Cleveland: A city changing while I was gone



This isn't the city I remember: river on fire, too many poor people all unemployed, polluted Lake Erie, boarded up buildings littering downtown, plants closed. That was the Cleveland of the more recent past, the one with the bad rep.

The Cleveland in my mind's eye from the 1950 was prosperous and aspirational in all aspects. Families grew and moved to better and better suburbs with larger homes and better schools, each increasingly distant from the city center. Downtown was where you went for big-time shopping and museums. Mom bought the furniture for our new house in Hudson at Sterling, Linder and Davis, downtown. I went on the bus and then the trolley to the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland of my youth was a good, solid place to grow up.

But this city of Cleveland in present day was, what? Completely redone. Downtown full of lofts, 20 and 30-somethings popping into cafes with their Mac Books. Is that a software development company I see in the Rockefeller building? Good restaurants and corner bars, all with a vibe and personality of their own. New towers going up, newer stadiums, and of course, that destination unrivaled by others: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! Cleveland had a new personality. But pirogues and brats were still on her menu.

We stayed at a centrally located hotel right downtown, the Marriott Residence Inn Downtown, a historic hotel built in the last decade of the 1800s and now redone and symbolizing what Cleveland was and what it is now. We enjoyed the buffet breakfast in what must have been the grand ballroom, bedecked with fine stained glass windows, two in the ceiling and a bunch over windows. An arcade occupied one part of the hotel footprint and it was fun to walk down a balcony that in olden days held offices for various professionals, now mostly empty. The arcade main floor, and if you aren't familiar with their function in such cold weather locales then click here, holds a small and busy luncheonette, a chocolatier, a olde time barber shop, and numerous small but fascinating shops. It took me right back to the 1950s when Mom and I "went downtown" on the bus and trolley to shop.

 

 

The new Marriott Residence Inn that was the old Colonial Hotel.
(Photos courtesy the Marriott web site.)

 

 

Two of our old neighborhoods stayed exactly the same, excepting the new builds around the edges. We found Chagrin Falls and Hudson to be pretty much as we left them in 1964, with the addition of malls, larger stores, a supermarket or two, and of course plenty of new restaurants. The old stores had changed hands no doubt, and new ones took residence in their place.

 

 

Two ladies drinking tea at Sterling, Linder and Davis.

Courtesy of the Cleveland Memory Project.

 

The big Christmas tree at Sterling, Linder and Davis.

Courtesy of the Cleveland Memory Project.

 

 

I love to think about the flash and excitement of going downtown to see the big department stores in the 1950s, especially at Christmas time. If you are a fan of that holiday staple, "A Christmas Story", you'll be all too familiar with The Higbee Company and their store windows. The Cleveland Memory Project has a dandy selection of images from all the department stores and you can find them on their main page for the "Golden Age of Downtown Shopping". Just use the menu at center to find your favorite store.

 

The Terminal Tower still takes center stage on the square, but the Higbee Company is gone. I was thrilled to see the big brass sign still in place on the side of the building next to one of the display windows.

 

 

 

We all talked and talked as we drove around, about the old times and memories from childhood. Nice to hear Mom's version of events that I half remember. Even my brother remembers shopping for furniture with Mom for the new house in Hudson.

 

Sure, Cleveland has changed, but I'm liking her quite a bit now. She's getting back to that up-and-coming spirit I remember so well. I could see myself living there, either downtown with all the young people and the cafes but probably out in Chagrin Falls or Hudson, my old turf. More about those next time.

 

 

 

The Halle Department Store's Japanese Tea Room,

our favorite lunch spot. I still remember the children's luncheon special with all the little compartments for food, when I was happy to eat my spinach because it came in a little ceramic hen!

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/10/cleveland-city-changing-while-i-was-gone.html





Cleveland: Maybe you can't go home again, and maybe you can

Just spent the last weekend in Cleveland. Why Cleveland? I grew up there, my brother and sister were born there. Mom and Dad moved us there in 1952 when I was four years old so that Dad could take a good management position with lots of opportunity in the plastics industry. So we moved from the little mountain town of Frostburg in Western Maryland that I so often write about. It was quite a change and we enjoyed every moment of our Cleveland adventure. Mom and Dad moved us back to Frostburg in 1964, the year I graduated high school in Hudson.

There's so much to share that it will take a couple of posts to get it all covered. There were two highlights for me: Mom telling stories about us when we were little as we drove through the old neighborhood where I attended elementary school, and going to stay at the Pine Lake Trout Club.

I took a ton of photos and some videos too. They are already a golden treasure to me. And yes, I already have them all backed up all over and in the cloud:)

This post is just to say "Hi" again and let you know what the upcoming topic will be. Guess the theme is serendipity. There was this guy.... Oh, I'll tell you later. Life surely is amazing if you just go out there and live it!

 

Scenes from the Pine Lake Trout Club

Thanks, Lynnie for these photos:)

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/10/cleveland-maybe-you-cant-go-home-again.html

Sentimental Sunday: Ohio, Different But Somehow The Same

This post will feel a bit self-indulgent to me but I want to do it nonetheless. I'm going to tell you about a trip Mom, my brother and sis-in-law and I took to Cleveland in 2007. I'm so very glad we went then. The next year I was in an auto accident and it took about two years to completely recover, except for the bad left knee that still troubles. And Mom is older now, but shh, don't tell her. Heck, we're all older and happy we took the trip when we did! So this will be a photo essay showing and telling about out time out of time in and around Cleveland. Think I'll do this in three parts so as not to overwhelm.

Some background first. Dad and Mom lived in the small mountain town of Frostburg in Western Maryland. They were both born and raised there and lived there during WWII. After the war, Dad took a job in management at a plastics plant near Cleveland and you can read about it here.

From about 1952 to 1964 we lived in three towns in Ohio: Chagrin Falls, Maple Heights, and then Hudson. Our adventure in 2007 retraced those steps. So here it is, my travel log back in time. First stop, Hudson, Ohio, a little village founded in 1799, and plenty of history under its belt. The underground railroad ran through here and this is the birthplace of John Brown. A large area of central Hudson is listed on the National Register of Historic Places... and I think I remember that the building code was pretty strict. Everything just looks colonial! Hudson still has plenty of those elements that make it so darn charming: a very colonial flavor to the homes and commercial buildings, a big town square, clock tower to chime the hours, tree lined streets, good schools, and a church of most varieties! Picture perfect!

My time in Hudson was during those high school years. As a new kid into the high school mix, it was pretty rough going. Trying to fit in was a full time job. Luckily, it was a small school and eventually a couple of the girls and I made friends. The in crowd were a group of girls who all went to grade school together and were real closed to newcomers. (Did they make a movie about this? Feels like it!) Now, all these years later some of us are in email contact, and it was interesting to discover high school wasn't a bowl of cherries for anyone, even that close knit group! High school... how was yours?

The town square where the annual Ice Cream Social was held every summer.

A typical Hudson street with colorful fall trees.

Our old soda fountain haunt. Look, that's the same counter and stools!

The Clock Tower on the square.

 

The Catholic Church in Hudson. Still the same after all this time.

The house where we lived in the 1960s. Funny, it seemed so much larger then.

My old high school, Hudson High. 

Our class will be having our 50th reunion next year! Say it can't be so!!

The walk up to the big front entrance of ol' Hudson High.

Yeah, I lost it right here and started tearing up.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/sentimental-sunday-ohio-different-but.html