I think someone once said it was the densest city between New York and Chicago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lakewood's fabulous new library expansion

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the wonderful new facility is hard to enjoy as Lakewood ripped the front facade off their beautiful Carnegie in the 1950's. The rear of the old Carnegie Building survives today, but is being chopped up for a drive-thru, it seems.  :x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Downtown Lakewood's tallest

 

 

The facade of the library is real stone and pretty attractive, but doesn't compare to the beautful Carnegie facade so carelessly lost.  :x

 

Birdtown area

 

 

 

 

 

Madison library branch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the famous 'Lakewood Doubles'

nice pics.

I think someone once said it was the densest city between New York and Chicago.

 

I'm not sure if that is true or not but they were probably referring to the Gold Coast area that boarders Cleveland.

I think Nataniel was referring to me who said that.  I've lived in Lakewood all my life and heard this said many times.  I could be wrong, I don't have any facts to back it up.  But some other things that adds to Lakewood is that Lakewood is a city of homes (probably over 90 residential) and around 80 percent of its residential units or doubles are apartments.

I think Hamtramck is more 'dense' in population than Lakewood but nice shots.

Aside from the pricey homes, I can't say I'm impressed aesthetically. However, I hear a lot of good things about this place so it's probably more fun to experience 1st hand. I've got to plan my Cleveland itinerary for this spring and include this place.

Another great suburb in the Cleveland area.

I think someone once said it was the densest city between New York and Chicago.

 

It's also densely populated. Not sure how dense the people are though...

 

EDIT: Great pics. I love my urban suburb.

 

Lakewood's population density is 10,208.5/sq mi, which is less dense than Hamtramck's 10,900/sq mi.  But Hamtrack is only 22,000 people while Lakewood is 56,000. 

 

Lakewood is less dense than Philadelphia, however (10,882.8/sq mi).  Philadelphia is west of New York and east of Chicago, so I assume it qualifies as "between".

 

Lakewood very well may be the densest city over 50,000 between Philadelphia and Chicago. 

 

Aside from the pricey homes, I can't say I'm impressed aesthetically. However, I hear a lot of good things about this place so it's probably more fun to experience 1st hand. I've got to plan my Cleveland itinerary for this spring and include this place.

 

Unfortunately, I agree.  I prefer Coventry.

We can safely say that it is densest city in Ohio. Nice set btw.

I really like the one of the fire house phone.  It's nice to know those are still around, even if they probably don't work.

 

Before this building was a pizza joint, it was my grandfather's night law office for decades. He originally had it for the neighborhood Slovaks who didn't speak English and who were more comfortable going to an attorney in the neighborhood rather than downtown.  The 11-story Fedor Manor, located two blocks to the east of the office is named for my grandfather.

 

Before this building was a pizza joint, it was my grandfather's night law office for decades. He originally had it for the neighborhood Slovaks who didn't speak English and who were more comfortable going to an attorney in the neighborhood rather than downtown.  The 11-story Fedor Manor, located two blocks to the east of the office is named for my grandfather.

 

Whaaaa?  I thought today's immigrants were the only ones in America's history who did not learn English within 2 weeks of arriving to the US.

 

Just kidding (obviously); that's a cool family bit.

3231 what a fabulous story to pass on to your little ones.  :-)

 

Aside from the pricey homes, I can't say I'm impressed aesthetically. However, I hear a lot of good things about this place so it's probably more fun to experience 1st hand. I've got to plan my Cleveland itinerary for this spring and include this place.

 

Unfortunately, I agree.  I prefer Coventry.

 

not me, i like the wider variety of stock around lakewood. the coventry neighborhood is great looking, but it's more uniform. they're quite apples and oranges for sure.

 

ink of course i love the thread, but no lake rd or gold coast?

 

 

Ugh. Is this in the downtown? Yuck.

^it is rumored that this strip will be torn down and replaced with a park plaza. There is a small park behind this plaza that would be replaced by a mixed-use development.

Aside from the pricey homes, I can't say I'm impressed aesthetically. However, I hear a lot of good things about this place so it's probably more fun to experience 1st hand. I've got to plan my Cleveland itinerary for this spring and include this place.

 

I have been a Lakewood resident for 7 months, and I would agree that Lakewood as a whole does not have an impressive "aesthetic" quality to it. But there are some charming structures and city blocks not included in the photo set, and you couldn't pick a worse time to take photos of Lakewood. For instance, one of Lakewood's best qualities are the tall mature trees that line the streets and none have leaves right now. Plus, everything looks dirtier after the snow (hence the brown sludge lining the streets).

 

What Lakewood may lack in aesthetics is made up for in its location (on the lake and near downtown), popuation (diverse in age and income), local establishments, density and urban design.  It find it very livable with affordable housing, safety, neighborhood amenities and walkablity.

^One of the neatest aspects of Lakewood is the Rocky River valley that forms its western border.

Nice thread. ... and nice story 3231...

 

ColDayMan wins: Hamtramck, MI is, in fact, the densest city btwn NY and Chicago; Lakewood's 3rd.

 

Hamtramck: 10,900 sq/mi

Philly:        10,883

Lakewood    10,208

 

Lakewood, as noted, carries the state.  But in the 80s they used say East Cleveland was the density king of Ohio.  I think they had about 36,000 which would blow away the field @ 11,613 (3.1 sq/mi).  But now they're down to 27,217 for a paltry 8,761.  For that matter, Cleveland in 1950 had 914,808; density = 11,788... That's damn near Chicago-like.

I really like the one of the fire house phone.  It's nice to know those are still around, even if they probably don't work.

The Lakewood fire alarm system is 100% functional.  The box has a code wheel inside and when the hook is pulled the box number is sent to the fire alarm office/dispatch center via a telegraph circuit.  I believe that Akron and Mansfield may be the only other cities in Ohio still using alarm boxes.

I really like the one of the fire house phone.  It's nice to know those are still around, even if they probably don't work.

 

 

Those are actually street boxes (or pull boxes), and they actually ARE in service in Lakewood.  Cleveland, like many other larger cities phased them out because of the frequecy of false alarms that were generated by people pulling them.

 

Good thread on Lakewood.  I was actually working on one of my own but now you beat me to it!!  Oh well, maybe I will post it anyway when I am done...

^plus 911 and cell phones have made fire boxes superfluous.

^plus 911 and cell phones have made fire boxes superfluous.

Actually there is some debate to that issue.  The circuits that power fire alarm boxes have an independent supply that is not affected by other utility outages. Cell phone, and all telephone systems can fail.  Alarm boxes also do not have language barriers.  When you pull the hook - the fire department will show up!  Nice Lakewood photos and I'm happy to see the street box picture.  If you want to drown yourself in fire alarm box photos and information, including some additional pictures from from Lakewood and other Ohio towns, you can always go here: Youngstown Fire Forums - Fire Alarm Discussion.

no complaints here!

You posted a picture of one of those red Lakewood fire call boxes.  I attended Lakewood schools from Kindergarten thru High School.  I remember every October they had "fire prevention week" at school.  They always explained how the call boxes worked, but they spent more time warning us against posting false alarms than explaining how the boxes actually worked.  They always told us that the handle and switch that activated the alarm was covered with a powder that would glow under black or uv light, so that if we posted a false alarm we would get apprehended.  There was something also about how if you couldn't get the box open you could break the glass, I vaguely remember.  One time they took us through a fire station and a firefighter showed us where the hard-wired boxes would ring in an alarm and print out a code on a ticker tape thing showing which box the alarm came from.  It seemed like a really cool thing, but I wonder now is it cost-effective to maintain these, now that most people have cell phones?

I think Lakewood is a pretty good example of how a lot of the City if Cleveland looked pre 1975.  Major thoroughfares lined with sidewalk fronting retail with side streets endlessly lined with wood framed doubles.

Where were the first dozen or so photos taken?  Clifton Park?

I think Lakewood is a pretty good example of how a lot of the City if Cleveland looked pre 1975.  Major thoroughfares lined with sidewalk fronting retail with side streets endlessly lined with wood framed doubles.

 

Yes, especially on the west side of Cleveland. It's also how much of the east side of the City of Cleveland looked pre-1960. The density is about the same too, compared to Cleveland overall as late as 1960. It's a big reason why I live here in Lakewood. To me, the greatest joy of Lakewood is walking down to the corner tavern or family-owned ethnic restaurant (I have Mexican-, Albanian-, Italian- and Greek-owned restaurants nearby) and seeing people from the neighborhood. I'm sure much of Cleveland was that way. It still is that way in Lakewood.

 

Where were the first dozen or so photos taken?  Clifton Park?

 

Yes.

^ What places are really within walking distance from the Gold Coast, besides the Cleveland side of Clifton, and West 17th, both of which are a good distance walk from the western and northern ends of the neighborhood and have limited choices. And besides that, West 17th is just a fast food/suburban mess in my opinion.

 

Im surprised you havent chosen to live in a neighborhood more connected to rail KJP, such as Ohio City, Shaker Square, Little Italy, or even downtown. Especially now that you work downtown!

Im surprised you havent chosen to live in a neighborhood more connected to rail KJP, such as Ohio City, Shaker Square, Little Italy, or even downtown. Especially now that you work downtown!

 

Lakewood is in the top tier when it comes to public transit access to downtown Cleveland, even if it isn't as rail-oriented as other parts of town. The 26 bus, which runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (366 this year), runs right through the middle of town, west to east.

 

Also, both Buffalo and Pittsburgh have suburbs that are more densely populated than Lakewood, but they are much smaller.

^ What places are really within walking distance from the Gold Coast, besides the Cleveland side of Clifton, and West 17th, both of which are a good distance walk from the western and northern ends of the neighborhood and have limited choices. And besides that, West 17th is just a fast food/suburban mess in my opinion.

 

I live a couple of blocks south of the Gold Coast. So I can easily walk to Peppers (Italian) and The Shore (Greek), both of which are on Detroit. I used to be able to walk to Maria's but a jackass bought it and ran it into the ground. I also walk to Diana's (Greek, open 24 hours) and My Friends (mostly Albanian-staffed, open 24 hours). Clifton Diner is a nice little corner joint, as is the more raucous Johnny Malloy's on the other corner. Most of the fast-food joints on West 117th are south of Detroit so I consider them part of my neighborhood.

 

Im surprised you havent chosen to live in a neighborhood more connected to rail KJP, such as Ohio City, Shaker Square, Little Italy, or even downtown. Especially now that you work downtown!

 

I bought this place because it was the cheapest, best-condition, 2BR condo in a densely populated neighborhood with great transit as I could find anywhere in Greater Cleveland. I could not find a 2BR condo for as little as (or less than) $45,000 in 1996 except this one. I have  two restaurants open 24 hours (noted above), two large 24-hour drug stores (CVS and Walgreens) within walking distance, and two 24-hour Giant Eagles a short drive from me (at Bunts/Detroit and W117th/I-90). What other place in Greater Cleveland has all of this so close by?

 

And now that I have this place, moving is not an easy option because there are already three condos in my building that have been on the market for a LONG time. I'm just not going to get a very good price for it right now, assuming I could even sell it. Besides, my office (at Euclid and East 9th) is an easy walk from the nearest stop on the #55 Clifton bus at Superior and East 9th. So I'm not sure I'd want to sell it even if I could.

Re: Lakewood 117th & Clifton Blvd. I used to live in that 'hood.  Best thing about it was the Tic Tock Tavern, 'bout 115th on Clifton I think.  I hope it's still there, best ribs in the city.