Cleveland is a city filled with myriad surprises

by Barbara Barton Sloane

Special to The Vindicator

No water shortage here. I’m in Cleveland (Ohio, that is) and this astonishing city has just gob-smacked me once more. Shortly after I arrived, I boarded the Nautica Queen, a dining cruise on Lake Erie and enjoyed a very good dinner and scintillating city views by the light of a silvery moon.

Cleveland. Yes. Comedians have ranked on this city since time immemorial. “In Cleveland, Velveeta cheese can be found in the gourmet section of the supermarket.” “Definition of a plush Cleveland cocktail lounge: A bottle of Seagram’s with a brown bag around it,” and of course, that old saw: “I spent a week in Cleveland one afternoon.”

OK, enough. It’s time to stop all that ’cuz Cleveland today is nothing short of remarkable and very much of-the-moment. It’s a city replete with myriad surprises – and all of them good. This is, after all, where rock was born, and it knows a thing or two about passion, freedom and doing it your own way. A visit to this town means world-class experiences without the world-class ego.

That’s why Cleveland has been designated one of the 25 best U.S. cities and one of the five most affordable, underrated travel destinations in the country.

Visitors to Cleveland are often surprised by the city’s history of risk-taking, artistry and entrepreneurship passed on through the generations. Today, Cleveland is committed to keeping two feet in the past, many hands in the present and all eyes on the future.

A Beautiful Day in this Neighborhood

University Circle is the neighborhood where arts and culture flourish and where I spent a good deal of my time. I ambled through the neighborhood’s historic institutions, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Botanical Gardens and the Museum of Natural History.

The art museum was founded in 1913 and is a neoclassical, white marble, Beaux-Arts building encompassing a 75-acre green space. Recently a massive renovation project was started and “Building for the Future” was completed in 2013.

The $350 million project added two new wings and was the largest cultural project in Ohio’s history. The new wings, as well as the enclosing of the atrium courtyard under a soaring glass canopy, have brought the museum’s total floor space to 592,000 square feet, (an increase of approximately 65 percent).

The museum divides its collections into 16 departments, including Chinese art, Modern, African, Islamic and Greek/Roman. Among the artists represented are Botticelli, Caravaggio, El Greco and countless important others.

Corot’s “La Cervara,” a serene scene of the Italian countryside, was swoon-worthy, as was the furious, bruising light of Turner’s “Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons.”

I look forward to returning to this exceptional museum, if for no other reason than to experience once again its masterful atrium, conceived by architect Rafael Vinoly as the centerpiece of his design. This grand open piazza completely transforms the visitor’s experience – a place to congregate, a source of airy light and a reference point to simplify navigation throughout the galleries. It is simply grand.

Silver Bells and Cockleshells

On a perfect, sun-splashed day I visited the Cleveland Botanical Garden, founded in 1930. In 1994, an ambitious campaign was launched that now supports an enhanced program agenda and a renovated garden building designed by Graham Gund Architects. Opened to the public in 2003, the centerpiece of the $50 Million expansion is the Glass House, a 17,000-square-foot home to plant and animal life from two separate biomes, the desert of Madagascar and the cloud forest of Costa Rica. They feature more than 350 species of plants and 50 species of animals, including hundreds of butterflies.

There are 10 acres of gardens, including Japanese, herb, rose and topiary, among several others. Kids helped design the outdoor Hershey Children’s Garden, perhaps explaining its booming popularity.

There’s a treehouse, hidden paths winding through tall grasses and a spurting fountain that blows mist. Many of the plants in the area attract native caterpillars, butterflies and birds, so there’s a good chance for close encounters.

I enjoyed the dry, spiny desert of the Madagascar area and lost myself in the clouds of Costa Rica.

The desert section sprouted alien-looking Baobab trees, succulents and Sam – the free-roaming chameleon with his Lobster Boy hands and googly eye sockets. The rainforest is filled with lush greenery including a colossal strangler fig, avocado, coffee and papaya trees. As instructed, I stood very still and soon a luminous blue butterfly landed square on top of my head. This place is enchantment personified.

Loud and Proud

When you’re the city credited with coining the phrase rock ’n’ roll, it’s a given that you know cool music.

Appropriately, Cleveland is home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a one-of-a-kind museum that showcases the largest collection of rock artifacts in the world.

Located on the shores of Lake Erie, the museum archives the history of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and other notable figures who have had a major influence on the development of rock and roll.

The Hall of Fame Foundation was established in 1983 by Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun and has now expanded on its original concept to include artifacts from artists’ lives, performances and songwriting; also handwritten drafts of hit songs, instruments used in concert, and strangely enough, more than one rockers’ personalized pinball machine.

The exhibition Legends of Rock runs the gamut of rock ’n’ roll history from Diana Ross and the Supremes to the Allman Brothers to Blondie; it’s a mile wide and covers the era’s idols in depth.

For example, it boasts the largest artifact-based Beatles collection in the world, spanning from John Lennon’s elementary school report cards to the drum kit Ringo played at their last official concert.

Now a somewhat obscure but fascinating fact. Cleveland, each May, hosts its very own Fashion Week. This annual event was begun in 2002 and just happens to be the third-largest fashion show of its kind in the U.S., behind only New York and Los Angeles.

I made it a point to be in Cleveland the first week in May so as not to miss the shows and was thrilled to see all of the usual designer suspects represented. As a veteran of New York Fashion Week, I can only say, Cleveland, you did yourself proud. Fashion Week in Cleveland? Surprised? Not a whit.

Cleveland Tourism: www.thisiscleveland.com

Crowne Plaza Cleveland at Playhouse Square: www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/us/en/cleveland

The Burnham Restauran: www.theburnhamrestaurant.com