If we have given some attention in this Cleveland chapter to the traffic of the Great Lakes, it is, as we have already intimated, because the traffic of the Great Lakes has made her the Sixth City. It has also made the most important of her industries, the very greatest of her fortunes. Your Cleveland man will tell you of one of these before you leave the pier edge. It was the fortune that an old Lake captain left at his death a little time ago the fortune a mere matter of some twenty-eight millions of dollars. The old captain knew the Lakes and he had studied their traffic all his life. But his will directed that his money should not be expended in the building of ships. It provided that at least a quarter of a million of the income should annually go to the purchase of Cleveland real estate. And Cleve-land was quick to explain that it was not that the old man loved shipping less, but that he loved Cleveland real estate more. He had the gift of foresight.

If you would see that foresight in his own eyes drive out Euclid avenue — that broad thoroughfare that leads from the old-fashioned Public Square in the heart of the city straight toward the southeast. Euclid avenue gained its fame in other days. Travelers used to come back from Cleveland and tell of the glories of that highway. Alas, today those glories are largely those of memory. The old houses still sit in their great lawns, but the grime of the city’s industry has made them seem doubly old and decadent, while Commerce has pushed her smart new shops out among them to the very sidewalk line. Many of these shops are given over to the automobile business — a business which does not hesitate in any of our towns to transform resident streets into commercial. But in Cleveland one may partly forgive the audacity of this particular trade in recognition of its perspicacity. For Euclid avenue, rapidly growing now from an entirely residential street into an entirely business highway, is the great automobile thoroughfare of the East Side of the city. And when you consider that one out of every ten Cleveland families has a motor car, you can begin to estimate the traffic through Euclid avenue.

There is a West Side of Cleveland — you might al-most say, of course — but one does not come to know it until he comes to know Cleveland well. The city is builded upon a high plateau that rises in a steep bluff from the very edge of the lake. Through this plateau, at the very bottom of a ravine, wide and deep, the navigable Cuyahoga twists its tortuous way into Lake Erie. It seems as if that ravine must almost have been cut to test the resources of the bridge-builders of America. For it has been their problem to keep the Sixth City from becoming entirely severed by her great water artery. They have solved it by the construction of one huge steel viaduct after another but the West Side remains the West Side and always somewhat jealous of the East. She knows that the great public buildings of Cleveland — that comprehensive civic center plan to which we shall come in a moment — are fixed for all time upon the East. And so when Cleveland decides to build a great new city hall, the West Side demands and receives the finest market house in all the land.

Cleveland is competing against the 50 most populous U.S. cities for the SustainLane Local Action Challenge, an awareness campaign before the December 2009 Climate Conference in Copenhagen. To add points to the city’s score, simply upload a photo and caption of a carbon-lowering step you’re taking here. (You can also get ideas on what to do at the site).

I wish I had a photo of me riding my bike to work to submit.

so here we are, in the HALLE”s annex of Westgate mall, long gone and the three heads show up and wouldn’t ya know i get a big feature on the darn show ? i went to a school function later that night and everyone had seen it, it was like i was this lame star, no onesaid ” what the heck were you doing dressed up like it’s confirmation eating WELSH RAREBIT for chris’s sake ? ”

And here are all of them:

• Cleveland Vignette - holiday @ Market Tavern in 197?
• Cleveland Vignette - Monday again…
• Cleveland Vignette - THURSDAY/ Early ConCert!
• Cleveland Vignette - WEDNESDAY : 87 Downtown ( yeah, it’s a little too late )
• Cleveland Vignette - Tuesday : 55th Hotel

These days it still helps to be at least a little tough; a fiercely blue-collar ethos endures. But instead of abandoning the city, local entrepreneurs and bohemian dreamers alike are sinking roots; opening a wave of funky boutiques, offbeat art galleries and sophisticated restaurants; and injecting fresh life into previously rusted-out spaces.

Don’t miss the slideshow or the Cleveland Travel Guide (with links to other Cleveland stories). A lot of these people and places I’ve been talking up for years, so it is nice to see the NYT finally get on the bandwagon. If you’re not, it’s time for you to do the same.

I startle a cleaning crew resting in the warm night. They speak quietly, focusing on their cigarettes until I’ve passed. A distant burst of raucous laughter.

With both his hands he labors at the knots;
His holy fillets the blue venom blots;

Access to the river, access to the lake, both difficult, it can be easier to dismiss what’s across the water.

Hedwig says there ain’t much difference between a bridge and wall… and in Cleveland’s blackest heart we are sometimes a city of both.

1,048,460 pounds of 64 Pollutants were released withing 9 miles of Cleveland. Drilling down you can see a whole list of pollutants from places like ArcelorMittal Steel including the delivery method of the pollution and how many pounds of the pollutant were released.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a great way to discover meaningful data about our town that would otherwise be quite hard to track down.

The Poles, Ukrainians and Italians have continued their diaspora, and the neighborhoods adapt to reflect the new children. The peppered moth evolved rapidly through the industrial era, changing color as survival demanded. Cleveland has always been a minority-driven immigrant city, the faces have just changed. Ignore that and you ignore Cleveland.

But I’ve never made it to the observation deck for its fantastic views. Now that the scaffolding is gone, I feel like an old friend has shown me an long-held secret, something that makes our friendship new again.

Every day this week, I’m going to paint a picture of the Cleveland I know in exactly 100 words.

On Sunday evening I was kneading bread dough when the bells started to chime. It made me wonder what it was like to live during a time when Cleveland was dense with Catholic immigrants…

I think I’ll do it too:

There’s an older lady in Tremont who rides the bus around the neighborhood all day. I would frequently see her at the laundromat where she would tell anybody everybody’s business. She would, and still might, buy scratch-off lottery tickets one at a time from the convenience store next door. I’ve moved, but whenever I ride the 81, I know she’ll get picked up in front of St. John Cantius and dropped off right before Clark Avenue.

I like to think there are people like this in every neighborhood; motivated to no immediately apparent purpose, but busy-bee regular; a necessary Cleveland fauna.

What’s your 100-word Cleveland story for today?

We’re just practicing what we preached back June: collaboration & cooperation instead of competition, and a focus on cyberspace over meatspace.

I’m a mild typography enthusiast, and ever since I read about Clearview in the New York Times two years ago, I’ve been waiting for a chance to see it in the wild. It finally showed up in Cleveland a couple of months ago, and I’m quite impressed with it.

If you’ve noticed that driving on the Interstate highways around Cleveland has been a bit easier of late, this new signage is partially responsible for it. Clearview was specifically designed for use on highways; its increased legibility means you can read the signs faster and earlier than the old signs that use the Highway Gothic font.

In addition to the safety improvements, the font can be used without a corresponding increase in sign size. It indirectly saves lives and money lost to property damage and also directly saves money in production costs.

Here’s a local comparison:

What I’ve noticed most, in addition to the increased height of the lower-case letters, is how the tail on lower-case “l” glyph is almost invisible to a quick glance, yet still manages to distinguish the letter from an upper-case “I”. (Unlike the font in this post). I’ve also noticed how much faster I can read the new signs, so I can keep my eye on the road that much longer.

If you’d like to read up a bit more on the methodology behind this change (and see some better graphics depicting what’s different) I recommend checking out the following:

• Clearview: A New Typeface for US Highways
• ClearviewHWY

The Great

• Bridget Ginley found an injured caterpillar and ended up with her own temporary pet butterfly.
• James Renner and a couple of other Clevelanders are putting their adventure to retrace the steps of Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye and meet J.D Salinger online. Called Catching Salinger, this six part series already has the first four episodes posted.

The Good

Cleveland Bachelor maintains his high quality post ratio with his interview of Leia Alligator and a discussion of where you can find the best pancakes in town. Reminds me of my quest to find the best burger in Cleveland four years ago…

The Neutral

The Goats lost their water and found out WTF was happening using Twitter - Cleveland Water Department Fail.

The Bad

Def Aliens is a poison-pen blog that rips on the indie/punk Cleveland music scene. A la Le Corbeau (but without the Nazis, so far). It’s been doing it’s job well, even though its methods are rather primitive. Can’t really say that I agree with anything that has been written on it, but then again, I love everything about Cleveland music.

This afternoon, I’ll be stopping by the Ohio City Bike Coop to interview Jim Sheehan. I took their bike repair course this spring and learned a trike-load of great maintenance skills. I’ll be talking to Jim about cycling in Cleveland, how to Coop is doing during this recession summer, and the usual Blackheart Cleveland stuff.

We’ve got your back Christine:

A while back, I encouraged my friends and neighbors to take the cleveland.com challenge. Since then, I’ve been told by many people that I’m fighting a losing battle. Here’s what I’ve got to say about that.

When we flee to our own corners of the Internet, where we only talk to those people who think like us, we are doing something terrible that (particularly in Cleveland) we should do better to avoid — i.e., we are committing a sin analagous to suburban flight. We are taking our intellectual tax base out to the edges, and leaving our core community to crumble.

The Good

• Russ Miller at Finite Jest unearths a hilarious mis-translated review of Cleveland from the original Québécois. (The actual article dates from 2007 and can be found here.)
• Jenita McGowan at Lustfelt 4 My Rustbelt spent her staycation well.
• The Beachland Ballroom has the lowdown on the Waterloo Arts Festival and its ancillary activities this weekend in Collinwood.

The Bad

• Chronic pessimist Jeff Buster wants somebody (else, apparently) to start a recall of the County Commissioners, and says Mike Polk’s tourism video is “harmonious with my outlook on Leveland” {sic} while considering this video to be spammy. Here’s some free advice, Jeff: stop complaining, start the recall yourself, and look up the definition of parody. You’re not helping.
• Todd Meany of Fox 8 gives another piece of evidence to those who claim TV News is a joke by doing a ridiculous story about a black bear. Read the rave reviews:
  • “A work of retarded brilliance” - JuicyPips
  • “I know what you’re thinking: “That can’t be real.” Oh, but it is.” - Fresno Beehive
  • “This video is like something that The Onion would do.” - Exploding Wumpus
  • “The recreation of the bear movement is fantastic - journalism at its best.” - Flood at MetaFilter
  • “A ridiculous story.” - Kyle Brady
  • “They call this reporting?” - Van Santos

  BHC will have a better version of this story for you sometime next week.

The Ugly

Guy Templeton Black at RealNEO pretends he’s a ‘pediphile priest’ and tries to grab his dog’s penis. We don’t really understand what this has to do with Catholic foot fetishism, but here’s the video:

A Cookie & A Cupcake