Coasting the Classics in Cleveland

Cleveland, Ohio

Sunday June 11, 2017 – Tuesday June 13, 2017

Written January 15, 2025

Each time I plan out one of our trips, I am always wonderstruck at how most of the well-known cities in the United States are approximately 4 hours away from another well-known city. I feel like a kid at an ice cream counter being limited to 2-3 different flavors. I want to see as many cities as I can within the vacation time we’ve allowed for ourselves. Arranging a trip that included Cleveland gave us so much flexibility, it could be paired with Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Indianapolis, and more! We haven’t driven to any of these cities before! I decided the theme of this week was going to be “baseball” - aligning cities with their teams at home would dictate what cities we visited. The final lineup was, Cleveland, Ohio – Chicago, Illinois – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Our drive started early on Sunday morning, with a full tank of gas and a Dunkin Donut’s run for the road. The drive from New York City, NY to Cleveland, OH was expected to be approximately 8 hours, and I was hoping to arrive before dark. After driving for about 6 hours, we stopped to stretch, gas up, and eat. Back on the road with a fresh cup of coffee, the last 2-1/2 hours was a breeze.  

We arrived in the Cleveland area around dusk and drove up to our hotel about 8:20PM. For these three nights our reservations were at The Tudor Arms Hotel. Located on a corner, we were on the incorrect side to turn in, so we drove around the block in hopes of finding out where we would park the car for the night. As I circled the hotel in my car it was impossible not to notice the giant medical facility across the street. It dwarfed the hotel. It looked like a little city. It was THE Cleveland Clinic – Main Campus. Now, this wasn’t planned but was a pleasant surprise since I worked for a medical school.

The Tudor Arms looked like a gothic castle inside and out. Although it was smaller than the medical center, it was in no way a small building. It’s several floors high. There were doors from the outside that led to a foyer, where you’d use an elevator to go up one floor to the check-in desk. Alternatively, there was a stairwell, but with suitcases, that would have been a drag. For us, since we weren’t sure where to park for the night, we left our suitcases in the car until we obtained clearer instructions from the front desk. We were the only guests checking in, so the process went quickly. At check-in we received a small gift of cookies to take to the room! Sweet! Now that we knew where to park for the night, we hurried back to the car, pulled into the hotel parking area, grabbed our suitcases and made our way up to the room.

It wasn’t a large room, and it didn’t highlight the window, but it was fine enough for a three-night stay. Besides, I didn’t plan to spend many waking hours in the hotel room, this was for sleeping. With our cookies from downstairs, and our snacks that we brought from the car, we settled in for the night and discussed how to get the most out of our two days in Cleveland.

Photo 1: hotel room at the Tudor Arms Hotel

Photo 2: entrance from the street to the check-in desk at Tudor Arms Hotel

Photo 3: Cleveland Clinic building (one of many)

Monday – June 12 – West Side Market

The weather was already in the low 90’s when we left the hotel.

We started at the West Side Market. This was something like I’ve never seen. Well sort of, it kind of reminded me of an indoor flea market, but with all food. For a sweltering Monday, it was lively with a good number of people walking up and down the aisles. They all seemed like they were on a mission though, and I, instead, was walking in awe. The counters were all high, and I was overwhelmed. I didn’t know what I wanted. There were produce counters, meat counters, bakery counters, fish counters, the list goes on. So much to choose from and no kitchen to prepare it in, or enough days to try it all, LOL! My partner found a walkway at one end of the market that overlooked the whole floor, and that’s where we escaped to talk about what we wanted to eat. Our conversation turned to how we’d love to live near a place like this so that we could prepare different foods at home. From our view we could see which counters were closed. It was a great way to take photos of the entire floor. The discouraging part was there wasn’t a visible place with tables and chairs, at least not one that we could see. There was some bench seating up on the walkway area, but it was crowded.

There was a flyer taped to the door about the West Side Market Cafe, we decided to check that out. It was a small sit-down café, with a diner counter and a couple of tables and chairs. We sat at one of the tables as directed by the waitress and looked through the menu. We both saw exactly what we wanted quickly. Reuben sandwiches. This felt like exactly where we were supposed to be.

After we were fed, we drove around the area for a little bit to see some of the buildings and streets in the area. We also drove over to the mall where there was supposed to be parking for the baseball stadium since we were planning to see the Guardians (then known as Indians) play the next night.

Photo 1: West Side Market

Photo 2: West Side Market Cafe

Photo 3: city from West Side Market parking lot

Monday – June 12 – Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Next stop was, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which is situated right along Lake Erie. This was a recommendation from a friend who was originally from Ohio but had left the area and never saw the museum himself. This was 5 floors of rock history, including the history of the magazine, Rolling Stone. During our visit, the featured musician was John Cougar Mellencamp, with at least 3 rooms dedicated to him. Some of his artwork was also on display, it was in a section of one of the rooms. I thought this added more of a human side to the rock persona that we are shown in the media.

My favorite part of the museum was how introduced the musical styles decade by decade, showing how rock and roll grew and expanded. It even had a small section about CBGB which was a hot place for punk rock and new wave musicians in NYC 1970’s and 1980’s. There were rooms with costumes of many musicians, such as Elvis and Deborah Harry from Blondie. Another room was themed with a collection of pinball machines, Guns n’ Roses and Kiss caught my eye. An awesome treat would have been to be able to play the pinball machines, but sadly, only on display.

We spent about 2-1/2 hours walking through the rooms and were one of the last groups to leave. There was lots more to do. You could easily spend a day, especially if you attended some of the video shows or sat in one of the booths with headphones to listen to music. They rotate their exhibits too, so if you go a year later or even 6 months later you might see something completely different. I found the cost of the ticket to be a bit steep at the time, but if you were spending the full day, it’s worth the experience.

Photo 1: wall dressing inside Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Photo 2: Jane Scott statue - rock critic, reporter and Cleveland resident

Photo 3: CBGB section inside Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Monday – June 12 – Little Italy Cleveland (well almost)

After we exited the museum, we drove around again to see if anything caught our eye to check out, either for dinner or just to look at. We hadn’t planned anywhere for dinner, so I was really hoping we’d see something of interest. As we drove through downtown, I got the impression that there might be a concert in town. We saw lots of teenagers sitting on the sidewalk and congregating along the streets. With no sparks of curiosity, I drove back towards University Circle, where our hotel was. My partner looked up places on his phone and we decided to check out the Little Italy section of Cleveland.

I drove right through it. I mean, I saw some tables out in front of buildings, but I didn’t know that was the area. I turned around, but on my second pass through, I didn’t see any parking spots open on the street, or parking alternatives. Maybe the heat was making me dopey! I don’t know what I was expecting, but I gave up and drove back towards the hotel again.

Monday – June 12 – The Jolly Scholar

My partner found a place to eat that was walking distance from our hotel, The Jolly Scholar. It’s a brewpub, that’s my style. Nothing fancy, I just want to blend in with the crowd. Well, about that... The Jolly Scholar is on the Case Western Reserve University campus, in a campus building. How unique! Not only were we several years older than most of the patrons, but there was also a live podcast being recorded on the history of AIDs. Okay, so I wrote earlier that I worked for a medical school, but also, I worked for an Infectious Disease specialist. Listening to a lecture on the Case Western campus was like a fulfilled dream that I didn’t know I had. Stayed for the entire lecture, sipping our beer and trying to blend in with the crowd.

Photo 1: artistry on the walls of the Tudor Arms hotel inside staircase

Photo 2: Church of the Covenant - built in 1911, on the National Register of Historic Places

Photo 3: University Hospitals affiliated with Case Western School of Medicine

Tuesday – June 13 – Great Lates Brewing Company

Another hot day planned in Cleveland. The weather was already in the 90’s. We dawdled in the hotel foyer taking photos before we left the hotel for lunch at Great Lakes Brewing Company. It appeared to be a quiet afternoon for the brewpub, but it looked like they could get busy during the evening. For lunch I ordered a hamburger, and my partner had a local sausage plate. We both tried their specialty beer, which I think was the Dortmunder Gold Lager. Towards the end of our visit, as I approached the restroom I saw a room with a small stage, tables and a bar. It was somewhat tiny. I wonder if it was used for private parties.

Tuesday – June 13 – The Arcade

Since we still had about four hours until the game started, we were able to squeeze in a stop at,  The Arcade – when I was looking up things to see in Cleveland, this was one of them. I read that it was on the National Registry of Historic Places. The first one listed for Cleveland. It is noted to be the first indoor shopping center in the United States. I was excited to see how the first mall might have been designed; it was much narrower than what I am accustomed to. Lots of ornate metal railings, a giant skylight, and lamplights to add to the ambiance. The store front facades were also detailed and pretty. Sadly, the mall appeared to be somewhat quiet, and it was warm when we entered. I wonder if that had something to do with the low foot traffic.

Tuesday – June 13 – Tower City Center

Our last adventure for our time in Cleveland was to attend a baseball game. The Indians were scheduled to play the Dodgers at Progressive Field. To add to our exploration, we chose to use the parking lot at Tower City Center which gave us the opportunity to also see the mall. Tower City was connected to the hotel I originally wanted to stay in, The Cleveland Hotel (now known as the Hotel Cleveland). I thought it would be neat to walk from the hotel to the mall and the stadium. There’s even a casino attached to the mall via walkway, Jack Cleveland Casino. I’m not much of a gambler, but I do like the atmosphere of casinos. Well, more specifically, I enjoy places that are lively and accessible round the clock.

Although we were bummed that the Indians didn’t win. Spending an evening at the baseball game was a perfect way to close out our visit to Cleveland.

Photo 1: The Arcade

Photo 2: Progressive Field, home of the the Cleveland Guardians

Photo 3: Tower City Center mall

Things I learned from planning this trip: Next trip to Cleveland, plan it around being able to stay at Hotel Cleveland.

Things I learned from attending this trip:  

• Leaving on Sunday works best for us. We use the Saturday before we leave to do our last-minute preparations, which usually allows us a more peaceful sleep the night before the drive.

• I need to be more assertive and definitive about what I want to eat.

• Consider going earlier in the Spring or in Autumn to avoid the heat.

Things I keep in mind when organizing a trip for myself: I enjoyed my stay at the Tudor Arms and felt at home near Cleveland Clinic and the medical school, but I felt like we might have missed out on some of the social scene in Cleveland. Maybe staying closer to the stadium next time or in a different part of the city would have us in more of a touristy area.

Things I learned from writing this blog post: Things you save to see another time might not exist later. I wanted to ride Lolley the Trolley for a sightseeing tour of Cleveland.  Lolley the Trolley closed in 2023. Check to see if the circle-link is still running.

Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT or Perplexity. Blog title brainstorming too!

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