The New Normal

Once home to Cleveland's colossi of industry, including General Electric Co., Lincoln Electric Co. and Eaton Corp., the lakeshore neighborhood of Collinwood thrived for half a century as thousands of Irish, Italian and Eastern European immigrants found factory jobs and swelled the census.

Long before Legacy Village, East 185th Street was the East Side's main street shopping district. "It was every mom-and-pop clothing store, food store — everywhere, up and down the street," says Chris Hammer, co-owner and general manager of the Standard, which occupies one of those former spaces.

Yet racial strife, suburban flight and the eventual decline of manufacturing took its toll on the neighborhood. But Collinwood — following the West Side's Tremont and Ohio City neighborhoods — is attempting a comeback, employing the same attributes that made it great in the past: walkable streets, authentic shops and an appreciation for its culture.

Like the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, Bistro 185 and the nonprofit Waterloo Arts, the Standard beckons new life in Collinwood. Along a stretch of drab storefronts, vacant theaters and corner marts, a single vertical marquee broadcasts its name with tinted glass substituting for bold neon, making it a little too easy to pass right by the unassuming gastropub. While it might not stand out from its flashier neighbors, the Standard is definitely different.

"It was a dark and dingy bar for so many years," says Hammer of the former Harland Pub. Though the spot is casual enough for jeans and a button-up, Hammer patrols the front of the house in a suit and tie on most nights. It's his way of illustrating that there's more to this neighborhood than dive bars and vacant storefronts.

The space is similarly outfitted: Exposed brick walls, dark-wood trim, crystal chandeliers, a tin ceiling and a few unexpected pops of robin's egg-blue plaster look inviting and trendy. Local photographer Tim Lachina's works hang throughout, buffing the city's gritty side smooth with his stark black-and-white images of the ghosts of Cleveland manufacturing.

And in a bold move to embrace the neighborhood, an open kitchen concept extends beyond the requisite chef's-table view as large picture windows expose the entire space to the street.

Hammer feels it's important for passers-by to see what's happening inside. "It's alive, in one way, shape or form," he says.

Hammer and his business partner, Matt Quinn, took a similar bet on opening Paragon in downtown Euclid four years ago. As with their first joint venture, they also put their own backs into bringing the Standard to life.

"We chiseled down the walls, we ripped down the ceilings, we ripped up the floors, we built the bar," Hammer explains.

The Standard opened its doors in January with a menu — designed jointly by executive chef Patrick Fisher and Tim Bando, who left to open Grove Hill in Chagrin Falls this July — created to be shareable with lots of appetizers, tapas-style dishes and entrees priced by small or large portions. In a departure from its decor, though, the dishes are a conscientious reflection of Collinwood.