Book Brothers is the kind of bookstore where you might enjoy being stranded some winter day. That’s because this store is packed from floor to ceiling with a huge collection of books to consider.
The bad news is that there’s almost too much to see.
They have a huge selection of classics, art, history, philosophy, contemporary fiction and more. Plus, there’s cool non-book stuff to see.
They take cash and plastic and are located in downtown Lakewood, Ohio. Check them out!
People claim to hear and see unusual things at this grave but I found this spot in Lake View Cemetery to be peaceful and calm.
This is the Haserot Angel, a bronzestatue that dates to 1923. Industrialist Francis Henry Haserot commissioned the statue to honor his wife who died in 1919. It was created by artist Herman Matzen who was from Denmark but was working here in Ohio
Oxidation of the metal over these last 102 years has caused an effect that looks like black tears streaming from her eyes. The effect is creepy especially since she’s so realistic she could seemingly take flight. Many tourists and ghost hunters claim there’s something otherworldly going on on here.
I don’t know about that but she sure does look sad.
Her name?
The Angel of Death Victorious.
Happy Monday, friends!
Tucked into Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery is a 124 year old chapel that is a must-see if you like architecture, chapels, or Tiffany glass.
Wade Chapel was donated to the cemetery by Jeptha Wade II in memory of his grandfather who was a founder of the cemetery as well as co-founder of Western Union. Ground was broken in 1898 and it was finished in 1901
Marble plays an important role in this chapel but kind of plays second fiddle to the glass. The showstopper here is an enormous stained glass window that was produced by Tiffany. It is stunning and our tour guide lingered on the story of this window for a while. He says that Mr. Wade bought the window, understanding that it would first be exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1900 before coming to Cleveland.
But, if you go, don’t miss the 25 foot long wall mosaics on either side of the chapel. They are laid out in intricate designs that tell two different but converging stories using the theme “The Voyage of Life.”
All of the glass is Tiffany’s signature Favrile art glass which is rich and stunning. I could stare at it all day.
The tour guide suggested they still have many questions about this chapel but they believe that Louis Comfort Tiffany designed the interior himself. He noted that many details here are similar to elements used in Tiffany’s Chapel at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
This feels like a research project in the waiting for some art history student. If only these walls could talk!
It’s open for tours for a few hours a day. You can look around on your own but, like most places, you’ll learn more if you invest a few minutes in one of the free tours.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s Superman!
Superman’s origin story begins in Cleveland so he has been a favorite son in that city for decades. The popular comic book hero was created when writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster were in high school together in 1933.
That’s right! One of the world’s coolest super heroes was the brainchild of a couple of teenagers over ninety years ago. Superman has been the man of the hour around Ohio this summer because so much of the new blockbuster was shot in and near Cleveland.
If you’re a fan, know that the main library in downtown Cleveland has a really nice collection of Superman memorabilia and artifacts in a well done exhibit. The thing I geeked out over the most was Jerry Siegel’s writing desk.
He bought it for his home in 1940 and sat here to write scripts for Superman comics and other comic strip characters. He mainly used a typewriter to do this work and I could almost hear the clickity clack of an old Underwood as I studied the desk and considered the creative mind it would require to create a character with such staying power.
The library exhibit features items like comics, clocks, valentines, pajamas and lunch boxes. Many things are quite old and a few are from my own childhood – also, quite old – but at least I could feel a nostalgic connection to those old things.
This exhibit includes a snapshot of Jolan Kovacs who was the original model for Lois Lane. She would later marry Jerry Siegel. The museum card tells just enough of her story to make me want to learn more but I thought it was interesting she spent years campaigning for author’s rights and seeking wider recognition for the artists who gave us the Man of Steel.
It’s not an enormous exhibit but it’s quality and worth your time if you’re in the neighborhood. Also, it’s just across the street from The Arcade where they shot an iconic scene for this new movie and there are other Superman movie landmarks in the general vicinity. It’s all worth a visit if you’re a fan. The library and the Arcade are worth a visit even if you’re not a Superman fan!
The lending library also has an impressive wall of books about Superman and the comics. Remember, before he was a movie/tv show/ icon/merchandising gold mine, Superman was just a good old fashioned comic book hero!
By the way, Union Terminal in Cincinnati also got a nice chunk of time in the movie. I wrote about that art deco masterpiece last year. See it here!
If you stop by the library, be sure to ask the security guard for a map. It’s useful as you nose around and points out some interesting assets.
Cleveland’s west side neighborhood known as Tremont would be a quiet place if not for the decision made more than forty years ago to film portions of a low budget Christmas movie at a house on West 11th Street.
Those responsible for the movie magic behind A Christmas Story needed a large downtown department store in a city that would accommodate filming of a Christmas parade in late winter. They found exactly that in Cleveland where the historic Higbee Department Store had agreed to leave up their over-the-top Christmas decorations through the new year in 1983. The city streets and store exterior were transformed into 1940 Hohmanm, Indiana for middle-of-the-night parade filming.
Hohman was a fictionalized version of Jean Shepherd’s hometown of Hammond, near Chicago. The movie is based on a collection of Shepherd’s semi-autobiographical short stories. Ironically, he grew up on Cleveland Street, perhaps a bit of foreshadowing of what was to come.
After securing the department store location, there was a long list of places and things that needed to be scouted. Much of the film was made in Canada and a lot of the interior shots were done on a sound stage in Canada. However, when they stumbled into 11th Street and found the now infamous two-story yellow home with a large front porch and picture window looking into a remarkably unremodeled front room, movie magic was alive and well.
This is the story our tour guide shared when we toured the house earlier this month. He shared lots of other stories including how difficult it was to track down the homeowner only to find that he was nursing a drink in the back of a neighborhood pub just down the street literally every time they went in looking for help to locate him. He had no interest in their scheme to rent and stage his home to look like a forties era middle class household for a Christmas flick. That is, he had no interest until they offered to pay him $60,000 for his trouble. So he moved out and gave them free reign to do as they pleased.
The house was purchased several years ago and transformed into a museum. A lot next door serves as a very small parking lot. Next to that is a home turned Airbnb where you can stay. They call it the Bumpus House. If you don’t understand that name, you really need to watch the movie. You can also stay in the Christmas Story House where a portion of the house is an Airbnb and where overnight guests have the run of the home outside of tour hours.
Across the street, another house has been turned into an artifact museum and one next to that is a gift shop. A garage in between is home to a 1939 fire truck and an Oldsmobile like Ralphie’s Old Man drove.
The street is narrow. The place is popular. There’s precious little parking and signs at every driveway boldly demanding that visitors not block their driveway. Personally, I would either have to move or lose my mind if I lived in this neighborhood. It’s just too busy with the tourists to not make a person crazy.
Still, it’s a neat place to visit and a fun little tour if you enjoy the movie as much as I do. It wasn’t a smash hit when it was released but has since become a cult classic with so many quotable lines and vignettes that many of us can recall the entire script by heart.
If you’re not familiar, it’s about a boy named Ralphie and his quest for a Red Ryder BB Gun during one special childhood Christmas, America was still on the cusp of joining World War II. Entertainment came from gathering around the radio with his parents and brother. Fun with neighborhood friends sometimes led to trouble and education was a mixture of elementary school classroom and the flaring temper of his father who “wove a tapestry of obscenity, that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.”
Ralphie calls his dad “the Old Man.”
You can pose in front of the Christmas tree with a Red Ryder B.B. Gun and a blue bowling ball like the one the Old Man received. You can take a selfie with the infamous leg lamp in the window and even crawl under the kitchen sink like when Ralphie’s kid brother Randy did because he was sure their dad was going to kill Ralphie.
Two people on our tour wore pink bunny suits similar to the one Ralphie received from his aunt Clara for Christmas that year. The Old Man said that Ralphie looked like “a deranged Easter bunny” in that costume and this description wasn’t far off for the people we saw wearing their own. It was ridiculously hot that day so the teenaged girl and middle aged man who donned these costumes had to be truly dedicated to their cause and willing to suffer heat stroke in the name of enjoying the moment.
Either that or they lost a bet.
Speaking of people on the tour – manage your expectations if you are an introvert or really hate crowds. There were forty people on this tour and that was about twenty too many for my comfort level. We made do and it was fine but it was a little overwhelming in these small spaces.
In the museum across the street, you’ll find vintage toys from Higbee’s Christmas window, some original costumes, letters and other memorabilia.
I am not always a fan of guided tours but this one was a good compromise. The tour guide kept everyone together to tell us stories and then turned us loose to explore on our own in the house and the museum.
If you go, remember, parking is a pain so this might be a good time to take an Uber. If you have to drive, be courteous and don’t do anything that will get your car towed.
While it may be tempting to go at Christmas (because how fun would that be?), I will tell you now that this will be no fun at all. If it was this nuts in July, imagine how awful it will be in December.
Want to visit or just learn more? Check out their website!