Hey Tom Piatak, thank you for making such a beautiful tribute to the beauty that is my home town of Cleveland. It's such a grand city, built on the vision of immigrants and a visionary mayor. Thanks for telling this story.
11/1/23....Very well done!...Born in 1953, I was glad a lot of the old building were still standing, and skyscrapers hadn't been built yet, when I was growing up. I have fond recollections of the early buildings around Public Square, and ones in The Flats. Many of the old photos seem suggest the skies were foggy, when in fact the air was putrid and filthy with pollution. It wasn't until I was older did I realize the gray skies, were not a weather phenomena, but a result of heavy coal fueled pollution. By the early 1920s, the amazing snaking Cuyahoga River, the life line to our industry, was already a blackened murky stew, of spilled fuel oils and industrial runoff. The early generations had used the rivers and waterways, as dumping grounds for trash & rubbish. I am disappointed the entirety of the buildings surrounding The Flats have been demolished and erased. And it has been transformed into a playground for the (filthy rich) ,....and not the average citizens.
Born 1952 have all the same memories . Lived West Blvd area Used to visit Grandma and Had to travel by car over the Harvard Denison Bridge ,we called it as kids the Stinky Bridge ,Steel Mill,Harshaw Chemical, Aluminum plant, and a few more .
Spent the first six years of my life on the west side in Edgewater Hill. Few but fond memories. I both annoyed and amused my parents by calling The High-Level Bridge the Helluva Bridge.
