Posted April 28, 200916 yr A series of walking tours of three specific downtown areas have been put together and made possible by a host of sponsors (namely, the Ohio Canal Corridor, Cuyahoga arts and Culture, Positively Cleveland, the DCA, Historic Gateway Neighborhood, Historic Warehouse Neighborhood, Ohio Erie Canalway, and NPR). I was at a shadowing event for what will be the Canal to Harbor tour and was absolutley blown away at how interesting and informative the tour was. Best of all people, these are FREE, and they last all summer long. A great way to learn about our city. Tours even include hired actors to act out significant historical characters of the city history. I may or may not potentially end up as one of your tour guides if you decide to attend. I can neither confirm nor deny that fact. :-) Also if you are looking to accomodate a group (say 10 or more), please contact Kelly Lange as indicated at the bottom of the information below. Tour guides can handle about 20-25 people. If groups get larger than that it can be difficult for people to hear, and keep the group together and move in a timely manner. More tour guides can be added in such an event, or private times can be arranged. Hope to see some of you throughout the summer. “Take a Hike” Experience Cleveland’s rich history on three unique guided walking tours complete with historical characters from Cleveland’s past! April 26 – September 6, 2009 Tour Schedule • 6 PM on Thursdays, Historic Gateway Neighborhood Meet at The Arcade (401 Euclid Avenue). • 10 AM on Saturdays, Historic Warehouse District Meet at Constantino’s Market (1278 West 9th Street). • 10 AM on Sundays, Canal to Harbor Meet at Settler’s Landing RTA Station (1025 West Superior Avenue). Other information • Characters you may encounter on your tour include: Tom Johnson, Garrett Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Daniel Burnham, Frances Payne Bolton, and Mrs. Alfred Kelley. • Each tour will have a trained tour guide. • Tours will last 1 to 1 ½ hours in length. • Admission to tours will be free. • Sponsors include: Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, Ohio & Erie Canalway Association, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Positively Cleveland, Ohio Canal Corridor, Historic Gateway Neighborhood and Historic Warehouse District • Please call Kelly Lange at 216-771-1994 for more information or to request promotional materials.
May 13, 200916 yr Not that anyone should need more incentive to take FREE tours showcasing the architecture and history of our downtown... But, people who attend these FREE tours will receive a discount card from Positively Cleveland, good through June 30th, locations participating in the program and offering discounts to tour takers include (and there are more): Beck Center for the Arts, Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Museum of Natural History, Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, MOCA, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Buca di Beppo, Hard Rock Cafe, House of Blues, House of Cues, Pearl of the Orient, Pickwick & Frolic, The Corner Alley, Market Cafe and Wine Bar, Tower 230, Constantino's Market, Marengo Luxury Spa, Sacred Path Books & Art, and more...
June 3, 200916 yr By the way, I did this when I was in Cleveland a couple of weeks ago. I'm blown away that this is completely for free. It's an incredible resource that people should definitely be taking advantage of. I took the Warehouse District tour on Saturday morning, and it was such an enjoyable way to spend the morning. I highly recommend this for anyone.
July 31, 200915 yr Still going on... Still FREE! http://www.cleveland.com/goingout/index.ssf/2009/07/walking_tours_of_the_historic.html Walking tours of the Historic Gateway Neighborhood offer a peek back into Cleveland's glory days by Laura DeMarco/Plain Dealer Reporter Thursday July 30, 2009, 2:00 PM I was walking down Euclid Avenue with a ghost. Hundreds of ghosts, in fact. The ghosts of Cleveland past -- the people, the buildings, the places. I met them one recent Thursday evening on a Historic Gateway Neighborhood "Take a Hike" tour of Euclid and Prospect avenues from Public Square to East Ninth Street. One ghost in particular stood out, with his bowler hat, tails and oversize belly and guffaw. It was the spirit of legendary mayor Tom L. Johnson, who led Cleveland in its golden years of 1901-09, embodied by actor Mark Cipra. He met us in front of the newly restored 1904 Park Building on Public Square (now condominiums)...
August 7, 200915 yr wow... It's amazing to see what these are growing into. When tours started at the end of April groups were normally between 5 and 10 people. As word spread and some advertising started getting out the tours began to grow. It had been pretty typical for groups to be in the 30-35 people range... And then Friday Magazine ran a cover story. Holy crap. Last Saturdays Warehouse District tour had NINETY ONE people on it. EIGHTY SEVEN showed up Sunday for the Canal and River tour. And then last night I showed up to give the HGN tour and there were ONE HUNDRED FORTY ONE people in attendance. 141. That's amazing. This has obviously forced us to adapt, there are now multiple tour guides for each tour, breaking into smaller groups (if you call 70 people smaller) microphones are on order (I can hardly speak today), coordinating different routes to keep from bunching. I can't tell you how great it is to see so many people show up because they care about learning about their city's history. Even more spectacular is the wide array of people coming. Addresses from all over, every size, shape, and color, and ages ranging from 6 to 80. I don't know that I've ever said this before... but thank you Plain Dealer :) If you haven't yet checked these out, you've still got a month left. They really are pretty interesting, informative, and even a tad entertaining with some of the 'cleveland historical characters' you get to meet.
August 7, 200915 yr wow... It's amazing to see what these are growing into. When tours started at the end of April groups were normally between 5 and 10 people. As word spread and some advertising started getting out the tours began to grow. It had been pretty typical for groups to be in the 30-35 people range... And then Friday Magazine ran a cover story. Holy crap. Last Saturdays Warehouse District tour had NINETY ONE people on it. EIGHTY SEVEN showed up Sunday for the Canal and River tour. And then last night I showed up to give the HGN tour and there were ONE HUNDRED FORTY ONE people in attendance. 141. That's amazing. This has obviously forced us to adapt, there are now multiple tour guides for each tour, breaking into smaller groups (if you call 70 people smaller) microphones are on order (I can hardly speak today), coordinating different routes to keep from bunching. I can't tell you how great it is to see so many people show up because they care about learning about their city's history. Even more spectacular is the wide array of people coming. Addresses from all over, every size, shape, and color, and ages ranging from 6 to 80. I don't know that I've ever said this before... but thank you Plain Dealer :) If you haven't yet checked these out, you've still got a month left. They really are pretty interesting, informative, and even a tad entertaining with some of the 'cleveland historical characters' you get to meet.
August 14, 200915 yr My girlfriend and I just went on the gateway tour tonight and we had a great time. Our tour guide was awesome and the actors were really entertaining. It was very informative and neat seeing all the new developments still happening around the area. It was nice seeing a lot of people out on a nice night. Not only on the tour were there a lot of people, but east 4th was packed as usual and a lot of people out at panini's and the winking lizard area. All in all it was a great night and just wanted to thank our tour guide who I'm pretty sure was someone on this board.
September 2, 200915 yr Just a reminder for anyone who has been thinking about this... tomorrow starts the final round of tours. If you want to join the more than 2,500 people who have already taken part in this... now is the time. Gateway Neighborhood Tour leaves from the lobby of the Arcade (Euclid Side) at 6pm Thursday night Warehouse District Tour leaves from in front of Constantino's (Bottom of the Bingham on W. 9th) at 10am Saturday morning Final tour of the Canal and River depart from the settler's landing rta stop at 10am sunday morning. Hope to see some of you there :) And remember these are FREE!
April 14, 201015 yr Take A Hike will be back for it's 2nd season starting this May. I'll post more details soon. Nearly 3,000 people attended last years free history / architectural tours. This year the program will feature a 4th tour. Tuesday nights we will be touring the playhouse square area... Here's a sneak peak with one of our little hidden treasures. The Statler Parking Garage was once the entrance and lobby to the Lowe's Stillman Theatre. On the inside of the garage entrance you can still see remnants of what was once one of the most grand theatres in all the country... Hopefully I'll get a chance to see / meet more of you this summer. :-)
April 25, 201015 yr Take A Hike will be back for it's 2nd season starting this May. I'll post more details soon. Nearly 3,000 people attended last years free history / architectural tours. This year the program will feature a 4th tour. Tuesday nights we will be touring the playhouse square area... Here's a sneak peak with one of our little hidden treasures. The Statler Parking Garage was once the entrance and lobby to the Lowe's Stillman Theatre. On the inside of the garage entrance you can still see remnants of what was once one of the most grand theatres in all the country... Hopefully I'll get a chance to see / meet more of you this summer. :-) Glad you posted this! I was just about to ask if this is going to go one this year as well! So glad to know that it will be & hopefully I will be able to talk them all :)
April 25, 201015 yr The Statler Parking Garage was once the entrance and lobby to the Lowe's Stillman Theatre. On the inside of the garage entrance you can still see remnants of what was once one of the most grand theatres in all the country... WOW! McC that is totally cool. That is exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for on "my walk down Euclid Ave" (on my photo thread). I must say that i did not know about this thread. I knew about the tours because people I work with went on them last year. Cool Stuff!
April 26, 201015 yr Well as I mentioned, the "Take A Hike" history and architectural tours are back this year. The tours are still free, though small donations are encouraged. The way these things work, funding from grants tends to decrease each year as eventually you are expected to be self sufficient. This year the program picked up a sponsorship from PNC to help bridge the gap, but any donations go directly into the Ohio Heritage Tourism Take A Hike program. The tours will run May 1 - September 12, starting this saturday. 6 PM Tuesday Evenings: Playhouse Square Area, Meet at the State Theatre Lobby (**This tour new this year**) 6PM Thursday Evenings: Historic Gateway Neighborhood, meet in the lobby of the Arcade (Euclid Ave Side) 10AM Saturday Mornings: Historic Warehouse District, meet outside of Constantino's Market 10AM Sunday Mornings: Flats / Ohio & Erie Canal, meet at Settler's Landing RTA Station Walking tours are aproximately 1 and 1/2 hours in length (sometimes a little longer if the group is large), cover district building and architectural history, and each tour includes at least one appearance by a character from Cleveland's past... anyone from John D. Rockefeller to Allan Freed. Hope everyone gets a chance to make it.
June 15, 201014 yr I'm thinking of coming to a tour either today or on Thursday. Will they still go on if it rains?
June 23, 201014 yr I took the tour of the theatre district today and I am so glad that I went. I really enjoyed all of the valuable information that was provided and I was able to get some nice pictures on my phone to send to my friends who were wondering what I was doing walking around Cleveland. I am really going to try and make it to the tour on Thursday as well! I've been telling everyone I know about the tours as well, hoping they will join me on the trek of learning valuable information about Cleveland that I never know. Below is the link to my pictures. There are not many, but there is always the next tour ;) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064116&id=53700855&ref=mf
June 23, 201014 yr I'm thinking of coming to a tour either today or on Thursday. Will they still go on if it rains? oops. Sorry I missed this. Yes, tours are rain or shine... unless the weather is "extreme". I think in 2 years we've had 1 tour canceled. If it is just drizzly sometimes we alter the tour a bit and pop in and out of buildings along the route.
June 23, 201014 yr And... The Take A Hike tour program was awarded the "Best Promotional Event" in the state at last weeks Heritage Ohio Main Street Conference. It is now in consideration for a similar award nationwide
June 23, 201014 yr That is amazing! I wish more people were aware of this and how informational and fun it is! I cannot wait to go to the one on Thursday :)
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