Cleveland has wonderful suburbs. However, the central city and its inner ring possess neighborhoods that other towns would die for: Tremont, Little Italy and Ohio City are well known destinations. Other up-and-comers such as Detroit-Shoreway, St. Clair-Superior, Madison Village and Larchmere are sweet little neighborhoods thriving with art galleries, coffee houses, bookshops and character to burn. This month, we turn you on to the bubbling Cleveland.
Holidaze Hullabaloo When we at Cool Cleveland started our after-work networking soirees, the e-mail blast only reached a few hundred really hip people. Now tens of thousands of NEOers receive the weekly dose of e-mail cool and hundreds of them come to our monthly parties. With Euclid Avenue being torn up for the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project, many people have avoided our main downtown intersections, so this get-together is designed to bring us all back to the city center. Fat Fish Blue is the venue, so you can count on a sizzling Cajun buffet with jambalaya, catfish lollipops, gumbo, red beans and rice and more. When you add in our open bar with beer and wine, nonstop entertainment from swamp popsters Cats on Holiday and cool Clevelanders from all parts of town, this is one happy hour not to be missed. The party will be Dec. 14 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Fat Fish Blue, located at Prospect Avenue and Ontario Street. For more information, visit www.coolcleveland.com.
Emerging Cleveland For a second year, CSU urban studies master’s students Justin Glanville and Erin Aleman have arranged bus tours to some of the city’s most underrated, unexpected and unbelievably cool neighborhoods: Gordon Square Arts District, East Fourth Street and Eco-City Cleveland to name just a few. Glanville and Aleman started the tours last year to showcase some of the city’s emerging neighborhoods and redevelopment projects. We at Cool Cleveland worked with the pair on our recent “Mystery Tour” to Chinatown, which sold out in days. This year, they’re boarding the buses Dec. 26 from 2 to 5 p.m. and Dec. 27 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. To reserve your seat, visit www.emergingcleveland.com.
Evolution Come see art in a brand new arts facility in a not-so-new building: the former St. Josaphat Roman Catholic Church in the city’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. Built in 1915, Alenka Banco purchased the closed facility and set about not only restoring the badly deteriorating church, but also creating Convivium33 Gallery, artists’ studios and offices. The conversion has already received awards from the American Institute of Architects and the Cleveland Restoration Society. To celebrate its first anniversary, Convivum33 is hosting The Evolution of Christopher Pekoc 1964-2000, a mixed media and photography show. Kick it off right Dec. 6 by taking part in “Dinner with Art” (and the artist), featuring a preview of the exhibition, plus dinner by chefs Mike and Bernie Sokolowski of University Inn. The exhibition opens Dec. 8 at Convivium33 Gallery at Josaphat Arts Hall, 1433 E. 33rd St. For more information, visit www.josaphatartshall.com
