Think of this thread as a resource where new Clevelanders can ask questions that have bugged them, but it may sound like a dumb question. 

 

Most members from Cleveland LOVE talking about the city, It will be enjoyable for us to learn what strikes people who did not grow up here as odd, or unusual.

 

For instance, I never knew that the term "tree lawn" is a mostly Cleveland area phrase.  It is the public property, usually grassy, between the street and the sidewalk.

 

(There is already the Cleveland relocation guide for important type questions, like where do I register to vote.  This thread is more for questions like, "what is stadium mustard?")

BTW what the hell is Stadium Mustard exactly?  I was generally perturbed the first time I went to the Jake and it was out there for my hot dog.  Also, the wife didn't believe that it was only a Cleveland thing which necessitated an emergancy call to my mother in Cincy to confirm that this craziness is indeed unique to Cleveland.

BTW what the hell is Stadium Mustard exactly?  I was generally perturbed the first time I went to the Jake and it was out there for my hot dog.  Also, the wife didn't believe that it was only a Cleveland thing which necessitated an emergancy call to my mother in Cincy to confirm that this craziness is indeed unique to Cleveland.

 

It's a darker, spicier Eastern European mustard.

 

You are not a Clevelander unless you've had a hot dog or foot long with Bertmans mustard.

http://www.bertmanballparkmustard.com

 

However, most of us, are more familiar with "Authentic" stadium mustard.

http://www.stadiummustard.com

And I didnt realize it was just a Cleveland thing until I moved from Cleveland and was perturbed when other stadiums didnt have it.  (its the only reason I would get a hotdog) 

 

Although 2 years ago when I went to my first Nationals game they had it in packs at the Nationals stadium!!! 

I was all proud and making everybody use it.  Oh come to think of it, it may have been when they were playing the Indians...  I havent been since so Im not sure if its a regular thing there..

BTW what the hell is Stadium Mustard exactly? I was generally perturbed the first time I went to the Jake and it was out there for my hot dog.

 

Am i reading this incorrectly? You were perturbed because it was available to you?

Probably meant something like perplexed.

 

Those 'per' words can be tricky :-)

I was definitely perturbed the first time I went to a Tribe game and there was no yellow mustard available.  However, a few years later, I have grown to love the ballpark mustard :)

Having grown up on ballpark and stadium mustard, the yellow stuff grosses me out.

We had stadium mustard in Mansfield (at the grocery and local baseball/softball fields), so I am not so sure that it is just a Cleveland thing.

We had stadium mustard in Mansfield (at the grocery and local baseball/softball fields), so I am not so sure that it is just a Cleveland thing.

 

Mansfield is not that far away from Cleveland. Originally, you could only get these mustards at the old Municipal Stadium.

 

I remember finding Stadium Mustard in the gourmet aisle in a Kroger in Tennessee a few years ago.

We had stadium mustard in Mansfield (at the grocery and local baseball/softball fields), so I am not so sure that it is just a Cleveland thing.

 

Bah.  I certainly never had it growing up.  I hate it.  Yellow mustard all the way!    Now, if we could just get Jones' chips in the grocery stores here, I'd be happy!

BTW what the hell is Stadium Mustard exactly? I was generally perturbed the first time I went to the Jake and it was out there for my hot dog.

 

Am i reading this incorrectly? You were perturbed because it was available to you?

Probably meant something like perplexed.

 

Those 'per' words can be tricky :-)

 

Ksonic got it.  English and I never were the best of friends.

Hot dogs are just stadium mustard delivery systems.

We had stadium mustard in Mansfield (at the grocery and local baseball/softball fields), so I am not so sure that it is just a Cleveland thing.

 

Bah.  I certainly never had it growing up.  I hate it.  Yellow mustard all the way!    Now, if we could just get Jones' chips in the grocery stores here, I'd be happy!

 

 

And I thought you were a foodie. Bah, yellow mustard is the Yugo of condiments.

All foodies have our low-rent, processed food we like as a guilty pleasure. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective), I can't have most of mine right now because they all involve cheese. Cheez-Its, Kraft mac & cheese, cheetos, etc.

 

I also put KETCHUP on my hotdogs, which is decidedly un-foodie.  However, I won't eat just any hotdog, there are only a few places I'll eat them from, where I know they make them in-house, like the sausage shoppe.  So that's kind of half foodie.

All foodies have our low-rent, processed food we like as a guilty pleasure. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective), I can't have most of mine right now because they all involve cheese. Cheez-Its, Kraft mac & cheese, cheetos, etc.

 

I also put KETCHUP on my hotdogs, which is decidedly un-foodie.  However, I won't eat just any hotdog, there are only a few places I'll eat them from, where I know they make them in-house, like the sausage shoppe.  So that's kind of half foodie.

 

Go to Gibbs Butcher Block in Columbia Station (Sprague and Columbia).  They will stuff casing for sausage or hotdog with what ever you want right infront of you.  last summber, I got pork,chicken and spinch sausage.  Every Saturday, the have tastings of 32 different types of sausages.  Again, they can put anything you want in the casing.  It is really cool to watch them do it, and very qucik.  Guarantee you, if Gibbs was in the City, it would have been featured on Food Network by now. 

Having grown up on ballpark and stadium mustard, the yellow stuff grosses me out.

 

100% yes.

 

Yellow mustard all the way!

 

Ick.

 

I was shocked and thrilled to see Stadium Mustard (or was it Bermans?  can't remember now) as the sole table mustard at one of the better new wave high quality burger joints that opened up here in NYC a few years ago.  Oh god I'm hungry now.

Having grown up on ballpark and stadium mustard, the yellow stuff grosses me out.

 

+1

Bertman's/Stadium Mustard beats yellow any day of the week and twice on Sundays.  I just don't understand why Mustard in the Tribe Hot Dog Derby is yellow instead of brown.

 

Things I didn't understand when I came to Cleveland:

- Why are parks called "reservations"? That name meant something completely different in Texas.

- The "Rapid"? Really? It didn't take long to figure out, but it still sounds odd to my ears.

- Why do so many folks sit on sofas in their garages in the summer, but don't sit on their porches?

Go to Gibbs Butcher Block in Columbia Station (Sprague and Columbia). They will stuff casing for sausage or hotdog with what ever you want right infront of you. last summber, I got pork,chicken and spinch sausage. Every Saturday, the have tastings of 32 different types of sausages. Again, they can put anything you want in the casing. It is really cool to watch them do it, and very qucik. Guarantee you, if Gibbs was in the City, it would have been featured on Food Network by now.

 

I appreciate this tip, that is fairly close to where I live.  Will definitely check it out.

Now, if we could just get Jones' chips in the grocery stores here, I'd be happy!

Yes, they need to get Jones' chips up here. They are the only chips worth consuming.

Things I didn't understand when I came to Cleveland:

- Why are parks called "reservations"? That name meant something completely different in Texas.

- The "Rapid"? Really? It didn't take long to figure out, but it still sounds odd to my ears.

- Why do so many folks sit on sofas in their garages in the summer, but don't sit on their porches?

 

The metroparks is the only park around here where certain areas are referred to as reservations.  I would say those are the "divisions" within the parks system.  The "metroparks" is the park system, but it's divided into areas; the "reservations" are just names to divide up/label the areas.  From their site: "In 1920, the Park District held title to just 109 acres of land in Rocky River and Big Creek; by 1930, it had acquired at a cost of $3.9 million, 9,000 acres in nine large, unconnected reservations:  Rocky River, Huntington, Big Creek, Hinckley, Brecksville, Bedford, South Chagrin, North Chagrin and Euclid Creek. The next step, connecting the reservations, would be tackled in years to come." 

 

Reservation, in this use, and that of Native Americans, literally means "a tract of public land set apart for a special purpose."  In our case, it's for a parks system.  In Texas, it's to "protect" tribal lands and their people.  Notice protect is in quotes.

 

 

re: garage parties; porches do not accommodate big, sprawling couches.  Couches are comfortable. You want to sit outside when it's nice, but putting a couch in the lawn is just too tacky, so into the garage it goes.  Kind of like using your garage as a big patio because you don't have a big, covered patio that you can stick furniture onto.

 

Hot dogs are just stadium mustard delivery systems.

 

Agreed.

 

- Why do so many folks sit on sofas in their garages in the summer, but don't sit on their porches?

 

I can honestly say that I have never seen this. Where do you see this? Some of the houses in Lakewood do have couches on the porch, kind of makes me feel like I am back in Athens.

Most zoning ordinaces do not let you put couches out on the front porch. 

Now, I am not sure how the zoning is worded, but growing up I knew you could not have inside furniture on your front porch.

I see folks around Shaker Square and in Tremont who have couches in the garage, usually within reaching distance of the beer fridge.

 

(EDIT: I think I just answered my own question.)

 

- Why do so many folks sit on sofas in their garages in the summer, but don't sit on their porches?

 

I can honestly say that I have never seen this. Where do you see this? Some of the houses in Lakewood do have couches on the porch, kind of makes me feel like I am back in Athens.

 

I've never seen that either.  Sounds rather tacky.

 

I see folks around Shaker Square and in Tremont who have couches in the garage, usually within reaching distance of the beer fridge.

 

(EDIT: I think I just answered my own question.)

 

Shaker Square? Where?!  I need run these people out of the 'hood!

I've been to countless "garage parties" out here in the burbs!

Can't say that I have ever seen a couch in a garage... that wasn't on its way out to the tree lawn on garbage day.  West Side thing perhaps? 

I've been to 2 in West Park, if that helps. One down in Brunstucky.

We have a dining room table in our garage, but that's because we consolidated from two apartments!

We have a dining room table in our garage, but that's because we consolidated from two apartments!

Thats OK.  You're a celebutante, I hear you use it for impromptu interviews and media request.

Can't say that I have ever seen a couch in a garage... that wasn't on its way out to the tree lawn on garbage day.  West Side thing perhaps? 

Apparently!  :P

 

I've been to 2 in West Park, if that helps. One down in Brunstucky.

We have a dining room table in our garage, but that's because we consolidated from two apartments!

Can't say that I have ever seen a couch in a garage... that wasn't on its way out to the tree lawn on garbage day.  West Side thing perhaps? 

Apparently!   :P

 

 

Watch it!  :roll:

We have a dining room table in our garage, but that's because we consolidated from two apartments!

Thats OK. You're a celebutante, I hear you use it for impromptu interviews and media request.

 

Actually, the last celebutante interview was done on the E. 12th St. "furniture", lol.

Can't say that I have ever seen a couch in a garage... that wasn't on its way out to the tree lawn on garbage day.  West Side thing perhaps? 

Apparently!  :P

 

 

Watch it!  ::)

 

Hey.  I call it like I see it!

Can't say that I have ever seen a couch in a garage... that wasn't on its way out to the tree lawn on garbage day.  West Side thing perhaps? 

Apparently!   :P

 

 

Watch it!  :roll:

 

I would take that critique if I were a West-sider.  It's better than the distinguishing feature being the unusually large presence of the 'female mullet'

 

*shudder*

Can't say that I have ever seen a couch in a garage... that wasn't on its way out to the tree lawn on garbage day.  West Side thing perhaps? 

Apparently!  :P

 

 

Watch it!  ::)

 

I would take that critique if I were a West-sider.  It's better than the distinguishing feature being the unusually large presence of the 'female mullet'

 

 

Just to be clear, the first time I witnessed the couch garage phenomenon was off of Larchmere.  I don't want to hear you eastsiders or westsiders hollering at each other.  You make my teeth hurt.

 

(EDIT: No, they were not visiting from the westside, either.  They've lived on the eastside since before you were born, MTS.  NICE TRY, THOUGH.)

Just to be clear, the first time I witnessed the couch garage phenomenon was off of Larchmere.  I don't want to hear you eastsiders or westsiders hollering at each other.  You make my teeth hurt.

 

 

I find that hard to believe!  Perhaps, these people were visiting from the Westside?

 

Now, if we could just get Jones' chips in the grocery stores here, I'd be happy!

 

We've got the Jones' chips out here in Lorain County - alongside our hometown Thomasson's brand that Jones' now owns.  Maybe Gibb's carries them too...

 

http://www.joneschips.com/ThomassonsHistory2.htm

 

http://www.gibbsbutcherblock.com/sausage.htm

 

 

I just don't think Thomasson's are as good, or Ballreich's, but both are close.  There is ONE Convenient Food Mart I can sometimes get them at but I'm not out that way all that often, it's in N Olmsted.  Well, perhaps it's a good thing that I'm not by that store very often buying chips, as I'd weigh 300 pounds.

OK, let's get this one out of the way....

 

Newcomers to Cleveland wonder why there is this East Side vs. West Side rivalry (which has already showed up in this thread). Some east-siders never go to the west-side except to get to the airport. Some west-siders never go to the east-side (although technically downtown is on the east-side as it is on the other side of the Cuyahoga River).

 

The answer goes back almost 200 years to the so-called Bridge War between the west-side Ohio City (it raced to become a incorporated municipality only days before Cleveland could incorporate as a city) and the east-side Cleveland. When Cleveland absorbed Ohio City, it didn't quell the rivalry as it continues today but at least we're not trying to blow up our bridges anymore...

 

To read more about the Bridge War, see:

 

http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CSB

And since MTS was actually present at the Bridge War, he feels this rivalry a bit more intensely than the rest of us.

 

Another newbie dumb question: Who the hell is Michael Stanley, and why should I care about him and his band?  I never heard of him until I moved here.

He achieved minor fame with a video on MTV (back when they played videos) but never really broke out.  But Clevelanders think his music is great.  He writes with a lot of local flavor/mentions of local things sometimes.  He's like a really famous local band that got close to breaking out but never really made it.  I think a lot of Clevelanders think he "should" have made it, and he has a lot of devoted local fans.

 

I'm generally not a fan of his music at all but I think Lover isn't a bad song, even though it's so overplayed here.  Why Should Love Be This Way is also not bad.  The almost-breakout hit was He Can't Love You Like I Love You, I remember the video being a comical thing in a hospital, like clowning around with stethoscopes and such.

 

In person, he comes off as quite a jerk and has a big superiority complex.

I'm not that new, BUT...

 

Are the bike rentals on E.4th up and running yet?

OK, let's get this one out of the way....

 

Newcomers to Cleveland wonder why there is this East Side vs. West Side rivalry (which has already showed up in this thread). Some east-siders never go to the west-side except to get to the airport. Some west-siders never go to the east-side (although technically downtown is on the east-side as it is on the other side of the Cuyahoga River).

 

The answer goes back almost 200 years to the so-called Bridge War between the west-side Ohio City (it raced to become a incorporated municipality only days before Cleveland could incorporate as a city) and the east-side Cleveland. When Cleveland absorbed Ohio City, it didn't quell the rivalry as it continues today but at least we're not trying to blow up our bridges anymore...

 

To read more about the Bridge War, see:

 

http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CSB

 

Thanks for the history bit :).  I never knew that!

In person, he comes off as quite a jerk and has a big superiority complex.

 

That is hysterical.  He must hate going to any other part of the country where no one has any idea who the F he is, by face, by name, or by voice.

I don't think he goes anywhere else. Why would he?

I'm not that new, BUT...

 

Are the bike rentals on E.4th up and running yet?

 

Well I just got an answer to my own question:

 

"Unfortunately, no, the bike rental service will not be open this summer.  We are postponing the opening date for later in the season.

 

You can, however, rent bikes for the Ohio City Bicycle Coop, which is a neighborhood just west of downtown.  http://www.ohiocitycycles.org/"

 

- DCA