Why I love Cleveland

Now that I've told you that it was a mistake for LeBron James to leave Cleveland in the previous post, I will now tell you why I love Cleveland which I will do in individual posts. My lovely wife and I make a trip up to Cleveland once or twice a year for various events and attractions. Let's start with the West Side Market. The West Side Market started as an open air market in the mid 1800's and the large structure you see to your left was completed in 1912. It's row after row of bakeries, butcher shops, seafood, spice stores and other goodies. My favorite being Dohar's meats, a Hungarian butcher shop that operates only out of the West side market. They have several varieties of fresh and smoked sausages and also carry Hungarian style bacon and salami and other things to fortify us paprika based life forms. And, they speak Hungarian.

You need some veggies? The vegetable stands run the length on the building on the north side of the market. The vendors are of any ethnic flavor you can think of. These folks are selling stuff. They do not wait quietly for you to pick up a pepper or an apple, they're yelling out prices, reaching over the fruit and vegetables to hand you samples. They compliment ...."these strawberries are as beautiful as you are" They admonish ..."I can't believe you are not going to buy this corn" a man said to us after we walked away from what was in his mind the best deal on corn in the history of the world. Towards the end of the day the prices start to come down as they would in any proper market. 2 for 5 becomes 2 for 4. That's not good enough? They make special price just for you! All these things make the West Side Market a very interesting place to say the least. But there is another thing which completes the experience, authenticity. You get the feeling not much has changed over the nearly 100 years of operation. It's being used much the same way in 2010 and it was in 1912. You walk around and see folks from all over the economic scale speaking a variety of languages. The only comparable market in my area is Findlay Market in Cincinnati. It was recently renovated and all they did was pretty the thing up. Adding seating areas and doo-dads to fancy up the place. Now it's just a tarted up market in a bad neighborhood. Having said that there are still gems in Findlay Market. Silverglades and Lukens Seafood and Poultry, Castellini's produce, the Arabic store and an asian store are all still there. No such thing has happened to the West Side Market and you can not only see the difference, you can feel it. So, take a trip to the West Side Market in Cleveland and experience it for yourself.