Cleveland Showdown: East vs. West - Neighborhoods, Food, and Fun

Which side of Cleveland truly reigns supreme: East or West? Join us as we host a spirited debate with local experts Tony Bogan, Jordan Whetson, Steve Thompson, and Wendy Kunash, each bringing their unique perspectives to the table. Tony passionately advocates for the close-knit communities and notable suburbs of the east side, while Jordan finds charm and spacious homes on the west side irresistible. Steve stands by the west side’s allure with its professional sports and vibrant nightlife, and Wendy shares her balanced experiences from all corners of the city. Prepare yourself for a deep dive into Cleveland's neighborhood dynamics.

Next, immerse yourself in the best of Cleveland’s cultural and recreational offerings. From the dazzling Playhouse Square, the second-largest theater district in the U.S., to the iconic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, our panelists have got you covered. Outdoor enthusiasts will find paradise at Cuyahoga Valley National Park and along local rivers perfect for water sports. We also explore the infectious energy of downtown sporting events, and recommend scenic spots like Headlands Beach and hidden gems like the house where Superman was created. Whether you’re a local or a visitor, discover the myriad ways to experience Cleveland to the fullest.

Foodies and suburban explorers, this episode is for you! We delve into Cleveland's rich dining scene, spotlighting favorites from downtown hotspots to suburban culinary treasures. Our guests also highlight prime suburbs like Willoughby and Shaker Heights, and discuss top venues for concerts and weddings. From Tony’s beloved taco joints to Jordan’s fine dining picks, Steve’s hearty fare favorites, and Wendy’s family-friendly spots, this episode offers a comprehensive guide to enjoying life in Cleveland. Tune in and taste, tour, and treasure the best of what this vibrant city has to offer.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 2:18

Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. This is your special guest, host Fitty, and today I bring you a great episode about all things Cleveland, with some great Cleveland people here who are going to talk about a lot of wonderful things within the city, in the suburbs and everything in between. Before we get into that, let's make sure we check out all the sponsors in the pre-roll, in the post-roll, and support these great businesses. We did get a new sponsor for the podcast and I want to do a quick promo read for them and give them a shout out, and that's Buddy's Beard Care. Buddy's Beard Care provides premium men's grooming products at an affordable price. Products are made in Ohio and Buddy's Beard Care supports local. The majority of their supplies from the companies are from Ohio-based small businesses. You can find them on social media at Buddies Beard Care or find them online at wwwbuddiesbeardcarecom. Shop small and support these great businesses or start this show, not wrap it up quite yet.

Speaker 1: 3:23

Start this show and we talk about all things Cleveland. We're going to be touching on a lot of great things here with a great panel of guests. I'm going to let them introduce themselves, tell you about if they're from Cleveland or not, and if they work in the city limits. So I'm going to start. Everybody knows me, john Fittifoe Coney. I live in the suburbs, I've been in Cleveland three years and I work in the city of Cleveland. Tony, take it away.

Speaker 2: 3:43

Hi, I am Tony Bogan multiple time appearance on the many panels on the Ride Home Rants. I am from, graduated at Shaker Heights and I am in the outer outer suburbs of Cleveland closer to Akron. And no, I do not live in the city of Cleveland but did go to school in the Cleveland when in second grade.

Speaker 3: 4:05

All right, jordan. I'm Jordan Wetson. I am a producer with Channel 19 News. I am working in the city currently. I currently live on the east side in Lake County in Willoughby and I've been out here for about 10 months. But I did grow up in Ashtabula County, graduated from Grand Valley High School, which is in southern Ashtabula County, back in 2008, went to school in Independence at the Ohio Media School for Broadcasting.

Speaker 2: 4:36

Steve.

Speaker 4: 4:38

Yeah, my name is Steve Thompson. I am the director of athletics at Baldwin Wallace here on the west side, apparently on the panel the only one representing the west side. I live over here as well. I grew up an hour south, but I might also be the only one that's lived on both sides of the river, so I feel like my opinion should be more validated, having been on both sides, that's valid, ok, steve, and last but not least, wendy.

Speaker 5: 5:05

Hi, I'm Wendy Kunash. I live in the suburbs surrounding Cleveland. I'm like Jordan. I'm over here in Lake County, on the east side of Cleveland, and on certain days, yes, I do work in the city of Cleveland. It just kind of depends on where the house is and if I'm showing it or if I'm listing it. So I do find myself in the city of cleveland quite a bit. Yes, yes, okay.

Speaker 1: 5:32

So, as we said, we got a great panel of guests going to talk about all things cleveland. So I want to start this show off with a bang and you panels and I'm going to, I'm going to answer panelists and I'm going to answer after. You are going to talk right now about what's the better side of Cleveland the east side or the west side and why. Tony, let's start with you.

Speaker 2: 5:52

I've got to say that I am completely, fully unbiased here. I'm going with the east side, I'm on the east side. We got, you know, a bunch of the great suburbs Shaker Heights, Solon, Beachwood, Orange Village, Chagrin Falls. I could go on and on. Hunting Valley, Gates Mills, Mayfield. I got to shout out the Eastside man.

Speaker 1: 6:16

Okay, Jordan, what about you?

Speaker 3: 6:18

You know this is going to be a surprise, but I actually like the West Side. I think, a little bit better. When you go out to places like Westlake and Crocker Park, it's just kind of it feels for a country boy like me, a guy who grew up out with cows. It feels kind of like I'm in a different place. I think when you think of Cleveland, I think people think you know a certain aesthetic. When you think of Cleveland, I think people think you know a certain aesthetic. And then you go out to the West side and you see all the really big homes and you see you know the lake houses and yeah, I like, I like the West side. But I also think the East side has its charm and its beauty as well.

Speaker 1: 6:55

OK, Steve.

Speaker 4: 6:56

Yeah, you know, the East side does have some charm and all that. But when you look at the best of the best, it's really easy to focus on the west side. Right, the best professional sports team is out here in burry, ohio, on the west side, in the cleveland browns. The best institution of higher education is on the west side in baldwin wallace university. Uh, you know, the nightlife is on the west side in lakewood and, uh, kind of the rocky river areas uh, up and coming along the lake shore. Uh, the west side and Lakewood and kind of the Rocky River areas up and coming along the lake shore. The west side has the best beach and edgewater. I mean, it's just, any time you want to say the best of parts of Cleveland, it's always ends up coming out that it's the west side. So right, there is just a couple of reasons why.

Speaker 3: 7:38

Okay, Real quick. Steve, would you have said that the best team was on the West side five years ago with the Browns?

Speaker 4: 7:46

or Jordan. I would always say that because, you know, this is where I kind of lose all my credibility on this is in 2016, when everybody was celebrating the calves and the uh, you know, the the guardians I almost slipped and said the Indians went to the world series. I was actually a cub season ticket holder at that point in time, grew up a Cubs fan, so of course I'd still stick with the Browns, even when they were on 16 and Cleveland threw a parade for that team. You know, if the, the calves don't win, they don't get parades. Cleveland you know, the guardians don't win, they don't get parades. The Browns still got a parade.

Speaker 1: 8:26

All right, all right, wendy, round us out on this.

Speaker 5: 8:31

Yeah, I'm going to say the east side for sure. You know when I think about the east side versus the west side, I'm out on the west side a lot, so I feel like I have a good stance here to be able to give you this opinion. I feel like I have a good stance here to be able to give you this opinion. I feel like on the east side we have a little bit more space. I feel we have a lot more trees. I feel like there's a little bit of space between the neighbors and the neighborhoods. We have something called towns and villages over here which a lot of people like Some of them, most of them don't have RITA taxes.

Speaker 5: 9:02

We're not super, super congested with thousands and thousands and thousands of people. We have a lot more parks, in my opinion, Just a lot more nature-preserved types of things that I enjoy because I'm a nature kind of girl. But yeah, I like the West Side for what it is. I do. I love Rocky River, I love Lakewood, I love that trendy hot spot, the food, the restaurants and those types of things. But east side's got all that times 100. Y'all just don't know about it. I'm just saying that part and more patios.

Speaker 5: 9:42

Definitely more patios R Definitely more patios rooftops.

Speaker 3: 9:45

We got some nice rooftops on the east side. We got some nice stuff on the east side.

Speaker 5: 9:49

And best ice cream.

Speaker 3: 9:50

Yeah, we do and best ice cream. Wait, maybe it's green.

Speaker 5: 9:55

Oh, ice cream. Yes, we got all the best ice cream on the east side.

Speaker 3: 9:59

East Coast Custard and Mickey's are especially. Mickey's downtown Willoughby.

Speaker 4: 10:05

Just so you know, east Coast Custard is like half a mile from my house on the west side, so that can't be an argument for the east side to be better.

Speaker 3: 10:15

Well, I mean, but it has east, so it's right, it's there, steve, it's not West Coast Custard.

Speaker 1: 10:23

So I'm going to round this out and I'm just going to say the east side is better, because I'm going to drop one word Willoughby done.

Speaker 5: 10:29

Yes.

Speaker 1: 10:31

That's true. So I'm going to go back to Tony on this one. So, and for all you guys, you get a chance to really think about this too, as Tony answers. So if somebody's coming from out of town, Don don't know anything about Cleveland, and they say hey, Tony, or hey Jordan, or hey Steve, or hey Wendy, what are three things that I should do while I'm in the city of Cleveland? What three things are you going to recommend? But the kicker of this is you can't recommend any restaurants. So, Tony, what three things in the city of Cleveland are you recommending for someone to do?

Speaker 2: 11:05

Ooh, put me on the spot. Huh, all right. Then I did ask someone from Detroit this on my podcast, Captain Tony. Okay, there's your plug there. But the first thing, ohio high school football. Honestly, I believe, outside of Texas and maybe Florida, some of the best high school football you will have in the area hands down, no matter where it is, either it's east or west. Okay, cuyahoga Valley National Park, because it's very scenic. You got the scenic railroad very scenic area. It's technically south, so it's neither east nor west. It's kind of like the switzerland. And the third one I would probably say honestly, regardless whether or not you're a browns fan, just a sporting, sporting event like you got the caps, you got the guardians, got the browns and it just shows just this is a Browns city. Like the Browns fans have gone through so much stuff, so much over the years and yet they still remain. I remember my dad told me it was like raising a kid. They'll make you mad, they'll disappoint you, make you cry at times, but you still love them.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Okay, those are good points there. Tonyony jordan, what three things are you recommended for someone to do in the city of cleveland, if they ask you?

Speaker 3: 12:30

well, I would first start with playhouse square. We got the second largest theater district in the united states. You got to go to playhouse square. You got to take in a show. You got to take in whether it's stand-up comedy, a play, you got to see something. Playhouse square right, and it's a beautiful district as well.

Speaker 3: 12:46

Um, second, and I'm gonna go with tony here, I'd say you got to visit coyote national park. It's the only national park in ohio. It's beautiful and it was, uh, listed as one of the best parks in the entire country. So you got to check that out. And then, not to completely copy and paste tony's answers, but you do have to go to a downtown cleveland sporting event. I would say maybe go to a guardians game, check out progressive view, especially in the summer. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful ballpark, it's all. It's highly rated. Um, they've got some unique I'm going against kind of what you said. There are some unique food options, but you don't have't have to. I'm not going to name any, but you know just the whole downtown environment, especially leading up to a game, especially like, say, a Browns game it's. You know, the atmosphere is very contagious, it's very electric to check out. You know, a sporting event in downtown Cleveland.

Speaker 1: 13:37

Okay, steve, what are the three things you recommended?

Speaker 4: 13:43

Yeah, just to piggyback quickly off tony and jordan. Without a doubt, one of the pro sports, I think you got a hit. Uh, jordan kept saying the downtown, but again, uh, you know, in four years you can come on out to the brook park, browns, uh, and catch one of their games too. But no, I, I think you got to do a sporting event, especially if it's the guardians, uh, or the browns, when it's a decent summer or fall day, I think just being at the ballpark, uh, or, or the stadium, something special, the tailgates beforehand, uh, haven't been blessed to be at other places, other stadiums. It's pretty fun to be in those areas. Uh, the national park, anytime you got to do something, uh, at one of the parks.

Speaker 4: 14:23

Parks, the National Park obviously is a big hit, but there are and we joked about the parks on the east side earlier but there's parks all over. You know there's the Emerald Necklace kind of cuts all around, which is unique to Cleveland. I think you have to do that and then really kind of I would tell anybody, especially if you're outdoorsy I'm a big fan of, like Merwin's Wharf area get a paddleboard, get a kayak and go up and down the Cuyahoga River, or you can also do that on the west side at the Rocky River and, I'm pretty sure, in the Chagrin River on the east side. I think you can do that as well. There's so much water around Cleveland. Cleveland hasn't always maximized it Look at Burke Lakefront Airport but I think they're getting better at that and taking advantage when you come to visit, especially in the summer months. Man, is it awesome in Cleveland, northeast Ohio.

Speaker 1: 15:19

Okay, and Wendy, what three things are you recommending for someone to do inside of the city of Cleveland?

Speaker 5: 15:24

I'm going to say the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Definitely Cleveland is something worth going and checking out. I was going to also say Playhouse Square. I absolutely love going there and you can get those season passes. Another one a good runner-up Hilarities. Another one a good runner up Hilarities. I love going to Hilarities because they've been bringing in some outstanding, outstanding comedians and even some actors there locally in Cleveland. What is that? East 4th over there? And then I'm going to say Headlands Beach. Either Headlands Beach on the east side in Mentor or Fairport Beach. I believe they're both Cleveland Metro Parks. Now, they're gorgeous. I mean lots of sand. I believe part of Mentor Headlands is even nude or topless or something, from what I heard. But that's where that new movie is being filmed right now. I don't know how long it's closed, for I think it's four days. They actually closed the beach right now. Um, I don't know how long it's closed, for I think it's four days.

Speaker 3: 16:24

They actually closed the beach right now so that they can have have all the filming going on, which I feel bad because it's gonna be in the 90s and they're gonna be dying of heat yeah, the only day uh, wendy, because we covered it this morning at the time of this recording the only day that the park is going to be open to everybody else, to the public, is on wednesday, for juneteenth, and that's oh, wow, that's it. So today monday, tuesday, thursday, friday closed for the.

Speaker 1: 16:51

Yeah I don't know superman or batman superman yeah, it is superman.

Speaker 5: 17:01

I saw an aerial of all of the tents with all of the crews of. I mean it's like half of the beach just filled with like army tents. It's insane.

Speaker 3: 17:11

Honorable mention go visit. Honorable mention. Go visit the house where they came up with Superman, because Superman is Cleveland, cleveland.

Speaker 2: 17:21

Second honorable mention, christmas Story House, yeah.

Speaker 5: 17:24

For sure, for sure.

Speaker 1: 17:28

So we got some great, great answers there. Actually, the three things I'm going to pick, I'm going to pick the Cleveland Zoo and Rainforest and then I'm going to pick because I'm Italian. You guys got to go check out Little Italy, not saying go to a restaurant, I'm just saying you got to go check out little italy. And the third one I'm going to say is you got to check out west side market in ohio city. So those are my three things that I recommend. So the next one is going to be kind of interesting um, and you can just name three. You don't have to explain if you don't want or anything, but if you're going to recommend to somebody again coming from out of town, three restaurants to visit in the city of cleveland now you can't name the suburbs because we have a suburbs question later but three restaurants within the city of cleveland and I'll give you guys a second to think about it. I'll name mine right now.

Speaker 1: 18:13

If I'm going to recommend it to somebody coming out of town, I'm going to recommend marble room is number one. I'm going to recommend lulo's um restaurant, which is all latin american food. And, going back to little italy, I'm going to recommend Lulo's Restaurant, which is all Latin American food. And going back to Little Italy, I'm going to recommend Trattoria. So those are going to be my three restaurants I would recommend to somebody coming from out of town. But let's go to you, tony. Which three are you going to recommend?

Speaker 2: 18:35

I'm going to go with, that's actually a good one. Barrio and it's not because I worked there for a few years. Barrio downtown, uh, barrio, and it's not because I worked there for a few. Barrio downtown, right across from calves and uh, guardians. So you want to grab a good taco? There's that. The nine if you got some stacks to blow, you got some money to blow. The nine if you want to get some uh good steak, some good wine, stuff like that. And the third one, I'm gonna say margaritaville, like in the flats, margaritaville, you got good drink, tropical type food, I'm just good. Those are gonna be my three. Okay, interesting jordan uh.

Speaker 3: 19:13

So if you're going downtown for a game, I'd highly recommend stopping into harry buffalo right there um, I can't think of the cross street, but it's by Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse close to Progressive Field. I enjoy Harry Buffalo. I know they're kind of like planet all over, but they're very good. I think Geraci's is a pretty good spot as well, and then for a nice little breakfast spot off the beaten path I would go Susie's just off of Chester Avenue, Nice little place to get some soup and sandwiches. I go up there quite often when I can from work. Unfortunately, with my work schedule I don't get to experience much of downtown because either I'm sleeping or I'm working downtown. But when I've got the time I go up to Susie's and I'll get an egg and bacon sandwich.

Speaker 1: 19:58

Okay, steve, what about you? What three restaurants do you?

Speaker 4: 20:01

recommend. I definitely love the Marble Room reference. I think that's a great spot, unique to Cleveland, I think. Fahrenheit I love that, the smoked old fashions and stuff that you can get there. Rocco does a good job, and then I haven't been there, it's not open yet. Job, and then I, I haven't been there, it's not open yet. Uh, I'm really juiced up for uh. Terry francona's new steak place in tremont called steak. Uh, again, I haven't been there yet, but that'll be coming immediate.

Speaker 1: 20:35

Uh reference for people, for people okay, and I think you might have just lost wendy on that one, so we'll'll move on to the next question, a nominee A town, a Lee Wah in Asia town, technically still in Cleveland. Interesting. Okay. Well, let's say we got Wendy back. She's connecting to the audio, that's okay. So, Wendy, we're glad you're back. You know technical difficulties in this great world of Zoom that we live in, Sorry a phone call came in.

Speaker 5: 21:04

It cut me off.

Speaker 1: 21:06

That's okay. What three restaurants would you recommend?

Speaker 5: 21:09

one is outstanding the ambience, everything, the food fantastic. That one's downtown. I love town hall because I feel like they have a little bit of everything on their menu. It's all fresh. And my third one I love johnny's. I do love johnny's downtown.

Speaker 1: 21:31

That's a good one as well okay, so anybody looking for some food places we just named a whole bunch for you to check out in downtown cleveland. Well, you know real quick. Sorry, johnny, there's one that I totally forgot.

Speaker 3: 21:43

It's called good company. Um, it's out. It's just a little outside of the city I think it still is in cleveland but they make everything handmade. I don't, I've only had it once, but I know guy fieri raved about it. So good company is like they make their buns handmade. It's like the best chocolate shake I've ever had in my life. They have like a crispy chicken sandwich. That was phenomenal. A burger melt, that was really good. So good company.

Speaker 2: 22:05

Now I have to check that place out when I'm in Cleveland.

Speaker 4: 22:09

That's really good. I would second that recommendation. Really good.

Speaker 1: 22:13

Okay, so well, a lot of great places, I mean me, just add a few more. So the next one is what is the best suburb of Cleveland? Now the kicker is here. You can't explain why. You just have to name the city or the town or the village, and I'm going to start with it and of course I'm going to say Willoughby, Tony.

Speaker 2: 22:31

Ooh, I got to say Shaker Heights just because I'm from there. Okay, Jordan, highlight that rule.

Speaker 3: 22:40

I'm going to second Willoughby. I'm going to second Willoughby. Okay, steve.

Speaker 4: 22:45

The Berea Browns.

Speaker 2: 22:50

Okay.

Speaker 5: 22:51

Wendy All right, I can't be the third one to say Willoughby, although I want to.

Speaker 3: 22:55

You can say it, you can say it.

Speaker 5: 22:58

I'll go with Chagrin Falls. Okay, that would have been my second Chagrin.

Speaker 1: 23:06

I would put Chagrin probably second to Willoughby as well. So next one I think we kind of hit it on this with like Playhouse Square and then the comedians and the actors. We kind of hit it on this with like Playhouse Square and then the comedians and the actors. But Cleveland's really known for having a lot of concerts at a lot of different venues, not just within the city but the suburbs as well. But within the city itself there's a lot of venues that people have been to for concerts. So have you guys ever been to a concert within the city limits and, if so, where? And I'll start with this one, and I've been to one, and it's been at Jacob's Pavilion. So what about you, Tony?

Speaker 2: 23:40

I would have to say it was House of Blues. I was like 10 or 11 years old. I don't remember who performed. All I know is my mom took me back.

Speaker 3: 23:49

Okay, what about you, jordan? Yes, many, and it is not standing anymore and I think about it often. But and it is not standing anymore and I think about it often. But Peabody's down under Rest in peace, yeah.

Speaker 4: 24:01

What about you, steve man? Yeah, house of Blue's been to some good shows there. Yeah, go with that. I could name some others, but yeah, all right.

Speaker 5: 24:16

What about you, wendy? Is it called Wolstein Center or the Convocation Wolstein Center? Well, that's it. Yeah, many concerts there, many.

Speaker 1: 24:26

I think it's always interesting when you talk to people about that, because, like the Wolstein Center, you know, has them, the Agora has them, the House of Blues has them, I know the Browns Stadium has had them. I know the Guardians used to have them, rocket Mortgage has had them. I know Drake was there not too long ago. So you have those within the, within the city, and then you go outside the city. Of course, blossom They've had them at the Lake Lake, erie Pressure Stadium as well. So a lot of great concerts. Nautica yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, there's, there's another one. A lot of great concerts. Nautica yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, there's another one. A lot of great venues. Jacob's Pavilion is a lot of fun. So a lot of great concerts people can go to around here. So, going off the same kind of thing, though have you ever been to a wedding within the city and, if so, where have you been? And I've never been to a wedding in the city.

Speaker 2: 25:18

So what about you, tony? Yes, actually I believe it was around 20-some, 20-some odd years ago around my case in the Cleveland Art Museum and another one about nine years ago where one of my cousins got married. So a couple weddings at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Speaker 1: 25:36

Very cool. What about you, Jordan?

Speaker 3: 25:38

I don't know if it necessarily counts as Cleveland. I'm trying to think of the name. It's the something house, the Glidden House. I've been to the Glidden House, I've worked there, I've worked the Glidden House and I've attended as a guest at the Glidden House. I know it's not technically Cleveland Heights.

Speaker 1: 25:57

No, that's Cleveland, that's the uptown cleveland.

Speaker 3: 26:00

Yeah then, I've. I've definitely been to a wedding. Glidden house is a very nice venue okay, what about you?

Speaker 4: 26:06

steve. No sir, no weddings in cleveland, okay, wendy windows on the river.

Speaker 1: 26:13

I've been there for a few of them actually okay and I think people don't realize also the amount of venues we have in Cleveland that people have weddings at. It's really really cool. So the next one and I'm going to give my answer last here on this one, tony, we're going to start with you. Cleveland has a lot of really cool areas and three of those areas really are like the flats, tremont and Ohio City. So if you had to rank best to worst, best being number one to worst being number three, how are you ranking Ohio City, tremont and the flats?

Speaker 2: 26:47

I will have to say flats is number one. Downside everything costs an arm and a leg, but other than that flats is is number one, far and away. Number two I'd have to say Ohio City a little bit of bias. My aunt actually lived in Ohio City, so you've got there. You got San Ignatius, not that far away. You've got plenty of bars. Looks like they're really revitalizing that place. And three is Tremont, because outside of going to the Christmas Story House and applying for a job there, I can't say I've spent too much time in Tremont. So it's DePaul, Okay.

Speaker 1: 27:28

What about you, jordan? How are you ranking Ohio City Tremont in the playoffs?

Speaker 3: 27:31

So this is going to sound crazy, and I've only been to Ohio City a handful of times, and most recently, like in the last two weeks, and I love ohio city. You got 16 bit, obviously, mitchell's is right there and I'm a big ice cream guy. Um, so I I'd rank. I just feel like ohio city has a nice like nightlife and like like a downtown vibe and feel to it and just a lot of people like walking and I kind of like feed off the energies. Um, so I like, uh, ohio city, then I like the flats, and then I would go tremont, because I only experienced like one street in tremont and that's, that's pretty much it. And then, obviously, when you go back, circle back to ohio city, you've got you know west side market and, um, it's just, every place is a pain to park, though it's just even downtown willoughby's a pain to park.

Speaker 1: 28:20

I can't, I can't do it steve, how are you ranking ohio city, tremont and the flats?

Speaker 4: 28:27

I just love how, when we break it down and like there's three main parts of cleveland, two of them are on the west side, like nobody talks about. Let's go check out this cool east side area of coventry. Uh, anyways, uh, I I love ohio city. I I have uh two kids that you know. If it's a rainy day in the summer or something, we hit uh pins, mechanical 16-bit bar that's. You know, that's fantastic. The town hall is great Good place to hang out, watch a game. Also has a great brunch.

Speaker 4: 29:00

If you want to go to a game downtown, you just jump on the train from Ohio city and then it's probably a toss up between Tremont and the flats. I do like the flats but we mentioned it's expensive. I'm one of the older ones on this group and you want to feel really old. Go to the flats at like 11 o'clock at night, uh, and then I feel really old. So that's why I'd probably pick Tremont, number two. Uh, got a couple of nice spots there. I I like to go to both for brunch and hang out maybe later, and then uh, then the flats at three, but I would. That's a toss up.

Speaker 1: 29:33

Okay, what about you, wendy?

Speaker 5: 29:39

I'm going with ohio city, number one, I'll go. I'll go the flats, number two and then tremont as number three. There isn't a whole lot in tremont that you know is taking me there. There really isn't. Yeah, I mean maybe one day, but yeah, it's okay I know I get it.

Speaker 1: 29:54

It's so funny was when I was like thinking about this, these topics, and I'm like you know it's so different too, cause, like Ohio city is like this mix of older people, younger people there's brunch, there's lunch, there's fun things to do, and then Tremont's just like a different type of vibe. I think that's a little bit of a not say older crowd, I want to say we're're old, but a different, just crowd of people. Um, there, and then the flats yeah, it's fun until about 11 o'clock and then you feel like you're 85 years old, because the average age is about 22 there and it smells like, smells like beer and cheap cologne at about 11 30.

Speaker 1: 30:33

So, um, I would. I would say Tremont number one Um, I just think it's it's cool to set up the parking's not great. But you know, steve and I have been there together. Um, I do really like it there. Um, I would say Ohio city to Steve and I have been there as well. Um, and then I would say probably the flats is number three, cause probably the worst is the flats as far as parking goes, and just the expensive nature of it, especially like getting out of there on the hills, um aren't great. So that's probably what, what I would recommend. But I think it's also based off people's like ages and what you're looking for. What's this like? Clubs versus bars versus restaurants and stuff like that. So I would say probably the flats is probably the club, the clubbiest place. I don't know if that's really a word, but the most clubs um could, could be there, but yeah, about 11 30, if you're in the flats, you'll, you'll smell um beer and cheap cologne.

Speaker 1: 31:26

So it's uh, it's pretty eventful, oh it smells like a frat, like, like like a frat house. Um, this next one and Wendy kind of hinted on this with some of the beaches, and you know the guys have talked about this kind of with the parks, but Cleveland is an area with great beaches within the city and within the suburbs too. So if all of you had to pick, like, what beach you would recommend somebody to go to and you can only pick one, you know what would that be? And I'll kind of start this one out and I'll say it's Fairport Harbors Beach. I think it's the cleanest one, I think it's the nicest one, just because they also have the ice cream place right up the street and they have the museum there and stuff like that for people to check out. But I'm going to go with Fairport Harbors Beach. But, tony, what would you say?

Speaker 2: 32:13

I'll have to check out Fairport Harbor Beach myself. It's a bit of a haul from the east side, but I'll take your word for it. I will have to say Edgewater, because it's just me and my mom and sister go there constantly. Like I remember having gone to Edgewater to work on a game article after the Senate league game at Progressive. So it's just a little bit of time to just unwind, do that and then just hop back on the freeway and go home.

Speaker 3: 32:39

Okay, jordan. What do you recommend? Tony? It's not that far east. It's a little bit of a hike, but it's not that far.

Speaker 2: 32:46

How far from University Heights, so to say.

Speaker 3: 32:48

Oh, you're probably a 30-minute drive or so.

Speaker 2: 32:51

So yeah, you got a little bit of a drive.

Speaker 3: 32:54

I'm not a beach person myself, I'm not really uh big on going to beaches, um, but I would say that menor headlands beach is probably is the best one that I've experienced. It's very clean, it feels very clean, um, so I would go menor headlands. Hey, what about?

Speaker 4: 33:12

you steve? How far does it take you? Long does it it take you to get to Fairport Harbor?

Speaker 1: 33:17

I'm about 12 to 15 minutes from our house.

Speaker 4: 33:25

I'm just curious how close that was. I'm a proximity guy, so edge waters, you know the lakes this is going to sound terrible the lakes, the lake. When you're staring out on a blue sunny day, man, you just want to be around the water and you want to be around sand. So edgewater is the quickest one for me, and so I would say that I would never drive an hour to get to a beach, because if that was the case to get all the way out to Fairport Harbor, I could be on a plane with Cleveland's airport that's on the west side in five minutes and be in Florida in that hour.

Speaker 5: 33:53

If I wanted to be. We have a couple airports over here, just so you know. They're small for 30 years.

Speaker 2: 34:00

One used to be a racetrack the Cleveland Grand Prix for the longest time.

Speaker 1: 34:04

Look at that, tony, dropping knowledge and history on the whole thing's. Cleveland about the airports and racetracks, the Cleveland Grand Prix. Wendy, what beach are you recommending?

Speaker 5: 34:16

Oh man, I love Fairport too. I mean, I'm partial to that one, but I'll tell you that beach actually that whole area has the most to offer for visitors because they have the boat ramp also, so you can launch anything you want down there. You can bring your own jet skis, kayaks, you name it, but if you don't have anything, you can also rent them for the day, which is also really nice. Um plus, it's owned by the cleveland metro parks and they do a phenomenal job, believe me, of keeping it clean and with all the nice amenities there. So, yeah, I'm going with fairport or further. You got to go further east, beyond that point, for another nice beach, like in ash Ashtabula Harbor area.

Speaker 2: 34:59

Oh Walnut.

Speaker 5: 35:00

Beach.

Speaker 3: 35:01

Walnut Beach or.

Speaker 5: 35:02

Conneaut Lake Park, either one of those. Walnut Beach is really nice for anyone that is looking for totally off topic, but that sea glass, like everywhere, Walnut Beach is so beautiful, but as a kid it was kind of tainted because they didn't do a great.

Speaker 3: 35:17

But as a kid it was kind of tainted because it was always they didn't do a great job as a kid keeping it clean. And then further down the shore is Lakeshore Park, which is just littered with goose poop right now. I remember being a kid and it was never a problem.

Speaker 1: 35:32

And then one day I went there as an adult and I was just like man, I'm just dodging goose poop everywhere I step, yeah no, you know what I think that's the great thing about, though, being in, like, the northeast ohio areas, there is a lot of beaches, like, whether you want to drive or not, there's a beach close to whether it is an ashtabula or conneaut um, even like.

Speaker 1: 35:55

You know the eerie and you know being in lake erie up there, but you know keeping it in cleveland edgewater, menor headlands, fairport harbor, you can go over to like port clinton, you can go to Kelly's Island, you can go to Vermillion very underrated place with a beach too. So a lot of great beaches for people up here to experience. So now we're going to get into one of the suburb questions and it's going to be interesting. So now, I'm not taking the city of Cleveland out, no, it can be in the west side or east side. If somebody's coming to the suburbs and they say hey, tony, what three things do you recommend that I should do in the suburbs of Cleveland? What three things are you recommending?

Speaker 2: 36:32

Okay, as far as suburbs go, I'm going to have to say Van Aken District for Shaker Heights, that's for Shaker, for Chagrin, the Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop, an ice cream place in Chagrin. And third, oh, this is going to be a tough one I'd say probably 16-Bit in Lakewood or an Ed's Game in Lakewood, or Angelos.

Speaker 1: 37:01

Okay, Jordan, what about you? What three things are you going to recommend in the suburbs east side or west side for someone to do?

Speaker 3: 37:08

If you're someone who enjoys the nightlife, you got to start with downtown Willoughby, right. Nice little downtown, good restaurants, nice bars, especially on the weekends. Sometimes you do feel a little old, like you're in the flats after a certain point, but I always enjoy a nice little time out in Willoughby. Downtown Willoughby you don't even need to be someone who likes nightlife. You've got two really good coffee shops Arabica and Fiona's Good ice cream. It's a nice little place to visit. It's family-friendly as well.

Speaker 3: 37:40

I would say downtown Willoughby is definitely going to be on the list. I would say Willoughby's definitely going to be on the list. I would say, check out one of the many lake metro parks, most notably the Farm Park. Farm Park, on a nice summer day, is worth checking out. It's beautiful. I just DJed a wedding there actually and I was just kind of amazed by the scene to kind of really just take it all in. And then I would say you know, if you want to get wild, go to a small venue called the Foundry in Lakewood and brush shoulders with a stranger in a place that's practically a hallway, but a great time.

Speaker 1: 38:22

Okay, steve, what about you? What three things are you going to recommend? And I'm sure they're on the West side.

Speaker 4: 38:29

Well, I feel like I'm the only voice on this podcast of like 27 people, all all living on the East side, but but I think Tony mentioned an Ed's game. So October 4th you might as well come to BW and watch the Ed's Iggy game. I'll invite the four of you. You guys can come onto our campus on the west side to watch the biggest high school football game in Cleveland. That are two west side schools, but we get to host that this year. High school football on a Friday night, I think is a big deal, and some schools on the west side do it big. And I'll say all that and say my dad taught for 30 some years at menner high school. Uh, so I've gone to some menner football games. Robert smith at euclid uh, so those were good games too.

Speaker 4: 39:16

As much as I'm knocking on the east side, west side thing, uh, I think you got to go to lakewood at some point. Uh, no matter what your fancy is. Uh, it's a really eclectic kind of neighborhood, that area, and you can extend beyond Lakewood, obviously, in the more towards downtown or more towards Cleveland or more towards Rocky river. Uh, you know, there's some great live music in that area. Uh, brother's lounge, which has a tremendous amount of history for live music, is more towards the cleveland way. I actually think it's technically in cleveland uh, a lot of good restaurants there, and then I think at some point you have to sit on the solstice steps in lakewood and watch the sunset. I think that's pretty amazing, uh, a view from cleveland.

Speaker 4: 40:01

Uh, saying those two things, and then come to berea in august, I think to watch the Browns practice. Uh, the people that show up for that training camp and stuff is pretty amazing. And there's some great restaurants. Uh, video laugh. He knows I'm a regular at Mike's bar and grill. Uh, he should have named his patio after me. I spent so much time there. But uh, you know there's some good spots there in Berea when you make a day of uh, whether you come by yourself or you bring a family, uh to watch the Browns practice. And as, as we've gone in the last few years, they've been a lot more uh, I don't want to say friendly, cause it's not that they're not friendly, but they interact a lot more with the, with the fans that come out, and I think that's a great thing about pro sports when you see that happen more and more okay, that's not some great points there.

Speaker 1: 40:50

Wendy, what three things are you going to recommend in the suburbs for someone to do?

Speaker 5: 40:54

yeah. So this one is kind of universal. You know a lot of these cities and towns are doing the concert series at one of their like parks or, um, like an amphitheater if they have one. So I recommend definitely looking up a concert series, no matter what city you're going to be in, because most likely they have them on the weekly basis and they're bringing in some really cool bands, really really cool bands. Um, I really like the one in mayfield village at the grove. They are outstanding. I mean outstanding guns and roses, like the old good music, um. So I like those.

Speaker 5: 41:38

And again, universally, you can check out any city. They're all doing them now and I'm going to say the wineries also would be a good one to check out. So once you get to that Madison like 528 area, just look up vineyard or winery and you're going to have about 12 right there in a row. That's a really fun time if you're looking for something outside patio and a nice little tour. But the third thing that kind of ties into the winery and also Chagrin Falls is I think it's Debonay Winery and Chagrin Falls. Every year they do the hot air balloon takeoff big thing. I don't know exactly what it's called, but they launch big thing. I don't know exactly what it's called, but they launch I think it's like 20 some hot air balloons and it's like a big, huge event that brings in thousands and thousands of people just to watch it. It is spectacular. Highly recommend you go check that out. Um, the winery does it on the far east side, and then also chagrin falls every year too.

Speaker 1: 42:44

Okay, those are some great points. So what I would probably recommend is and I just went to it the other day but go to a Lake County Captains game in Eastlake, the minor A affiliate or, sorry, single A minor league affiliate of the Guardians. A lot of fun. You can get tickets cheap, have great seats, have some food, watch some potential future Guardians players. I got my Cleveland hat on now, so that's right in Eastlake. That's the first one I'd recommend. The second one I recommend is the actual park, the Lakewood Truck Park, where all the food is at, and the outdoor seating.

Speaker 1: 43:19

Lakewood Truck Park's a really cool vibe. It's a lot of fun. The one thing I'll say about Lakewood is that's a whole other vibe, I think compared to most cities over here, it's very like hipster and fun. So I'd say Lakewood Truck Park is probably a great option. And the third one and I got to say it you got to go to downtown Willoughby, right, like it's a whole vibe down there. I think it's very underrated. People don't know about it. I know, steve, and I have been there, you know, before. But it's fun. You can go there, you can have coffee, you can have drinks, you can go shopping.

Speaker 5: 43:57

There's a lot of women's boutiques there. You can see Wendy. She advertises.

Speaker 1: 44:00

You know Wendy Wendy's down there with the advertising, but I think it's just something really cool to check out. So I'd say downtown willoughby, lakewood truck park and the lake county captains game. So, um, the next one we're going to go to is we're kind of wrapping up the show here. A couple topics left, tony. We're going to start with you, within the city of cleveland. If you had to recommend or, sorry, not recommend if you had to say one bad thing about it, what are you saying bad about the city of cleveland? What's that one thing that stands out to you?

Speaker 2: 44:34

I gotta say at some points, crime. Honestly, there's a lot of crime that goes on. You know crime is everywhere, but I feel like it's worse in Cleveland, unfortunately, we had a couple of basketball players last year that played for local high schools had their lives taken by gun violence. So one of the downsides is the crime.

Speaker 1: 44:51

Okay, Jordan, what would you say?

Speaker 3: 44:52

Yeah, I'm gonna go with Tony on that, and that's not just because I see crime stories every day with what I do, but there are, and maybe it's my perception of it, but there is a lot of crime. There's a lot of gun violence, there are a lot of vehicle thefts right now. In fact, last summer, things got so bad that the state had to bring in the Ohio State Highway Patrol to help crack down on crime. So I would say that, you know, the city is definitely trying to put more law enforcement officers on the street and they're doing everything they can to, you know, prevent crime, um, and solve crime. But, uh, right now it seems like in the last 20 years that I can remember, this is about as bad as it's been with, uh, some of the crimes that are happening within within cleveland steve.

Speaker 1: 45:44

What about you? What was that? One thing that stands out as a bad thing, though, about Cleveland.

Speaker 4: 45:48

When you say that, are you just saying downtown Cleveland?

Speaker 1: 45:51

Like anywhere within the city limits of Cleveland.

Speaker 4: 45:54

So I can't say John Carrey, no, I'm just kidding. We've got to build that rivalry as much as we can.

Speaker 1: 46:02

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4: 46:04

I think essentially what Tony and Jordan said. Know, I'm not going down there late at night if I don't have to. Uh, if I am, I'm staying in one particular area. Uh, you know, I think back to the final four with the women's final four. I think cleveland did a great job of keeping the areas where every all the fans were from out of town safe and feeling good. But you still didn't feel like and I walked around that quite a bit you still didn't feel like you wanted to venture off and that's sad for me, whether I'm with my kids or alone that you do worry about the crime those guys mentioned you know everybody's mentioned Playhouse Square. I think I saw Jordan driving around in a car in a circle on Playhouse Square on video a couple weeks ago, the fire in the middle.

Speaker 3: 46:52

Yep, the fire. Yep, that was me.

Speaker 4: 46:56

But yeah, I would agree with those two guys.

Speaker 5: 46:59

Wendy, what about you? I can't even believe no one mentioned this. We have a sea of orange on every single roadway there is. We see orange. Most people see just construction cones or those big barrels, but everywhere you go there is something on one of our roadways that is being torn up, replaced, repaired something, whether it's Lakeshore Boulevard, it's Route 2, it's Mentor Avenue, it's Euclid Avenue, it's Pirate, it doesn't matter where. Something is always going on that we never get to just see the beautiful roads and greenery. We always see a patch of there's all this construction and the aero signs and merging down to one lane at the worst hour of the day as well, and backing up traffic for a good 45 minutes. So that's probably my biggest contention. I mean, yeah, the crime is what it is, but you got big cities, you got a lot of people, you got a lot of people that don't agree on things and, unfortunately, violence can happen, you know. But yeah, I'm saying construction, violence can happen, you know.

Speaker 1: 48:09

But um, yeah, I'm saying construction, construction and locking up, locking up our roadways and for everybody that's listening to this, I don't want people to think coming to cleveland's a deterrent because of those things. Because that stuff happens in every big city, um, and sometimes it's just magnified in other areas, um, compared to to some, especially the older uh cities that are more well-known. But every big city has their issues Columbus, pittsburgh, erie, cincinnati, cleveland, indianapolis for as great as that place is. But actually you know what I'm going to say. I'm going to say parking.

Speaker 1: 48:40

Parking is not easy downtown in certain places, especially when there's a sporting event. We went to a um guardians game a couple weeks ago with work um at a one o'clock game in the afternoon, which was great, it was fun, but it's 26 000 people were at the game 26 000 people in downtown cleveland at a game when work is letting out and a game is letting out was a nightmare. There was nowhere to park and to wendy's point with the construction on the roads, it was a. It was an absolute nightmare getting out of there and I think again, that's just an older city and you have to navigate through side roads to get to the highway.

Speaker 3: 49:16

So but I don't want to make that a deterrent for people to visit cleveland, but I just want to throw that out there you know, and I think, like, if you're okay with walking, you can find decent parking far enough away, where the traffic isn't as bad, by the time you get to your car. Like, the closer you park to the stadium, the worse it's going to be. Yeah, because I parked at work for the Guardians game I went to, like last week and by the time I got to my car it was, it was fine getting out middle of the afternoon, thursday afternoon. So yeah, I just think that if you're, if you're okay with walking to the stadium, it's not so bad. Um, but you know, if you want to be like, if you want to have convenience and be closer to the stadium and pay more for parking, then yeah, it's going to be a little bit of a headache now very, very valid on that one.

Speaker 1: 50:06

So now the one of the last ones we're going to finish up with. We talked about the three best restaurants that people would recommend inside of the city of Cleveland. I want to talk about the three best restaurants you would recommend in all of the suburbs of Cleveland for someone to check out. So I'll give everybody a second to think about this and I'll kind of name my three right now. So first one that I'm going to name is Dino's in Willowick Great Italian restaurant there, very old school. The bartender, I think his name is Richie, he's awesome. It's like going into 1980s when you walk in there. You got to sit at the bar and have some Italian food.

Speaker 1: 50:43

So I'm going to go Dino's. Number one I'm going to go Kleifeld's in downtown Willoughby Great breakfast place. Very small but great breakfast place if you want to check that out. And then that was my number two, and number three I'm going to say Manhattan Deli in the upper part of Willoughby, right off of the highway. It's a great place, breakfast, lunch and dinner People can go check out. So a lot of great places in the suburbs to eat. But from dinner people can go check out. So a lot of great places in the suburbs to eat, but I'm going to go Dino's Kleifeld's and I'm going to go Manhattan Deli Tony, what about you?

Speaker 2: 51:11

I'm going to go with Paloma's in the Van Aken District. They make some really good tacos. Be prepared to open up the wallet a little bit. Last year I've got three really good tacos but they were $18, but still they were were good. Another one I would have to say is b-spot burgers. I don't know if they have one in orange village anymore, but michael simon's b-spot, which, uh, they make some really great burgers. And another one I would have to say shoot, that's actually a good one. Um man, you're gonna have to come back to me for that.

Speaker 1: 51:49

Third, okay, we'll come back to that jordan what about you all right.

Speaker 3: 51:53

So the one that just like came to the top of my mind noosa bistro. It's in menner, um, my girlfriend and I we went there for valentine's day and it's one of those places where you're gonna have to open up the wallet a little bit. But they had rack of lamb and I've honestly never had rack of lamb before, but it was amazing. Another good place, also on the east side Sorry, steve.

Speaker 4: 52:20

Pastina.

Speaker 3: 52:22

It's a good Italian restaurant and then if you're going to make the trip, ashtabula, baskville Bridge is really fine dining really really good and then I will throw in an honorable mention to Burkett's also in the Ashtabula Harbor.

Speaker 2: 52:41

Okay, Tony, you got yours. Yes, Cooper's Hawk Winery that we just visited for Father's Day yesterday at Woodmere Really great wine, just some really great food.

Speaker 1: 52:52

I've heard that place is really good. I've never been but Jordan I also heard Pastina is really really good. I haven't been there, but I will back you up on the Burkett's one in the harbor. There is great. So, steve, what about you? What three restaurants are you recommending?

Speaker 4: 53:12

I was going to like be a team player and mentioned an East side place, but clearly none of you come over to this side to eat.

Speaker 3: 53:17

So I'm going to invite us out, Steve.

Speaker 4: 53:19

I'm going to keep my money on the West side Mike's bar and grill. I again he should pay me for his advertising, but it's. It's a nice little bar and here in town, uh, but he does a really good job with food. He is actually an east sider, originally from the east side. I wish I could remember his family restaurant, uh, but uh, he's a great story. Mike, uh and I'm freaking, can't remember his last name, which is going to drive me nuts. His family had a restaurant on the east side. He played football at Louisville, came back and then he opened Mike's Bar and Grill on the west side and does a good job with food.

Speaker 4: 53:56

The best view in all of Cleveland for a restaurant is Pier W and they do a really good job with seafood and all that. So I would say that just in the Lakewood area, uh. And then we mentioned the Lakewood truck park. I love that, uh, because, because, because, just show up and you're going to get like three different options. The other day I was there. It was barbecue, italian meatball place that was fantastic and some Vietnamese food. So just from a cool variety place and kind of just a cool atmosphere. I like those three spots as recommendations for people from out of town.

Speaker 1: 54:35

Okay, what about you, wendy All?

Speaker 5: 54:37

right. So my first one that I'm going to go with is Silvestro's Silvestro Depot in Painesville, by the old train depot actually in Painesville City. Silvestro's family has owned it for I don't even know how many years, but the serving size, like the prime, like this thick, this big, imagine what you get at a restaurant the. The quality is fresh, but the serving size is double. So you're always taking food home. I'm talking the lobster, the salmon, everything is. You're taking at least part of that home and it's not expensive. Not expensive. They don't take reservations. So you got a budget for that. It's a small little place but it is well worth the trip for sure.

Speaker 5: 55:25

Um, so I like them. I love sage in downtown willoughby. They are awesome, fresh. They cater to a lot of people with dietary restrictions putting in a little plug for that because I have a lot of allergies to certain foods and their kitchen is perfect for that. So I love them. Um, and my third one this is a toss-up too I really like cedar creek grill a lot, a lot. Um, that one. They got the best sea bass and and snapper when it is their own special and it's definitely worth it. It's definitely worth it. And just so you know, you can get the gift cards at costco for ten dollars no, twenty dollars off, I'm sorry, twenty dollars off and then go there and spend them. So that's what I might check it out, that's yeah, silvestro del

Speaker 3: 56:23

vastros yeah, it is amazing yeah tony, you're just gonna have to listen to the podcast.

Speaker 1: 56:29

For the rest of the recommendations you're gonna have when it comes out, you're gonna have to listen to it you know, I think um and I and I've lived a lot of places, and I think Steve can attest to this too Cleveland is a very unique place with food. I think one of the only places that I've ever lived in that can rival that is like the greater Steubenville, ohio. We're in Wheeling, west Virginia area. I think Steve, when he lived down there, we were down there. They can rival pretty much anywhere, but I think Cleveland is a little bit better. But there's a lot, a lot of great places up here. Steve, would you agree or disagree, though, with that? We're in Steubenville, wheeling area.

Speaker 4: 57:09

I love it. It just made me think of that Italian place, figaretti's man in Wheeling, west Virginia. You walk in and it's like you're in a mob movie in downtown New York City.

Speaker 1: 57:21

So you walk in and it's like you're in a mob movie in downtown new york city. So put a little plug in and that's true as can be put a little plug in there for for those places. But but cleveland's very great with their food scene. Wendy talked about the wineries. Um, you know, breweries are really great around here. Ohio city has them. Um, there's a little brewery on the east side, in berea, that I've been to before. I I hopefully think that's still there, steve, that's still west side, don't ever say.

Speaker 4: 57:42

a little brewery on the east side in Berea.

Speaker 1: 57:45

Sorry, west side in Berea. My bad, but you know Willoughby has some great places. Mayfield has great places, shaker. You know Tony talked about the Van Aken area, so Westlake has a lot of cool places so there's great, great food seen up here.

Speaker 1: 57:59

I think it's very unique and if it wasn't um, diners, drive-ins and dives wouldn't be doing shows in cleveland with uh, with guys. So that kind of, I think, talks about the testament of the food in cleveland. I'm gonna add in one bonus topic here and we're just gonna say yes or no. Do we agree on this? In a four years, are the Browns moving to Brook Park and moving out of downtown Cleveland? Everybody yes or no, and I'm going to go with yes. They will be moving to Brook Park, tony.

Speaker 2: 58:30

Yes, I can see the Browns putting together a Jerry World-type stadium and eventually getting the OHSAA state championship.

Speaker 1: 58:37

Okay, jordan yeah.

Speaker 3: 58:41

Yeah, they're they gone.

Speaker 4: 58:45

Steve, absolutely, and at that point in time you guys can all Airbnb my house. I'll gladly put that up for you. You can stop over at Mike's Bar and Grill on the way to the game. I'll just Uber you around.

Speaker 1: 58:59

Steve will be holding court at Mike's Bar and Grill on the way to the game. I'll just do Berea around. Steve will be holding court at Mike's Bar and Grill in Berea when the new stadium for the Browns open. Wendy, what do you think?

Speaker 5: 59:08

Yeah, for sure, it's totally happening. I mean as soon as they announce it. At that point, once it hit the news, we were all like, okay, game over.

Speaker 1: 59:20

We're all making the drive to brook park from here on out for sure. Yep, and and just to throw this out to everybody brook park's only like 10 minutes away from from downtown cleveland, so it's not like they're moving 45 minutes away, it's only gonna be about 10 minutes away. But so that's a clean sweep. We all do think jimmy haslam's gonna take his football and move 10 minutes away to a dome stadium and hey, who knows, maybe that stadium becomes the new big concert venue for all of cleveland to go to, and maybe we'll have taylor, swift and beyonce there who knows what's going to be interesting, but what's going to be interesting is the state law that prevents them from moving outside of the city limits.

Speaker 3: 59:51

That's what's going to be interesting in all of this. Now, they're still going to be like the way that, like some people are like bringing it is that they're not going to be the Cleveland Browns anymore. Well, the Dallas Cowboys don't play in Dallas, they're still a Dallas Cowboys. They play in Arlington. The San Francisco 49ers don't play in San Francisco, they play in Santa Clara.

Speaker 3: 1:00:08

So I think, like the idea from the renderings of what I've seen on this on the stadium is a pretty cool idea that the stadium is actually going to be in ground, like below, below ground, which I think is kind of unique, um, and if it brings more money to northeast ohio, I think that's great. And also, it's not like people are going to stop going downtown to watch the browns games at the bars, you know. So, um, the interesting thing is going to be like, how does brook park support all that? But I'm sure that they're going to bring in all kinds of development. You, you know when, when it comes to that, and it's not like Cleveland's going to be completely out of it. I know like MLS wants to bring a team into Cleveland now, so it'll. It'll be very interesting to see what happens in the next four years.

Speaker 1: 1:00:52

You know what? Let's keep on this topic. Steve, I want to get your opinion, opinion though you are, you know, in the Berea area the browns do have training camp there. I did see they bought some new property over there. I mean, what is your opinion, also being in athletics in all seriousness, of this potentially happening for the area that you're in and the benefit to baldwin wallace?

Speaker 4: 1:01:14

oh for for benefit wise, the bw Browns have always been a really good partner to the days before they left town and they trained on our campus. You know, back in the 80s Ronald Reagan came to visit the Browns, he came to BW to visit the Browns. So there's a long-tied relationship there between the two, long-tied relationship there between the two. I think with the Haslam announcement of the donation of University Hospitals, building a space that's going to be on this side of town in Berea, with the Browns in Berea, it's only going to be wildly beneficial to Baldwin-Wallace. So love that To your point of 10 minutes away's the the renderings, and jordan brought them up. The renderings are fantastic, but the talk is new on ramps and off ramps there. So it's probably going to be a lot easier to get in and out there than it is of leaving the muni lot at four o'clock after a game. Uh, and and some of that.

Speaker 4: 1:02:17

Whether you're going to the East side or staying on the West side, it makes a lot of sense. And again that's, you want to host a? We just saw what the women's final four was for downtown Cleveland. We can't host the men's final four until it's a football dome. Right, that's an opportunity. The concerts are an opportunity If you turn on the TV now. The swim for the USA swim team is in Lucas right. That's an opportunity. The concerts are an opportunity If you turn on the TV now. The swim for the USA swim team is in Lucas oil field. They built two pools in a dome football dome. Those aren't options in Cleveland right now.

Speaker 3: 1:02:54

And if the Haslam's want to be great partners to the whole city of Cleveland, not only just a Berea and Baldwin Wallace, I think it's fantastic and it can't happen on the lake front no, and then you can bring in, like with college football, with bowl games or the potential for college football playoffs I mean, those are options as well, so you can bring in a whole new group of people to cleveland who haven't experienced cleveland, much like when we brought the nfl draft in here, where there were a bunch of people who never visited cleveland and got their first impressions.

Speaker 3: 1:03:20

And you know, yeah, like you can pick out the nuggets of people saying nice things or bad things, but from the vibe I got was that a lot of people had a lot, had a really good first impression of Cleveland and I think that's important. And when it comes to when it comes to traffic, I mean you're taking how many thousands you, you know close to 70, 80,000 people and you're bringing them all into one space. So, yeah, no matter how you spin it, like getting in and out of the stadium or getting in and out is going to be a little hectic but it works. Like eventually you get out. It might be an hour or two, but I mean how many places, like how many places in rural Michigan have, you know, nascar tracks? Or rural New York have a NASCAR track that fits over 100,000 people? Yeah, it's a headache but it still brings people and it doesn't stop people from coming.

Speaker 1: 1:04:11

And that's all good points. Wendy, I want to get your take on this too, From the real estate standpoint. What does that do if the browns move to brook park and berea? Real estate wise for that area. Yeah, millions and millions of dollars you know, and then having that vacant property on the lakefront. So can you kind of briefly talk about that from the real estate standpoint?

Speaker 5: 1:04:32

yeah, I mean and that's the first thing that I thought of, and I'm sure you know anyone else is thinking about prime real estate. You, all of our prime real estate here is on water and we collectively, all of our cities, do not tap into it, which is mind blowing. Mind blowing. I mean, Euclid, for the last several years, has been trying to build up that whole area of Lakeshore Boulevard and putting in and they got some grants from the state and all this to make it more of an attractive visiting type of parks, areas, things like that. So people are drawn to the water. But they are just now starting to think about let's put in housing, let's put in luxury townhomes. Where was that idea 20 years ago, or even 15 years ago, when the city was depreciating in value by the minute, you know, and you had all this fantastic real estate that they did absolutely nothing with up until the last probably four years. So that's a just a good example. That's kind of waking up everyone's eyes.

Speaker 5: 1:05:32

I think the same thing with Fairport. They're redoing lots of properties down there. It is one of, you know, the smallest little villages. Uh, that's all surrounded by water. There's only two ways into the whole entire area. You're allowed to ride on golf carts, uh, golf carts on the street, they are legal there, Um, you know? So I think uh, Harbor, uh, Asheville Harbor, is doing the same thing in their downtown area as well. I mean, I think they just got, like I don't know, $20 million or something like that to rebuild that whole water area with housing and new businesses right yeah, and that's part of the whole Appalachian grant money that's going down through the foothills of Ohio where Geneva's also getting money to restructure, right yeah.

Speaker 5: 1:06:21

Yeah. So, they're finally like waking up, you know, like Cleveland's sitting on all of that, right there with the airport and the stadium. So I mean, Jordan, you know you're seeing it obviously in your line of work. I think it's fantastic to be honest with you. I think move the stadium more. Inner city, go ahead, because all of that lakefront needs to be utilized for people to buy up or rent up and pay taxes on. So we're actually making money in this city and it kind of didn't.

Speaker 3: 1:06:55

really, I don't think they took into consideration the Browns' potential moving to another city to build a stadium. But some students at CSU recently completed a study on how they can make the RTA more efficient along the lakeshore and utilize that more and build more housing for low-income and more median-income families. And obviously, as the population grows as well, more people need places to live and so to redevelop the—you know it's one of our greatest resources. I saw this meme on Instagram talking about like, oh, we have this beautiful lakefront and we decided to put a bunch of factories and roadways on it, and so, like, if the Browns left and they tear down that stadium, there's potential new housing, there's potential new features to the city. So it'll be interesting.

Speaker 3: 1:07:44

Like I don't think that Cleveland is completely out of luck, say, if they lost the Browns to Brook Park, if the, if the stadium moved out of downtown and into Brook Park. I don't think, you know, I don't think the city of Cleveland is completely out of luck. They just have to kind of re-market themselves, rebuild themselves, find a new development, a new attraction to those big spaces. I got an idea.

Speaker 2: 1:08:07

Maybe they could try to get that IndyCar race again I mean, an airport isn't really used for much these days or a street race. Chicago it was NASCAR and it worked.

Speaker 1: 1:08:20

Tony, I want to get your take, as the sports media guy here. Is them moving to Brook Park? Is that a deterrent for people in sports media? What changes in that regard for people to cover sports like you?

Speaker 2: 1:08:34

Honestly no, because the majority of people who do work with Keyon Sports myself being one of the exceptions are on the West Side, so it's closer to them. Steve said yeah, so for them it's, like you know, brook Park's right by Berea, so if you're covering the training camp then oh, the stadium's right there like 10, some odd minutes away. It may be a little bit further from those in Cleveland, but, honestly, if you've got the land, if you could do something great with the stadium, you can do so much stuff with it. Like I said, potential NCAA Final Four for the men, potential OHSAA state championships for football Honestly, potentially. Maybe make it a multipurpose stadium in the Guardians booth or something like that. Maybe they host WrestleMania.

Speaker 1: 1:09:34

Yeah, I think it is valid. There's a lot of great chances for it to move and I really do think, going back to the concert thing, you can get big time acts in there like Taylor Swift. You can get Beyonce. If people seen Kenny Chesney's concert in Pittsburgh I know Steve Steve was there that concert had like 80,000 people there. I mean you go to Blossom, he only brings in 25,000 people. You're talking 55,000 more people going to a dome stadium that Kenny Chesney could play in the wintertime, you know as well, and places like that. So you have large sums of money being dumped into the area because people will stay in downtown Cleveland and go to Brook Park and here's the thing.

Speaker 3: 1:10:15

It's all coming back to Cuyahoga County anyway, correct, right, so it's. I mean, i's all coming back to Cuyahoga County anyway, correct, right, so it's. I mean and I think the commissioners of Cuyahoga County would love that They'll see dollar signs yeah, cleveland might not be getting that tax revenue and all that money, but I think it's also kind of less of a burden on the taxpayer in Cleveland to have to pay for all these stadiums, because one thing that Cleveland's doing right now is they're holding a forum because there are more upgrades coming to Progressive Field, there are more upgrades coming to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, there's the proposed MLS team, and then on top of that, if the city of Cleveland decides they want to play ball and put it on the ballot, or they want to give the Browns what they want and give them a retractable roof or a dome stadium or whatever it may be, that's more taxes over a longer period of time for people who live within Cleveland. So it'll be interesting to see where we're at. The lease expires in four years. I personally think and I know everybody else here thinks that they're moving to Brook Park, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, like I said, but money still stays in Cuyahoga County. They're still going to be the Cleveland Browns. They're not changing their name. They're not going to be the Cleveland Browns. They're not changing their name. They're not going to be the Brook Park Bulldogs or anything like that.

Speaker 3: 1:11:21

We don't have to over sensationalize it. It's a lot, of, a lot of teams don't play in the city the New York Giants, new York Jets they don't even play in New York. They play in New Jersey, across the river. So it's just like and I mean if we're, if we're being technical, they. It's like, and I mean if we're, if we're being technical, they're the Berea Browns. As Steve has said, they're headquartered in Berea, they're not headquartered in Cleveland. So it's just, it's you know. I think that it's an, it's an overreaction in some cases, like, oh, the Browns are leaving Cleveland, no, they're not. Still the Cleveland Browns, they're not.

Speaker 1: 1:11:59

It's not like they're moving to Baltimore or they're moving to Columbus.

Speaker 4: 1:12:02

You're moving 10 minutes out of the city You're going to be. I mean, sofi stadium is is the greatest thing right now. Right, and it's an Englewood, california, it's not in LA, and I think that's where all these ideas come from. The stadium is going to benefit the airport because the more big time events, the more flights got to come in, and that it's going to make Burke Lakefront airport, which I believe is the only city owned airport in a major city. I don't know if that's true. You can correct me. I haven't lived here long enough, but I believe that's the case. Sorry, wendy.

Speaker 5: 1:12:39

No no. He just switched the light on. I said thank you, I was sitting in the car.

Speaker 4: 1:12:43

It's all good, keep going no, so I think so it's going to make that airport better. The the public transportation from downtown to to brook parks got to improve right, and so that's going to become better. For for the community, there's a lot of wins. It's the. The loss is that it's not on the lakefront anymore and people are freaking out because it's not Cleveland Browns. And again, I'm excited because Thompson Airbnb is booking reservations for fall of 2030 and 50. The last thing I know we're trying to wrap up, but the last thing I I did go to Kenny Chesney at Pittsburgh. I've also gone at brown stadium. Uh, when he performed there and the toilets backed up so clearly cleveland brown stadium was not prepared to handle that probably 20 years ago well and that?

Speaker 1: 1:13:33

no, that's that's valid. No, and you know what? And it's great to hear those four points from you guys with four different perspectives, right? Wendy in real estate, tony in sports media, jordan in the news and Steve in the athletic realm, living over there, and it's going to be an interesting four years.

Speaker 1: 1:13:49

But as we wrap up the show here, I definitely want to thank all four of you for coming on. This has been great, so insightful about the city of Cleveland and the suburbs and everything in between. To all of our new guests and our returning guests, thank you so much for tuning in to the All Things Cleveland episode. This was a lot of fun and, I think, very knowledgeable for a lot of different people. So as we wrap up this episode, don't forget to check out all of our past episodes as well. We've had a lot of great guests. Tony's been on individually, jordan's been on individually, wendy and Steve have been on individually and they've been on some roundtables as well. So, as always, if you enjoyed this show, be a friend and tell a friend, and if you don't like it, tell them anyways, because I bet they like it just because you didn't. This is Fitty signing off and we will see you next week.