willyboy

Since I was in Cleveland for the weekend with some guests, I got to go to the Taste of Tremont for the first time. It was much bigger than I had imagined and very well attended. Since the lines for food were a bit long and we couldnt decide, so we drank instead!:drunk: It was a great time. I did see some familiar faces including the ones below with their back to me. Can anyone help me out here. Its obvious the one in the tank top is some sort of body builder :-D.

Just not with the city of Cleveland, right?

Certainly. I brought in a group from DC this past weekend and they were blown away by the restaurants and live music everywhere. Many times after Ive done this they tell everyone else they know how cool Cleveland is, and many come back for future visits.

Wow, incredible... Keep posting!

Well regardless of certain arguments made on here, bars and restaurants seem to do better than retail can in the city. People are more willing to come in to play than to shop I guess. I'm just glad it is not a sports bar. (For a city that's supposedly retail starved, why does most of the retail fail in the traditional commercial areas) Sorry that doesn't belong here :-P

Saw this in the Scene about the old City Buddha space in Ohio City (update). I'm sure it will be fab.... During the five years since he left Touch Supper Club, Jeff Allison has been on a bit of a roll. His Garage Bar (1859 W. 25th St., 216.696.7772, thegaragebar.net) shot out of the starting gate like a top-fuel dragster, only recently slowing to a comfortable speed. Last summer, Allison shipped the concept south to Columbus, opening a second Garage Bar in the hip Arena District. Next up for the itchy-fingered entrepreneur is Dragonfly, a sleek Asian restaurant and lounge to be opened in the old City Buddha spot on West 25th Street. "I looked at the street to see what we were missing," says Allison, "and I thought we needed a clubby pan-Asian bistro." When completed, the double storefront will feature a sushi bar, lounge and dining room. The project will unfold in stages, with a sushi bar and club the first to debut. Until then, Allison will continue to push his tasty barbecue at Garage. "We have fantastic food here," he says, "but people don't tend to think of us in that way."

"As it turns out, Chef Fieri has roots here in Cleveland. He has family in town and he's friends with Cleveland celebrity-chef, Michael Symon." Then I wonder why it took him so long to do a bit on Cleveland. Anyway, its great publicity for Cleveland's great restaurant scene, some of which is "off the beaten path".

Certainly the Port is a bit of an exception and shouldnt be expected to be all done quickly. As you said, many of the other aspects of it certainly could and should happen ahead of the actual port move (land that is not currently occupied by anything). I think the discussion of the lakefront may have been lumped together with things we would all want to see happen in our lifetime and maybe unfairly gets lumped together with our frustrations of wanting to see these things happen.....

KJP is right, but so is 327. There are a lot of hoops to jump through, but as we all know there tends to be a poor and disfunctional/cooperative relationship between the various entities,(developers, council people, city govt., county officials, your local reps in washington etc). Seldom do they all work together to facilitate things that are often of vital importance to the region. I have seen some of what 327 is talking about first hand when I got to speak to some "city officials" that are in the "field" and "office" to be thinking about such things. When I mentioned some of the things such as what 327 is talking about, they looked at me like I was an alien and as if it had never occurred to them to think in such terms, or ahead in such a manner, or in a way that could result in some great possibilities down the road if they started the process of laying the groundwork now (you know, in a way that could get the ball rolling, and allow them to apply for funding that is often available in one form or another). They also didn't seem to understand why it was bad to not be on better terms with the officials mentioned above... as in "working together towards some common and beneficial goals". Funny I did get a bit of a sense that there was some "kool aid drinking" going on when they argued for every move Frank has made and applauded everything about the MM/convention center fiasco (they seemed to lack any regard to decisions that would have actually been best for the city, or the poor impact that they had on the city down the road (I had to explain these things to them, even though these things were supposed to be they're field of expertise) This is when I realized they needed somebody from the outside to come in and shake things up...... Starting with the Mayor...

You must book by July 8?, yet it was on "newsnet5" yesterday.... I guess you were supposed to think fast!

Also the new streetscape comes complete with people.

Exactly, to each his own. I'm not sure that your finding DC so comfortable says much about Cinci :|..., since most everyone from Cleveland that I have met here has totally felt the same way. The few that wouldn't get it, are typically the types that I consider the "Washintonians", thats all I'll say. Again, its also, all about whats important to you

I certainly dont disagree with you there jpop. These are very important things to be doing. But.... Where is the rest of the administration.... Where is the planning department.... He could really use their guidance (if indeed they were all working together on the betterment of the city). Oh wait, I did talk to someone from there not long ago, and they all seem to be behind everything about Jackson.... Including some of the very bad decisions and in-action as of late. (Gee, he must be a really nice guy)

Id have to agree with you... Maybe his quite approach will reap some worthwhile things, but we really need something more than that right now. Too bad it doesn't look like there will be a better option in the upcoming mayoral election.. Although my period of being a bit down on Cleveland is beginning to pass, I think I will always have a bad taste in my mouth towards Jackson after some of the shenanigans and somewhat detrimental lack of leadership from the past year. *After seeing the Midtown thread, I had to come back and hightlight and edit. Poor leader, lack of foresight, squandering potential...... For what, some short term bragging rights to some ill conceived, ill located projects... What a bufoon!

DC is a beautiful example of intact architecture and urban fabric as well as street life etc… I know many of you have said it is your favorite city, but I must say that I consider DC one of those places that you appreciate and like better as a visitor than as a resident. I know before I moved here 10 years ago that I fell in love with the place when I would come to visit friends from college. All I can say is that it didn’t take long before I realized how much the city was lacking in other regards.. ie had some pretty serious quality of life issues, and found myself almost hating it here. I soon appreciated Cleveland even more than I already did (as well as other places that I had lived). Although I believe things are starting to change a bit for the better here. I won’t go into all the reasons behind this right now, but I think it’s safe to say that its all about what’s most important to you. Realizing this, I hope the rest of you don’t take things for granted in places like Cleveland, where I think you have a pretty amazing quality of life, and a rather high standard compared to most other places.

Wonderful pictures of a place Im pretty unfamiliar with. Looks rather cool and funky. Because I work with a lady from Grand Rapids, I caught this the other day in the PD. Although certainly the whole state of Michigan has been hit hard, it looks like some very good and welcome news for G.R. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/06/farmers_group_to_expand_in_wes.html Also 8Shades, that sounds like a great way to bring attention to your city and certainly as an arts destination... I know Cleveland has been doing some of the same type of thinking, but it sounds like somebody in G.R. is thinking even bigger....... Ill have to look into this more...

Also, shouldn't these types of things be guided towards some sort of "culinary district" like has been mentioned for the area around the West Side Market or other areas, where the idea would be to group various culinary/International food stores etc., to create a bustling district? I guess the city is more interested in this scattered auto-centric approach.

The victims were buying drugs? Where did you read this? Whoa...Not to take this further off-topic, but I think it needs to be pointed out that the above quote is misattributed. It wasn't HJG that made the drugs link, but Willyboy. And from what I recall, the whole drugs scenario -- while it seems incredibly likely -- was never officially confirmed. Okay, end off topic rant. Sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned that. I did have a confirmation that a drug purchase was supposedly part of the series of events from a contact in Cleveland (someone that was involved in the case) but didn't realize that it wasn't public knowledge. I know I didn't initially think that these seemed like the types to be buying drugs, employees of the Clinic and all, but then again......

Oh you mean dirty people?

Yes. The victims went to Perk to buy drugs from the group that included the shooter(s).

Yes, Im already fasting here in DC for my next trip back to Cleveland in a couple weeks! (the only way I can justify it)

Thats too bad about Vivo, I really liked that space.

Yeah, my home town. And I thought the announcer on the Price is Right was the only "famous" person to come out of there! (the hullet ore unloaders dont count as a person)

Wow that comment makes me feel better. As he indicates, hopefully others in the industry realize that Cleveland is the place for this..... and as others on here have said, Nashville is just blowing smoke!

And don't forget the crime. Ohioguy over the weekend after your visit, there was a shootout off of 18 Street with police men being shot and a young man dying, pretty much right where one of your pictures is. Also, we had more of the usual brutal robberies take place. Amazing considering how gentrified the area is.