We recently got to spend a couple of nights in Cleveland. We spent most of our time walking all over downtown, visiting six breweries and finally checking a pair of lighthouses off our list.
We’ve passed through Cleveland a couple of times before, thought it seemed like a really cool city and always wanted to spend more time there. On the way down to see the eclipse in 2024, we went to their art museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a nearby submarine tour. We also hiked some Cleveland Metroparks last year, and we tried to stop downtown and see the lighthouses, but there was crazy traffic and we aborted the mission. This was the first time we really got to see all the Cleveland we wanted to see.
It didn’t disappoint. Coming from Detroit, it’s similar in a lot of ways, but nicer, cooler, bigger and cleaner. It feels like it’s been better taken care of. It seems like a more people-friendly place to live. Buses and trains were on the move. There were seemingly no homeless people, and only once did we have to navigate past a group of off-putting individuals on the sidewalk.
Cleveland had that post-industrial, post-heyday feel that’s familiar from Detroit, but here it has more of a veneer. In Cleveland the decay has a more hipsterish flavor and seems pretty well papered-over. It’s the kind of place where a lot of buildings have old faded logos from the companies that formerly existed there. Near our hotel was the “Warehouse District,” an area full of old warehouses that are being repurposed into businesses and apartments. Detroit is going through a gentrification process of its own but is still much more raw feeling.
The main thing that stuck out to me visually about Cleveland was its omnipresent bridges, particularly a type that was new to me: the vertical lift bridge. It’s like a different form of drawbridge, designed to allow for boat traffic, but instead opening from the middle, the entire span of the bridge moves up and down. Everywhere we went, the hulking metal arches of these vertical lift bridges were visible somewhere.
Here are some more pics from just generally walking around the city.
My favorite street we saw was W. St. Clair Ave., which west of W. 9th St. takes on a serious tilt as it goes down to the Cuyahoga River.
I mentioned we went to six different breweries. I didn’t take copious notes on these, so here are some quick impressions:
- Forest City Brewing — Their ‘Papa’s Morning Joe’ was one of the only beers in Cleveland I actually thought about getting a growler of.
- Market Garden Brewing — Liked the raspberry shandy.
- BrewDog — This seemed like one of the big boys in town. It’s actually just a location of a brewery/pub chain based in Scotland. Inside it was big, loud and dense with customers. Seemed like a fun place, but it was our last of the night, so we didn’t really soak it in.
- Collision Bend Brewing — Nice outdoor seating by the river.
- Butcher and the Brewer — The only thing I remember about this place is the bathroom setup. There are four bathrooms each for men and women, but only one big sink for them all to share. I like this as a method of holding men accountable for washing their hands.
- Great Lakes Brewing Company — We signed up for their brewery tour and had a pretty great time. The tour guide was a young, humorous guy who spoke pretty fluently about the local brewing scene and the economics of craft beer. In Michigan we see plenty of their beer on tap, but I’ve usually avoided it just because it says “Great Lakes” and isn’t from Michigan. I’m glad I can genuinely appreciate this place now.
At one point we walked past Flat Out Garage, where I gather people can pay to work on their own motorcycles. We got a kick out of watching this guy climb into the tiny truck parked outside and drive it down the street.
We did wander out into an industrial liminal space around 10 p.m. to find where the bad vibes were hiding.
I’ll do a separate post soon about the lighthouses.