Given the discussion of Cleveland ethnic neighborhoods, this is one of the newest and along with Villa Hispana is one of its fastest growing. Thus it deserves its own thread.

 

They place the center at West 117th and Lorain Avenue, but that's probably a little farther east than I would put it. But there's still lots of Arabic and some Latino and Albanian shops in this area.....

 

http://ohio.hometownlocator.com/oh/cuyahoga/little-arabia.cfm

 

 

CLEVELAND’S LITTLE IRAQ

By Huda Al-Marashi.

 

This essay originally appeared in Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology

 

My husband and I moved to Cleveland from a high rise in Queens with bewildered giddiness. In the mornings, we woke to the sounds of birds chirping. No sirens, no honks. Although the downtown was eerily quiet, traffic moved. Parking was ample, and the grocery stores’ aisles were wide enough to accommodate carts with play cars attached—a dream come true for a mother of young children.

 

Still I had my reservations about our new home in the Midwest. My husband and I were both the children of Iraqi immigrants. We’d moved to Cleveland for his work, and I didn’t know how we’d fit into a region known for whiteness and farms. I doubted we’d find a Muslim community let alone a Middle Eastern supermarket.

 

It only took me one trip along Lorain Road and West 117th Street to realize how wrongly I’d assumed. Those two streets boasted more Middle Eastern supermarkets than I’d ever had access to my entire life. During my childhood in a California tourist town, we made monthly, hour-long drives to the closest Middle Eastern grocery. We came home with pounds of halal meat dumped into plastic bags that we then had to package and stack in the freezer. In New York, the scenario was the same, except now I was the one with children underfoot as I portioned meat into freezer bags.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://beltmag.com/clevelands-little-iraq/

Thanks for posting this. I live within two blocks of the intersection of W.117th and Lorain. There are two new Middle Eastern eateries opening on Lorain Ave.  Although I like shopping at these groceries, I don't know how the area can support so many of the same type of businesses. There are four groceries, one bakery and soon will be four eateries.

 

There is a lack of variety in the type of businesses that would make this area viable. Since Key Bank moved there really isn't a walkable bank in the area. I usually go up to Starbucks on Clifton for coffee. Unfortunately, the big box stores with their vast parking lots on W.117th near the expressway seem to be the main shopping district for many of the residents. People without cars make the harrowing trek accross the freeway to shop along W. 117th.  The bus service on W. 117th is only once an hour other than rush hour when it is every half hour.

 

I hope the business district on Lorain is able to attract more of a variety of types of businesses in the future.

Although I like shopping at these groceries, I don't know how the area can support so many of the same type of businesses.

 

 

This is how.......

 

http://www.cleveland.com/sunpostherald/index.ssf/2012/12/clevelands_west_117th_street_h.html

 

....the writer did a lot of research for this piece. ;)

Thanks for the article. I'm glad the writer made mention of transit users accessing these stores. Although, many pedestrians and transit users shop there, it is not a pedestrian friendly area near Target, Aldi and Giant Eagle. The area is designed to serve the automobile.

 

Since this article was written, another Middle Eastern carry out restaurant has opened on Lorain near W.118th and there is a sign up accross the street on Lorain that an Afghan restaurant will open in the future.

 

Lorain has wide sidewalks and some small trees planted on the edge of the sidewalk which serve as a buffer between the pedestrians and the cars. This makes for a more pleasant walk with entrances on the street right at the sidewalk. The stores that have parking, locate it in the back or the side.

The Arab population that started with first wave in Detroit, Toledo, Dearborn, and Windsor spread to Cleveland and Buffalo. Cleveland and Buffalo picked up a good number of second and third wave immigrants. It would lean more Iraqi, Palestinian, or Saudi (Detroit and Toledo's first wave was almost all Lebanese and Syrian, and their succeeding waves were from everywhere).

 

As a Lebanese person, I've never found the quality in California that I could get in Toledo, Dearborn, and Windsor. There just isn't much of a community here, and what is here is very disconnected. Great Lakes cities are better for Eastern European and Middle Eastern ethnic enclaves. The area around Lake Erie attracted the bulk of Arab America, and there is no equal elsewhere.

Thanks for the article. I'm glad the writer made mention of transit users accessing these stores. Although, many pedestrians and transit users shop there, it is not a pedestrian friendly area near Target, Aldi and Giant Eagle. The area is designed to serve the automobile.

 

Of course the writer mentioned transit. The writer is me -- hence the wink in my prior post. :)

 

The Arab population that started with first wave in Detroit, Toledo, Dearborn, and Windsor spread to Cleveland and Buffalo. Cleveland and Buffalo picked up a good number of second and third wave immigrants. It would lean more Iraqi, Palestinian, or Saudi (Detroit and Toledo's first wave was almost all Lebanese and Syrian, and their succeeding waves were from everywhere).

 

I think you will find a large Lebanese population in Cleveland. I am familiar with many of Lebanese businessmen, restaurants, shops, etc. One of my favorites is PJ's in the Fifth Street Arcade downtown. Many other are right here in Lakewood.

 

But you are right that second or third wave Middle Eastern immigrants are in Cleveland, namely Iraqis.

KJP, I knew the author was you. (a real advocate for transit)  I didn't know if you were trying to be incognito on this board, though.

KJP, I knew the author was you. (a real advocate for transit)  I didn't know if you were trying to be incognito on this board, though.

 

Nope. No incognition here. :)

Restaurants, stores around Cleveland’s “Little Arabia” serve as cultural spaces of familiarity for Afghan refugees

Updated: Dec. 25, 2021, 2:02 p.m. | Published: Dec. 24, 2021, 4:00 p.m.

 

By Cameron Fields, cleveland.com

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As Afghan refugees settle in and learn about Cleveland, they can enjoy a slice of their culture near the city’s West Park neighborhood.

 

Cleveland’s “Little Arabia” is filled with Arabic stores, restaurants and other businesses around the West 117th Street and Lorain Avenue area. The businesses help serve as cultural spaces for Afghan refugees, as they have the opportunity to buy familiar foods and other goods.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/01/restaurants-stores-around-clevelands-little-arabia-serve-as-cultural-spaces-of-familiarity-for-afghan-refugees.html