By Jamie Shearer

Most of the time when I mention Gordon Square in a conversation, people don’t know what I’m talking about – which is disappointing.

“It’s around West 65th and Detroit,” I tell them.

GordonSquare sAnd as I can see them trying to place West 65th and Detroit on the map in their head, my mind wanders there as well.

Thinking about it gives me warm feelings all over – the kind you get when you think about the love of your life or seeing goodness in others or having a 10-year scotch after a long day.

I want to tell people this as they’re trying to picture this nook in between Lakewood and Ohio City. I want them to know that I had the best first date of my life at XYZ Tavern, and my “hand stitched in the 216” Yellowcake dresses mean the most to me of any in my wardrobe because half of them are literally one of a kind, and sometimes the only thing getting me through a rough workday is the thought of raiding Gypsy’s extensive pastry case of muffins, cheesecake and magic bars (bonus: if you go during tax season, you’ll most likely see the Liberty Tax man in a red Statue of Liberty costume dancing on the corner of West 65th and Detroit like it’s his job. Well, you know…)

But rather than overwhelm them, I keep it simple.

“It’s my favorite place to go,” is what I usually tell them instead. “Let me know if you want to go to Whiskey Wednesday at XYZ sometime.”

This is an ongoing series; additional Readers’ Corner readings can be found here.

Have a special Rust Belt place you’d like to share — a corner, block, or bend in a river? We would love to hear your thoughts about it. Send us a snapshot and up to 250 words about one specific place in the Rust Belt that is meaningful — or funny, or curious — to you. Email it to us at [email protected]. We will publish our favorites (giving extra attention to entries that come from our members, whose support enables us to publish new features like this), and send the winners a T-shirt.

Have you checked out our Kickstarter yet?