On Being a Regular

There are maybe three or four restaurants in Cleveland that make me genuinely happy. Shay's at East 40th and St. Clair is one of them. The perfect urban vibe.

Miles to Go

The closing of Randall Park Mall on June 12 brought to mind an earlier, more significant loss in the same area, when the long-inactive Miles Drive-In finally came down. It had been abandoned for years but had been allowed to stand, its delicate blue and salmon hues weathering bravely in the harsh northeast Ohio winters.

At one point there was a brief mention in the press of some desultory movement toward restoring and re-opening the drive-in, but that obviously went nowhere. Over the years, unremarkable office buildings and small businesses grew up around it.

Its disappearance went unheralded. Now it's a housing development.
Canon EOS, Fuji Reala. Photos from 2004.

Drive-thru ticket booth. From first-ever Holga roll.

Carnival Truck

Carnival ride packed up and ready to move on after a weekend stint at a church near Kamm's Corners on Cleveland's west side.

First outing, summer 2005, with the magnificent Rapid-Omega 200, 90mm Super Omegon lens. Fuji Acros.

The Big Q

After Garfield 1-2323, the Big Q's late-night TV jingle was one of the most noteworthy in Cleveland, in part thanks to a melody pitched higher than the singer's range allowed. Woodland Avenue just west of east 55th street in the Maingate business area.

Closed for the last number of years, but the lovely signage remains -- for now.

Canon EOS Rebel, Fuji Reala.

Chrysler Imperial Castle

Little pocket digital, 05-31-08.

Lorain-Carnegie Bridge

I never liked its renaming, in the last years of the 20th century, as the Hope Memorial Bridge. Apparently an attempt to pay homage to Bob Hope, who was born in Cleveland and lived here briefly, making him one of those expatriated native sons that Cleveland likes to crow about.

Hope's father, a stonemason from England, was one of the hundreds of laborers who worked on it, hence the new name. At the time of the renaming, an old photo was published of the crew that built it, arrayed on one of the huge, sculpted pylons (dubbed "The Guardians of Traffic"). One of the tiny, indistinguishable faces was identified as Hope senior. Would it have been more accurate to call it the William Henry Hope Memorial Bridge?

Canon EOS Rebel 2000, Ektachrome.

Guardian of Stagecoaches. Koni-Omega Rapid M, 90mm lens, Ilford Delta 100.

Two views from the bridge. Koni-Omega Rapid M, 90mm lens, Ilford Delta 100.

West 25th St. Dance Club

Now closed. Many neighborhood complaints about late-night mayhem contributed to the shuttering about six years ago. The heavy bronze statues remained for a few more years and then were gone. One seems to have shown up in a councilman's back yard for a brief while, but the councilman denied it was one of these, and it disappeared shortly thereafter, according to reports in the Beige Lady. Given their size and weight, they wouldn't be the easiest thing to haul around. Where are they now?

Holga 120 with Tri-X.