I know this is kind of short notice but any help would be great. I want to take a friend on a drive throughout the westside of Cleveland but dont really know where to start. I made a map to start and I would love if you could tell me where to go from there. Im not sure if you will be able to edit the map(unless you have an account I think) but any directions would be great. I start off the tour with edgewater and the goldcoast. I would really like to go through Battery Park, Gordon Square, and the best residential streets of Ohio City. Thanks for any help. Here is the map

 

http://tinyurl.com/4x5mkgb

 

You could add in Tremont and Clifton Blvd if you have time.

Agree, take Lake Rd. west to Webb then down Clifton back to Lake for a nice and easy drive through Lakewood.  To go to Tremont, just go across Abbey, then down W. 14 or W. 11 (I think you have to loop around Sokolowski's because of tghe construction).

Start at West Blvd. and Lake and drive south on West Blvd as it winds around.  Nice way to see the West Blvd.

area.

Thanks guys. I actually just got back. Edgewater looked really nice, my friend really liked it. I really like the trees in that area. The gold coast was also nice and very active when we drove through. Turning the corner on Cliff Drive also gets the wow factor as the skyline comes in view. There are also some large houses over there. The drive on Lake between Edgewater and Battery Park needs some help. Battery Park still has a long ways to go but its getting there! Went down a couple wrong roads in Ohio City so I had to improvise. I really think that you cant really get the full effect driving through Ohio City though, you really need to walk it. Probably go back sometime and walk through Ohio City, and maybe go through Lakewood more sometime soon. A few weeks ago we went to University Circle, Little Italy, and Cleveland Heights and they loved all of those locations(We actually walked those). Now they love Cleveland and cant wait to get out of the suburbs.

I'd suggest taking Franklin from OC to Det Shrwy neighborhood, there's the Franklin Castle, many old Victorian homes, and nice new infill scattered throughout Franklin. I'm also a fan of W.67th/69th from Detroit to the Lake, its just a nice well kept area that concludes with the nice new development of Tillman Park.

I'd suggest taking Franklin from OC to Det Shrwy neighborhood, there's the Franklin Castle, many old Victorian homes, and nice new infill scattered throughout Franklin. I'm also a fan of W.67th/69th from Detroit to the Lake, its just a nice well kept area that concludes with the nice new development of Tillman Park.

 

I agree.  Those are both covered if you look at the suggested route provided through his link. :)

I wish Edgewater and Gordon Square were better connected. That stretch of Lake is pretty bad in my opinion. It would be nice to connect those two neighborhoods, especially since they aren't really that far from each other.

I think it's not too much of a stretch to think that in 20 years we could have a pretty solid, not too poor, not too dangerous slice of urbanity from Chinatown to Lakewood.  Maybe?

I think it's not too much of a stretch to think that in 20 years we could have a pretty solid, not too poor, not too dangerous slice of urbanity from Chinatown to Lakewood.  Maybe?

 

I think that might be too unrealistic. I think we just need to keep focusing on the neighborhoods that are already decent. Tremont, and Ohio City are getting better but still do need a lot of work, same with Detroit Shoreway. If you keep focusing on the core of these neighborhoods, there borders of niceness with naturally continue to grow until the neighborhoods connect. You can throw Edgewater in there too. On the east side I would say keep focusing on and improving Little Italy and University Circle and then maybe the southern end of Glenville will improve as well as other surrounding neighborhoods.

I wish Edgewater and Gordon Square were better connected. That stretch of Lake is pretty bad in my opinion. It would be nice to connect those two neighborhoods, especially since they aren't really that far from each other.

 

They're in the process of extending W. 73rd St. to Edgewater right now.  And if you're not in a car there's already a bike path tunnel at the end of W. 65th St.

I think it's not too much of a stretch to think that in 20 years we could have a pretty solid, not too poor, not too dangerous slice of urbanity from Chinatown to Lakewood.  Maybe?

 

Unfortunately, there's a LOOOONG way to go in making the area along Detroit between Lake Ave. and W. 117th St. a nice and/or safe area.

I believe ClevelandOhio meant the neighborhood Edgewater, not the titular park.

I believe ClevelandOhio meant the neighborhood Edgewater, not the titular park.

 

Yes I did, sorry for not clarifying.

I think it's not too much of a stretch to think that in 20 years we could have a pretty solid, not too poor, not too dangerous slice of urbanity from Chinatown to Lakewood.  Maybe?

 

Unfortunately, there's a LOOOONG way to go in making the area along Detroit between Lake Ave. and W. 117th St. a nice and/or safe area.

 

Oh, I don't see that area getting better anytime soon.  But I was thinking more along the lake, from Lakewood to Edgewater, to Detroit Shoreway, to Ohio City, then Downtown and Chinatown.

I think it's not too much of a stretch to think that in 20 years we could have a pretty solid, not too poor, not too dangerous slice of urbanity from Chinatown to Lakewood.  Maybe?

 

Unfortunately, there's a LOOOONG way to go in making the area along Detroit between Lake Ave. and W. 117th St. a nice and/or safe area.

 

Oh, I don't see that area getting better anytime soon.  But I was thinking more along the lake, from Lakewood to Edgewater, to Detroit Shoreway, to Ohio City, then Downtown and Chinatown.

 

I think it'll be tough to make Lake Ave. any better as long as that part of Detroit is so bad.  Those streets aren't very long between Lake and Detroit there, and that's the worst part of Detroit (from about W. 81 to W. 91).

That is the worst part of Detroit, but there are actually quite a few renovations between Detroit and Lake and between Detroit and Franklin.  It's definitely a little scary, though.

That is the worst part of Detroit, but there are actually quite a few renovations between Detroit and Lake and between Detroit and Franklin.  It's definitely a little scary, though.

 

Remember that's how some sections of Detroit Avenue were in the 1980s through the Gordon Square area. My brother was a paramedic based out of the old St. John's Hospital on Detroit until about 1984 when it moved west and merged with West Shore Hospital in Westlake. He was overjoyed when that hospital closed because the neighborhood east of there had gone down the toilet. In the years after his unit was moved out, the areas to the west began to decline. A friend of mine grew up in that area in the 1960s and 1970s, and his father owned a restaurant on Lake between Detroit and Clifton. It was on the downslide then, and the worst areas were shifted west into the 1990s.

 

As the neighborhood investment patterns change, so will the neighborhoods.

I bet no part of Gordon Square ever looked like this, though.

 

Street View from Franklin

 

Street View from Detroit

 

And those look like they've been there a long time (and I doubt they were ever nice).  I'm not saying it can't be turned around, but I think there's substantially more work (like complete teardowns and rebuilds) in this area than Gordon Square.

^ Shows what surrounds too much of our rapid lines

I bet no part of Gordon Square ever looked like this, though.

 

Street View from Franklin

 

Street View from Detroit

 

And those look like they've been there a long time (and I doubt they were ever nice).  I'm not saying it can't be turned around, but I think there's substantially more work (like complete teardowns and rebuilds) in this area than Gordon Square.

 

No but there were quite a few adult theaters, porn shops and hookers in the Gordon Square area in the 1980s and 90s. The fight to get them out of there was very bitter. The neighborhood pretty much had to be vacated, like wiping a chalkboard clean and starting over. It was very different then as compared to now. The point being that neighborhoods can and do change. It can happen to the neighborhoods to the west, too.

No but there were quite a few adult theaters, porn shops and hookers in the Gordon Square area in the 1980s and 90s. The fight to get them out of there was very bitter. The neighborhood pretty much had to be vacated, like wiping a chalkboard clean and starting over. It was very different then as compared to now. The point being that neighborhoods can and do change. It can happen to the neighborhoods to the west, too.

 

I know, but I'm just saying that Gordon Square had much better "bones" than anything west of Lake Ave.  It would take a near complete rebuild (which was not what was done at Gordon Square) to make this area nice.

No but there were quite a few adult theaters, porn shops and hookers in the Gordon Square area in the 1980s and 90s. The fight to get them out of there was very bitter. The neighborhood pretty much had to be vacated, like wiping a chalkboard clean and starting over. It was very different then as compared to now. The point being that neighborhoods can and do change. It can happen to the neighborhoods to the west, too.

 

I know, but I'm just saying that Gordon Square had much better "bones" than anything west of Lake Ave.  It would take a near complete rebuild (which was not what was done at Gordon Square) to make this area nice.

 

I think you're right about that, but I also think fixing up this stretch of Lake Ave would benefit Gordon Square more than anything we do to the Shoreway.  Imagine being able to travel from the Rocky River to Gordon Square, all on surface streets, through nothing but premier neighborhood.  Right now that part of Lake between Clifton and Detroit is the only not-nice segment of the journey, and it's a main entranceway to Gordon Square from the west.  Even once the W73rd ramp is in, I'm guessing we don't want nightlife traffic routed down a residential sidestreet to get in and out of the neighborhood.

 

I know, but I'm just saying that Gordon Square had much better "bones" than anything west of Lake Ave.  It would take a near complete rebuild (which was not what was done at Gordon Square) to make this area nice.

 

I agree with that.