The University Circle Happy Dog at the Euc is closing next month

 

Cleveland's legendary Euclid Tavern to close as Happy Dog ends run at club

By John Petkovic, The Plain Dealer | Posted October 26, 2018 at 08:33 AM | Updated October 26, 2018 at 08:49 AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio --  It was the place where a young Green Day played for a $100. Where Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox performed together for the 1987 film, “Light of Day.” Where Mr. Stress and Chrissie Hynde and Peter Laughner jammed. Where poets read and activists argued. Where foodies designed their own hot dogs and barflies guzzled beer by the pitcher. 

The Euclid Tavern has been many things to many people. After all, a lot of things have happened between these walls since 1909. 

What will happen here after Nov. 16 is anyone's guess. The legendary club and one of Cleveland’s oldest bars is closing. 

“That’s going to be our last show,” says Happy Dog co-owner Sean Watterson. “We gave this a shot and had some great successes, but life was hard – and as we approached the date to renew our lease we made the decision not to.”

 

https://www.cleveland.com/expo/life-and-culture/erry-2018/10/a614d2b4e28661/clevelands-legendary-euclid-ta.html

Edited October 26, 20186 yr by TPH2

That's too bad.  At this point, it really does look and feel like a holdover from a different time.  I wish all the new construction had taken its design cues from the Euclid Tavern rather than going "minimalist" as the article calls it.  Good to hear that UCI will keep it going in some form or another.

I use to attend concerts at the Euc in the 90s.  I still remember the dungeon bathroom in the basement and the rickety stairs leading down there. That is what the Euc will always be to me. 

Yikes. If Happy Dog couldn't make it work I'm at a real loss to figure out what would. 

Ronayne's quotes suggest that nightlife is a hard sell to the area's current residents.  He hopes that bringing in more residents will help, and I tend to agree.  But I also agree with a point Erocc made a while back, that concert clubs aren't as popular as they once were.  I still go sometimes and it's not uncommon for me to be the only audience member who's not in one of the bands, even on a Friday or Saturday night.

Edited October 26, 20186 yr by 327

Just now, surfohio said:

Yikes. If Happy Dog couldn't make it work I'm at a real loss to figure out what would. 

 

Look at some of the storefronts in Ohio City or Tremont -- a cafe for playing board games, a boxing/punch bag den, escape rooms/perplexity games, and of course a rock-climbing biz. If it has an active sport/mind purpose, it just might find an customer base.

It's because Case kids are nerds and don't want to go out ? (Signed, a proud Cleveland State graduate)....Lol, I kid.

Maybe a place like AJ Rocco's. Coffee and pastries in the morning, sandwiches in the afternoon, bar at night.

Just now, YO to the CLE said:

It's because Case kids are nerds and don't want to go out ? (Signed, a proud Cleveland State graduate)....Lol, I kid.

 

Maybe the current students - I certainly kept the place in business back in the 70's

6 hours ago, w28th said:

Maybe a place like AJ Rocco's. Coffee and pastries in the morning, sandwiches in the afternoon, bar at night.

 

That's what this place was.  Had beer and wine in the evenings:

 

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2018/04/09/coquette-patisserie-to-call-it-quits-after-a-wild-four-year-run

Edited October 27, 20186 yr by MuRrAy HiLL

It does seem odd to me that a bar...just a regular no-frills, no-gimmick bar...smack in the middle of a college campus...would have problems doing a good business.

^Case students party about as little as any college I’ve ever seen. John Carroll makes Case look like the Jesuit school by comparison. 

The article points out that a lot current Case students are new to the US.  Classic gritty Americana might not be what they're into.  The Happy Dog folks thought it might be a timing problem, with Uptown still figuring out what it wants to be.

 

Ten years ago Case had a decent party scene on Hessler.  I was a CSU student and we had no parties at all, because we had nowhere to do it.  Every college needs a Hessler Street.

If you want to see where the Asian students of CWRU go for fun, go to Asiatown restaurants and shops on a Friday or Saturday night.

 

Are there any authentic Asian restaurants in UC? Or international stores with native foods, decorations and clothing? Or do students have to travel to Asiatown for them on the #38 Hough or Lyft/Uber?

my time at case was pretty sweet, i guess my friends and i were *different* everyone at leutner thought we were from CIA.  ford n hessler - best party intersection.

 

i was at case the first time the euc was closed, however, i was a precocious party dude and my band played there quite a few times while i was in high school

 

i would go to speak in tongues on lorain in high school and early in college, the area was no man's land back then, circa ~2000

 

studio-a-rama, the festival put on by 91.1, used to be in the mather memorial courtyard and in the summer, now it's next to moca and too sanitized and in october.  the timing seems to try to capture the student audience, who seem indifferent to it aside from the crowd involved at the station.

A tease about 11601 Euclid Ave. We'll probably see pictures whenever they take it to the planning commission after local design review. It's listed as "student housing" on the agenda, so I don't have my hopes up for something high end.

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2018/PDF/EC-Agenda-11-15-18.pdf

 

9:00 EC 2018-042 Uptown 3 Student Housing

Seeking Schematic Approval

11601 Euclid Avenue

University Circle District

 

Had a brief panic attack when I assumed that address was for the Blue Fig building, the first lot east of 116th street.  Now I see it's the parking lot at 115th. Am I wrong this this violates the typical street number convention?

Edited November 10, 20186 yr by StapHanger

Side note: cool Uptown picture today on their Facebook page:

 

 

Just now, StapHanger said:

Had a brief panic attack when I assumed that address was for the Blue Fig building, the first lot east of 116th street.  Now I see it's the parking lot at 115th. Am I wrong this this violates the typical street number convention?

 

Hallelujah  

11 hours ago, Mendo said:

A tease about 11601 Euclid Ave. We'll probably see pictures whenever they take it to the planning commission after local design review. It's listed as "student housing" on the agenda, so I don't have my hopes up for something high end.

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2018/PDF/EC-Agenda-11-15-18.pdf

 

9:00 EC 2018-042 Uptown 3 Student Housing

Seeking Schematic Approval

11601 Euclid Avenue

University Circle District

 

 

That's suggests a multi-story building, which would beat the heck out of the previous plan for a low-level retail structure for this site. I only hope this dorm will have a ground-level retail space at this pedestrian-active street corner.

Edited November 10, 20186 yr by KJP

At one point Uptown Phase III was supposed to be that little patch of grass between Uptown and Moca.  I wonder if they've just decided to keep it as a park permanently.  It's not a bad greenspace, but it definitely leaves that end of Uptown feeling unfinished to me.

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2018/11162018/index.php

 

EUCLID CORRIDOR DESIGN REVIEW

EC2018-042 – Uptown 3 Student Housing New Construction: Seeking Schematic Design Approval
Project Address: 11601 Euclid Avenue
Project Representatives: Russell Lamb, Bluewater Capital Partners
Kevin Dreyfuss-Wells, RDL Architects
Alexander Hosack, RDL Architects

 

More images at the link above

 

 

 

 

 

 

The height and density is good for the corner. Way better than the 2 story retail building that was in the commercial listing. Putting Uptown phase 2 in the rendering doesn't do this buildings any favors. ? Otherwise looks about what I was expecting.

I like the size and scale of the building; this should fit in nicely with the surrounding structures, both old and new.  

Pretty hideous, but that seems to be trend for uptown-area design now since the original Saitowitz projects wrapped up.  Budget no doubt a big part of it.  Running out of development sites to pack more residents in the immediate area. I suppose the dialysis center site is next in line now.  Or maybe Case will move its security services and free up the lot at the end of E116th, just north of this new project.

 

Feels like there’s some info missing here ?

 

Falafel Café moving in University Circle after 18 years

Updated 4 hrs ago; Posted 4 hrs ago

By Marc Bona, cleveland.com

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Falafel Café is leaving the University Circle location it has called home since 2000, but it isn’t moving far.

 

Mae and Hani Elassal have closed the restaurant but are planning to open in March in the space previously occupied by Crop Kitchen. They signed the lease Monday, Nov. 19.

 

The Crop Kitchen Uptown neighborhood restaurant closed in 2016 after being opened for about two years

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2018/11/falafel-cafe-moving-in-university-circle-after-18-years.html

They're probably getting out of the way of the building's big renovation project next year....

 

 

 

Reminder to the new joint about to open:

 

 

On 11/20/2018 at 9:18 PM, MuRrAy HiLL said:

Feels like there’s some info missing here ?

 

Falafel Café moving in University Circle after 18 years

Updated 4 hrs ago; Posted 4 hrs ago

By Marc Bona, cleveland.com

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Falafel Café is leaving the University Circle location it has called home since 2000, but it isn’t moving far.

 

Mae and Hani Elassal have closed the restaurant but are planning to open in March in the space previously occupied by Crop Kitchen. They signed the lease Monday, Nov. 19.

 

The Crop Kitchen Uptown neighborhood restaurant closed in 2016 after being opened for about two years

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2018/11/falafel-cafe-moving-in-university-circle-after-18-years.html

 

Good.  I was afraid it is gone for good.  Needs a sign on former storefront.

Edited January 17, 20196 yr by lafont

Without having to read 48 pages of this thread can someone kindly tell me what the UARD stands for in this thread.

(U)rban (A)ss-kicking (R)enewal (D)istrict ...I think 

University Arts and Retail District.

Long and interesting read:

 

 

Uptown is just finding what works. The previous group of restaurants, the sit-down restaurants were a revolving door, they weren't working for the demographic. The new iteration the "fast-casual" is what works for the area, an area heavily populated by college students and hospital workers on their break. Those demographics don't have the time )and sometimes the money) to eat in sit-down restaurants, they want their inexpensive food and to go. The fact that MRN has been able to weather the storm, find what works with "fast casual" and still offer some cultural (albeit possibly watered down) options is impressive to me.

 

It is easy to say what an area will be before it's built, you only can truly tell once it goes live and you see how the demographic reacts to it. I could understand the criticism if the area had a massive amount of vacancies, or offered run of the mill options such as McDonald's, Burger King etc., but that is not the case. Most options there are unique restaurants or options you don't hear of very often and the vacancies don't stay vacant very long. Those "fast casual" restaurants are working and most have stuck in their same spot for a couple of years now and I have seen no hint of them leaving. Hell, although it isn't a corporate store, the Verizon is opening in Uptown AFTER they left due to slow business previously, so obviously the success of Uptown is spreading and even national tenants are listening. 

University Circle has come a long way in the past decade but it's still more of an institutional conglomeration than a residential neighborhood.  Maron states in the article that the area boasts 60,000 employees and just 10,000 residents (which no doubt includes the seaosnal and transient population of Case dorm-dwellers).  Maron also talks about there being less day-to-day foot traffic around Uptown than initially expected.  Again, that 10K residential population is a huge improvement over anything previously seen in UC.  It just does not appear to be enough permanent residents to support diverse retail and sit-down restaurants.

 

Fortunately, there's almost certainly nowhere to go but up in terms of residential population.  Centric and the new condo projects in Little Italy on Random Road and Mayfield Road (immediately adjacent to the rapid station) are easily within walking distance of Uptown.  Even La Collina (next to the old Mayfield Theater) is not that far away.  As other posters have said, the CDC building will hopefully be redeveloped as a residential property (the CDC is set to relocate near the Cleveland Clinic this spring).  There's also the empty UH lot on Mayfield Road across from Centric.  The old CIA dorms on Bellflower have been torn down and are waiting for redevelopment.  If/when all these apartments come on line, there will be a ton more foot traffic to go with the museum and orchestra visitors that flock down there on weekends.  I'm pretty optimistic about the future of Uptown.  As Maron states in the article, it's already 95 percent leased at some of the most expensive rates in the city.  Diversity will hopefully follow.

Edited January 16, 20196 yr by Down_with_Ctown

15 hours ago, MyPhoneDead said:

Uptown is just finding what works. The previous group of restaurants, the sit-down restaurants were a revolving door, they weren't working for the demographic. The new iteration the "fast-casual" is what works for the area, an area heavily populated by college students and hospital workers on their break. Those demographics don't have the time )and sometimes the money) to eat in sit-down restaurants, they want their inexpensive food and to go. The fact that MRN has been able to weather the storm, find what works with "fast casual" and still offer some cultural (albeit possibly watered down) options is impressive to me.

 

It is easy to say what an area will be before it's built, you only can truly tell once it goes live and you see how the demographic reacts to it. I could understand the criticism if the area had a massive amount of vacancies, or offered run of the mill options such as McDonald's, Burger King etc., but that is not the case. Most options there are unique restaurants or options you don't hear of very often and the vacancies don't stay vacant very long. Those "fast casual" restaurants are working and most have stuck in their same spot for a couple of years now and I have seen no hint of them leaving. Hell, although it isn't a corporate store, the Verizon is opening in Uptown AFTER they left due to slow business previously, so obviously the success of Uptown is spreading and even national tenants are listening. 

Say it one more time for the people in the back! This isn’t Sim City. Your development has to respond well with the real people in the area. 

Folks, we have threads for restaurant news, retail discussions, and population trends. Let's keep this thread specifically for development discussion.

On 1/16/2019 at 10:33 AM, MyPhoneDead said:

Uptown is just finding what works. The previous group of restaurants, the sit-down restaurants were a revolving door, they weren't working for the demographic. The new iteration the "fast-casual" is what works for the area, an area heavily populated by college students and hospital workers on their break. Those demographics don't have the time )and sometimes the money) to eat in sit-down restaurants, they want their inexpensive food and to go. The fact that MRN has been able to weather the storm, find what works with "fast casual" and still offer some cultural (albeit possibly watered down) options is impressive to me.

 

It is easy to say what an area will be before it's built, you only can truly tell once it goes live and you see how the demographic reacts to it. I could understand the criticism if the area had a massive amount of vacancies, or offered run of the mill options such as McDonald's, Burger King etc., but that is not the case. Most options there are unique restaurants or options you don't hear of very often and the vacancies don't stay vacant very long. Those "fast casual" restaurants are working and most have stuck in their same spot for a couple of years now and I have seen no hint of them leaving. Hell, although it isn't a corporate store, the Verizon is opening in Uptown AFTER they left due to slow business previously, so obviously the success of Uptown is spreading and even national tenants are listening. 

According to the Verizon website the store, they are building is corporate, for what it's worth. Also in regards to the former corner alley space, the new tenants, Burgerim and Tacologist have officially been announced and have signage up.

 

https://www.facebook.com/tacocleuptown/

 

Harrington’s portion of the joint venture will use space in the old Corner Alley space on Euclid Avenue in University Circle. The Corner Alley was an upscale bowling alley that closed in 2018. Harrington expects to occupy the space in the spring.

 

Harrington looks to hire more employees for its rare disease center site, but Stamler did not have firm numbers.

 

UH, University of Oxford partner to find cures for rare diseases

 

https://www.cleveland.com/business/2019/02/uh-university-of-oxford-partner-to-find-cures-for-rare-diseases.html

Cool! I think....

^This also goes to show how Uptown / University Circle could use more office space.

 

Hopefully UC3 will accommodate: 

 

 

Good for the Cleveland regional economy.  Not so great for University Circle as a shopping/dining/nightlife destination.

Does this mean the Harrington Institute will be on the ground floor on Euclid, so the corner alley as a retail spot is no longer? Or that Harrington will just use part of that space and the street-front retail is maintained?

 

On 3/3/2019 at 8:49 PM, Pugu said:

Does this mean the Harrington Institute will be on the ground floor on Euclid, so the corner alley as a retail spot is no longer? Or that Harrington will just use part of that space and the street-front retail is maintained?

 

 

The retail must be retained as there are signs up for Burgerim and Tacologist, unless those have come down.

Fencing is now up for the parking lot by Euclid 115. I'm guessing the development is about to commence.

Tacologist set to open in University Circle next week

Updated 1:56 PM; Today 1:47 PM

By Anne Nickoloff, cleveland.com

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Taco and tequila restaurant Tacologist will open next week in Cleveland’s University Circle neighborhood, pending an inspection on Monday.

 

Tacologist plans to open to the public on Friday, April 26. The restaurant takes over much of the space formerly occupied by Uptown Cleveland’s Corner Alley, located on the corner of Ford Dr. and Euclid Ave. Inside, Tacologist is 4,100 sq. ft. large, with about 1,800 sq. ft. of patio space.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2019/04/tacologist-to-open-in-university-circle-next-week.html

6 hours ago, MuRrAy HiLL said:

Tacologist set to open in University Circle next week

Updated 1:56 PM; Today 1:47 PM

By Anne Nickoloff, cleveland.com

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Taco and tequila restaurant Tacologist will open next week in Cleveland’s University Circle neighborhood, pending an inspection on Monday.

 

Tacologist plans to open to the public on Friday, April 26. The restaurant takes over much of the space formerly occupied by Uptown Cleveland’s Corner Alley, located on the corner of Ford Dr. and Euclid Ave. Inside, Tacologist is 4,100 sq. ft. large, with about 1,800 sq. ft. of patio space.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2019/04/tacologist-to-open-in-university-circle-next-week.html

I started at Case in 2016 and have waited three years for a place to get margaritas in UC. Finally, the Tacologist is here. 

Edited April 20, 20196 yr by smimes

And one more bit of news:

 

Indian Flame restaurant finds new home in University Circle

Posted Apr 19, 3:27 PM

By Anne Nickoloff, cleveland.com

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Indian Flame has moved one block over from its former space in University Circle, but the small move brings big changes for the popular Indian restaurant.

 

Indian Flame moved to its new home of 11607 Euclid Ave. on March 15. The space was previously occupied by Piccadilly artisan creamery, which shifted next doorinto Coquette Patisserie’s space last year, after Coquette closed in April.

 

Indian Flame now includes a bar, which was was not offered at its previous space.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2019/04/indian-flame-restaurant-finds-new-home-in-university-circle.html