Yesterday on a music message board someone started a thread asking if anyone was familiar with Cleveland as he was planning to be here for a weekend. This weekend in fact.
Considering myself an ambassador to my city I offered to give him some ideas. He let me know what sort of things were of interest to him. He already had some ideas, "we'll be there from this Friday to Sunday. Not sure where we're staying yet. Any entertainment recs you could provide would be much appreciated though. So far I've got the Cavs game, Great Lakes Brewery, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Coventry neighborhood."
I thought I'd share with you the recommendations I gave him. My hope in sharing this is that if you're an out of towner, maybe from Pittsburgh, Columbus, Detroit or even Chicago it may inspire you to take a weekend road trip. It's a sure way to beat cabin fever.
All great choices. While at
Great Lakes Brewery, on the near westside in Ohio City neighborhood, there's two other stops right there. The
Westside Market, one the oldest food markets in America which just celebrated 100 years. Of course, Bourdain went there. Next door is another brewery,
Market Garden. The brewmaster there used to head up Great Lakes before ratcheting up Dogfish Head. Now he's back home in Cleveland.
Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is in the final year of a huge redo. One more large wing will open in the last part of this year but there's plenty of it complete. It's an amazing facility, especially the new large atrium which uses the rear exterior wall of the original building as an interior wall.

While at University Circle, where CMA is located you might want to check out the brand new home of the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA) s few blocks away. A crazily designed building.

Speaking of crazy architecture, Case Western Reserve University, right there at University Circle, has a Frank Gehry building. The Peter B Lewis building. Lewis, founder of Progressive Insurance (Progressive Field, home of the Indians right next to the Q where Cavs play) is the largest donor to NORML. The Cleveland Clinic is right next to University Circle which is also home to the large University Hospital campus.

For the best food experience in University Circle hit
L'Albatross. A little pricey but some amazing takes on French cuisine. Or for a beer in a folksy bar, right next door, the
Barking Spider.
MOCA is on the corner of Euclid and Mayfield. head up Mayfield through Little Italy. On the right is Lake View Cemetery. Not as accommodating in the winter as it is in better weather but still the resting place of President Garfield and John D. Rockefeller.

At the end of the cemetery you'll come across Coventry Rd. Lots of small shops. Big Fun being the most talked about. It's the neighborhood Harvey Pekar lived in. Coventry in in Cleveland Heights. The library recently unveiled a statue of Pekar.

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Tommy's restaurant, an institution on Coventry, specializes in vegetarian. Coventry is also where The
Grog Shop is located. Lots of indie bands. Though not much this weekend.
Staying on the eastside but down near the lake, is the Waterloo neighborhood. It's being populated by musicians and artists due to the cheap housing but isn't always the safest place. Still, The
Beachland Ballroom is there. Home to many great shows, though nothing thrilling Friday night there. There's also Music Saves and Blue Arrow, two good record stores.
Downtown has a casino right at Public Square in the old Higbee's department store featured in Christmas Story. The two big bar/restaurant areas downtown are E.4th (my pick is The Greenhouse) and the Warehouse District which becomes a meat market on weekend nights.
On E.4th and Euclid is House of Blues. Friday night my friend throws a large Capricorn Party. A Johnny Cash tribute band will be playing. Let me know and I can put your name at the door.
And, of course, there's The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Speaking of Christmas Story. There's the Christmas Story Museum in the Tremont neighborhood, right near Ohio City. It's in the same house the movie was filmed in. Lots of good restaurants and bars in Tremont as well. My picks are the
Tremont Tap House,
Prosperity Social Club and
The South Side.
Moving west from Ohio City about 30 blocks is Gordon Square. If you have time hit the
Happy Dog. They serve nothing but hot dogs with an insane number of toppings. Also lots of great local music showcased in the evening. It's my hangout. Friday's soul music happy hour is a good bet.
There's plenty of other things but the above will certainly fill your couple of days. Cleveland is an adventurous foodie city so take advantage and don't dare go to anything chain-wise.
The way I'd do it is...
Hit Ohio City and Gordon Square Friday. Back downtown (if you're staying there) for House of Blues and the pick up scene in the warehouse district late night.
Saturday do University Circle and Coventry then back downtown for dinner at Greenhouse then basketball game, then maybe casino afterwards.
Sunday do the Rock Hall.
That means no record shopping on Waterloo. Oh well.