26 Reasons to Love Cleveland Right Now

In Cleveland, 2016 means something. You don’t have to say another word. For nearly a decade now, we’ve treated that year as a kind of civic high-water mark — the year everything seemed to happen at once. The Cavs ended the drought. The Indians took the Cubs to the brink (that rain delay still haunts us). Stipe Miocic brought home the UFC heavyweight title. Cleveland hosted the Republican National Convention. The jokes stopped. The banners went up. For a moment, Cleveland found itself at the center of the nation’s attention. And get ready — because you’re about to hear about it all over again. Newsrooms across the city are warming up the nostalgia machine as the 10-year anniversaries approach. Over the coming months, you’ll read tributes to that unforgettable summer. No judgment: We have a few things up our sleeves, too. Cleveland does nostalgia well. But this year, we didn’t want to just look back. This month’s “26 Reasons to Love Cleveland” feature was partially inspired by a social media trend that popped up at the turn of the year. Users posted flashbacks to 2016, calling it a simpler time. In some ways, it was a cultural time capsule — the year Stranger Things debuted, Justin Bieber topped the charts and “Damn, Daniel!” somehow became a thing. But 2016 also marked a turning point — not just for Cleveland, but for the country. The political era that dominates today began here that summer. In the years since, the national conversation has grown loud, toxic and more divided. COVID reshaped how we live and work. Some of our favorite restaurants closed. Office workers disappeared from Downtown. LeBron left again. The Browns, well … they’re still the Browns. It hasn’t always been easy. But through it all, Cleveland hasn’t lost its spark. If anything, the lesson of 2016 isn’t about championships or national attention. It’s about what came after — the realization that we don’t need validation anymore. This city is building something bigger than that. There’s finally hope around activating the shores of our Great Lake and river. Our chefs aren’t chasing trends anymore — they’re defining them. Our parks, institutions and neighborhoods are evolving in ways that make this place more vibrant and beautiful. Our sports stars — like José Ramírez — love this city so much they’re willing to turn down millions just to stay here. And the weird, wonderful, winter-hardened Cleveland? That Cleveland is still here, too. It’s easy to take home for granted. You drive past the same places every day. Growth happens incrementally. But I’m lucky. Making this magazine each month reaffirms why I love this place. I hope it does the same for you, too. But just in case you needed a reminder, here are 26 more reasons to love Cleveland. -DS

Because the Bees Are a Great American Sports Dynasty

Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School won its 23rd consecutive gymnastics state championship in March. Read an excerpt from A Fraction of a Point: A Gymnastics Dynasty on the Line, Nina Mandell’s new book chronicling the 2023 victory.

It was August 2022, still months before the season started and five months after the last state title win. Brecksville-Broadview Heights assistant coach Leah Miko stood at Gym World at a club practice, wearing her usual coaching uniform: black workout pants and a T-shirt, with her long curly brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.

She watched her group of club gymnasts complete their warmup drills and tried to stop her mind from wandering. Two of the gymnasts in the club practice were Brecksville gymnasts, but the rest competed for other area schools — Padua, Strongsville, Magnificat and more. It was a weird reality of the Ohio gymnastics scene really. She was doing her best to coach the gymnasts at Gym World who could potentially upset her high school team — her alma mater and the thing that drove her to near madness daily — in the next state meet.

And while she was coaching the club gymnasts, often her mind kept wandering to that high school team. She had the same problem when she was driving to and from school or was at one of her other jobs — she also worked as a bartender — and mostly, it was the worst before she went to sleep at night. Leah couldn’t stop her mind from thinking about the hurdles facing the Brecksville-Broadview Heights team the next season. The lack of depth and known talent on the upcoming season roster was the thing that haunted her when she was not rethinking her strategy and where it almost went wrong with the last team. It had been months, but she couldn’t get it out of her head.

Read the full excerpt here.

Because Tim Misny Is In on the Joke

The all-seeing eyes of his many billboards stare into our souls. We’ve seen him in costumes and photoshopped onto Mount Rushmore. His head is emblazoned onto T-shirts and baby bibs. “It’s a serious business,” Misny says. “But nowhere does it say you can’t have fun with your advertising.” Now, the infamous injury lawyer who “makes them pay” is getting the film treatment. First, an artificially generated video series, The Adventures of Tim Misny, is a surreal, fictionalized version of Misny’s life. Meanwhile, Misny is involved in a documentary, The Misny Movie, following his life and work. Releasing later this year, it’s another Misny stamp on the place he calls home. “Northeast Ohio is phenomenal,” Misny says, “and I’m having a lot of fun with it.” -AN

Because the West Side Market Is Taking a Step Into the Future

The West Side Market has towered over Ohio City for more than a century. Now, it gets a much-needed facelift. An ongoing $70 million renovation adds a prepared food hall, courtyard, venue and teaching kitchen. In January, the market debuted a refreshed produce arcade, with redesigned vendor stands, refrigeration, an HVAC system and new lighting. “It’s a totally new format. You can actually interact with the customers more,” says Brian Gaal, who manages A&J Produce, which has operated at the West Side Market for more than three decades. “Everything is brand new. Everything works.” Plump vegetables, fruits and fragrant bouquets and herbs are now at eye-level for shoppers to peruse. “It really highlights the full vision of what the project is intended to do for the Market, which is to preserve the historic architecture, enhance systems and restore aging infrastructure,” says Rosemary Mudry, the executive director of Cleveland Public Market Corp., which manages the West Side Market. ”Completion of the produce arcade has helped build trust in the project as the community can actually see the vision come to life.” Up next: a gut renovation of the basement. While most funds have been raised, Cleveland Public Market Corp. is still collecting a remaining $12 million to finish the entire building by early 2028. “I think when it’s complete,” Mudry says, “we will be the best public market in America.” -AN

Because CMA Added Its First Fashion Curator

Trends come and go. But the art behind fashion is very much in vogue for art museums today. Around the globe and here in Cleveland, major institutions are embracing the art form. Last year, Louvre in Paris curated its first fashion exhibition in its two-century history. In 2017, New York City’s Museum of Modern Art showcased a fashion-focused exhibition for the first time in 73 years. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2018 show Heavenly Bodies experienced record-breaking attendance with more than 1.6 million visitors. For the past few years, fashion has also been making its mark on the Cleveland Museum of Art’s offerings, perhaps nowhere as dramatically as in its recent Renaissance to Runway show. And you have Darnell-Jamal Lisby, the CMA’s first fashion curator, to thank for it. Since he was hired in 2021, Lisby has explored various facets of the medium through his work on museum exhibitions, including The New Black Vanguard, Egyptomania and Korean Couture. “Developing a department out of scratch is a very high bar,” Lisby says. “What’s been interesting is the fact that we’ve been able to develop at a more rapid pace than, probably, what other institutions have been able to do at all.” Before his work in Cleveland, Lisby worked as a fashion historian and education coordinator at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and various New York City spaces, like the Costume Institute of the Met and the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The Atlanta native grew up in the museum-filled Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, where he discovered an interest in curatorial work. Then, he was drawn to fashion curation, specifically, studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Fashion, and its connections to the body, was of interest to the curator, who often examines intersections of Blackness and the history of fashion in his work. Though Renaissance to Runway wrapped up its run in February, you can expect fashion to stay in the museum’s future offerings, thanks to Lisby’s work establishing the department. “I am a one-man arm,” Lisby says, “but we are talking about the future. It is in motion. Everybody will just have to wait and see.” -AN

Because After 50 Years, CIFF Is Still Going Strong

Eight films made up the first Cleveland International Film Festival in 1977. Fast-forward 50 years, and it’s blossomed into a 10-day event, which will show 326 movies this April. Along with its screenings at Playhouse Square stages, CIFF returns to its roots with a significant lineup at Cedar Lee this month: an homage to the earliest years of Cleveland’s annual marquee movie event. Cleveland Magazine hosted a conversation between festival founder Jon Forman and CIFF’s current executive director Hermione Malone about the past, present and future of the beloved film fest. -AN

Hermione Malone: So, John, you started the festival in 1977. I’m really curious to know what inspired the first event. Why did you want to bring a globally focused film festival to Cleveland?

Jon Forman: I was out of work, and I needed a job. When I was a student at Case Western Reserve University, I ran the college’s film society. Students actually went to see movies in theaters because there was no internet, no streaming. Fast forward, I graduated, and had some non-film jobs, and one of the companies I was working for filed for bankruptcy, and I was out of work. A friend of mine, who helped start the festival, said, “Why don’t you start a Cleveland Film Festival?” You’re 20-something, you figure, why not? We put together the very first Cleveland Film Festival with an all-volunteer staff, and were able to rent the Cedar Lee Theatre from its owners at that time, a company called Community Circuit Theaters. We had the first festival which showed eight films in a subscription film series. At the time, the American Film theater, I think, was showing a subscription film series of some very well-produced intellectual type movies. And I said, “Well, that performance seemed to work, so let’s steal their form.” And we did it over eight weeks: one film a week, two showings each week, and it worked.

HM: Awesome. Were you at all surprised by the response?

JF: Yes. I always said it was an artistic success because it paid all the bills. I wasn’t paid. Everyone who worked was doing it as a volunteer, and it was great. The festival ends and, you know, life goes on. (In the second CIFF), we almost doubled the number of films we were showing. Again, I was concerned that Clevelanders would not embrace the concept of a festival, so we still spaced them out. I think we might have tried to grow too quickly. But again, it worked enough to cover our expenses, and the festival was a success. Festival ends, and the owner of Community Circuit (Bert Lefkowich) was in the process of divesting himself of other theaters in Cleveland. Bert said to me, “Hey kid, would you like to own a movie theater?” He basically financed the purchase of the theater. Very kind of him, although he was also a ruthless businessman, very business-
oriented. He said, “If you miss one payment, I get everything back.” I said, “That’s fair. I have nothing to lose.” So we took over the theater, and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Read the full conversation here.

Because We're Officially a Hot Dog Town

Move over, Detroit. Cleveland is officially beefing up. In the heart of the city, you’re never far from the irresistible smells of a weenie cart on most street corners, and you can find even more unique takes on franks in area restaurants. Last year, Lakewood’s LBM hosted its “Hot Dogs Around The World” series in the second half of 2025. Every Monday, the restaurant and cocktail bar debuted a different style, ranging from German currywurst to deep-fried South Korean gamja dogs, Kansas City Reuben dogs and cheese curd-topped Wisconsin glizzies. Speaking of glizzies, the Glizzys hot dog-shaped cart has attracted a loyal fanbase in the past few years for its over-the-top footlongs twirled in bacon and sprinkled with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. “We want it to be an experience,” says co-owner Laurisa Raimondo. “We don’t want a regular restaurant where you walk in, you get your food and you leave. We want it to be something to remember.” Of course, Happy Dog paved the way for making such big twists on classic carnivore fare. The Gordon Square restaurant, bar and music venue is now in its 18th year of offering customizable creations, which hungry customers build through an unlimited checklist of toppings including SpaghettiOs, Froot Loops, alien pickle relish and sunny side up eggs. There’s a lot of fun to be had on a hot dog, but you can never go wrong with a no-nonsense approach. For a straightforward ketchup-and-mustard vibe, visit a classic spot like Johnny Hot Dog, which has been in operation in Cleveland’s West Side Market since 1942, or swing by Amherst’s Hot Dog Heaven or Parma’s Hot Dog Diner for a greasy paper bag filled with goodness. Above all, keep an eye out on menus for our city’s delicacy, the Polish Boy. At Whitmore’s Bar-B-Q in Warrensville Heights the dish marries kielbasa with toppings of French fries, coleslaw and barbecue sauce: a taste of pure Cleveland. -AN

Because We Might Finally Take Advantage of our Lakefront

Folks once flocked to Cleveland for the economic advantages that came from being a city on a lake with a river flowing through it. And then, for generations, the city walled itself off from its lakefront. Those barriers might come down with the Browns’ stadium moving. Mayor Justin Bibb, looking for a bright side to the team’s decision, is now renewing a push to close the low-traffic Burke Lakefront Airport. Compounded with the stadium’s footprint, those two moves would open up 5 miles of shoreline and over 500 acres of lakefront property for recreation and mixed-use development. For reference, that’s as much as 88 football fields. That’s not incremental change, says the mayor. That’s generational change. “By leveraging our waterfronts, these can be major drivers for new revenue, new population and new growth for our city to be competitive long-term,” Bibb says. Some money is already pouring in. The Browns pledged $100 million to kick off the lakefront project. That drive pushes Cleveland to embrace its Great Lakes identity in unprecedented ways, with recreational activities, events, scenic views and a new epicenter to enjoy our most important natural asset. These are all elements a lakefront city requires and ones that Chicago and Toronto have leveraged. “There’s a big difference between being a city on the water and a waterfront city,” says Destination Cleveland CEO and president David Gilbert. The latter is coming now, and Clevelanders are ready to bask in the true benefits of the beautiful Lake Erie. -JS

Because Defunct Golf Courses Are Going Green

With so many great courses, golf rules spring, summer and fall recreation in Northeast Ohio. However, golf courses are also a bit of a monstrosity. Upkeep litters the ground with pesticides and can consume tens of thousands of gallons of water daily. That polluted groundwater, plus the monoculture of large fields of manicured grass, wreaks havoc on local habitats and biodiversity. They often even reshape natural water systems, such as ponds and rivers. That’s why a new movement to replace defunct golf courses is a total hole-in-one. Across Northeast Ohio, acres that once demanded trimmed fairways and chemically treated grass are slowly returning to wetlands and wildflowers. Orchard Hills Park in Chesterland is now filled with native plants, streams and trails. In 2008, Geauga Park District became the first in Ohio to convert a former course when it started restoring Orchard Hills, turning it into a 237-acre property, complete with 3.6 miles of trails, an orchard-themed playground and a sledding hill. Since then, park districts across the region have followed suit. At Veterans Legacy Woods in Newbury Township, a former course within the Cuyahoga River watershed, restoration efforts include creating a rare cold-water stream by channeling a natural groundwater spring. The project, another by Geauga Park District, helps stabilize water flow and filter runoff before it reaches the Cuyahoga River — protecting it from flooding and harmful pesticides. Now, the 180-acre park features a 3.8-mile trail system, a playground, a pavilion and a tribute to our armed forces. The Cleveland Metroparks have embraced the approach as well. Acacia Reservation, the Metroparks’ first golf course restoration project in 2012, has since flourished with native plants, trees and shrubs. The 155-acre green space is now a popular spot for birding. Restoration by the Metroparks is also underway at Hawthorne Golf Course, a historically beloved course in Solon. “Golf courses in general are not the greatest things for the environment,” says Paul Pira, Geauga Park District park biologist. “It’s always a good thing if you can take some of them and convert them into a useful natural park.” -KK

Because @cultureswapp Is Bringing Us Together

Timothy “T Bone” Sweeney and David “Solo” Bost have built an online following by trading places. In their viral videos, the duo introduce each other to experiences often framed around cultural stereotypes, under titles like “Bringing My White Friend to Do Black People Sh--” and “Bringing My Black Friend to Do White People Sh--.” Videos feature Solo skiing or playing pickleball for the first time. Other clips show T Bone stepping into a Black barbershop or a neighborhood corner store. The titles are intentionally clickable, but the tone is lighthearted. “We thought we might get more backlash,” Sweeney says, “but the top comment on one of our videos was, This is so wholesome. That surprised us.” One impactful clip came from a deli on the corner of East 84th Street and Superior Avenue. The video racked up more than 52 million views, sending a wave of curious new customers to the neighborhood spot. “We didn’t really realize that we had the power to do something like that,” Sweeney says. At its core, the series explores cultural crossover, with Sweeney having grown up in Cleveland Heights and Bost in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. For Sweeney, the videos have changed how he sees the city. Filming with Bost broke down misconceptions he had about Cleveland after growing up in the suburbs. “The sense of community over there is real,” Sweeney says about the city. “People look out for each other.” At the heart of it all is something distinctly Cleveland, a powerful pride in the 216 that flows through neighborhoods and backgrounds. Their goal is simple: Step outside your comfort zone, laugh a little and realize you might have more in common than you think. “Honestly, I just want to bring people together,” Bost says. “No matter what community you’re from or what race you are, I want people to see each other working together and getting along. That’s really the whole point of what we’re doing.” -CR

Because Our Ever-Expanding Cultural Gardens Continue to Honor Our Immigrants

Cleveland is a city of immigrants. Always has been. Always will be. Need proof? Take a two-mile stroll down Martin Luther King Drive through Cleveland’s Cultural Gardens, where the city’s global story is told. That story is still unfolding with two exciting updates. The Colombian Cultural Garden, which unveiled plans in 2024, is the first Latinx garden in the entire park. The African American Cultural Garden is moving confidently toward Phase 2 of development. The African American garden, dedicated in 1977, already features the “Door of No Return,” a structure symbolizing the departure from Africa, and eight commemorative trees. The expansion builds upon the past, present and future of Black Clevelanders with a water feature representing the journey from slavery to freedom. A new platform explores themes of autonomy and collective ownership to create a space to honor history, celebrate cultural legacy and reflect on the lived experiences that have shaped Cleveland. Meanwhile, the Colombian garden’s arrival marks a long-overdue milestone — not just for Colombians, but for all Latinx immigrants who will be represented for the first time. A traditional Colombian house will offer a structure unlike any other in the gardens. Over more than 250 acres, these gardens are more than just monuments. In August, the Cultural Gardens will host the 80th annual One World Day event. This vibrant gathering blends languages, music, food and traditions, showcasing nearly 50 ethnic groups. Conversations and celebrations culminate in a naturalization ceremony, an event that reminds us of the strength and beauty that comes from Cleveland’s diverse communities. -KK

Because Cleveland Is Under Construction

The 2016 championship year was as much about dreaming as it was about celebrating. Development beat writer Ken Prendergast reminds us why the city’s future is still bright. 

When I want to learn about my city, I take newcomers for a tour. As a real estate blogger and a closet historian, I know where just about everything of significance is. I know where some things used to be and where they’re going to be. But what I often enjoy anew is appreciation.

I take Cleveland for granted sometimes. We all do. We see the bridges, the towers, the parks, the river and the lake every day. We don’t notice them anymore. Sometimes we even curse the additions for complicating our daily routine. We have gotten accustomed to construction. Yet, as a person of a certain age, I recall when construction projects in Cleveland were like a 50-degree January day. In 1976, there were nine building permits issued for new-construction homes in the city of Cleveland. Nine. The rest of the ’70s wasn’t much better. Today, when I give tours of the city, my guests are amazed at how much construction is happening. I’m amazed, too, and I write about it every day. 

A ride down Cleveland’s main street, Euclid Avenue, from Public Square to University Circle, is mind-blowing for someone my age. With the new Sherwin-
Williams HQ, there are now four towers of 600-plus feet around Public Square. The bustling East Fourth Street was once a scary cut-through street from the pawns of Prospect Avenue to the aging offices of Euclid. Now those pawns are great restaurants to support Gateway events. The old offices are nearly all residences. Between them are 23-, 28-, 29- and 34-story apartment towers — all built in the last decade. Playhouse Square, one of the largest theater districts in the country, continues to add new amenities. Next, we pass Cleveland State University, formerly a commuter-only school, today rich with campus life. 

The MidTown area is still lagging, but not for long. The Warner & Swasey factory, vacant for 40 years, is getting renovated with apartments to join with those at the Agora mixed-use venue. The Cleveland Foundation moved its headquarters to Hough, a neighborhood in MidTown, and added its MidTown Collaboration Center, filling it with bright, inventive, often young people.

On tours, I announce: “We are entering Downtown Cleveland ... Clinic.” A city within a city, with tens of thousands of caregivers at the Main Campus and thousands more visitors. Even with gerbil tubes connecting lookalike buildings, it’s an impressive sight to behold. On one tour, a first-time visitor to Cleveland asked me, “Which building is the Clinic?” I responded, “All of them.”

We leave Fairfax and enter University Circle to visually sort through a mix of classical and modern architecture, beautiful parks and the Case Western Reserve University campus. To me, it’s even better at night, with new, luminous residential towers, historic halls and museums reflecting off the Wade Park Lagoon. More is coming, which will only add to our cultural district’s vibrancy.

And that’s perhaps the most exciting part of my tours. Cleveland is always changing, adding new stuff, and not just on its main street between Ohio’s first- and fourth-largest employment hubs. I tell tourgoers about Gen. Moses Cleaveland arriving here in 1796. I tell them about the huge Republic Steel mill built on the swampy Scranton Peninsula, only to yield to nature a century later. On that land, cleaned of chrome toxins, a new neighborhood has risen in the last few years. Across the water is a 25-acre hillside, rebuilt to support itself and the forthcoming Irishtown Bend Park, in part to remember those who were tough enough to make it this far and start over.

That’s what Cleveland is doing. It’s starting over and reinventing itself. Cleveland survived its loss of manufacturing with enough strength to pursue a post-industrial conversion to a thriving economy of eds and meds, experiential venues, and new apartment buildings. None of this just happens. Someone decided to build it. And each new construction project changes Cleveland a little more. So go learn about your city by giving a visitor a tour from the perspective of your own life experiences. Note which construction projects might have changed your Cleveland in your time here. You just might learn something new about your city — something new to love. -KP