This is a reproduction post card I bought a while back. Did anyone ever see this photo? I think it is brilliant! If you play some Ragtime music, like the kind from the movie "Ragtime"... and stare into the photo, I swear you almost feel you can become a part of it! Look at all the people walking! Also notice that the streetcars take pretty much the same path as the Healthline vehicles. I say this because I hear some people complaining about how "inconvenient" it is for them to drive with these Healthline vehicles on the road.... But see...One time Clevelanders must have known how to drive  and co-exist with streetcars! As for the music and staring into the photo (which is much larger on my computer, so open up the attachment and enlarge), indeed.. I am that big of a post card geek!

Very nice.

 

One thing about nostalgic things like this is that it can have the tendency to point to the past as better times. If we keep pointing to Cleveland's past as reminders of its heyday, we've given up on Cleveland's future.

 

I'm not saying you're doing that. It's just what it made me think of .. I don't mean to rain on your parade. :) It's a great postcard!

I see your point. When I look at it, I see a time that not many today, especially young people, had the chance to see. The whole downtown experience. Rather, most are used to driving to a parking lot and going into a mall. I think it could set a standard for trying to achieve similar foot traffic again in the urban core. I look at it and become inspired, and see things for what they could become....but that's just me. It serves as a reminder that we all knew how to live in the city and take transit, walk, etc..  to show people what they see now, in driving all over the place, has not always been 'the way it is' as some may think.

 

I do, however totally get it when people may look at it and think "we'll never be great again" or some similar notion.

I would love to see downtown Cleveland like that again. :)

I see your point. When I look at it, I see a time that not many today, especially young people, had the chance to see. The whole downtown experience. Rather, most are used to driving to a parking lot and going into a mall. I think it could set a standard for trying to achieve similar foot traffic again in the urban core. I look at it and become inspired, and see things for what they could become....but that's just me. It serves as a reminder that we all knew how to live in the city and take transit, walk, etc..  to show people what they see now, in driving all over the place, has not always been 'the way it is' as some may think.

 

I do, however totally get it when people may look at it and think "we'll never be great again" or some similar notion.

 

It's amazing when you talk to someone in high school about old downtowns and what they used to be.  I was talking with my little cousin, who is 16, about how people shopped before the mall came in.  She was like "Why did people go Downtown"? I explained to her that people shopped downtown much like people shop in malls today. I also told her that the interstate and the mall were built around the same time, and that's what killed downtown Williamsport. She was seriously very surprised, and I think she still didn't really get it.  That really shocked me.

I do think that taking elements of the past and incorporating it into new ideas is great.  It serves as inspiration and a backbone to many projects and ideas.  I have a tendency, much like a lot of other people on this board, to dwell on the past.  That, I agree, is not good for your city's future.  But it's still good to think about it because once the time comes for the city to be revitalized, the past can help in ways that the regular person wouldn't understand.

 

I'll end my rant haha.  Awesome post card though.  I too am a big fan of those. 

Just to clarify quickly, not to beat this into the ground.. or to take away from the beauty of the postcard..

 

I didn't mean to say that the past can't teach us valuable lessons, and that we shouldn't remember things. But if people constantly point to a city's past .. that that point in the past was the city's glory days, and we're constantly yearning for the past, then I don't think that's helpful because it's saying that the future will never be bigger or better than the past. It shows me there might be a lack of vision/dreaming for the future, and people have given up hope.

 

I'm not saying anyone here falls into this category. I'm just philosophising today. :)

Just to clarify quickly, not to beat this into the ground.. or to take away from the beauty of the postcard..

 

I didn't mean to say that the past can't teach us valuable lessons, and that we shouldn't remember things. But if people constantly point to a city's past .. that that point in the past was the city's glory days, and we're constantly yearning for the past, then I don't think that's helpful because it's saying that the future will never be bigger or better than the past. It shows me there might be a lack of vision/dreaming for the future, and people have given up hope.

 

I'm not saying anyone here falls into this category. I'm just philosophising today. :)

 

I agree.  I was philosophising also. :-)

Good philosophizing on both counts.

Kind of a late reply, here... A big purpose such a card can illustrate to much younger people (as the 16 year old in the story above), is that shopping, business, living, etc..was not always confined to the sprawl scene. I think such a card offers many elements to inspire to try and achieve similar urban core activity in the future. I see jpop's point, as there are people who would look at such a scene and interpret it as "we'll never be the same again"  On the other hand, Those who have associated Cleveland with nothing but negative (the N.E. Ohio inferiority complex, as I call it) and have known only that, and actually think it..... may be surprised to see that their city 'was not always like this' as they may perceive it, or have been conditioned to think. I see it as inspiring someone like that to resurrect many positive elements that can be seen in such a photo. I saw it as glass half full, plus.... I also really like old postcards of just about anything! I may decorate my place with some classic shots enlarged.  I guess there are a couple ways to interpret such a photo. My 15 year old niece sees all this stuff I have and then gets excited about actually going to see some of the great buildings, etc.