30 | COOL CLEVELAND


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January 2025 CLEVELAND: THE CITY OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL


Andrea McVeigh ticks the capital of Ohio off of her bucketlist, exploring Cleveland’s Rock ‘n’ Roll history, distinct neighbourhoods, and vast greenery,...


“THIS is the most Cleveland thing


you can do in Cleveland,” says Will Hollingsworth, owner of Prosperity Social Club, as we sit at my table while I tuck into my pierogi and beer. I asked him if he meant being in his historic neighbourhood bar in Tremont, on the of city’s oldest neighbourhoods, or eating one its famous pierogies. Or perhaps belting out a song at the Monday


karaoke session, which was just about to start. “All three!” he exclaimed.


Prosperity is a Cleveland institution and


Will, a former customer before he bought the bar, can’t think of anywhere better to be. It’s an unpretentious place, serving drink and old- world comfort food to an eclectic clientele who sit within a retro-styled interior. I didn’t attempt the karaoke, but I made sure to try the menu’s popular Loaded Pierogies. If there’s one thing you must eat during a trip to Cleveland, it’s this flaky, tasty, filled dumpling -


an European Eastern staple,


brought over by immigrants in the 1920s. Cleveland, the capital of


Ohio, should be the hot US destination on your 2025 bucket list. A direct Aer Lingus flight from Dublin allows you to go through pre- clearance and arrive in America eight hours later, as if on a domestic flight, with no long immigration queues on arrival. I had picked up my case and was out of the airport just 20 minutes after landing. Cleveland is famous


for


music. History’s first rock and roll concert was held here, at the Moondog Coronation Ball, in 1952. It’s also home to the world-famous


Rock & Roll


Hall of Fame. When big name acts such as Radiohead and the Eagles are inducted into the Hall of Fame, it’s here they fly into to receive the honour.


The Rock Hall, as it’s also known, offers visitors a fascinating journey through the music, clothes, lives, and sometimes the mishaps, of the greatest music acts of the past century. Over six floors, the story of popular music is told through displays, artefacts and exhibits, and the music itself, starting with blues, gospel and country, via folk and bluegrass, to modern day rock, pop and hip-hop. You can see the very guitars that Buddy Holly and John Lennon played, then go on to admire the clothes worn by Elvis, the Beatles and Mama Cass. With music playing as you walk, you can’t fail to be both impressed and moved, especially when you pause to listen to a favourite track. Take my advice spend a full day there to get the most out of it. There’s so much to do in Cleveland you will easily fill a week. “If you’re bored in Cleveland, you’re


boring,” laughed my tour guide, Tom, as we trod the sunlit sidewalks on a bright September morning, on one of Take a Hike’s Historic Walking Tours of the Warehouse District. He’s not wrong.


stretch,


This fascinating now


industrial becoming


gentrified thanks to sympathetic restoration, was once the home of


the hardware industry. As we walked past historic buildings, Tom explained how the restoration of this historic district is breathing new life into its streets. We finished our tour in Playhouse Square,


America’s largest performing


arts centre outside of New York, with its 11 performance spaces including five majestic early-20th


century theatres,


including the Palace, modelled after the Palace of Versailles no less. Tom also told me that people who aren’t


from Cleveland are surprised by how much is here, and I can vouch for that. For a start, there’s America’s most beautiful grocery store - Heinen’s in Downtown, housed in the magnificent Cleveland Trust Rotunda (designed by the same architect as the New York Stock Exchange) with its central stained-glass dome and interior murals. A former bank, it once housed the wealth of prominent families such as the Rockefellers. Industrialist J.D. Rockefeller’s legacy lives in on other ways too. He started his career in the city in the 1800s, and during his life donated large amounts to charities, plus land to create parks. His summer estate, Forest Hill, is now a park in the upmarket suburb of Cleveland Heights. A day can easily be whiled away at Edgewater Park and beach, where you’ll find one of Cleveland’s Instagram-friendly


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