The View from Chicago’s Favorite Suburb
When I moved to Phoenix three years ago I expected to feel disconnected from my Midwestern roots. But it turned out a lot of Chicago had made its way here.
What’s in A Name? Cleveland’s Brooklyn Centre
What’s in a name? In my neighborhood, confusion. Countless lifelong Greater Clevelanders have asked me, “So what part of town do you live in?” and I always begin my answer, “Well, the city calls it ‘Brooklyn Centre,’ but...”
Archie the Talking Snowman
I wasn’t having any of it. My mother brought my older sister and me to Chapel Hill Mall each year to visit with Archie the Talking Snowman. But I wasn’t fooled. Snowmen don’t talk, and I didn’t trust the disembodied voice that floated from above.
Coming Up ‘Down the Hill’ On Peoria’s South Side
At the intersection of State and Washington Streets in the Warehouse District of downtown Peoria, a city of about 116,000 that sits halfway between Chicago and St. Louis on the Illinois River, stands a nine-foot-tall bronze likeness of the city’s most infamous native son.
Slavic Village: A Guide
To visit Slavic Village, preferably wait until a bitterly cold evening in February, and in the dark and the snow, take the I-77 North exit for Pershing Avenue. Turn west, and as the road becomes a dead-end, ignore the sparseness of the streetlights and the horrifying industrial shapes rearing up from the barbed-wire fences on either side of you.
The Opposite of Cool: Parma’s Ukrainian Village
by George Mount excerpted from The Cleveland Neighborhood Guidebook There’s an effort in Cleveland to recreate what it once [...]
Visiting Gritty South Bend & Glitzy Notre Dame, Two Sides of the Rust Belt
By Matt Altstiel If you’ve ever watched Parks & Recreation, you’re familiar with the dichotomy between run-down yet plucky [...]
Here on the Ground: An Introduction
There’d better be a blimp in here. Seriously: if there is not a blimp in this book, I’m going to return it to the library I stole it from. Right now, I’m like you, Dear Reader. I haven’t read this book yet. I don’t know what’s in it. We’re both here at the beginning. I know what I want. You know what you want.
We Are Good In Glenville: A Visit To The Honey Do Club Neighborhood Bar
Cleveland is a city of neighborhoods. Each tells a story with its own unique culture and history, the restaurant you have to eat at, and of course, a neighborhood bar. Being a Glenville resident my entire life, one would assume that I have ventured to my own neighborhood bar before 2015.
When The Number 9 Bus Was Like Home, And Downtown Was My Playground
I strained my neck to look down the row of occupied orange seats to see who was getting on the bus. A big crowd -- I should slide over close to the window, scrunching my book bag on my lap...
Homecoming Of A Clevelander In Exile
I’ve finally returned home to Cleveland after a ten-year absence. While away, first at college and then for a drawn-out period of military service, I kept up on Cleveland happenings ...
After The World Ends, What Next?
If you, like I did, woke up on summer mornings with a mini boom box and a blank tape to listen for hours on end waiting for The Foo Fighters or Everclear or Rage Against the Machine or ...