Anybody home?....

I was surprised by the lack of people on the streets in downtown Cleveland and the number of large buildings that are sitting empty. There were a number of people around the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, of course, as well as the nearby harbor where there are some maritime museums. Just a few blocks up the hill from the harbor, however was a commercial area of retail store fronts on the street level with good sized office buildings above. Many retail store fronts are empty and there are very few people walking around on the streets in the middle of the day except around the Federal Building. Susan and I went to an indoor retail mall called the Galleria around 4:00pm and we were virtually the only people in there except the workers in the food court. Even the upscale area I previously wrote about (East 4th Street) had few people about at 4:30pm. Michael Symon was sitting at a table outside his restaurant talking with a couple of other guys, but not much else happening.

When we stopped into Flannery's Irish Pub for a drink, I asked about the lack of people and was told that downtown Cleveland has been like that for a number of years. While the current economic situation has exacerbated the situation, this is a rust belt city that has been in decline for a long time. I was told that Cleveland was booming about 30-40 years ago, but it has been steadily going downhill since then.

It's a real shame. Downtown Cleveland is very clean and the people who work down there are all very friendly and helpful. It has a nice safe feel to it. There are some nice attractions (Rock and Roll HOF, Science Museum, Browns Stadium, Indians Stadium, etc.) and the East 4th Street area is really nice. In fact, as we moved on from Flannery's to Lola's for dinner, the East 4th Street pedestrian area started to fill up with people. By the time we left Lola's around 7:00pm to head back to the hotel, all the restaurants in the area were buzzing.

I guess the bottom line is: if you get the opportunity to go to Cleveland and hang out for a day or two, we can recommend it. We had a good time and certainly ate well.