the out-of-neighborhooders (and I like it to :) ).

^ The Facebook page says they're aiming for end of May / beginning of June. Yaya!

That's actually an excellent point. Both Downtown and University have larger residential populations than Ohio City and Tremont, but with the sheer number of visitors in these neighborhoods, the overall probability of being a victim of violent crime is actually significantly lower than what it looks like. You can find similar limitations to just about any of the data available there. My main point is that you should definitely go with your gut instinct at the end of the day, but if you find yourself equally split on three or four neighborhoods, a little data might help.

From Cleveland: Local Media News & Discussion, conversation about the Plain Dealer's apparent cutting of professional critics in favor of reader submissions ... http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,13110.msg478059.html#msg478059

All that being said, I would recommend spending a bit of time checking out NEOCANDO (http://neocando.case.edu). It takes a few minutes to register, but it's well worth it. It's a clearinghouse of data about Cleveland neighborhoods (and in some cases, the surrounding suburbs). You can see data on crime rates, median household salary, educational attainment, average number of years residents have lived at their current address, students' average academic proficiency scores, percentage of residents who ride a bike to work, etc., etc. ... All at the neighborhood level. Some of this data dates back to 2000 (mostly Census stuff), but other stuff is as fresh as 2009. You can search for a particular indicator across multiple neighborhoods or get a profile for a particular neighborhood. As an example of some basic research, if your gf is worried about a place feeling desolate, the underlying fear might be likelihood of crime. Here's a look at some sample violent crime rates per 100,000 residents, as of 2008: Buckeye-Shaker (area around Shaker Square): 1,479.22 per 100,000 residents (189 crimes total) Detroit-Shoreway: 2,017.92 (333) Downtown: 3,043.67 (240) Edgewater (the Cleveland neighborhood that borders Lakewood): 1,311.17 (110) Ohio City: 3,089.83 (271) Tremont: 891.31 (70) University (includes Little Italy): 573.67 (66) Now, that's not to say that Tremont or Little Italy are wonderful and Ohio City and Downtown are horrible. Obviously, crime rates vary from year to year, non-violent crime rates may look different, some crimes aren't recorded, etc., etc. And obviously a TON of factors go into selecting a neighborhood. Just recommending mixing your gut reaction with a bit of data. Frankly, I would feel safe in any of these neighborhoods, day or night, but data like this might help you make an informed decision, particularly if you're not going to get a ton of time in each neighborhood.

Thanks for the recap! It's nice to get fresh perspectives on these nabes! Based on your feedback, it sounds like Ohio City, downtown and Tremont might be good mixes for both of you. I would definitely also check out Shaker Square with her. It's in the city proper, so you're still fighting the good fight. You'd have midrises, retail, pedestrians, ample public transit, three distinct city neighborhoods (Buckeye, the square and Larchmere) within a 10-minute walk, but you're also flanked by the beautiful homes of Shaker Heights, the crazy-nice Shaker Parklands and a bit of a hike (but not too far) from Coventry and Cedar-Fairmount, two pedestrian-dense areas in Cleveland Heights. I would also check out Little Italy. This is nice and dense, has a ton of pedestrian traffic and is just blocks from Lakeview Cemetery (beautiful, beautiful place) and from Case Western and the museums. The streets are narrow, which adds to the sense of density. It's just a really fun little nabe, and train service is being realigned to serve it a bit better (currently, it's on the backside of the neighborhood, with poor site lines ... in a couple years, it'll be right on the main drag). You're also a 10-minute walk from the HealthLine, our bus rapid transit line that runs really frequently. There's also Uptown, a planned retail corridor set to be the new home of Cleveland's fantastic Museum of Contemporary Art, in a couple of years. This definitely might be a nice fit for both of you.

Another great article on the Evergreen Cooperatives. Might be time for them to get their own thread ... I thought there was one at one point? KEYNOTE: ANCHOR MAN Urbanite #70 April 10 Marc Steiner Three years ago, Ted Howard got a call from the Cleveland Foundation, a community foundation that pools the city’s philanthropic resources and gives out grants for local projects. Like Baltimore, Cleveland had fallen a long way since its mid-century glory days. For the last several years, the Great Lakes burg has been dueling with Detroit and Buffalo for the title of poorest big city in America. The folks at the Cleveland Foundation had been following Howard’s work at the Democracy Collaborative, a research and policy center at the University of Maryland, College Park, that fosters what Howard calls “wealth-building opportunities” for the poor. And they wanted his help ... ... More at http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/sub.cfm?ArticleID=1471&IssueID=83&SectionID=4.

^ No, not sure why, but they were the standard buses. Perhaps the articulated ones only run on weekdays? I'm considering carsharing, but unfortunately I believe they are all currently centered around University Circle and Shaker Square ... the nearest one to me would require a 15-minute walk to Euclid to catch the Health Line, then a 15-minute ride to the car ... Which isn't horrible but still not ideal ... Not to steer this topic off-topic :)

I'm really trying to stick it out ... but maybe I'm one of those people who can't really avoid it ... car-free. Despite the many troubles at RTA right now, I do believe it's one of the remaining jewels of Cleveland, and it would be a shame to see them lose any funding tied to ridership numbers, particularly given their many years of ridership increases. But I agree ... Between the overcrowding (in some instances), longer ride times (with fewer connections), noise pollution, higher fares, complicated "POP/pay on the bus/show your pre-purchased card to the driver after these hours" scheme ... It is becoming more and more difficult (and unpleasant) to be a rider.