On the move

Gal about town, photo by Bob Perkoski

Dear readership,

Your humble hostess has been doing a whole lot of what is depicted in today's photo: walking around with a cup of coffee, trying not to be late and be engaged and animated when I get to where I'm going. All of it has been ahead on an announcement that is long in coming: I am now the managing editor of Fresh Water Cleveland.

If I could summarize the last couple of weeks, it was as if a distant sound grew louder and louder. As the source neared, it revealed itself to be a great clamoring throng with limbs thrashing and voices roaring. Then it scooped me up and put me atop its bucking self, where I have been barely hanging on ever since.

So it remains until I gain better control of it all.

As you may have heard, we here in Cleveland are expecting a large number of elephants later this year and it is a thrilling time indeed to be in the writing scene in this town. Obviously, I will likely be even more scarce amid these pages than I have been in the past year. You'll find I'm most active over here and to a lesser extent over here.

Lastly, to those of you who have followed me over the years, I offer my profound thanks. You were all part of making me what I am today.

Yours in letters and all sweet magical things,

Erin

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My little chickadee

Frank-n-Goat

Just stick with me on this.

Yes, that is the Goat standing next to a life-size stick figure with a Frank Sinatra head. That wood thingie you see is a would-be palm that folds down. During the month of November, Ol' Blue Eyes gets installed on the exterior walkway of the Cleveland Metroparks' Brecksville Nature Center. The staff then removes the resident bird feeders and fills his wooden palm with sunflower seeds. Eventually, the chickadees, titmice and woodpeckers find Frankie's hand and start feeding from it.

Y'all see where this is going?

Over winter break, Frank gets retired and for scheduled hours, the birdfeeders come down and anyone can mosey into the nature center for a handful of seeds and feed the birds (I wrote about this last week for Freshwater). Despite having lived just a few miles from the Brecksville Reservation for more than 20 years, I did not know about this program until I penned that story. Hence, the Goat, Lil' OB and I went and fed the chickadees earlier this week.

Lil' OB meets a new friend while we warm up by the fire inside
the Brecksville Nature Center

Aw, readership ... it was just about the best thing ever. Those tiny birds check you out a few times, and then land right on your fingers and pluck a seed from your palm.

If you're in the area, get your person over to Brecksville and do this one. It's a short, sweet activity that will be long on memories. Sorry I did not get photos of the feeding, but sometimes your ol' humble hostess likes to simply enjoy the moment instead of recording it.

~tweet tweet~

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Friday news round-up, Erin style

Dear readership,

Yes, I miss you. No, I have no excuse other than to say I have been a very busy little bee. To prove that assertion, here are a few of the things I've been working on this week (with alternative photographs).

Iffin' you miss me, I am most active on Facebook or you can check the ol' twitter feed.

Love, Erin

Upside down guys spied while shedding some light on our watershed.

Stalking the wild pizza on Waterloo.

Discovering a giant WWII relic.

Ducking in to Duck Island.

Whilst on a private freelance assignment.

Photo for no reason that I took somewhere I once was.

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Cleveland cathedral

Heinen's Cleveland, left, future Kimpton Hotel center.

Okay. I admit it already. I fibbed last week when I posted all those photos. I wasn't downtown on a whim, I was covering the opening of the new Heinen's grocery store for Fresh Water.

Here's my article.

Heinen's grand opening

I write a lot about CLE in these hallowed pages, but there is something about the Heinen's project that marks a turning point. The grand opening was simply thrilling.

Got bubbly?

I love that the Heinen family has elevated their family business to unprecedented heights: yes, a local grocer is worthy of selling hamburger, canned corn and paper towels in the grandest of spaces. Yes, every shopper, deserves to browse aisles in a building fit for royalty.

Heinen's Cleveland

Between this, the new Kimpton Hotel going into the historic Schofield Building across the street and the Metropolitan at the 9 in the center of it all, the corner of Euclid and East 9th Street in Cleveland is soon to be one of the premier addresses in the country.
  

Heinen's Cleveland

This is Cleveland, people. There is no stopping this town now.

Heinen's Cleveland

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oWOW!

Ravenna Miceli and Steve Pappas in oWOW's temporary studio

Back in the 1970's, John Gorman was the program director of WMMS, which he rescued from the brink of failure and then transformed it into one of the most successful radio stations in the country.

I grew up on Gorman's WMMS. All of my buddies listened to it all of the time. No other radio station in Cleveland could touch it. We all loved 'MMS. It was the soundtrack of our lives.

WMMS, like most commercial terrestrial radio, has gone so far down the tubes it's practically unlistenable.

Humble hostess (lower left) and associates in 1981.
WMMS was playing in the background

Hence, last week, when Gorman slipped me an tipping me about the launch of his new all-digital radio station oWOW, I was thrilled. He agreed to a studio tour and interview two days before his formal presser.

Fresh Water photographer Bob Perkoski and I met with Gorman and the crew Tuesday. We had a blast. I wrote the article as soon as I got home and it went live Wednesday morning. You can read my coverage here.

Oh, me droogies, how the honey did flow.

We absolutely were the first ones to break the story and it got referenced in one radio insider site after another. What a gas it was to see link after link after link and to see other writers paraphrase my work. At least one just plain stole my copy. The only kick in the ass is that while untold droves of people read those blurbs, people rarely click over to a source story.

Yeah, yeah. We get street cred just the same.

This might be the best part of the whole thing. Today, I tuned into oWOW and, me droogies, you are in for one helluva treat. Remember when music radio was great? When you crushed on the DJ's and imagined they were spinning that one song just for you? Or when you loved the stuff you never heard as much as the standards?

The spirit of WMMS is back and I can finally give all of you a real piece of Cleveland. Just hop on over here and click on the "listen now" tab. Just don't forget where you first heard of oWOW (which was, incidentally, a year and a half ago).

Cleveland rocks indeed.

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Fiber optic 101

John O'Brien's 1993 Mac Color Classic

So this is what it's like behind the scenes.

Today's Fresh Water features a story I wrote about Cleveland's digital renaissance, the centerpiece of which is a 100-gigabit per second (gbps) information superhighway coming to our Health-Tech Corridor by the end of the year. The article does not focus on that, but instead on a handful of grants that will enable some smaller fiber optic projects. My interviewee for the piece was Brett Lindsey, an executive with OneCommunity, the organization that's led the charge behind 2,400 miles of fiber optic cable that's already been installed within 24 northeast Ohio counties.

It is not possible to describe how tolerant and patient Lindsey was during our 25 minute interview and how idiotic I felt upon reviewing it, but after Lindsey's lay description, a bit of research and the writing of the article, I finally understand what the hell is going on.

I do not care if I am the only one who didn't understand it before, I'm explaining it here (I just hope I got my math right).

We pay Cox Communications about $50 a month for Internet service (the miserable blood sucking vampires), which is thusly described on the bill:

Essential Internet Service
Download speeds up to 5 Mbps

Five megabits per second, eh?

Dig this:

1,000,000,000: gigabit
1,000,000: megabit

Mac hookups, 1993, left and 2015, right

Hence, when information travels at one gigabit per second (gbps) through a fiber optic network, it's moving 1,000 times faster than information traveling through a coaxial cable at a megabit per second (mbps). That's because fiber optic cable transmits information via light pulses. My coaxial cable transmits information via a radio frequency signal. So when someone says that fiber optic internet is LIGHTning fast, it's not just an expression.

People, data along the Health-Tech Corridor will travel 20,000 times faster than it does here at the Offices of Erin O'Brien.

TWENTY THOUSAND TIMES FASTER.

In 1993, my brother John paid $1,400 for a then-state of the art Mac Color Classic, which featured an expansive four-megabyte hard drive and a processor that operated at a staggering 16-megahertz. Think that's bad? I'll never forget how we all gathered 'round Dad's first four-function calculator circa 1972. That mysterious and magical machine cost him $400.

I am not kidding.

So it took 20 years for a Mac hard drive to increase by a thousand fold. As for the fiber optic installations in the United States, most are in the nonprofit and commercial sectors.

How long until there's a digital Festivus for the rest of us in the residential sector?

"It's going to be a long process," said Lindsey during our interview. "It's going to take billions of dollars invested across the country to make that happen."

1993 Mac info panel

For those readers who just audibly sighed, there is hope. After all, Netflix and Google reeeeaaaally want to sell us expensive streaming plans. And it's already starting in Austin, Texas and even Chanute, Kansas.

To put this in perspective, my guess is that it will look a lot like the cable television roll out of the 1980's since it means actually connecting a network of cables. Maybe it's closer than you think. You can check here.

Until the United States catches up to countries like South Korea, I shall chug along with my laughable connection knowing my kid will be able to tell her kid what life was like back when she was a kid and internet service was only five megabits per second.

Got buffering?

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It's morning in Cleveland

Superior Viaduct, The Flats, Cleveland

Things have been kindling here for a while, but when guys from New York start coming to a town like Cleveland sniffing around for the sleepers, you know you've turned a corner.

"We're not in Cleveland by accident," one NY developer told me for a story I wrote last week. "We're only in markets that we feel are exploding."

Another guy took a risk on a downtown building in 2007, buying the property and turning it into apartments. His 22 units are full-up now, with 80 on the waiting list.

"As recently as 2003," he told me, "the population on our block was pretty much zero and now it's got to be three or four hundred." His inspiration was a stint living in NYC. "I thought we had the same architectural bones as some of those neighborhoods and the potential to do something similar."

Random photo, Lorain Avenue, Cleveland

I've got another story in the can for next week about yet another developer horning in our market, this one from Chicago.

All of these guys are buying big, old, solid, vintage, cool buildings, because this town has a lot of 'em. This guy, for instance.

Metropolitan at The 9, Cleveland

Now this is completely unrelated--or maybe it isn't--this guy is one of about 30 people in the entire country who knows how to operate a mastering lathe, which is imperative in the making of a vinyl record. I do not know what the exact terms of his lease are, but studio space here is dirt cheap compared to the coasts. He's moving into 78th Street Studios, a big, old, solid, vintage, cool building that is one of the hottest studio spots in town.

Watch this space.

Lake Affect Studios, Cleveland

*  *  *

Down the rabbit hole and into the lake

While researching today's development news story, I was obliged to traverse the West 11th Street foot bridge, which spans Interstate 490.

The Interstate 490/West 11th foot bridge

For some reason, I was horribly disconcerted--it was as if the traffic zooming beneath me would knock me over. You should have seen me trying to keep my eyes forward while pointing the camera here and there, snapping pix in hopes of getting a good one.

View from foot bridge. Yikes!

In any event, on the south side of the bridge lies one of Cleveland's quirkiest and oddest chunks of dirt. Go read the story iffin' you want a peek at one developer's vision for it.

Now then--take my word for it--watch this space. Within five years (ten?) a West 11th Street addy is going to be uber-cool.

*  *  *

Next up, yesterday's story is about some offices that are ... well ... on a boat. The Kearsarge was first launched in 1892 and has the history to prove it. The boat was permanently docked in Cleveland's North Coast Harbor in the late 1980's.

I reported on the software studio LeanDog in 2011 for a feature cataloging the area's most unusual and historic offices. In a partnership with Arras Keathley Advertising, they just sunk $1.5 million into renovations, which is the subject of this week's coverage. Hence, due to your Girl Reporter's intrepid efforts over the years, I can offer up a few before and after shots:

LeanDog galley, 2011

LeanDog/AKA galley, 2014

LeanDog offices, 2011

LeanDog offices, 2014

LeanDog/AKA deck, 2014

Kayak paddles at the ready on the Kearsarge, 2014

The improvements include a new dock, from whence your humble hostess launched upon a 27-foot fishing boat with LeanDog CEO Jon Stahl at the helm and Matthew Volosin, who's in charge of "cadence and execution" at the firm, running crew.

Matt hangs cool on board the firm's fishing boat.
The Kearsarge stands guard in the background.

People, this SO does not suck.

*  *  *

A developing story

Dear readership,

Your humble hostess has taken on the duties of development news editor for Fresh Water Cleveland. Hence for the past couple of weeks, I've been churning out a lot of copy.

It's an interesting time to have such a gig in this town. I've been in CLE my whole life, so I truly understand the transformation that's going on here. I'm at the street level and I have a healthy dose of historic perspective.

Make no mistake: the renaissance is upon us. That I get to be the Girl Reporter delivering all the details is a pretty serendipitous development of its own.

Now for what I've been writing, with some side notes and images.

I rounded up what's next for Waterloo Road in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood for this article. Took a little road trip down there as well and stopped at Raddel's and picked up Slovenian sausage, smokies and jerky. HELL YEAH

Waterloo Road, Cleveland

Waterloo Road, Cleveland

Now it's Downtown to the 5th Street Arcades. Talk about your transformations. I remember going in this place 22 years ago to get my nails done for my wedding. It was downright creepy.

Not any more.

5th Street Arcades, Cleveland

5th Street Arcades, Cleveland

Cleveland Public Library's downtown branch is one of those magical places that inflates me with breath every time I step into it.

Now dig this: pretty soon you'll be able to amble on in there and scan stuff to your heart's content, including items that are 35- by 50-inches (you read that right), for FREE.

Cleveland Public Library, main branch

Cleveland Public Library, main branch

I've also covered new eats coming to the Uptown neighborhood, apartments and homes that are selling out before they're built in Battery Park and a new charter school where grade school tots are immersed in either Mandarin or Spanish.

¿Qué pasa?

Cleveland's Uptown neighborhood, Nov. 2013

I will not tip my hand on what I'm working on for next week, but know this: one of the interviews included a boat ride (!!).

This will still be the place for my errant commentary and essay, but I must admit that I interact quite a bit on Evil Overlord Facebook, iffin' you're in a mind to friend me over there. I will probably post most of my stories here, particularly if I have an interesting photo or side note to add.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. It means more to me than you know.

*  *  *

Hells Angels, centenarians and a steaming dish of paprikash

My efforts for this week's Fresh Water include everything I've mentioned in this post's title as well as something a tad more subtle: a nod to Cleveland's unsung immigrants.

So while Coke can sing about America the beautiful in seven different languages, I'm happy to sing about Cleveland the beautiful in English, Hungarian, German, Hebrew and Lebanese.

Yes, really. Now go read the article.

Balaton, where the Irish Hungarian goes for homemade Hungarian.

*  *  *

From my latest Q & A for Fresh Water with self-described culture worker RA Washington.

~~

Rumor has it you use a manual typewriter. What gives?

RA Washington

It’s about a connection to a legacy of art being work and writers being connected to work, and not being so precious with our little devices. It's also a way to slow my process down and to honor the fact that my grandfather and my father and my great grandfather all worked with their hands.

~~

I happen to know for a fact that RA uses a typewriter because I happened into a CLE watering hole once and saw him clacking away at the bar.

Free cutting edge music, books for prisoners and a mysterious character named Roi Da Moor are all part of the Q&A, so drop in and give it a read.

Inside RA's bookstore Guide to Kulchur. Light fixture by Dana Depew.

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Hidden CLE

This week's Fresh Water features an article I just loved to research and write: hidden CLE, the coolest things in plain site you've likely never seen.

After finishing up my interview with architect Jennifer Coleman, I took a recon/field trip and visited all the hidden gems in order to get a better handle on my content. The Goat and I made a morning of it and had a blast. Predictably, I took a bunch of photos. Here's a sampling of them to accompany the article. Click on any to enlarge.

The Prospect Avenue Row House Group

The Weizer Building at East 118 and Buckeye Road

The Goat helped scope out the scene

The Esmond, where rockers and bachelors used to romp

The Hoyt Block Atrium

And a special delivery courtesy of Mark Reigelman during a fairer season

*  *  *

What I know about the house on Seymour Avenue

If you walk due west from 2207 Seymour Avenue and take a left onto West 25th Street; and then go south for one block, you'll find yourself in front of John Zubal’s place. His sprawling collection of books numbers upwards of 2.5 million and has captured the attention of Anthony Bourdain as well as yours truly.

I cannot aptly describe in words or show in pictures the divinity of this place, but it is indeed a wonder. Consider, for instance, that a large portion of the books are housed in vintage wooden pear and fruit crates that Zubal collected as a kid from area open air markets. As I walked amid the stacks of books with John Zubal and heard his story last fall, I welled up in that rare way.

Oh Cleveland, how you do me sometimes.

Now then, this is Cleveland and you are in a very old part of town. Hence you don't have to travel much farther away from Seymour Avenue in order to find another solid example of authenticity.

Head back out onto 25th Street and stroll south down to Meyer Avenue--don't dawdle, this neighborhood can be a bit rough around the edges--okay, maybe more than a little bit rough and maybe in the middle as well, but your next destination is less than a half mile. Take a right onto Meyer and go due west until you get to 30th.

Stop.

No matter how humble that brick building looks, you are standing in front of one of this town's most splendid jewels. Holtkamp Organ Company has been handcrafting pipe organs in Cleveland since 1855 and when you step inside the "new shop" (built in 1921), your eyes will widen and the breath will push out of your lungs in a big wondrous sigh.

I know. I was just there for an interview for this story in this week's Fresh Water.

Voicing studio, Holtkamp Organ Company

I hope with all my heart that Amanda and Gina and Michelle find the rest of their lives soon and that the guilty pay the appropriate price. We will never erase this ugliness, but it will diminish with time. As for that tough old Cleveland neighborhood that I love so dearly--don't listen to everything they're saying about you. They don't understand, but I do. I know how hard you tried. May you heal quickly too. I know you will, you quirky beautiful grid of streets. You always do.

*  *  *

A Christmas Story House

--The interview I conducted with John Zubal was for a shopping guide I wrote for Ohio City Argus last year. You can view it here (pages 8 and 9). Each entry focuses on a homegrown CLE business and every one of them is less than a mile from the house on Seymour Avenue.

--Cleveland Vibrator is about a mile and a half from the house, as is Palookaville Chili.

--My favorite breakfast spot in Cleveland, Grumpy's, is about 3/4 mile from Seymour, as is A Christmas Story House.

This list could go on and on, but you get the picture.

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