Cleveland, Birthplace of Superman

One famous person who was born in Cleveland is fictional. It’s Superman. But he wasn’t born the old fashioned way, it was with the merging of the creative minds and hands of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Joe Shuster (July 10, 1914 - July 30, 1992) was born in Canada, but his family moved to the Cleveland area in the mid-1920s, when Shuster was 10 years old. Jerry Siegel (October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) was born in Cleveland. Both attended Glenville High School.

Siegel and Shuster were fans of science fiction, movies, and comics. They published a “fanzine” in the mid-1920s. Inspired by Philip Wylie's book, "Gladiator", about a mysterious character with superpowers and invulnerability, they created a strip for their fanzine (Shuster the artist, Siegel the writer) that featured a super-powered villain, but they later made him in a hero.

Here’s an interesting history of Siegel, Shuster, and Superman:

Metropolis Marvels

Superman came from two Cleveland teenagers with nothing but a shared dream and the ambition to tell a great story. Great Superman stories are the best of the bunch, and among the hardest to tell. Join us as we pay our respects to the folks who created, continued, shaped and reshaped the legend of Superman.

Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
AKA: Two Boys From Cleveland

Who They Are:
Superman was the brainchild of two Depression-era Cleveland teenagers, Jerome Siegel (1914-1996) and Joseph Shuster (1914-1992). Jerry was born in Cleveland; Joe was born in Toronto. They met when they both attended Glenville High School, where Jerry worked on the student newspaper, The Torch. (Joe had worked as a newsboy for the Toronto Daily Star, so they could both claim a journalistic background.)

Jerry and Joe had a lot in common. They were both the children of Jewish immigrants. They were both shy and retiring young men, with perhaps more than their share of insecurity and hang-ups when it came to the opposite sex. They both loved science fiction and the fantastic stories of the pulps. They were not strangers to mortality, or to life's difficulties, or to the whips and scorns that led many to share their fantastic dream of a being with powers "far beyond those of mortal men." Jerry's father, Mitchell, a sign painter and haberdasher, had been murdered by a thief when Jerry was still in middle school. Joe would suffer from debilitating vision problems - making his work as a comic book artist extremely difficult - all his life. Cornered by an all-pervasive reality, Siegel and Shuster did not fear the impossible.

Jerry would write the stories, and Joe would draw them. Between the two of them they would create one of the most beloved fictional characters of the 20th century and inspire a new industry. That industry, in its turn, would populate American mythology with a rich pantheon of legendary figures that would cross the boundaries of the medium in which they were born, into the worlds of radio, television, film - and beyond. Before all that, however, they were two struggling creators who spent their share of lean years looking for a publisher.

Before the last son of Krypton ever appeared in a comic book or took a form we would recognize today, Siegel and Shuster introduced his precursor in "Reign of the Superman," a short tale they published in their early fanzine, the appropriately titled Science Fiction. This story, which features a brilliant scientist whose machinations grant awesome mental powers to derelict Bill Dunn, has few of the features fans would come to associate with the Man of Steel. The 'Superman' of the title is no hero, but a power-mad villain bent on world conquest. Dunn's power eventually fades, and he becomes a nonentity again (in a kind of 'Super-Powers for Algernon' twist). Yet there are bits and pieces of unearthed Superman arcana lying within this tale: the incredible power of science, super-powers and awesome feats, and a strange meteor rock from outer space (it is this substance which allows the scientist, Smalley, to give Dunn his powers).

Though the derelict Superman didn't fly, the character continued to germinate in Jerry's mind. No doubt influenced by many of the pulps, including Doc Savage ('Man of Bronze') and The Shadow (who had a secret identity and a girlfriend named 'Lane'), Jerry and Joe were also inspired by E. C. Segar's Thimble Theatre superhero, Popeye, whose adventures in a series of animated cartoons produced by Max Fleischer brought the hero's boisterous, energetic power to vivid life. Popeye had super-strength (albeit for a short, spinach-fueled duration), seeming invulnerability, and he moved like a dynamo across the screen. (Serendipity would bring Siegel's Superman to Fleischer Studios just a few short years after his first appearance in Action Comics #1.)

Superman's colorful costume may have been inspired by the outlandish outfits pulp artists usually drew on their adventurous spacefarers; or by the garb of circus performers, accustomed to perpetrating super-feats; or it may have come from Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, popular in the mid-'30s; or it may be a combination of all of these. Superman's guise of Clark Kent was likely inspired (like the later Batman's guise of Bruce Wayne) by Douglas Fairbanks' Don Diego de la Vega in The Mark of Zorro, based on Johnston McCulley's great pulp character. Whatever their inspirations, Jerry's stories, drawn by Joe, were gradually taking the shape that would launch an industry. Yet the two young Clevelanders couldn't find a home for their Kryptonian.

Originally envisioning Superman as a newspaper strip - this was the heyday of the strips, after all, a fecund era for such legends as Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, and Popeye, among many others - Siegel and Shuster sent their hero to any syndicate or potential publisher they could find. In those days it was rejection, and not Kryptonite, that thwarted the Man of Steel more often than not. Eventually, of course, the pair hit on a bit of luck - they found a publisher in the person of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson.

Wheeler-Nicholson was trying to compete in the budding comic book industry. At that time, comics generally consisted of reprints of newspaper strips, compounded into book form and sold on the newsstand as an ersatz collection. Wheeler-Nicholson was publishing original material - not so much because he was trying to inaugurate a new industry as because he couldn't afford the syndicate material. Jerry and Joe's first work for Wheeler-Nicholson appeared in New Fun Comics, an adventure strip featuring 'Henry Duval, Soldier of France,' a foppish dandy in the tradition of Percy Blakeney. (Other early Siegel and Shuster creations who would find their way into the pages of the nascent DC comics included Dr. Occult and Slam Bradley, both of whom are still around today.)

Finally, Superman was slated to appear as the cover feature in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The issue was a huge success, and it took National (the future DC) a while to figure out why. Minions were dispatched to the newsstands, and word came back that "the book with Superman in it" was flying off the stands. In short order, Superman would appear on every Action cover and by 1939 in a second title, Superman. A veritable slew of imitators would emerge (most notably, DC's Batman, Timely's Captain America, and Fawcett's Captain Marvel), and the rest would be history.

Jerry and Joe had hit the jackpot - or had they? Unlike the canny Bob Kane (Batman's co-creator), Siegel and Shuster had, in their eagerness to find a publisher, sold the bulk of their rights to the character to National. Both creators would fight their own 'never-ending battle' to garner a piece of the Superman pie. In 1946, Jerry and Joe sued National for the rights to the character, gaining only Superboy (which had been, in its earliest form, Jerry's idea), after a two-year fight. They sold the Boy of Steel to the company for $100,000 and were kicked out of the Fortress for a full decade. An attempt to recreate their success with a new character - the uniquely unamusing Funnyman - met with failure. Joe's vision would fade, limiting his ability to get work, and Jerry frequently wrote under pseudonyms - though he did return to DC in the late '50s and in the early '60s wrote some of the best Silver Age Superman stories ever penned.

In 1975, with Superman set to fly on the big screen and earn DC's parent company, Warner Communications, even more incredible revenues, Jerry launched a public relations campaign to draw attention to the short shrift he and Joe had been given. Ultimately, Jerry and Joe would regain their credit (missing for years from comics, film and TV appearances) and a small stipend of $35,000 a year for the rest of their lives. Yet Siegel and Shuster's troubled relationship with DC Comics remains a black mark on the company's history and serves as a cautionary tale for young, up-and-coming comics creators.

Joe passed away in 1992 and Jerry in 1996. Behind them they left a legacy - a character who inspires, and who will continue to inspire, billions of people. They also labored over a cornerstone of what would become the AOL Time Warner Empire. Superman, 'champion of the oppressed,' destroyer of slums and challenger of the status quo, is the property of a massive corporation.

See Superman Returns. When those extremely important words come up - "Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster" - do your part for the cause of truth, justice, and the American way. Remember the boys from Cleveland.




While I don’t have an address for the Shuster house, the Siegel House is easy to find. The address of the Siegel home where Superman was “conceived” is 10622 Kimberly Avenue, and is currently listed as a Cleveland Landmark. Sadly, though, it’s not quite getting the attention it deserves from the city of Cleveland, as you’ll read in the following article.



Superman was created in Cleveland, but you might need X-ray vision to see the evidence


James A. Finley/Associated Press
Superman towers over the town square in Metropolis, Ill., where residents have claimed the DC Comics hero as their own. (In spite of his roots here in Cleveland.)

It's another Summer of Superman in Metropolis, Ill., a sleepy Ohio River town of 6,500 whose main link to the Man of Steel -- OK, whose only link -- is the name of his fictional city. They make the most of it. DC Comics and the Illinois legislature declared it the "Hometown of Superman," and the local paper was renamed the Metropolis Planet. There's a 15-foot-tall bronze Superman statue. And this year, marking the 70th anniversary of Superman's debut on the cover of Action Comics No. 1, they also tried to set a world's record for the most people dressed in Superman outfits.

But in Cleveland -- where a couple of Glenville teenagers actually created Superman 75 years ago -- the comparatively muted observances have been more Smallville than Metropolis.

Some highlights:

-- Superman memorabilia was featured at the North Coast Comic Con in May.

-- "Last Son," Brad Ricca's documentary film about Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, was screened last weekend at IngenuityFest.

-- The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage will present the traveling exhibition "Zap! Pow! Bam! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938-1950" from Tuesday, Sept. 16, through Sunday, Jan. 4.

-- And Northeast Ohio cartoonist Tom Batiuk will begin a three-week Superman-themed story in his "Funky Winkerbean" strip starting Monday, Aug. 11.

Positively Cleveland, the area's convention and visitors bureau, staged a meeting of civic leaders in January to plot a celebration, spurred by a commentary in The Plain Dealer by comics columnist Michael Sangiacomo lamenting Superman's neglect. They dismissed talk of a Superman statue -- an idea first raised in a Plain Dealer column in 1978 -- or museum.

But organizers squabbled, and a longer lead time was needed to get permissions for sanctioned events from DC Comics parent Time Warner.

"We just couldn't get it done this summer," said Terry Stewart, president and chief executive officer of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and a former head of DC's rival Marvel Entertainment. "People are looking to the future. Hopefully, it does move forward."

"There are people who won't settle for anything less than a big statue in a prominent place, as though that makes it all official," said Dennis Dooley, co-author of the book "Superman at Fifty: The Persistence of a Legend."

"But there ought to be some recognition, and there is. Superman probably is the most famous character to come out of here. If you went to China and showed them pictures of Strawberry Shortcake or Chef Boyardee, they'd have no idea. If you showed them Superman, they'd know. It's a universal figure. It's natural for places to want to claim their share of their glory."

Cleveland once did, especially when its ties to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were stronger and fresher. The two were celebrities in the early 1940s, when they still lived in town -- both had moved from Glenville to University Heights -- and when newspapers called Superman "the now famous Man of Steel." They produced Superman with a staff of five artists in a one-room office in Cleveland.

Siegel, the writer who ran to pal Shuster's house one dawn after coming up with Superman -- "I am lying in bed counting sheep when all of a sudden it hits me" -- was sworn into the Army in 1943 as part of the July 4th Festival of Freedom at Cleveland Stadium. When he divorced and remarried in 1948, he asked the license bureau to keep it quiet until columnist Walter Winchell could break the story.

Siegel and Shuster had sold the rights to Superman for $130 in 1938, after trying unsuccessfully to market the comic on their own, but they still were writing and drawing under contract.

In 1947, before their contract expired, they sued to regain the rights and a share of profits. They won a limited settlement, but their claim was rejected. They lost their jobs, and their bylines were dropped. Years of bitterness and frustration followed.

They were living in New York by then, though Siegel later went to Los Angeles. Cleveland was left with few tangible links to Superman, if any, beyond the guessing game of which Glenville High School students might have been the models for Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Or how much of their own Depression-era experience, as the bespectacled and nerdy sons of immigrants, influenced their creation of a "strange visitor from another planet."

Shuster said the model for Metropolis was not Cleveland, where his family moved when he was 10, but his native Toronto. The Daily Planet, he said, came from the Toronto Daily Star.

Los Angeles was the recognizable stand-in for Metropolis on "The Adventures of Superman" on TV through the 1950s.

Superman himself was being eclipsed by other comics superheroes until "Superman: The Movie" went into development in 1974, with a supersized budget and A-list stars.

Siegel came out of seclusion to put a curse on the movie, and launched a campaign with the nearly blind Shuster to protest their treatment by DC. A settlement gave them "created by" credit on all Superman properties, and paid each a $20,000 annual "pension."

And just as Superman helped create the modern comic-book business more than a generation earlier, the movie's release in 1978 paved the way for a new type of superhero film.

But while the movie revived Cleveland's interest and pride in a fictional native son, its unbilled co-star was New York City.

Metropolis, Ill., had only recently staked its claim as Superman's "hometown." When the editor of its Planet was asked what place Siegel and Shuster would have there, he said, "I don't believe I've ever heard of them."

Being second with the claim, like someone who found an old deed in the attic, didn't boost Cleveland's super-status. Neither did the fact that the city was entering hard and fractious times politically and economically when the idea of a Superman monument was first raised.

A nonprofit group formed in the 1980s to build a statue tied to Superman's 50th anniversary and the release of "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace," the last and cheapest of the series. Comics sales were sagging, the movie bombed, and the group went bust.

An aide to one prominent local officeholder said any smart politician would support efforts to recognize Superman, but taking the lead would be difficult "when we've got problems of poverty, schools, crime and employment."

"The city is challenged to raise money for so many things," Terry Stewart said.

But the effort hasn't died. Dooley thinks it shouldn't, no more than Superman has.

"A lot of characters bite the dust," he said, noting the fading of heroes like Straight Arrow, Green Arrow and Aquaman. "Superman and Batman are always riveting. The stories get reappropriated and reworked by another generation.

"Popular culture embodies things we believe in or yearn for."

Or the things that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster believed in and yearned for. In Cleveland. Which remembers.

Read more:
• Cleveland let statue fly away

• Superman, on-screen and off.


Added Note: I had already been writing my blog on Superman and had it scheduled for publication before the following piece cropped up in today’s Plain Dealer. I thought I'd include it.

Novel's Superman lore a bit weak on the facts


Posted by Patrick O'Donnell and Michael Sangiacomo August 27, 2008 01:00AM

James A. Finley/Associated Press
Superman's 15-foot statue looks over the town of Metropolis, Ill. An upcoming book by Brad Metzler suggests a new set of circumstances surrounding the orgin of th iconic character.

It's a tale worthy of ... well, a comic book.

A shopkeeper is gunned down in a robbery of his store. His son, while not going on a vigilante rampage himself, seeks justice in a more symbolic way: He invents the ultimate crime-fighting superhero ever, Superman, to be his instrument of vengeance.

If true, it would be a blockbuster.

But is it?

The buzz circulating in the comic world this week, and highlighted Tuesday in USA Today, is that Superman was inspired by the death of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel's father during a 1932 robbery of his store.


Novelist Brad Meltzer found some details around that robbery too eerie to be coincidence. And he's milking them for all they're worth as he promotes his upcoming book, which uses the Siegel family and its home on Kimberly Avenue here in Cleveland for a conspiracy tale.

"I still believe the world got Superman because this kid lost his father," Meltzer said. "Is it just a coincidence that Michel died and within a short time, his son creates the world's greatest superhero?"

After all, superheroes like Spiderman and Batman started fighting crime after relatives were murdered. The story behind the Superman stories would make a great comic book itself.

But though it is true that Michel Siegel, 59, died during a robbery, there is no evidence beyond confused family legend that he was shot. The man, sometimes referred to as Mitchell, actually died of a heart attack.

Jerry Siegel also never connected his father's death to Superman before he himself died in 1996. And his widow Joanne, doesn't think the robbery made Siegel or his co-creating friend Joe Shuster invent Superman to fight such crimes.

"Jerry said his father had a heart attack after the robbery," she said Tuesday. "I don't think that it inspired him (to create Superman]. How many people whose fathers have died have inspired them to do anything at all?"

There are conflicting accounts about exactly how Siegel came up with the notion of Superman while a student at Glenville High School. Late in his life, he said it came to him one hot July night as he lay in bed unable to sleep.

Though Superman was not published until 1938, he and Shuster started work on the idea in either 1932 or 1933.

In that period -- the night of June 2, 1932 -- police were called to his father's second-hand clothing store at 3560 Central Ave. According to the police report, three men came into the shop and walked out with a suit without paying.

Michel Siegel, 59, collapsed in the store and died.

"At no time were any blows struck or any weapons used," the report states.

The death certificate says Siegel had chronic myocarditis and died of heart failure. It reports no bullet wounds.

Marlene Goodman and Irving Siegel, both cousins of Jerry Siegel, said most family members knew the truth, but some thought Michel was shot.

"I remember an aunt telling me there was a shooting and I think I passed that on to a writer," Irving Siegel said.

Michel Siegel's death in the robbery was part of a previous book, "Men of Tomorrow," published in 2004.

Meltzer, however, uses the shooting legend in his new novel, "Book of Lies." The killing is a plot point for the murder/espionage novel, which comes out Sept. 2.

Meltzer said he believes the death was pivotal to the creation of Superman. He points to an unpublished comic book cover from 1933 showing Superman stopping a robbery of a merchant, who Meltzer says looks like Michel Siegel.

"This would have been written soon, perhaps even weeks, after his dad's death," he said. "It had to be related."

Then in scanning through microfiche copies of The Plain Dealer from 1932, Meltzer found a letter to the editor the day after Michel Siegel's death signed by an A.L. Luther.

"Is this where he came up with Lex Luthor?" he asked.

The villain from the comics, however, was spelled Luthor, not Luther. The name Lex did not appear until the 1960s.

Though titled "Vigilantes Not Needed," the letter has nothing to do with Siegel's death or any particular crimes. It decries vigilantism and calls for nationalizing police under Army generals.

Brad Ricca, a lecturer at Case Western Reserve University and director of a Siegel, Shuster and Superman documentary called "Last Son," said Siegel drew inspiration for Superman from many sources. He said the costume has a bit of Flash Gordon, the hair of Tarzan and weightlifter's boots.

"When his dad died, Jerry knew he had to do something to help support himself and his mother," Ricca said. "He created Superman by drawing on everything that was all around him, including his dad."

He added: "There is a scene in the second issue of Superman where he is standing at the grave of his adoptive parents, promising them that he would do good. This made me think of Jerry's father and how this was Jerry's way of promising to make something of himself."

So why all this attention now? Widow Joanne Siegel says it's all because of the new books.

"You know how writers are, they say things," she said.

News Researcher Jo Ellen Corrigan contributed to this story.

Editor's note: Plain Dealer reporter Michael Sangiacomo co-teaches a class with Brad Ricca.


Update September 2, 2008
Today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that an online auction to benefit the restoration of Jerry Siegel’s Cleveland home in the Glenville neighborhood will begin today. More information about the auction can be found at the “Ordinary People Change the World” web site, here.

You can also see a video on this topic, below, which includes comments from Brad Meltzer, author of “Book of Lies”, that also includes a look at the current state of the home, which isn’t very good on the inside.






Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

Cleveland’s "Other" Arcades

The Arcade

When everyone thinks of an arcade in Cleveland, they think of “The” Arcade, (above) which sits between Euclid Avenue and Superior, and is now part of the Hyatt Regency hotel. Of course, it is an impressive building. But there are two other, smaller arcades very close by on the other side of Euclid Avenue that deserves more attention and respect than they get.

Built in 1898, The Colonial Arcade originally connected Euclid Avenue with the Colonial Hotel (now the Residence Inn). It was designed by George Smith (who also helped design “The” Arcade) in the Georgian Revival Style. The neighboring Euclid Arcade was built in 1908 in the Classical Roman Style. (I am unable to verify who designed the Euclid Arcade.)

As part of the Colonial Marketplace development in 2000, a food court was added to connect the Colonial and Euclid Arcades in 2000 as part of a $60 million renovation project, and a Residence Inn was opened at the location.

Cityprowl Cleveland has a short walking tour map of this area that you can access via this link. All three arcades are just a short walk east of Cleveland's Public Square, near East 4th Street.

So if your looking for a nice walking trip before the end if summer – or anytime for that manner – check out these lovely arcades.

The Colonial Arcade

The Euclid Arcade

Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information,
here.

"The Rocker" Set To Rock Cleveland - and The World

The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently featured a movie whose story is set in Cleveland, with some of the exteriors filmed in Cleveland. It’s called “The Rocker” and stars Rainn Wilson. The film opens nationwide on Wednesday, August 20. The Plain Dealer article is below.



Rainn Wilson pounds and preens for laughs as 'The Rocker'

by Clint O'Connor/Plain Dealer Film Critic
Friday August 15, 2008, 8:00 AM

Rainn Wilson rocks.

As Dwight on "The Office." As the wisecracking convenience store worker in "Juno." And as Robert "Fish" Fishman, the bitter hair-metal-drummer-turned-rockin'-role-model in the new comedy "The Rocker," which opens nationwide Wednesday.

Wilson plays drums, cavorts with Christina Applegate, jams with Teddy Geiger and generally has a rowdy good time in the flick that is set in Cleveland. He was here last summer shooting a few scenes. But before we get to all of that we need to establish "The Rocker's" vaunted position in the pantheon of great drummer movies. Such as they are.

"This is the first movie ever about a rock drummer," said Wilson, 42, in his deadest deadpan tone. "It's the second movie ever about a drummer, preceded by 'The Gene Krupa Story.' Now you see, Sal Mineo was brutally stabbed to death on a Hollywood street, and he played Gene Krupa in the 'The Gene Krupa Story.' "

Pause.

"I hope that is not my fate."

Mineo was, in fact, murdered. But it was 17 years after the Krupa movie was released. Wilson is therefore safely absolved from the playing-a-drummer-in-a-drummer-movie curse. We think.

"The Rocker" opens in 1988 when Fish was the kick-ass drummer for Vesuvius. Just as the hair-metal band is about to strike it rich, they dump him. Twenty years later we find Fish stuck in a mindless job in Cleveland, living in his sister's attic. He seeks his rock-revenge through his nephew, Matt (Josh Gad) and Matt's band, A.D.D., which features Curtis (real-life heartthrob singer-songwriter Teddy Geiger), and Amelia (Emma Stone from "Superbad").

Wilson was not well-versed in metal. "I really, thankfully, slept through the mid- '80s," he said on the phone from Chicago. "At that point I'd gotten into the Clash and Elvis Costello and REM and XTC. But since coming back to it, I realized [heavy metal bands] made rock more accessible, fun and just a rockin' great time. We could use a little more of that today. I think rock musicians tend to take themselves a little too seriously."

As part of his pre-film prep, Wilson was given a drum set and a drum coach.

"Not only did I learn how to drum, but I had to learn how to capture the essence of the heavy-metal drummer. If drummers are dumb, then heavy-metal drummers are preening idiots," he said.

"I had to learn how to physicalize that. But it really helped me define the character. There's something about the mentality of someone who likes to sit behind other people and thump on things and make incredibly loud noises."

Geiger was the only real musician in A.D.D. (and he sings most of the songs in the film). "Everyone was taking lessons, so they all kind of learned at least the songs in the movie," said Geiger before a gig at the Agora last month. "Watching back, I think it looks good. You wouldn't know they had just learned to play their instruments."

Wilson had a head start. In high school he played in a band called Collected Moss.

"It was the worst cover band you could ever imagine. I was the lead singer, and we did covers of 'Magic Carpet Ride,' 'Fire on the Mountain,' and bunch of other crazy songs. I actually grew up playing a lot of instruments. I played piano and clarinet, saxophone, and -- yes, Cleveland -- even the bassoon. I am maybe the first bassoonist that you've ever interviewed."

This is true.

Most of "The Rocker" was filmed in Toronto, but Wilson and a small contingent zipped down to Cleveland last August for two days to shoot some exteriors -- the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Public Square, Browns Stadium and Jacobs Field before the name change.

Two days. Plenty of time to catch the Cleveland vibe.

"There was a hail storm," said Wilson. "It had been like 90 degrees outside and all of a sudden it was hailing, and it was hailing like the size of grapefruits, thundering down on the cars below, and I thought, 'This is some crazy-ass weather. And this is the summer? I wonder what the winters are like here.' "

Churning "The Rocker" out quickly on a relatively small budget (about $15 million) meant lengthy hours. "It was exhausting, about 15 hours a day six days a week," said Wilson. "But it was so worth it. It's a sweet, coming-of-age comedy. I think it's refreshing in these days of either really broad, dumb comedies, or R-rated giant sketch comedies, to have a really small human story."

Wilson was in Chicago promoting "The Rocker," then was headed to Los Angeles to film a brief appearance in "Transformers 2," before shooting new episodes of "The Office." The fifth season launches on NBC at 9 p.m. Sept. 25.

"The Rocker" is a big switch for Wilson. He usually plays the oddball supporting character. Now he's the lead, responsible for carrying an entire film.

Of course, most people know him as Dwight Schrute, Dunder Mifflin's bungling sycophant. I asked Wilson if he was cool with that being his signature part, with people screaming, "Hey, Dwight!" when they see him.

"You know, unlike Lindsay Lohan, I got famous at around age 37 or 38, so I have been around for a long time," he said.

"The fact that I'm now on a TV show that's taken off and is really high quality and that people love, I could not be more thrilled and more grateful. What a great job I get to do. I get to play a really memorable character. I get to show up with a bad haircut and be really annoying, and do some really off the wall stuff. And I love it."


Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

Cleveland’s Collection of Children’s Shows

Back when there were only a handful of TV channels from which to choose – Channel 3 (WKYC/KYW), Channel 5 (WEWS) and Channel 8 (WJW), locally produced programming for the kids in town was a very big deal. Cleveland had a whole litany of stars for the kids: Captain Penny (Ron Penfound) with Jungle Larry; Mr. Jingeling (played by Max Ellis, Carl Mackey, and Earl Keyes); Barnaby (Linn Sheldon) and Woodrow the Woodsman (J. Clayton "Clay" Conroy; Miss Barbara (Barbara Plummer) the local host for the nationally syndicated/franchised Romper Room; and Franz the Toymaker (Ray Stawiarski).

Looking back on these shows (there are some clips below), they were amateurish and frankly, not that great compared to today’s standards. But, they served their purpose; they kept the kids captivated and hopefully out of mom’s hair for a while. Since there were six children in my family, my mother had to keep these shows just to keep her own sanity. I think she had a crush on Captain Penny, though.

And who can forget some of their tag lines or themes:

Captain Penny:

You can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool Mom. She's pretty nice and she's pretty smart.

Barnaby:

“If anybody calls, tell them Barnaby said 'hello, 'and tell them I think you are the nicest person in the whole world…just you.”

Mr. Jingeling

Mister Jingeling how you tingeling
Keeper of the keys
On Halle's seventh floor we'll be looking for
You to turn the keys

Miss Barbara at Romper Room

“Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic mirror, tell me today. Have all my friends had fun at play.”

The Rose-Mary Center: Cleveland’s Living Angels

There are some places in Cleveland area that may be relatively unknown to people, that is, until they find themselves in need of their services. The Rose-Mary Center may be one of those places. You may have heard their name mentioned on Cleveland radio station Mix 106.5 when they have on-line ticket auctions for special concerts, but you may not have ever bothered to find out exactly what it is that The Rose-Mary Center does. Well, here’s your chance to learn more, and maybe, if you’re so inclined, to support their efforts.

The Rose-Mary Center has been serving the Cleveland area for many years. It is a non-profit organization that was established in 1922, serving children with physical handicaps such as polio and cerebral palsy. In 1967, it updated its focus, due to medical advances and the changing needs of the community, and began to serve children with mental and developmental disabilities. In 1989, they also included adults with similar disabilities.

The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History provides some detail of the Center’s early history:

The Rose-Mary Center, which began in 1922 as a home for crippled children, has provided residential evaluation and treatment for multi-handicapped children ages 3-12. Before 1922 Catholic crippled children were cared for at the Episcopal Holy Cross House. When a change in policy limited services to Episcopalians, Caesar Grasselli [president and chairman of the board of Grasselli Chemical] offered his Euclid 7-acre summer residence (at 19350 Euclid Ave.) to the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, in memory of his wife, Johanna, an invalid for many years. The home, with a capacity of 24, was named for its first patron, a crippled orphan found in Youngstown shortly after birth. The Sisters of the Holy Humility of Mary staffed the home; the Catholic Daughters of America performed maintenance and raised funds; and Grasselli, who visited each week, provided equipment and furnishings. Rose-Mary Home pioneered modern treatment to correct physical handicaps of children with healthy minds. Through physical therapy, disabled children re-educated weak muscles and achieved as close to normal function as possible. The homelike setting included furnishings and utensils specially designed for the young residents. In 1943 the adjacent William Delaney house and property were acquired and used for staff sleeping quarters. A new building on the same site was completed in 1949 with Catholic Charities Corp. funds. The facility concentrated all activities under one roof and permitted care of up to 50 children.


The mission statement for The Rose-Mary Center (also known as Johanna Grasselli Rehabilitation and Education Center) says that the “Rose-Mary Center assists and empowers individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities to achieve a life of increasing abilities and personal fulfillment thereby becoming more independent and integrated members of the community. The Center supports and joins with families in this pursuit.” Rose-Mary works hard in the care of these children and adults to help them focus on their activities of daily living, mobility, and helping in behavior management, social skills, and communication. This is a 24/7 responsibility, as the children and adults who are living at the center or in one of their group homes need varied, specialized care during the day AND night. Besides the main Center For Children, there are also several group homes for adults in the Cleveland area.

But to me, the Rose-Mary Center is much more than just the service it provides. Several years ago, a member of my family was in need of their help, and the Rose-Mary Center stepped up to the challenge. It is always difficult for any family to admit that they are unable to care for a child with special needs, especially one with severe disabilities and behavioral issues. The people at The Rose-Mary Center provided the critical support needed to help my family member overcome many issues and helped him to thrive, despite the fact that he will never be anywhere near “normal”. And while his care will likely require specialized attention for his lifetime, The Rose-Mary Center has worked hard to help him perform some tasks that many people simply take for granted, such as simply being able to grasp a spoon to help feed himself. In the several years I have known the employees of the Center, I can tell you that they provide something that is priceless, and that is the love for the people that reside there. It is as if each resident has his or her own group of guardian angels tending to their needs and helping them to learn new skills.

As you can imagine, the level of care that is required for residents of Rose-Mary is quite expensive, and financial support from the government does not cover all their needs. This is why community support and involvement are so important in helping sustain their work. And the one thing I do know about Cleveland area residents is that they are always willing to help those in need. If you, your company, or your school, are looking for a cause to support, please consider The Rose-Mary Center – and I’ll consider you to be an honorary angel if you do!

Information about donations and gifts to The Rose Mary Center can be found here, and their home page is here.





Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

To Forbes Magazine: Reports of our Death are Greatly Exaggerated

An editorial

Cleveland makes another list, this one from Forbes Magazine, calling Cleveland one of “America’s Fastest-Dying Cities”.

More specifically, in the pictorial summary of the cities, they list the area as the “Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio, metropolitan statistical area.” And I am not quite sure of the location of photo of Cleveland that they used (see below), but it hardly represents the region. (If they wanted to make us look bad, they should have used the Howard Johnson’s building.)

If the people from Forbes Magazine read this blog, they would know there is a lot more to Cleveland than one desolate looking photograph. In fact, I would venture to say that Forbes Magazine knows nothing about the Cleveland area at all.

I was born in Cleveland, and I happen to live in Mentor, and I can verify there is a lot of life in this area. Maybe if Forbes Magazine measured attendance in the sports venues such as The Q, Progressive Field, and Cleveland Browns Stadium, they wouldn’t see evidence of a dying city. More examples of healthy life are: the booming medical facilities and the fact that people come here from around the world for health care; the recent renovations at the Cleveland Museum of Art; The Euclid Corridor Project; the wonderful Lake Erie life, Cleveland’s beautiful architecture; The Cleveland Metroparks; University Circle; a world-class orchestra; well, I could go on and on. Of course, let’s not forget that my current hometown of Mentor is far from dead, thank you. Mentor is 6th in retail sales for Ohio, there are many new homes continuing to be built to meet demand of a growing population, and we have a lot of tourism. When I navigate traffic on Mentor Avenue on a daily basis, I frequently see license plates from out of state and Canada. This city is quite alive.

Here’s what Forbes had to say:

“America’s Fastest-Dying Cities”.

Joshua Zumbrun 08.05.08, 6:00 AM ET

Washington, D.C. - The turmoil of the mortgage market granted a temporary reprieve from hearing about the woes of America's Rust Belt. That doesn't mean things are better. Despite a decade of national prosperity, the former manufacturing backbone of the U.S. is in rougher shape than ever, still searching for some way to replace its long-stilled smokestacks.

Where's it worst? Ohio, according to our analysis, which racked up four of the 10 cities on our list: Youngstown, Canton, Dayton and Cleveland. The runner-up is Michigan, with two cities--Detroit and Flint--making the ranking.

These, and four other metropolitan statistical areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, face fleeing populations, painful waves of unemployment and barely growing economies. By our measure, they've struggled the worst of any areas in the nation in the 21st century. And they face even bleaker futures.

It wasn't always this way. Despite years of economic decline, in the first years of the new century the employment situation did not look so bad--3% to 4% unemployment was the norm, along the lines of metropolitan areas elsewhere in the country. The rest of the decade was not so kind. Thanks to a crushing downturn for automakers like General Motors and Ford, Detroit and Flint, Mich., have seen unemployment approach 10%.

Another brutal statistic all the cities share is a diminishing population. So far this decade, 115,000 people have left Cleveland, for other climes. Smaller changes in other regions can be just as painful. Nearly 30,000 people have left Youngstown, Ohio, and they aren't being replaced by either new babies or new immigrants.

Still, the cities we found to be struggling don't vary widely by age, and this factor had little influence in the rankings. The oldest city in our top 10, Scranton, Pa., had 45% of its population over 45; the youngest, Flint had 38% over 45.

The worst news is, of course, economic. When we looked at the most recent gross domestic product estimates for 155 metropolitan statistical areas estimated to have $10 billion or more GDP in 2005--economies about the size of Asheville, N.C., or Tallahassee, Fla.--the news was predictably terrible for the Rust Belt.

In the fall of 2007, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) published its GDP estimates from 2001 to 2005. Nearly every city in the country grew during this period (New Orleans, devastated from Hurricane Katrina, was the notable exception), but the struggling cities on our list grew more sluggishly. None of them grew more than 1.9% a year, versus a nationwide average of 2.7%. Canton, Ohio, managed to grow its economy just 0.7% annually. Flint was worse still at 0.4%.

None of these cities now face the huge declines in real estate prices seen by Phoenix, Miami or Las Vegas, where the Case-Shiller Home Price Index shows nearly 30% declines from a year ago. Detroit is off only about 15%, Cleveland only 8%. Don't call it a bright spot. Prices never went up in the first place.

From Forbes.com

Cleveland’s health is a lot more than just a few statistics like population, unemployment, or mortgage trouble. Sure, the city and the area suffer from those problems, but that doesn’t mean that those people who remain, or who are working here, or whose homes haven’t been foreclosed, are letting the city or the metro area die. It’s superficial lists like Forbes' that do more harm to a city’s reputation than anything else. A city is more than just the sum of a few statistics, it’s about the people who live there and the care, feeding, and support they give to their city. And while Cleveland may be poor right now in things like jobs or with mortgage foreclosures, we aren’t even close to needing life support.

But I think we should all pull the plug on Forbes Magazine, don't you?


Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

The Cleveland Public Library

Photo from Bluffton.edu

The Cleveland Public Library’s web site states its high-reaching mission: “To be the best urban library system in the country by providing access to the worldwide information that people and organizations need in a timely, convenient, and equitable manner.” Their vision: “The People's University" is to be the learning place for a diverse community, inspiring people of all ages with the love of books and reading, advancing the pursuit of knowledge, and enhancing the quality of life for all who use the Library.”

Reading Room photo by the author

While libraries struggle to remain relevant in the face of instant information available on the Internet, even if you’re not a book borrower or researcher, the downtown main branch of the Cleveland Public Library can be a nice place to visit. It is part of The Mall (on the southern end), and is located on Superior Avenue and East 3rd. The complex consists of the historic Main Library, the Louis Stokes Wing, and the Eastman Reading Garden that is situated between the two buildings.

The Cleveland library system itself was founded in 1869 as a school district library. Over the years, it outgrew its space, and with the visionary plan of the Mall complex in the early 1900s, it was decided that location would be favorable for a newer, larger library. The Main Library was built in the Classical Revival style, designed by the firm of Walker and Weeks, and it was opened in 1923. The adjacent Louis Stokes Building, opened in 1997, is named for Cleveland native Louis Stokes, who, in 1968, became the first African-American elected to the U.S. Congress from Ohio. Both buildings occupy nearly 530,000 square feet of space.

Photo Bluffton.edu

The Eastman Reading Garden was designed by the Olin Partnership and includes sculptures by Maya Lin and Tom Otterness. It is named in honor of Linda Anne Eastman, who served the Cleveland Public Library for almost fifty years as Vice-Librarian from 1896 to 1918, and as Director from 1918 until her retirement in 1938. A complete history of the library can be found here.


If you are looking for a place to visit for some peace and quiet, and maybe to broaden your mind in the progress, take a trip to the main branch of the Cleveland Public Library. It’s priceless.


Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

Songs About, or Mentioning, Cleveland

Photo by the author

Since this blog is all about the great city of Cleveland, I thought it would be a good place to assemble a definitive collection of all the music videos I could find that are either about Cleveland, or that simply mention the city by name. Here’s the list I’ve compiled so far, and the songs covered various musical genres. If I’ve missed any, please leave me a comment and I’ll try to find a video of it and add it!

 

UPDATE:  Too many videos on this page have been removed by YouTube and/or the video owners,  so I've chosen to delete them. But the list of songs remain!

“Cleveland Rocks”
Ian Hunter (Drew Carey Show Version)

“Sheraton Gibson”
Pete Townshend

“Look Out Cleveland”
The Band

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
Gordon Lightfoot

“Burn On”
Randy Newman

Pancho &Lefty
Townes Van Zandt

“Cleveland is the City”
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
(special note, some lyrics may be considered offensive)

"Oh My Sweet Carolina”

Ryan Adams

“Drunk on the Moon”

Tom Waits

“Cuyahoga”
R.E.M.

“My City Was Gone”
Written and Performed by Chrissie Hynde
(NOTE: Some people think this is about Cleveland, but it’s about Akron. Close enough for a mention.)

“My Town”
Michael Stanley Band

"Skinny Little Boy from Cleveland"
Alex Bevan (Local Favorite!)

The Mall: Downtown Cleveland’s Public Park

When people first hear of Cleveland’s Mall, they think of a retail shopping mall. While Cleveland does have retail shopping downtown, The Mall I refer to is the downtown public park. It was created as part of the “City Beautiful” movement, which, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, arose in the United States in response to crowded inner-city districts. The goal was to use beautification and monumental grandeur in cities to improve the quality of life.

Original 1903 Plan (Western Reserve Historical Society)

According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History:

“The Mall and the 7 public buildings surrounding it were constructed following the Group Plan of 1903, which probably constitutes the earliest and most complete civic-center plan for a major city outside of Washington, DC. Since federal, county, and municipal governments were all planning to build large new structures, a Group Plan Commission was created in 1902 as a result of bills prepared by the American Institute of Architects and the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and passed by the legislature. The members were Daniel Burnham, Arnold Brunner, and John Carrere. The Group Plan Report of 1903 recommended the 500' wide central mall and the placement of the major buildings. The need for uniformity of style and building height was stated as the lesson of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Roman style was recommended, meaning the Beaux-Arts version of ancient classicism….The previously planned Federal Bldg. was completed in 1910, followed by the Cuyahoga County Courthouse (1911), the Cleveland City Hall (1916), the Public Auditorium (1922), the main Public Library (1925), the Board of Education administration building (1930), and the Cuyahoga County Administration Bldg. (1957).

Aerial View

The Mall is divided into three sections, known as Malls A, B, and C. Mall A, on the south end, is officially named Veterans' Memorial Plaza; Mall C was dedicated as Strawbridge Plaza in 2003. Cleveland’s Convention Center is underneath Malls B and C.

Veteran’s Memorial Plaza is also the location of the Fountain of Eternal Life, also known as the “War Memorial Fountain” or “Peace Arising from the Flames of War”. It is a statue and fountain, designed by Cleveland Institute of Art graduate Marshall Fredericks, dedicated on May 30, 1964. The sculpture is the city's memorial to those citizens who served in World War II. The fountain was initiated and promoted by former newspaper The Cleveland Press, which raised $250,000 to fund the project. According to Wikipedia:

The centerpiece is a 35-foot (10.7 m) bronze figure representing man escaping from the flames of war and reaching skyward for eternal peace. The bronze sphere from which the figure rises represents the superstitions and legends of mankind. Four granite carvings, representing the geographic civilizations of the world, are placed around the sphere. On the surface of the polished granite rim surrounding the fountain are bronze plates bearing the names of 4,177 Greater Clevelanders who perished in WWII and in the Korean War.

Fountain of Eternal Life, photo by the the author

The Mall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It makes for a great starting point for seeing some of downtown’s most interesting sights – and also a nice place to take a break.


Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Old Postcard - 1916 Building

The Cleveland Museum of Art is currently undergoing a 10-year, $350 million expansion and renovation. After completing part of the renovation, the museum recently reopened the Historic 1916 building, with 19 galleries and over 900 works of art. If the work done on the 1916 building is any indication of what will be coming for the remainder of the renovation, I think people will be very pleased with the overall results.

But first, before reviewing the renovations to date, I thought I’d give some information on the museum’s history. The museum opened on June 6, 1916, and was made possible by bequests and funding by Hinman Hurlbut, John Huntington, Horace Kelley, and Jeptha H. Wade (the latter who donated the property). The first building opened was what is now called the Historic 1916 building, which is of neoclassic style, with white Georgian marble, designed by Hubbell and Benes. The first addition was completed in March of 1857, which doubled the size of the museum and allowed for an indoor garden court. Another wing for special exhibition galleries, classrooms, lecture halls, and the education department was opened in 1971, and was designed by Marcel Breuer (of Cleveland’s "troubled" Ameritrust/Breuer Tower fame). A third addition was made between 1983-1993, to make room for the museum's library, plus 9 new galleries.

Proposed renovation

In October 2005 the CMA began its fourth – and its largest - expansion project in its history. The new design, by architect Rafael Vinoly, would greatly increase gallery space by reconstructing the museum's east and west wings. The downside to this huge undertaking was that most of the museum's permanent collection had to be placed in storage, and resulted in the museums closure to the public.

The museum reopened – partially - on June 29, 2008. allowing access to the renovated galleries on the main level of its 1916 building. Available exhibits from the permanent collection concentrate on 17th-century European to early 20th-century American art. I’ve been to this museum many times in my lifetime, and was amazed at how beautiful things look. The coloring and lighting in each gallery appears perfectly matched for the art displayed, and each work of art looks fabulous. A few of the large galleries were also lighted by diffused, overhead skylights. My test to the success of the restoration was how the museum would treat one of my favorite pieces, a sculpture called “Terpsichore, Muse of Choral Song and Dance.” I was not disappointed, with her being relocated from what I recall was a poorly lighted wall area to center stage in a gallery, with perfect lighting and surrounding art work. Of course, the museum is not complete without the Armor Court, which I recall seeing several times while attending grade school and high school, and luckily that was one gallery that was also re-opened. The court gleams from the metal and is softened with tapestries, all featured with great lighting which makes the room look more impressive than ever.

What initially seemed like a drawback was the meandering course we had to take to get to the open galleries. But, I have to give the museum high marks for having excellent signage to help get to the destination, plus ample staff on hand at each turn in the course to help find the way. The only thing that annoyed me, and it’s really a small annoyance: on the side of the museum that faces the large pond, huge plain letters flank each side of the outside entrance announcing that it’s OP – EN, the letters separated by the entrance itself. It ruins the whole look of the beauty and simplicity of the old building.

While I am very interested in the architecture of the current and new structures, this renovation means more to me for how it will enhance and improve the whole experience of viewing the art housed in the museum. In fact, based on what is viewable right now, the presentation of the exhibits seems to be art itself. So, if you were holding off on going to the museum until more of it is opened, my suggestion is there is no need to wait, there is plenty to see and plenty to appreciate right now!

The web site for The Cleveland Museum of Art can be found here.

Quick Tour of some of the Restored 1916 Building



Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information,
here.

Cleveland’s Public Auditorium

The only time I was in Cleveland’s Public Auditorium (also known as Public Hall), I was a teenager attending a Moody Blues concert. Luckily we had seats close to the front, as Public Auditorium was so huge that sitting too far back would make for a bad view. My ticket cost a whopping $5.00. I don’t think I was ever there again. I believe the next concert I attended was at the Music Hall, the smaller neighbor of the Public Auditorium. Both these venues are not used as much any more. Even though Public Hall is so massive, big concert promoters prefer stadiums and sports arenas, as they hold more people and can allow for better overall viewing and acoustics.

At one time, Public Auditorium and its neighbor the Music Hall were part of a grander plan for culture and industry for the city.

(old postcard - Public Auditorium Interior)

Here’s an article written for Builder’s Exchange Magazine which talks about the history and the some of the interesting facts about this facility:

CLEVELAND PUBLIC AUDITORIUM


CLEVELAND PUBLIC AUDITORIUM
BY RICHARD TIBBS STAFF WRITER

To host the 1909 Industrial Exposition, Cleveland was forced to construct a temporary facility, which pointed out the city's need for a permanent large-scale auditorium and convention hall. However, it took seven years for the necessary funds to be generated. In 1916, voters passed a bond issue, thanks to the support of 116 civic groups. Unfortunately, World War I caused the project to be put on hold, and construction did not begin until 1920.

Designs were by city architects, Frederic H. Betz and J. Harold McDowell, along with consulting architect Frank R. Walker of Walker and Weeks. The exterior style was Italian Renaissance, with arcaded windows, a high rusticated podium and a cornice line that coordinated with other Group Plan buildings. The entrance lobby featured classical marble, tile and plaster ornamentation. The auditorium hall itself conveyed classical elegance with its wide ceiling of curved arches.

A fourth building joins the group
The auditorium was the fourth unit of the Burnham Mall Plan to be constructed, although it was not included in the original Group Plan. The cost was $6.5 million.

The Cleveland Public Auditorium cornerstone was laid on Oct. 20, 1920, and the completed building was dedicated on April 15, 1922. Smith & Oby was one local company involved in the project, at the time the largest convention hall in the United States. The main arena was 300 ft. long, 215 ft. wide, 80 ft. high. Amazingly, no columns were used in its construction. The stage was 140 ft. by 60 ft., with a 72- by 42-ft. proscenium arch. The steel-and-asbestos curtain weighed more than 40 tons. A key attraction was a spectacular pipe organ with 10,010 pipes and 150 direct speaking stops. In 1927, the Music Hall was added at the south end of the auditorium.

The seating capacity of the main auditorium, including the main floor and the U-shaped galleries, was more than 11,500. The Music Hall seated 2,800, the ballroom 1,500, the north exhibition hall 1,500, the Little Theatre 700 and other halls from six to 500. The basement Exhibition Hall provided more than 28,500 sf of exhibit space.

Safety was a major priority. Despite the huge capacity, the entire facility was designed to allow 13,000 people to be evacuated in four and a half minutes flat. The auditorium had an automatic sprinkler system, which would project a sheet of water across the stage proscenium if a fire occurred.

Indirect lighting was diffused through glass ceiling panels. The ventilating system provided 18,000 cf of fresh air per hour-cooled in summer, heated in winter. Air ducts were up to 10 sf. Other amenities included a central vacuum cleaning system and steam heating for the offices and corridors.

A long, eventful history
During the first year, an estimated 750,000 people visited the new auditorium. Since then, the facility has hosted many prestigious events. In 1924, it was the site of the Republican National Convention and the first appearances of the Auto Show and the Home and Flower Show, as well as performances by the Metropolitan Opera. In 1930, Herbert Hoover spoke to an audience of 15,000 people. In more recent years, the auditorium was the site for a Jimmy Carter/Ronald Reagan debate and a Beatles concert.
A new convention centerIn 1964, Public Auditorium was joined by a new underground convention center, which opened on August 28 of that year. The Convention Center provided 26 meeting rooms, each holding from 50 to 10,000 people, and 424,230 sf of exhibit space. A modern glass and metal entrance and lobby area serving both convention center and auditorium were added on the Mall side of the Beaux Arts exterior. The architects were Outcalt, Guenther, Rode and Bonebrake. The cost was $17.5 million, including $1 million for improvements to the Mall Plaza. With this addition, the Cleveland Public Auditorium and convention center complex was once again the largest convention facility in the United States.

In the mid-1970s, architect Dominick Durante designed a renovation for the facility that brought it up to date. Today, plans for a new convention center require refurbishment of Public Auditorium.

The Cleveland Public Auditorium was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 10, 1937, and was designated as a Cleveland Landmark on Oct. 16, 1937. BXM

(Old Postcard - Public Auditorium Exterior)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported in May of 2008 that “The auditorium, built in 1926, seats up to 13,000 and, like the outmoded existing convention center, is seldom used….[it] could find new life as a ballroom for a proposed Medical Mart and a rebuilt convention center under the Mall.”

Interior

I suppose it all depends on the final location of a new convention center for Cleveland, as the Medical Mart prefers to be adjacent to that location. But, since I also like to preserve the classic buildings of Cleveland, it would be great if Cleveland’s Public Auditorium could find new life, and it would be fitting if it was the Medical Mart that could resuscitate it.


Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

Cleveland’s Shameful Eyesore: Lakefront "Howard Johnson’s"

Cleveland's Eyesore, sitting behind Fox 8

One of Cleveland’s ugliest sights – at least for those who have to drive past it every day – is the old Howard Johnson’s Hotel (5700 South Marginal Road) - viewable from I-90. It sits right behind Fox 8 studios, much to their dismay, I am sure.

The location itself has possibilities. It has a nice view of the Lake, and easy freeway access. Yet, it continues to sit there, looking ready for demolition, rather than ready for development.

When it was first opened in 1965, this “HoJo” was also known as the “Lakefront Lodge” and also included a restaurant called the Red Coach Grill. The restaurant and rooms all had sweeping views of Lake Erie. It lost the Howard Johnson’s name in 1986, although to me it seems like it’s been abandoned long before that.

Cleveland's Lakefront Howard Johnson's, in its heyday

In October of 2006, Crain’s Cleveland Business reported the following about this property, which sounded promising at the time:

New owner eyes condos for former HoJo hotel
By STAN BULLARD
4:30 am, October 23, 2006

A new owner with a new plan, this time for condominiums, is in control of a long-empty, 12-story hotel overlooking the lakefront near downtown Cleveland.

The new owner, Bapaz Real Estate Ltd. of Wickliffe, received a sheriff’s deed Sept. 14 for the one-time Howard Johnson Motor Inn and Restaurant, which now has a weed-covered parking lot and a weed of tree-like proportions rising from its roof at 5700 S. Marginal Road.

“We’re planning to do condos,” said Moshe Bohbot, owner of Bapaz. But, he added, “As of now, I don’t want to talk about it.”

Bapaz paid $633,334 for the foreclosed-upon property in a sheriff’s sale, according to Cuyahoga County land records. Bapaz also coughed up more than $300,000 in cash to pay delinquent property taxes to secure title to the hotel from the sheriff’s office.

Though not ready to talk, even about his real estate development background, Mr. Bohbot is taking steps toward redeveloping the graffiti-pocked eyesore.

Bapaz has applied for a variance from the city of Cleveland that is on the agenda for the Oct. 30 Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. The variance would allow the planned residential project to proceed despite the property’s industrial zoning.

Councilwoman Sabra Pierce Scott, whose Ward 8 includes the structure, has met with Mr. Bohbot and plans to support the variance. The variance would apply only to the hotel and would have no bearing on the surrounding area, she said.

However, given the unfulfilled projects previously proposed for the building, Ms. Scott said, “As optimistic as I’d like to be, we’re holding our breath and keeping our fingers crossed about the project.” She estimates Bapaz is the eighth group to approach her about the building during her five years in office.

Jamie Blackson Baker, executive director of the St. Clair Superior Development Corp., said the neighborhood group plans to support the variance because it suits the one-time hotel, the views from which she described as “spectacular.”

“Having someone do a quality job there would be catalytic in the neighborhood,” said Ms. Blackson Baker, who has not met Mr. Bohbot. “It’s such a highly visible site. It’s big news. We’ve tried to talk several other developers into considering it.”

The prior owner was Leisure Time Hospitality Inc., a gaming concern in Avon, which paid $1 million for the vacant property seven years ago.

Alan Johnson, president of Leisure Time, at the time planned to renovate the hotel and use it as an exhibition parlor for video pull-tab machines benefiting charities, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in 1999. However, that transformation never happened. Mr. Johnson’s Avon phone number is unlisted.

Cleveland architect Paul Volpe said his City Architecture firm evaluated the building and prepared preliminary drawings for Leisure Time to install a Radisson Hotel at the site.

Despite its forlorn appearance, Mr. Volpe said the building was sound structurally in the late 1990s and that the work that most needed to be done — such as replacing inexpensive glass and walls typical of the building’s 1960s vintage — would need to be replaced anyway.

“The outside looks terrible, but it has great, great views that make it worth considering,” Mr. Volpe said.

City Architecture in 2002 sued Leisure Time for more than $25,000 in unpaid fees in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. The case is still pending.

Prior to Leisure Time’s ownership, the property twice had undergone foreclosure proceedings. At least three other groups have lofted plans for the building since the hotel was closed in the early 1990s.

How it looks now

Still, years later, nothing has changed with this building. My attempts to locate any information on, or the whereabouts of, the Bapaz Real Estate company has turned up nothing. The building still looks like a massive eyesore, with apparently nothing going on to change that. As this building is visible from I-90, one of the major arteries of the city and where many out-of-towners pass on a daily basis, the City of Cleveland should be working harder to force either its repair or its demolition. Nothing says a poorly run city like a large abandoned building. While the city continues to talk about lakefront development, it’s hard to imagine that anything will ever come of that, considering that this Howard Johnson’s has been left to ruin for so many years.

If you’re interested in seeing some of the interiors and the views from this building in its current condition, check out Illicitohio.com.

The Lake Erie View (from Illicit Ohio, link above)

Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

Cleveland’s Great Mustard Debate

Forget Paris…well, I mean Dijon. Mustard, that is. There are only two kinds of mustard for true Clevelanders. One is Stadium Mustard, and the other is Bertman Original Ball Park Mustard. Stadium Mustard is currently the official mustard of Progressive Field, is featured at 150 stadiums and arenas throughout the United States, and has been served to astronauts on the Space Shuttle. Bertman’s had been used at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Both mustards are a not so pleasing color of brown, and both have a distinctive spicy, tart/tangy taste.

But trying to say – or even think – that one is better than the other could start a war, or worse yet, a hockey game could break out. Bertman lovers call Stadium Mustard an “inferior counterfeit” and a “knock-off”; Stadium Mustard lovers say theirs just tastes better and the proof is that it's used in so many sports arenas. So I won’t tell you which one I like best. But I did a little research to bring out the details of who was the first stadium/ballpark mustard.

There are some details in the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History about Bertman’s:


The company was founded in 1920 by JOSEPH BERTMAN who was born in Lublin, Poland, and came to Cleveland as a child with his parents. He began the company in a garage at the Bertman home at E. 147th near Kinsman, where spices and pickles were processed and packaged. The firm relocated to 653 E. 103rd by the mid-1930s, and was then known as the Bertman Pickle Co. Soon afterward, the company relocated to 2180 E. 76th near Cedar. It is now located at 7777 Grand Avenue….Bertman's Original Ball Park Mustard is the company's best known product. Bertman himself said that the Cleveland Stadium was his first customer in 1932, but some sources indicate that the mustard was first sold at LEAGUE PARK baseball games in 1938. The spicy, tan mustard, considered by some to be the best available, is custom-blended from a secret recipe. Until the early 1970s it was only sold in gallons, but afterwards was carried by supermarkets. It was available at the Cleveland Stadium as well as the new baseball park, Jacobs Field.

David Dwoskin, President, Davis Foods Company, who makes Stadium mustard, says on Stadium Mustard’s web site:

When I was only twelve years old, my father took me to the Cleveland Municipal Stadium for the first time. I don't remember who was playing, but I do remember biting into my first hot dog with this delicious brown mustard on it. This was part of growing up in Cleveland. For more than fifty years, this mustard was served at the old Stadium, "a true Cleveland tradition". Thirty years ago I made that same mustard available in supermarkets and gave it a name - The Authentic Stadium Mustard, named after the Cleveland Stadium.”
 
So it appears Bertman’s is truly the ORIGINAL. But whose mustard is the best? If you want to taste test and you’re living here in Cleveland, you can easily get both. Well, maybe not so easy; I get Bertman’s at my local Heinen’s (who only carries the best stuff, by the way) but I couldn’t find a slot for Stadium mustard on the shelf…Oops, did I just tip my hand to my house favorite?


Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

Lake Erie “Beyond the Surface” Part 4

The fourth and final installment of “Lake Erie Beyond the Surface” will be airing on Cleveland’s WKYC Channel 3 on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 7:00 PM, hosted by Mark Nolan.

So far, this series has been excellent, and I encourage everyone in the Channel 3 viewing area to catch the show. Lake Erie is a vital resource that we should all understand, respect, and protect.

More information and links to the on-line videos of previous episodes of “Lake Erie Beyond the Surface” can be found on WKYC’s web site, here.

Two videos are below. The first is a “behind the scenes” promo for part 4 of Lake Erie Beyond the Surface; the second is a “classic” special report from KYW done in 1964 that speaks to the state of Lake Erie.

Behind the Scenes "Lake Erie Beyond the Surface"





KYW 1964 Special Report on Lake Erie



Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information,
here.

Pete Townshend’s Ode to Cleveland

Pete Townshend - of The Who and also a very successful solo artist in his own right - said that he only wrote one song about one city, and that city was Cleveland. It’s one of my favorite tunes from Townshend’s solo career, titled "Sheraton Gibson," appearing on his “Who Came First” album that was released in 1972.

Here are a few versions of the song performed by Townshend. The first is a live version (from a concert with the Who in Cleveland in September of 2000) where he explains that he wrote the song after an afternoon at a barbecue with the members of the James Gang (also Cleveland favorites).

So here are a few versions for your listening pleasure. The lyrics are listed below so you can sing along if the urge strikes you.

Live Version performed by Pete Townshend in Cleveland


Live verion performed by Pete Townshend


Live Version, performed by Eddie Vedder and Pete Townshend




Lyrics
Sheraton Gibson
From “Who Came First” by Pete Townshend

I'm sitting' in the Sheraton Gibson playing' my Gibson
And boy do I wanna go home.
I'm sitting' in the Sheraton Gibson playing' my Gibson
And boy do I feel all alone.
Cleveland, you blow my mind.
Cleveland, I wish I were home this time.
Don't want to be unkind .

But I'm sitting' in the Sheraton Gibson playing' my Gibson
Thinking' 'bout a sunny barbeque
I'm sitting in the Sheraton Gibson playing' my Gibson
And my mind is a Cleveland afternoon.
Cleveland, you blow my mind.
Cleveland, I wish I were home this time
Don't wanna be unkind.
Cleveland, you blow my mind.
Cleveland, I wish I were home this time.
Don't wanna be unkind.

Oh Cleveland, you blow my mind.
Oh Cleveland, I wish I were home this time
Don't wanna be unkind.

But I'm sitting in the Sheraton Gibson playing' my Gibson
And boy do I wanna go home.



Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information,
here.

The William G. Mather Maritime Museum

The Steamship William G. Mather Maritime Museum has been a familiar sight on Cleveland’s Lake Erie shoreline since October 1990, initially at a berth at the East Ninth Street Pier on Cleveland's North Coast Harbor, and now located just north of the Great Lakes Science Center at Dock 32.

More than just a museum, it had a busy life as a Great Lakes bulk freighter that transported cargo such as ore, coal, stone, and grain to ports throughout the Great Lakes. Built in Detroit by the Great Lakes Engineering Works, River Rouge, Michigan in 1925, it served for a time as the flagship for the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company. It was also nicknamed "The Ship That Built Cleveland" because Cleveland's steel mills were a frequent destination. The steamship was named in honor of the man who was president of Cleveland-Cliffs at the time it was built, William Gwinn Mather.

According to Wikipedia:

In order to supply the Allied Forces need for steel during World War II, the Mather led a convoy of 13 freighters in early 1941 through the ice-choked Upper Great Lakes to Duluth, Minnesota, setting a record for the first arrival in a northern port. This heroic effort was featured in the April 28, 1941 issue of Life. She was one of the first commercial Great Lakes vessels to be equipped with radar in 1946. In 1964, she became the very first American vessel to have an automated boiler system, manufactured by Bailey Controls of Cleveland, Ohio.


After a long career, the Steamship William G. Mather was retired in the 1980s, and remained in Toledo. On December 1987, Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc. donated it to the Great Lakes Historical Society to be restored and preserved as a museum ship and floating maritime museum. When the steamship arrived in Cleveland in late 1988, funding was obtained and restoration began. But soon afterwards, a fire damaged the Mather's galley and some cabins, meaning even more work would be required to get the Mather back in shape. In October 1990, the Mather was moved to a berth at the East Ninth Street Pier on Cleveland's North Coast Harbor, and relocated in 2005 to its current location north of the Great Lakes Science Center at Dock 32. In October of 2006, the William G. Mather was acquired by the Great Lakes Science Center.


The Mather is also an American Society of Mechanical Engineers National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, designated in July of 1995. The Mather is recognized for its 1954 installation of a single marine boiler and steam turbine engine, its 1964 installation of the Bailey 760 Boiler Control System and American Shipbuilding AmThrust dual propeller bow thruster, which all were firsts for U.S. Flag Great Lakes vessels.


Detailed information on the Mather and the museum can be found at the Mather's web site here.



Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.

Cleveland's Love Affair With Beer

My treasured beer bottle bank cap

The other day while sifting through a box of items I’d had packed away years ago, I found a giant beer bottle cap. It came from a giant glass beer bottle bank that belong to my grandparents that they used to save money for their grandchildren. They would start saving loose change, and then whatever was in the bank at the time one of their grandchildren was born, they would put all that money into a bank account. Since my parents had 6 kids, it seemed like my grandparents were always saving change. When my mother stopped having kids, my grandparents allowed me to have the bank, and I began saving my change in it as well. The day before my wedding – almost 33 years ago – as I was getting ready to pack up the bank, it tipped and I broke that beer bottle into a million billion pieces. After getting very upset about it, I decided to at least hang on to the bottle cap. When I found that bank bottle cap today, it made me think of the deep history of beer in Cleveland.

The giant beer bottle was for none other than P.O.C. Beer, produced by the Pilsener Brewing Company, located at Clark Ave. and W. 65th St. It was founded by Bohemian brewer Wenzel Medlin in 1892. The name Pilsener comes from the Czech city of Pilsen, where the light Bohemian lager beer was first made. The P.O.C. stood for many things, such as “Pilsener On Call,“ “ Pilsener of Cleveland,” and “Pleasure on Call”, but many Clevelanders, most of them probably growing up with beer in their veins, called the beer “Pride of Cleveland.” Since I grew up in a Bohemian family, beer was a huge part of the their heritage, in some cases, to their detriment!

The beer boom for Cleveland took place in the early 1900s. According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History:

The industry in Cleveland reached its zenith in 1910, when 26 breweries were operating in the city. In addition to Bohemian, Cleveland, Columbia, Gehring, Schlather, Star, and Fishel (all in the Cleveland & Sandusky fold), there were the Beltz, CLEVELAND HOME BREWING COMPANY, DIEBOLT BREWING CO., Excelsior, Forest City, Gund, Leisy, Pabst, PILSENER BREWING CO., Schlitz, STANDARD BREWING CO., and Stroh breweries. Leisy, Pilsener, and Standard, all located on the near west side, were the most formidable independents. (The full history of Cleveland brewing can be found at the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History’s web site, here.)

Then, dark days for breweries in 1920 when prohibition happened, changing the focus of some local breweries, and putting some out of business. After prohibition was repealed, some breweries restarted and continued to flourish in the city. While over time the number of breweries decreased, their overall output increased. Over the next 30 years, smaller breweries closed and some merged with larger companies. Later on, national companies would soon grab up the bulk of the Cleveland market share and the last Cleveland Brewery (Schmidt) closed in 1984.

Since it’s been said that nature abhors a vacuum, it wasn’t long before Cleveland got another brewery of its own. In 1988, Patrick and Daniel Conway established the microbrewery Great Lakes Brewing Company on the west side of Cleveland, producing Dortmunder and Vienna-style beers. The company has quite the following, especially with their seasonal beers such as Christmas Ale, plus favorite brew Burning River Pale Ale, gaining them widespread popularity. They are also very involved in the community, sponsoring, for example, the Burning River Fest this August.

So while there may be fewer breweries in Cleveland than there were 100 years ago, Cleveland can still be proud of its beer heritage, and that Great Lakes Brewing Company has continued the tradition. Sadly, I haven’t had a beer in years, it gives me terrible migraines. But, if I can just find a giant Great Lakes Beer Bottle Bank…. I'd be happy.



Check out my blog home page for the latest Cleveland information, here.