I spent a good amount of time checking out the 'Rooms to Let' event in Slavic Village. Several of the abandoned homes were reimagined by area artists - I don't know that Slavic Village will become an arts 'destination' but it was interesting to see the area in a light *other* than the 'epicenter of the subprime mortgage crisis'. http://slavicvillage.org/roomstolet

 

With that, just some quick shots before we get over to Slavic Village:

 

 

 

 

A little glitz before we get gritty:

 

 

All four buildings in this shot are under renovation... my how things have changed:

 

 

 

Okay, finally over to Slavic Village to check out the 'Rooms to Let' event where several abandoned homes were transformed by area artists. En route, the Bohemian National Hall and while I like a lot of the public art and placemaking LAND Studio has done... not so sure about this piece.

 

 

Thank god they didn't call it a welcome center because it certainly isn't very welcoming:

 

 

Interesting tidbit (maybe only interesting to me) - going north, Broadway Avenue becomes East Ninth Street and ends at Lake Erie; going south, it's Route 14 which I take to my hometown of Salem, Ohio. Anyhoo, here's Broadway Avenue:

 

At the intersection of East 67th and Sebert in Slavic Village - you can definitely get a sense of how vibrant this area used to be, but there's no doubt the foreclosure crisis beat the sh!t out of it  :-(

 

 

 

Even so, the 'Rooms to Let' event gave people the opportunity to see the neighborhood in a different light. Failing that, there's always the to.die.for. empanadas from the Fired Up Taco Truck:

 

The first of the homes - a certain person is welcome to disclose their participation in this if they'd like but that's up to them. The title of this was "Existing to Remain" - the doormat read something to the effect of "We Had Big Plans" - apropos for the history of the area.

 

 

Each room was a 'vignette' of sorts - I personally like the 'ghost' effect of the silhouette here:

 

 

 

 

Just down the street is the Cleveland Central Catholic complex and St. Stanislaus Shrine Church:

 

If you're not interested in St. Stan's, you may want to scroll ahead a long ways - I could have spent hours in here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A good friend of mine has done a lot of the newer woodwork and restoration:

 

A work in progress:

 

This relic was presented by Pope John Paul II:

 

 

 

 

Thanks for letting me indulge, but let's go back outside:

 

 

 

 

There's quite a bit of quirky architecture... and a lot of consonants  :-D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This art installation was set up on a vacant lot:

 

 

 

 

This home stood out to me - it reminds me of many of the homes on the side streets of places like Cleveland Heights.

 

Across the street, another art installation - this incorporated several artists as well as descendants of the family who used to live here. Some of the work was more of a tribute to the family - other pieces... well I'm not sure what they were going for but hey, who am I to judge?

 

Hard to tell, but they were projecting kids doing the old-school ethnic dancing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The church in the photo on the left is St. Stanislaus, showing the original spires which were 232 feet high, destroyed in a 1909 tornado. Had they not been destroyed, St. Stan's would be tied with St. Michael the Archangel for the tallest church in Cleveland:

 

What's that saying about white picket fences?  :-(

 

 

Over to the next art installation:

 

Siding has been picked off by scrappers:

 

If I heard correctly, one area was given over to neighborhood kids for their creative outlet:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm always in favor of getting a great shot - putting myself in harm's way on a street where drivers are likely texting? Not so much. :wtf:

 

 

 

 

 

Back on Broadway, heading out of Slavic Village:

 

 

 

Love this view of downtown, hate the chainlink fence - hope you enjoyed:

 

Thanks, MayDay. Glad to see you giving Slavic Village so much attention! Wait a few months until the second phase of Broadway Arch is completed. Then I think you will like it.

Well that's...uh...different.

So much potential in that neighborhood.  I love all the quirky architecture in Slavic.  I was meaning to go to this but got tied up with other things.  Thank you for the great shots!

A somewhat contradictory area for many years.  Even when I worked on Rybka's council campaign (this would have been 1983) you'd see immaculate perfectly maintained places right next door to the opposite. 

 

The best hope of a rebirth would be around the 65th and Fleet area, growing outward from there.  It would involve some pretty serious gentrification that one would hope would preserve at least the architectural character of the neighborhood.

Very nice - thanks for sharing

Yes, thanks.  I seem to end up here whenever I'm in Cleveland....in some ways this place embodies the soul of Cleveland; the genus loci is strong here.  It's also the quintessential old-school "Great Lakes city blue collar neighborhood" ...seen similar in Buffalo, Milwaukee, Chicago, etc...

 

And I  noticed there still are some surviving Polish food places....and...last time I was up there the place in red brick was, I think, a little coffee shop that also sold donuts.  A frendly place:

 

 

Slavic Village reminds me a lot of my old neighborhood in Chicago, though St Stans is way beyond my St Stans in quality and detail.  That church is in excellent condition!

 

 

 

 

If invested in Slavic Village reminds me of an east side version of Ohio City, with the style of homes, older architecture, and compact street grid. THERE IS SO MUCH POTENTIAL HERE!

St. Stans is incredible--thanks for sharing!