The Cool History of Cleveland

During Thanksgiving and the upcoming Holiday Season it is difficult not to think about food, especially good food. I was thinking about how lucky Cleveland was to have to the West Side Market a few days past when Rachel and I were shopping for a good meal to be cooked at home. And so I began to think of the West Side Market and its iconic status with many Clevelanders. It is a gorgeous building.

But check out that unbelievable neon sign that used to be on the front of  the building (facing West 25th). I wish it was back up on the facade as a beacon to all the shoppers of Cleveland.

The West Side Market has a fascinating history. It is, in fact, Cleveland’s oldest publicly owned market (others that have gotten lost to history are the Central Market, East Side Market, Franklin Circle Market, Newburgh or Broadway Market and the Sheriff Street Market, I will be writing on a few of those later) and started operations in 1840. The first West Side Market was more of an open air market with make-shift stalls. However, with additional land acquisitions and expansion in 1868 the West Side Market finally had a “roof over its head.”

The West Side Market above is actually across the street from where it is located today and is now a park. But given the market’s popularity and the City’s population growth (when have you heard that lately), the City had to plan for a new market. Check out this architectural design for a West Side Market to be built on the above site but was seen as too space constrained.

Nonetheless, a new West Side Market was built in 1912 for $680,000 at its current location. And it was a beauty!

There have been many improvements over the years with massive investment in the physical plant in 1953, 1979 and again in 1992. One of the fascinating improvements completed in the past and I believe not part of the facility anymore was this stunning mural.

In fact, I believe this area is now a small observation deck. But what a great artistic piece. The inside areas too have undergone some radical change. Check out this butcher stand from 1922.

This picture shows a butcher stand that is obviously a bit more contemporary.

The West Side Market is Cleveland’s living past. You simply cannot walk through the doors of this market and not experience something otherwordly. It is a fascinating and utterly charming place. And of course the food is top notch. Do yourself a favor and begin shopping a bit more at the West Side Market.

With the start of a new Cleveland Cavalier basketball season - one with high expectations, it is important to note that the Cavaliers were not the first professional basketball team in Cleveland. That title goes to the Cleveland Pipers owned by none other than George Steinbrenner. The Cleveland Pipers played at the old Cleveland Arena on Euclid Avenue (where the Red Cross Headquarters is now located) in the American Basketball League (“ABL”).

The team won the league title in its only year in the ABL which was the 1961-62 season. The team was coached by the legendary John McLendon, the first African-American head coach of a professional team and who started a massive lineage of other African-American coaches. The very humble, but visionary, Coach McLendon and Mr. Steinbrenner never saw eye to eye (although this is not surprising from Steinbrenner). The team was one of the first racially integrated professional teams and employed a fast-break offense well before those famous Laker’s teams of the early 1980’s.

In 1962, the Cleveland Pipers petitioned to be a part of the National Basketball Association (“NBA”) and the move was approved by the owners of the NBA who wanted the $400,000 expansion fee Cleveland and the Steinbrenner’s would pay. But the ABL sued to keep Cleveland and won and Steinbrenner in his typical fit of rage simply closed the team. But it is important to note the key role the Cleveland Pipers played in integrating professional basketball and that the team was, in fact, the first professional basketball team in Cleveland.