I am not sure if anybody has posted this before (it is from May), but on http://www.fashionweekcleveland.com there is an article that Women's Wear Daily wrote about Cleveland. According to WWD, "WHO SAYS OHIO HAS NO STYLE? Certainly no one who’s attended Fashion Week Cleveland, a regional phenomenon that’s become the nation’s third largest fashion week after New York and Los Angeles."

^Somehow I don't think that last sentence is true.

Miami is one of the largest so no that can't be true.

http://www.fashionweekcleveland.com/uploaded_media/WWD_FWC_CLEVELAND_05-22-08.pdf

 

That's the link to the article. Regardless, it's a great write-up for the city.

Miami is one of the largest so no that can't be true.

 

Yeah, I was a bit confused by that statement too, since Miami's fashion week (or don't they have multiple ones?) seems to be a pretty big deal. Either way as Jpop said, it gave some good press to Cleveland.

Ohio's peach season is just beginning.  IMHO, the best are from farms along the lake erie shore.  Two of my favorite peach producers are along rt 169, just off route 2, before arriving in Marblehead.

 

OH Peach Industry > http://extension.osu.edu/~news/story.php?id=2330

A shout-out to Cleveland Public Library and their 24-7 Know it Now service. My partner's mother recently passed away and she had quite a list of accomplishments, not easy info to get last-minute, but the 24-7 service was able to locate 5 different articles to help write her obit. For free.

 

And THAT is why I will always support the library levies!

I was reminded of my love for Cleveland today with lunch out on Wade Oval - what a gorgeous and special place.

A book for my Urban Studies class, titled "Cities and Urban Life" has a nice blurb about Cleveland. Hopefully I can post it a little later without violating copyright laws, lol.

i was in Pittsburgh over the past few days. Good to see Great Lakes on tap in many locations as well as many GLBC signs around the bars. One waitress commented that they don't have as many great lakes beers in stock because she drinks a lot of them.

^^To add to that, he's a cool write up about the GLBC from a guy visiting from PA.  Looks like he's already spreading the word!

 

http://www.brewlounge.com/2008/09/great-lakes-brewing-in-cleveland-oh.html

I stumbled upon this blog:

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cleveland rocks!

October 3rd, 2008 · 24 Comments

 

i went to cleveland. cleveland… of all places. and it was good.

 

...

 

when you descend upon a city that you’ve never been to before, and you’re there to suck the life out of it, drawing all it has to offer into your brain, your stomach, your heart - sometimes it can overload your senses. but somehow this was not the case with cleveland. somehow, despite the fast pace that i was on, it felt homey and comfortable - the kind of place where it’s easy to just ‘be’, the kind of place where you could live. after all my earlier notions, the "rock ‘n’ roll capital of the world" proved itself to be a worthy destination in ways i had not imagined and i know i’ll be back sometime. and when i am, it will be because of the most important thing that any town, village or city can offer you - it will be to see my friends.

 

http://www.cookeatfret.com/travel/2008/10/03/cleveland-rocks/

 

 

An excerpt from the "My Cleveland" piece in Sunday's PD with Michael Ruhlman.  Alot of people think I'm crazy for loving Cleveland weather, but now I know I'm not alone. 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

MY CLEVELAND

A town you can sink your teeth into

Sunday, October 05, 2008

 

...What's great about Cleveland?

(Ruhlman's response)

It's got the greatest weather in the world. I hate weather that's the same all the time. When I lived in Florida, it drove me crazy. I love the seasons, the cold, the gray, the beautiful falls. We can't complain about the weather here, it's the best.

 

edit...here's the link to the article

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/living-1/1223195433320250.xml&coll=2

 

^I thought it was bizarre what he said about east side v. west side restaurants -- i.e. that east side restaurants have better food, better choices, etc. and that the west side needs to "get it together." Many of the city's most renowned and creative restaurateurs are actually on the near west side -- in Tremont, Ohio City and increasingly Detroit-Shoreway. A weird bit of old-school east side-west side parochialism on his part.

What a great blog entry!! If people's perceptions about Cleveland have to change one by one, so be it.

 

Also, I agree about the weather thing .. although, right about after New Year's, I'm singing a different tune .. heh.

^I thought it was bizarre what he said about east side v. west side restaurants -- i.e. that east side restaurants have better food, better choices, etc. and that the west side needs to "get it together." Many of the city's most renowned and creative restaurateurs are actually on the near west side -- in Tremont, Ohio City and increasingly Detroit-Shoreway. A weird bit of old-school east side-west side parochialism on his part.

 

I think that's because most people consider Tremont basically downtown, OC even more so.    I mean, it's what, a 2 minute drive?  I know it's a 2 minute drive sort of west, but it's not like going to Lakewood or anywhere further west.  If I am naming restaurants downtown, I include those in Tremont and OC.  If I am naming W side restaurants, I don't.

^Maybe I'm wrong, but wasn't he talking more about the quality and variety of food products you can get at farmer's markets, ethnic food stores, etc..than what you get a restaurant?  Not sure if I'm reading that wrong or not.

^Maybe I'm wrong, but wasn't he talking more about the quality and variety of food products you can get at farmer's markets, ethnic food stores, etc..than what you get a restaurant? Not sure if I'm reading that wrong or not.

 

I interpreted it to be about restaurants too, but it's not clear from the Q or the A.

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/living-1/1223195433320250.xml&coll=2

 

You're definitely not the only one.  I posted in some other thread about this (I think it might have been the one about Lake Erie as our Water Resource).  Not only do we have beautiful summer weather, but there's nothing quite like the feeling you get when fall begins and the leaves turn colors and you get the crisp, cool, fall-smelling air and it almost seems like you can feel Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Then comes the warm, comfortable feeling you get watching the first snowfall out your window.  And of course, not much beats the excitement of that first 75 degree and sunny day of Spring when the Indians season is just starting.

 

Yes, for all the whining people do, nothing beats having four seasons (although I do concede that winter could be a bit shorter).

^It's just that d*mn February.

Check this out:

 

"Cleveland: A Great Place to Visit and YES, I WOULD WANT TO LIVE THERE!"

http://www.tangodiva.com/blog/2008/10/06/cleveland-a-great-place-to-visit-and-yes-i-would-want-to-live-there/#comment-74042

 

A very positive writeup on the city focusing primarily on the culinary scene.

There's an RTA driver on the west side who calls out his stops in a perfect Isaac Hayes voice.  "Commin up on... Sixty-fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifth... that's right."  People get into it and kids do imitations. 

If you love Cleveland Heights, check out the futureheights auction which opened today:

 

"The 4th Annual FutureHeights Online Auction, a sale of local goods and services to benefit the programs of FutureHeights, will take place October 10 - November 9, 2008 and is now accepting item donations."

 

http://www.futureheights.cmarket.com

http://futureheights.org

^^Hey 327 please repost those comments in the RTA thread.  There are RTA executives who check in (JMasek) and love to hear comments like that.  It would be nice if that driver got a pat on the back.

Cleveland is sort of a love/hate place to be a surfer.

 

Most people here don't know this, but we can get some quality waves on Lake Erie. It can get real good actually, and on some days it's just like the ocean out there. However, that's more the exception than the rule. Most of the time our waves are small, weak and not very well formed. That's just the laws of physics for a smaller bodies of water like the Great Lakes.

 

But the worst part is that there can be very long stretches without surf. Sometimes we'll wait months for anything even resembling a wave. We need storms right overhead to create them, and sometimes the winds we need just never materialize.

 

Fall is better, but just when fall comes around it gets COLD fast. Like you can have some beautiful waves one day, and the next day the lake will freeze over completely like the Arctic. Time to find the cheapest tickets to Florida, Hawaii, Costa Rica, etc.

 

But the reality is, the surfing culture here is one of the best in the world. Like water in the desert, when we do get waves we appreciate it that much more. That's why I've been contacted by the New York Times, The Travel Channel, Good Morning America and two major television production companies to learn more about what it's like to be a surfer here.

 

I'm finishing a film on this subject called Out of Place.  My ultimate goal is that more people will realize the hidden beauty in our coastline and come to appreciate it that much more.

 

Here is my first blog entry and hope you like it. Please help spread the word!!

 

http://outofplacemovie.blogspot.com/2008/10/chris-from-huntington.html

 

 

Enjoy,

 

Scott

 

 

Sweet, congrats!

I missed the first quarter of last nights AWESOME game, where there any other beauty shots of the city?  I was hoping for a shot of E. 4th, or the healthline, or something.

 

Any comments about the city from the commentators?  I could not hear at the CLE bar I was at.

I missed the first quarter of last nights AWESOME game, where there any other beauty shots of the city?  I was hoping for a shot of E. 4th, or the healthline, or something.

 

Any comments about the city from the commentators?  I could not hear at the CLE bar I was at.

 

One of them said, "beautiful views of the city on the shores of southern lake Erie" which made me cringe.

 

I kept flipping, so I only saw one downtown aerial view and it appeared that the city wasn't "lit up" as per the norm.

 

On NYC local news, one news caster said, "Stay tuned for coverage of the Giants vs. the Bengals"

One of them said, "beautiful views of the city on the shores of southern lake Erie" which made me cringe.

 

Why did that make you cringe?

ESPN used some Little Italy shots during the pregame show, including a cool time lapse sequence.  I remember one shot of the mall fountain (see left).  There was also a shot from edgewater park, with the skyline black & white behind color foliage.  But during the game it was mostly just that one view from the bottom of 9th st and a couple aerials.  Lots of rock hall interiors.  I didn't see any E 4th or Euclid shots.  They didn't say anything notable that I heard, just the "glad to finally be back here" business. 

They showed a lot of shots of the city. Probably more than in recent memory. There were live shots of downtown, from above, and on the ground. At one point they showed some still photos from Edgewater Park; some fall colors, the fishing pier, sunset, etc.

Folks, just remember that most of the time - televised sports events use archival or stock images.

One of them said, "beautiful views of the city on the shores of southern lake Erie" which made me cringe.

 

I kept flipping, so I only saw one downtown aerial view and it appeared that the city wasn't "lit up" as per the norm.

It would have been a perfect night for "Light Up Cleveland" too bad they didn't do it. Yes, why the 'cringe?'

Folks, just remember that most of the time - televised sports events use archival or stock images.

 

Did they use any MayDay images? :)

Folks, just remember that most of the time - televised sports events use archival or stock images.

They do but those looked current?

Sorry - should have said "archival or stock footage".

I think these were current.  TT and the NCB building had the pink effect.

 

Why isn't more done to get lights on for things like this?  If not for the top of key tower, it wouldn't have looked like downtown anywhere in those aerial shots.  It will help when the TT renovations are done and it can be lit up like before.  But we could use another sparkly piece for those blimp shots. 

^I did notice that most of the buildings in the Tower City complex (Terminal, Landmark, Skylight towers) had all their lights on. And fyi, Terminal Tower was lit up orange, not pink (mince, mince - it's the graphic designer in me).

I "cringed" because I wanted them to use "on america's north coast"

I "cringed" because I wanted them to use "on america's north coast"

 

Seriously?  I cringe when anybody says north coast.  As coasts go, ours really doesn't compare to the ocean.  Sure, we have a shoreline and Pittsburgh doesn't, but "north coast" automatically invokes the east and west coasts.  Not the best promotional strategy, pointing out that you're a solid 3rd among national waterfronts.  I'm not saying we shouldn't promote being on the lake shore, just not with the term north coast.

Well 327, that's already a (previous) marketing campaign and much used moniker for the area.

Yes but no one outside of NEO knows what the "North Coast" is.

Yes but no one outside of NEO knows what the "North Coast" is.

 

All the more reason why I believe the  :roll:  :roll:  "people in charge of marketing our area"  :roll:  :roll: should be script and free advertisement.

The structure of the term invites unfavorable comparisons to the much more familiar east and west coasts.  At best, people will say "Ooooooo, I never realized they have a coast there too" and at worst they say "Are they talking about Lake Erie?  Who are they trying to kid?"  I personally would place north coast in the same pile as It's a Plum.  Both play off someone else's moniker, one of better repute, thereby belittling the subject at hand.  And the less said about "Cleveland +" the better.   

 

I would wager that somewhere in 15 pages of the "I love Cleveland thread" someone on here has come up with a better slogan, whether they meant to or not.

i like north coast and cleveland's a plum much better than cleveland+ that is for sure.

 

if you dont like those, the best location in the nation was a good one too. 6th city was not so good.

 

Yes but no one outside of NEO knows what the "North Coast" is.

 

huh? what do you meaaannnn?

they must not wear parachute pants where you live either :laugh:

 

 

 

If I was marketing the city.  I would paint america with "the best location in the nation".  Granted, Id have to do a lot of Hometown cleanup/prep first.

OK "best location in the nation" is better than the others, but its kinda generic. 

 

What about Forest City?  That has to be the least recognized nickname of a major city in America.  It shouldn't be.  Miller/Ratner can't possibly have TM'd the term.  Compared with similar cities, we have a lot of old growth in our neighborhoods and our park system is awesome.  And how many comparable cities have a national park so close?  We're a big city in the woods.  I would try to work that in, if only because it's unique to Cleveland.

Forest City is better than "Metropolis of the Western Reserve."  :laugh:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_city_nicknames_in_Ohio

well this is veering off into "marketing the city" thread.

From Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal Drama Critic.  Scroll down to October 13th on the website:

 

http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/

 

TT: Repose of the soul

"To me wherever you go--even behind the Iron Curtain--it's just another city," Louis Armstrong told a reporter in 1966. "All hotels are alike--bed, bureau, two pillows." I know what he meant, and now that I spend so much time on the road reviewing regional theater for The Wall Street Journal, I escape the terrible sameness of hotel life by staying in bed-and-breakfast inns as often as I can. I love the unassuming comfort that these homes-away-from-home afford, but the gingham-and-frills décor favored by most innkeepers isn't my style--I'm a confirmed midcentury modernist--and from time to time I feel the need to do something completely different.

 

Usually that means holing up for a night or two in an ultra-modern big-city high-rise hotel, and under normal circumstances that's what I would have done when I went to Cleveland last week to visit the Great Lakes Theater Festival and the Cleveland Play House. It happened, though, that the only performances of the Great Lakes Theater Festival's productions of Macbeth and Into the Woods that I could stuff into my schedule took place last Sunday and Wednesday, meaning that I'd have to spend four nights in town instead of my usual two. So instead of staying in the theater district of Cleveland, Mrs. T and I spent the better part of a week at the Penfield House, a half-century-old home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and turned a business trip into a retreat.

 

The Penfield House is one of six Wright-designed houses that can be rented on a short-term basis. It's located in Willoughby, a quiet suburb east of downtown Cleveland. The house isn't visible from the road--it's in the middle of thirty acres of heavily wooded land--and you have to look closely to spot the Cherokee-red gate which tells you that you've gotten where you're going. You push open the gate and drive down the gravel road, and all at once the house comes quietly into view, a simple two-story home built out of glass, wooden beams, concrete blocks, and light tan asbestos-and-concrete panels.

 

Like all of Wright's Usonian houses, the Penfield House seems to melt into the landscape rather than dominating it. As you pass through the unostentatious entrance, you feel as though you're still out of doors, for one of the walls of the twelve-foot-high living room is made almost entirely of glass, and the ceiling and floor extend beyond the glass wall in such a way as to create the illusion that the house is wide open to the surrounding woodland. The Chagrin River is nearby, and Paul Penfield, the owner, has cut a trail through the woods, making it possible for guests to wander at their leisure. Even though the house is only twenty minutes from downtown Cleveland, the city feels as though it's on the far side of the world. One afternoon I sat in the living room watching the leaves fall, and a half-dozen deer sauntered through the yard as though I didn't exist.

 

The sense of removal from the encroaching world is heightened by the fact that you can't surf the Web in the Penfield House. During my stay there, I checked my e-mail once a day by driving a mile to the parking lot of a Wendy's that had free wireless service. Otherwise I was out of touch, and glad to be. Instead of keeping up with current events, I read two new books from cover to cover, Brad Gooch's forthcoming biography of Flannery O'Connor and John Lucas' Thomas Beecham: An Obsession With Music, and listened to Stravinsky's Apollo and Symphonies of Wind Instruments, the Copland Piano Sonata, Julian Bream's recording of Lennox Berkeley's Guitar Sonatina, and a Beethoven string quartet. The house has a TV, but we never bothered to turn it on.

 

At night we drove into the city to dine and see shows, but we came back to the house as soon as we were done, for we knew within minutes of our arrival on Sunday that we'd want to spend as much time there as possible. Since both theaters were dark on Monday, Mrs. T and I spent the whole day and night at the house, leaving only long enough to buy groceries. After dinner we turned on all the lights, went outside, and marveled at its warm, unassuming beauty. Even though the Penfield House is a work of art in and of itself, Paul and his wife Donna have gone to considerable trouble to make it look and feel like a home, not a museum. I've never stayed in a more comfortable place, or a more soothing one.

 

Some part of this comfort, I know, arose less from the house than from the circumstances of our staying there. To spend four days in a Web-free woodland retreat could scarcely fail to please an Upper West Side writer who lives in the middle of the hum and buzz of urban culture. But it wouldn't have been the same had we stayed in a log cabin or a McMansion, for the all-pervading orderliness of the grid that Wright used to generate the floor plan and architectural detail of the Penfield House is both relaxing and reassuring to the eye. Modern the house most definitely is, but not in the hectoring manner of the International Style. It is, above all, tranquil, a point of repose in a world of pandemonium, a place where you can hear yourself think--or, if you like, where you can think of nothing at all. Wallace Stevens wrote a poem called "Not Ideas About the Thing but the Thing Itself." Such self-sufficient things were the stuff of which our four days at Penfield House were made: falling leaves, train whistles in the distance, deer on the lawn, rain on the roof.

 

On Tuesday morning I rose early, went downstairs, and wrote a drama column for The Wall Street Journal. I sat at the kitchen table, listening to the birds singing outside the house, and thought to myself, I could write a book here. The piece came easily, and by noon I'd driven to Wendy's, e-mailed it to New York, and returned home--for by then Hilary and I both thought of the Penfield House as our home. That day was the first anniversary of our marriage, and we celebrated in style, eating a flawlessly served champagne dinner at Stages, the onsite bistro of the Cleveland Play House, then strolling down the hall to see Michael Frayn's Noises Off, the funniest play ever written. I'd added it to my schedule partly because I'd never seen the company and partly because Mrs. T had never seen the play. You couldn't have asked for a more festive evening. Still, the best part was when we drove back to the Penfield House, unlocked the gate, and put the world behind us again.

 

We left on Thursday morning with the utmost reluctance, easing the pain of our going by paying a visit to the Cleveland Museum of Art en route to the airport. It is, to be sure, a very great museum, just as our life in New York and Connecticut is an unmixed blessing, and we rejoiced in seeing such masterpieces as John Constable's "Hampstead Heath, Looking Toward Harrow," an exquisite little oil on paper that I longed to show off to Our Girl, who is responsible for having gotten me excited about Constable in the first place. Yet all that Mrs. T and I could talk about on the flight home was how much we looked forward to our next trip to Cleveland. May it come soon.