Fall Color Season Is Almost Here: CLE Daily

🌧️ 63°; Rain

⚡ Ohio Leans Into EV Charging as Gas Prices Bite: With pump prices squeezing Northeast Ohio budgets, the state is spending $51 million — plus $26 million from private developers — on 64 new fast-charging sites, including stops in Medina, Kent, Beachwood, Broadview Heights and Richfield. The only one planned inside Cleveland's city limits: a Giant Eagle on West 117th Street. 

💡 Startup City: JumpStart's VC Fest returns to the Huntington Convention Center Sept. 29-30, drawing founders and investors from across the country for two days on AI and healthtech. Euclid native and former Ohio State star Robert Smith headlines day two with a keynote on his post-NFL startup, Fan Huddle.

🥢 Lao Sze Chuan Opens in Strongsville: The Chicago chain — named the No. 1 Chinese restaurant in America by Travel + Leisure in 1999 — opened its second Ohio location Friday, moving into the old Red Lobster near SouthPark Mall with an interior shipped over from China and assembled onsite. Dinner service only to start.  

ICYMI: Remember Monday's Dolly Parton 9 to 5 Day at the Rock Hall? Gov. Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine paid their own tribute at last week's First Lady's Luncheon, reflecting on eight years of state investment in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library — now mailing free books to kids in all 88 Ohio counties, more than any other state in the program.

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Today's Trivia

What Cleveland television station debuted as WXEL, an affiliate of the Dumont network, on Dec. 17, 1949?

Things to Do: Fall color season is almost here; Cleveland Magazine mapped 13 spots to catch it.

By Christina Rufo

From Metroparks overlooks to a 120-foot treetop tower, the guide rounds up where to see peak foliage around Northeast Ohio this fall, whether you want a quick drive-by or a full weekend trip.

• The View From Above: Holden Arboretum's Kalberer Emergent Tower climbs 120 feet through the tree canopy, pairing reds, yellows and oranges with a glimpse of Lake Erie's turquoise in the distance.

• Worth Noting: Cuyahoga Valley National Park typically peaks the third week of October — plan the Towpath Trail visit accordingly — while North Chagrin Reservation's beech and maple canopy starts turning as early as August.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

Gateway still doesn't have the money for the Cavs' new scoreboard. The nonprofit that owns Rocket Arena and Progressive Field says it's tapped out on sin-tax proceeds, even as the Cavs push for a $37 million scoreboard and audio overhaul. 

A Medina firefighter is racing to save the heart of Cleveland's first lift bridge before it's demolished. Geoffrey Moreland salvaged the 450-pound control panel from the Eagle Avenue lift bridge, which will be demolished this winter, and is restoring it as the seed of a planned engineering museum. 

Cleveland is putting up $1 million to bring a modular home factory to Central. The city-backed grant and loan will help MMY US convert a vacant Central Avenue factory into a home-building plant expected to bring 120 jobs.

Cleveland's police horses just got two miniature co-workers. Grace and Valor — named by public vote — join the Mounted Unit for community outreach and officer wellness work. 

A former CIA president is trying to revive Cleveland's Artists Foundation. Grafton Nunes, who led the Cleveland Institute of Art through a turnaround and a $75 million fundraising run, is taking over the 40-year-old foundation (formerly ARTneo) as it moves into a new Prospect Avenue home, aiming for a November exhibition on the Cleveland School.

Development: A vacant Little Italy landmark is finally getting rebuilt — as a tiki-disco dinner theater.

By Harrison Whittaker, NEOTrans

The Mayfield Theater, dark for more than 40 years, has begun restoration under owner Terry Tarantino, with a permit allowing crews to repair and weatherproof the roof and stop further decay at the 1923 building.

The Pitch: Dubbed "Mayfield Theater's Next Act," the dinner theater, bar and lounge blends "tropical tiki allure" with 1980s Italian disco glamour, designed by DS Architecture with a patio and an intimate lower-level lounge.

A Long Road: Tarantino bought the condemned, long-shuttered cinema in 2005; a 2023 condemnation order finally forced the choice between demolition and renovation.

Read the full story.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer 

What East Tech graduate and track star is the only person to set multiple world records on the same day at the Big Ten meet in 1935? Jesse Owens

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's question.

From the Editor

Fall officially arrives today at 8:04 p.m., and if you're anything like me, that means one thing: leaf peeping season.

Northeast Ohio doesn't get better than late October, when Metroparks trails and CVNP's Towpath light up with color. We rounded up 13 spots to catch it from Holden Arboretum's treetop tower to Chapin Forest's rock ledges. Bookmark the guide, then get outside before the leaves get ahead of you.

— Ron Ledgard, Managing Editor

Let us know what is on your mind at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

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