Remember when Sally Field won the academy award and said ‘you like me, you really like me?’ Two things happened in the last 24 hours that showed me people who are not from here really, really do like Cleveland. I know you know this, and I know I knew this before yesterday, but sometimes I think to myself do we really accept this as truth or do we hold onto our old beliefs about how we see Cleveland? Without trying to get too convoluted, I’ll explain.
Last night I was surfing the tube and I happened upon a 2006 show Rachael Ray did for the Food Network. It stopped me in my tracks because there she was standing in front of our iron bridges, displayed in all their glory. She went east of the River to places like Fire and Giardino d’Italia in Little Italy. She went to Fahrenheit in Tremont. She went to Fat Fish Blue Downtown. She loved the fact that we can eat and dance and laugh in a place like Pickwick and Frolic. She gushed over Steve’s hot dogs, available late night. She loved Johnny Mango’s juices/smoothies. (And I love their lime enhanced steak salad.) I don’t think it’s possible to watch the video of the show on line (watch for a repeat on TV). To be fair about it, here is a blog post by someone named Madeline who traveled to Cleveland in 2006. Downtown left her unimpressed (we do still need to work on that, she’s not telling us anything we don’t know, although there is more going on since 2006). But she was impressed with some of the other places. Check it out. And apparently she was inspired by Rachael Ray to venture out into our NE Ohio world of food.
Then a friend of mine and fellow Realtor® Leanne Paynter from Florida directed me to a site and I found an article that caught my attention. Jay Walljasper is involved with Project for Public Spaces. He did a visit here in 2004 and had a lot of good things to say about Cleveland, pointing out our outstanding architecture for one. Check out his article here.
For a minute I thought, this is old news. Then I decided, if I wasn’t aware of Rachael Ray’s show or Jay Walljasper’s comments, there might be others who were in the same position. Besides, it seems like I sometimes need a splash of cold water to remind me we have a lot going for us and that means it’s worth doing things to help make it even better.
My last point? (yeah, I can be as chatty as Joe Biden, can’t I!) I was at The Garage Bar last evening with friends I met in 1997. They moved to San Diego for few years and then returned to Cleveland. Two things they perceived about San Diego: the lack of a true concert scene and an art community that needed some spice. They both felt Cleveland was way ahead of San Diego in this department. (I would imagine art lover George Nemeth would agree with them about the vibrancy of Cleveland’s art community). All you have to do is look at the Winchester’s or Beachland schedule every week (not to mention all the clubs listed in Scene magazine!) to know how lucky we are that we do have a vital music scene. What strikes me when I help find someone from Chicago or Houston or NYC or anywhere else a house, is how they genuinely appreciate what I guess I sometimes take for granted. The architecture, the housing stock, the Lake, the music, the iron bridges, the whole ball of wax. Peace Out – 3C
10 responses so far ↓
1 Leanne Paynter // Aug 24, 2008 at 1:38 pm
3C, I sooo look forward to a day when I can visit your awesome city! I’d love to meet you in person and see your favorite spots and I’d treat you to your favorite eateries along the way. Thanks for the mention.
2 Carole Cohen // Aug 24, 2008 at 1:46 pm
You are very welcome, Leanne. You so frequently ferret out interesting stuff! I can’t wait to meet you either.
3 Elaine Reese // Aug 24, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Leanne, after you spend a day with Carole, you can head on down the 3C highway to see us in C’lumbus.
Cleveland has come a long way, baby! You can be proud, Carole.
4 Leanne Paynter // Aug 24, 2008 at 8:15 pm
You got it, Elaine… would love to meet up with you, too!
5 Charles Clark // Aug 28, 2008 at 5:23 pm
We had a great time in Cleveland in 2006 during an art & architecture tour sponsored by a group from North Carolina. Photos and commentary can be found at: http://www.tcscm.org/cleveland
6 Carole Cohen // Aug 28, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Charles I’m so glad you provided that link, the site, the photos and the comments about Cleveland are wonderful. A five day trip! I’m also going to include the pdf of the accompanying article http://tinyurl.com/6fmz98
thank you so much!
7 Carole Cohen // Aug 28, 2008 at 6:58 pm
and one more thing, you were able to see things we haven’t been able to see for a while, like the Terminal Tower observation deck.
8 sally field // Sep 11, 2008 at 6:12 pm
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