If you walk down West 9th towards the big blue Shoreway bridge (originally called the Main Avenue Bridge or Viaduct) and go a few feet past Lakeside Avenue, you can see these old worn down steps that go right into the National Terminal Apartment parking lot fence. Time for some research, I thought. I want to know what was there before the blacktop and who may have been walking up and down these. Was it a small business? Somebody’s home? Apartments? Cemetery? I needed to find out. The steps rest between the 1100 and 1200 addresses according to google maps and have got to be well over 100 years old. I need a photo. My search so far has only been online but thanks to the CSU photo archives I was able to find this!
If you look closely in the building in the left foreground, you can see a gentleman standing in the establishment that is now Club Liquid.
It took a lot of searching but as soon as I saw this old pic I got a huge case of the heebie-jeebies! There it was! A building of some sorts! A house? Mansion? Still have no idea. I printed it out and ran down the street to get to the point where the photograph was originally taken. The photo was taken up a few floors above what is now Bob Golic’s Sports Bar on the corner of 6th and Lakeside. If you look real close you can see a little path from the building I have marked. That’s right where the steps are! So it’s not much, but at least it’s a start. Stay tuned for my next blog. Hopefully I’ll have uncovered some names and dates of this building. I believe there’s a reason for everything. Maybe these steps have something to say.
Here at Melamed Riley, we love our cereal. So much so, that we’ve been known to take out multiple boxes of rainbow-colored excellence in a single week. Seriously, if Trix are for kids, then get all of us jobs at Toys“R”Us, ‘cause we don’t want to grow up. What’s more, nothing stimulates the creative process quite like a bowl full of swirly, fruitalicious goodness.
No silly rabbits were harmed in the making of this blog post.
Being in a business driven by the quantity and quality of the ideas we generate, I was wondering where our people do their best thinking. Here are the results of my survey.
Implication: We need to put our office on wheels. (And take turns driving.)
Cleveland must be the most misunderstood city in the world. We’ve nearly just finished licking our wounds after Forbes dubbed us “The Most Miserable City in the U.S.” and now a recent Gallup poll has Cleveland ranked third on its list of “Most Stressful Metropolitan Areas.” Huh? I don’t know about you, but these surveys are giving me hypertension.
And I respectfully disagree for a lot of reasons — more than I can name here. Instead, I offer you an abbreviated list of my own: The Top Five Reasons Why Life in Cleveland is NOT Stressful.
1. Commuting. Sure, we share the road with a lot of orange barrels. But our commute is a breeze compared to many other major metropolitan areas. What’s more, the city itself is easy to navigate by car, foot or pedal — and that means a lot coming from an individual like myself, who was born with no internal compass whatsoever and needs a Garmin just to get through department stores.
2. Food. We eat when we’re stressed, and there aren’t many cities that can boast the kind of eats we have here in Cleveland. We seem to have a knack of making “comfort food gone gourmet” and you won’t have to sweat getting a reservation at our hot spots like they do in New York.
3. Water. Is there anything more calming than water? The answer is no. The proof is in Enya videos. Anyway, we’ve got water and plenty of it here. The view of Lake Erie is like looking out to the ocean — the water stretches beyond the horizon, as far as the eye can see. We even concept out here when the office gets too hectic. Scenic rivers and streams wind through the Cleveland Metroparks, offering kayakers and fishing enthusiasts alike a great place to blow off steam. And it’s hard to be stressed when you’re asleep on Huntington Beach, unless the guy playing acoustic guitar nearby is really that terrible.
5. Community. From intramural leagues to art exhibitions to an amazing music scene, there are about a million ways to get away from your worries for awhile. Perhaps the only stressful thing is deciding what to do with your free time!
I could go on and on, but frankly, naming everything that makes life easy here in Cleveland would take me awhile, and I’d much rather relax. Feel free to add your Cleveland-style stress management tips in the comments!
When I first decided to venture out on Lolly the Trolley, I half expected an animated trolley with a cartoonish face – much like Thomas the Tank Engine. And, in a way, that’s exactly what I encountered … a friendly-faced tour company that’s been educating wide-eyed passengers for the past 25 years.
From the moment I called to make the reservation to the clearly marked signage – in an otherwise very confusing part of town – to the buoyant saleswoman at the ticket counter to our jovial driver, Dave, my whole customer experience felt straight outta Mister Rogers’ hood. Prior to takeoff, Dave took a poll of where we were from and what brought us to Cleveland. As you might expect, there were people from all over; California, Georgia, Virginia, Ohio and even a couple from Germany.
A room with a view.
By the time we departed, the trolley was just about full. I was lucky enough to get a window seat – prime placement for optimum picture taking. They offer one- and two-hour tours. I opted for the two-hour tour, in order to consume as much of Cleveland’s history as possible in one sitting. The tour is chock-full of valuable information about hidden city treasures that otherwise go unnoticed, from subway signs signaling stations no longer in service to working lamps from the late 1800s. Did you know the home of The Daily Planet, the newspaper where Clark Kent worked, was modeled after the AT&T building downtown? I don’t want to give too much away, so next time you have an afternoon to spare, go get your learn on with Lolly.
It's not hand delivered by some dude named Jacques, but this photo is way more appealing than a giant white truck, no?
So maybe I had a spiritual awakening with my first bite. Maybe not. It was damn close, though. Euphoric? A moment of clarity? Can’t really describe my experience but Holy Boulangeries, Batman, this bread is fantastic! It’s Cuisine de France Demi Parisian Bread and the only place I know to get it is at Constantino’s Market on West 9th here in Cleveland. What’s so great about this bread over all others, you ask? I haven’t a clue. It’s just a freshly baked 8.5 oz hunk of French (Okay, who are we kidding. It’s actually made in Illinois) heaven. You don’t need butter. You can make small party sandwiches. Hell, even toast it if you gotta with some cherry jelly! I, however, just like to rip it out of its paper sheath and chomp away like a pirate or viking. (Now do you see how fun this bread can be?) So, for around 8 Francs you too can have your own personal out-of-body experiences or medieval-like feelings! Maybe you won’t. Just be sure to let me know what you think.
Hats off to our own Joseph Hughes, whose awesome illustration is featured on the cover of the highly-anticipated Longshot Magazine, Issue One. Participants were given 24 hours and the theme “Comeback”. From thousands of written works, photographs and illustrations submitted, only a handful were selected for publication. We love the warm, fuzzy feeling we get from Joseph’s 8-bit tribute to the challenging rebuilding process in the Big Easy – clearly the editors did too!
Congrats, Joseph! Learn more about this awesome project here.
Darin and his 2009 Pontiac G6 GT: It's a love-hate relationship.
Every car has a story, as told by its owner. Today’s storyteller: Darin Hintz
It’s no secret. If it were up to Darin Hintz, a graphic designer and prank specialist here at Melamed Riley, bike paths wouldn’t be called bike paths, they’d just be called “roads.” Roads with nary an automobile in sight. The problem is Darin, like the rest us here, works in Cleveland – and Cleveland is commuter country. Combine that with the fact that Darin has three sons to tote around, and you’ve got a cyclist who must also double as a driver.
When Darin is forced to ride on four wheels instead of two, he does so in a 2009 Pontiac G6 GT. He purchased it in 2009 as a pre-owned vehicle with 18,000 miles on the odometer. Darin’s managed to rack up another 18,000 miles in one year’s time, making it obvious he spends a little more time behind the wheel of his hunk of Detroit metal than he’d prefer.
Patrick: What’s your favorite thing about your G6 GT?
Darin: The Tsunami® sound system, especially when it’s playing the Beastie Boys.
What about your least favorite thing?
The child seats in the back. Being a dad is great, but every time I look at the backseat, it ruins the car for me.
Oh, the joys of parenthood.
What’s the one thing you refuse to let passengers do while in your car?
No food or drink, but that rule is usually broken on long road trips. And, of course, I’m allowed to drink coffee and do whatever else that I want.
So on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “absolutely disgusting” and 10 being “spotless,” how clean or dirty is your G6 GT?
I’d say a 5.
When the kids aren’t in the car, how do you stay entertained?
Racing idiots down Lake Avenue to get onto the Shoreway. Whoever is in the right lane when it ends tries to cut in front of everyone in the left lane. Sometimes I’m the guy in the right lane, sometimes I’m not.
Speaking of racing, what’s the fastest you’ve ever driven?
In my G6? 90 mph. Ever? 130mph in a ’79 Pontiac Trans Am with a 6.6 liter V8.
Sounds like fun. Any memorable instances involving you and road rage?
Well, I wasn’t the guy with the rage, but years back when I had my Jeep, a guy thought my car had rolled back into his rusted out Chevy Impala. I might have. I know I hit something, but I thought it might have been the guy in the Impala hitting me. He ran me off the road, and by the end of it, I was just telling him “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” There’s no way I did any damage to his beat up Impala, but the guy was scary – and pretty seedy looking.
Please share the road, even if you're an angry man in a rusty Impala.
It seems like texting and driving is causing a lot of road rage incidents these days. Do you ever text and drive?
I do, but you shouldn’t.
What’s one driving law you really hate?
I can’t stand the idea of red light cameras.
Getting back to cars, what was your first ride?
My Grandpa’s 1980 two-tone gold Chevy Caprice. I brought it with me on a spring break trip and almost drove it into the ocean. You were allowed to drive on the beach back then, and I drove a little too close to the waves.
What’s one feature you wish your G6 had?
A stick shift. That’d be nice.
If you’re not already driving it, what’s your dream car?
A ’67 Corvette.
Nice, but back to your G6. Would you recommend it to a friend?
Oh yeah. Definitely.
Finally, what’s an unwritten rule of the road you always follow?
It’s not really a rule, but I always beep my horn whenever I cross a state border. It’s kind of a family tradition.
Since the inception of Melamed Riley in 2004, the agency has been a proud supporter of United Way of Greater Cleveland, running employee campaigns every year, including several Pacesetter campaigns. But for our big-hearted president, financial donations are just the tip of the love-berg.
Our very own Sarah Melamed also gives generously of her time as a member of the organization’s Board of Directors. She also co-chairs the Women’s Leadership Council, a new initiative designed to educate and engage women to become actively involved in leadership, philanthropy, volunteerism and advocacy. And she’s served as a volunteer on United Way’s Small Business Cabinet. That’s quite a hefty commitment. So no wonder when they asked for more of her time, she flipped them …
… some flapjacks! For many years running, Sarah has donned an apron and expertly manned a griddle for United Way’s annual Campaign Kick-Off and Pancake Flip. And while Sarah was the only one from the agency contributing their cooking ability, we all contributed our eating skills. It’s the least we could do.
Stephanie knows that pancakes fuel creativity. Fact.
Patrick: Excited about the Browns. Excited about breakfast.
Our resident social media expert Rachel displays a natural talent for product placement.
Sarah, Rick and Jim enjoy the fruits of Sarah's labor.
