Cleveland: Stressful?

Bizjournals.com recently published their list of the 50 most stressful metropolitan areas in the United States, where Cleveland came in second with a 6.53 stress index. Detroit claimed the top spot with a 10.64 stress index. Bizjournals.com says about Cleveland, “Right behind Detroit on the stress index is another Great Lakes metro with its share of economic woes, Cleveland. It's burdened with

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Cleveland’s Free Stamp

Poor Free Stamp; shunned by the company that initially commissioned the work, and almost destroyed because of a closed-minded member of Cleveland City Council, it’s as if no one wanted it. But, it’s always been a favorite of mine because it’s big, it’s bold, and it’s a survivor.For those of you not familiar with Free Stamp, it is a large sculpture, designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van

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Ameritrust/Breuer Tower: Its Fate In Question, Again

Previously, I’ve written in this blog about the Breuer Tower (AKA The Ameritrust Tower) and its architectural significance and ownership status. (The blog entries can be found here and here.)Recent events again put the fate of the Ameritrust/Breuer Tower in question. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the city has rejected K & D’s offer to buy the property. The Plain Dealer states that if

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The Cleveland Press

I was going through some childhood mementos the other day and found one of my prized possessions as a child – my Paper Mate pen that I won in the fifth grade for winning my grade school’s Cleveland Press Spelling Bee. I started thinking about how I used to come home from school and sit down and read the afternoon newspaper. Full disclosure – I always started with the comics section. Our household

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The Euclid Corridor Project

Did you know that Euclid Avenue is part of the longest road in the United States? Yes, US Route 20, known as Euclid Avenue in the Cleveland area, stretches from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon, with a length of 3,365 miles (5,415 km).In Cleveland, the longest road in the US is getting a much needed facelift. It isn’t just a simple repaving of the street and new sidewalks. The project

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Those (Annoying) Local Cleveland Area Commercials

You can’t get away from them even if you tried. They’re commercials for local Cleveland area businesses. Some of them only seem to come out in the wee hours of the morning. Some get repeated ad nauseam during the morning news shows.The question is – do they work? I suppose only the companies can tell you for sure. But one thing I will tell you, some of them will stick in your mind whether you

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Cleveland's New Avenue District

Artist Rendering of The Avenue DistrictWhen I was working downtown in the Tower at Erieview, my view directly below and to the east was of a dismal parking lot. Thankfully, the parking lot is now becoming The Avenue District, which, as their web site states, “will be a walkable neighborhood weaving seamlessly with The Theatre, Gateway, Civic, and Lakefront Districts and right next door to

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Cleveland’s Local Mid-Morning Talk Shows: A Waste of an Hour

Remember the 1950s-1960s “glory days” of Cleveland’s locally produced television shows? There was The Gene Carroll Show, Polka Varieties, Mike Douglas, Captain Penny, Barnaby, The One O’clock Club, etc. Of course, we only had three to four channels to choose from (if antenna reception was good) so we took whatever we could get and learned to love it. And even though they called it the “glory days

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Cleveland’s Dead Man’s Curve

Cleveland's Dead Man's Curve, I-90 WestboundDead Man’s Curve is one of those Cleveland landmarks that was never intended to be a landmark. The near 90-degree curve is where I-90 takes a hard left where it splits off with Ohio Route 2 westbound, or with a hard right for drivers going eastbound. Constructed in 1959 as part of the Innerbelt project (which started in 1954), it opened with a speed

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