On a recent Thursday in April, Jenice Contreras walked in front of 32 investors, architects, and community development corporation reps to announce some long-awaited news. “It’s a perfect storm,” she announced to the group at the Greater Cleveland Partnership offices downtown. “It took three decades. But we no longer need three decades to make it happen. All the right elements are now in place.”

Cleveland has had its shares of ups and downs in the 223 years since Moses Cleaveland first set up shop, but many of the city’s homes and buildings have remained—largely due to those who have put forth tremendous efforts to preserve and restore the structures that form Cleveland’s unique history.

If the neighborhood of Tremont were a person, it would make one heck of a dinner party host. One month from today, the area will once again host its annual Tremont Trek on Saturday, June 15. Now 18 years running, the event features an exclusive whirlwind tour of six private homes, along with tastings provided by local restaurants at each stop.

When Cleveland Asian Festival founders Lisa Wong, Johnny Wu, and Vi Huynh first started talking about celebrating Cleveland’s Asian community in 2010, they didn’t know what to expect. “Lisa threw out [the idea of] a big party,’” recalls Wayne Wong, the festival’s emcee and this year’s performance chair. “It wasn’t about any particular ethnicity—Chinese, Japanese, or Korean—but about the entire community and a celebration of Asian culture.”

While little remains of the original League Park, it ranks among America's top neighborhood baseball parks, and the memories of the iconic Cleveland landmark are still vivid in many people’s minds. Now those memories are coming back to life with a brand-new scale model and revitalization efforts for the surrounding neighborhood of Hough.

Last year, we wrote about the ever-evolving Towpath Trail Extension Project, and this week, we got the chance to check out Stage Three for ourselves. Almost two miles long, the trail runs from the northern entrance of Steelyard Commons to Literary Avenue in Tremont. Get a first look at the views from this new part of the Towpath Trail, courtesy of our managing photographer Bob Perkoski.

Many people think the tunnels under the Soldiers Sailors Monument are secret passageways that lead to other parts of Public Square, but “that’s an urban legend,” according to Tim Daley, the Monument’s executive director. What does lay beneath the Soldiers Sailors Monument—built in 1894 to commemorate the valor and patriotism of 9,000 Cuyahoga County soldiers and sailors who served in the Civil War—is a labyrinth of concentric circles made of unfinished sandstone that Daley likens to European cathedral crypts.

When Lakewood resident Katie Tackett started her Muse Room podcast in late 2018, fellow podcaster Katie Dalebout shared some sage wisdom: “Podcasting is the new networking.” This assertion rings true for just about every podcaster—affording the chance to curate a dream lineup of interviewees—and we listeners get to go along for the ride. 

Surrounded by a historic stone wall in Cleveland Heights, Beaumont School's 21-acre campus is rich in Cleveland history, but the on-site Painter Mansion is showing all of its 114 years. School officials say they have no use for the deteriorated mansion, and the renovations would be too costly, so it’s time to tear down the house—but Cleveland's preservation community wants the historic home to get a second chance.

Cleveland's east side is steadily emerging from the 2010 housing crisis—with the number of vacant and distressed structures decreasing significantly while home prices are on the rise.

So go the findings of a 2018 report by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy that examined 13 Cleveland neighborhoods (including Fairfax, Slavic Village, and Shaker Square). 

In some ways, the Van Aken District may seem like it was built overnight, but everyone involved in the intricate planning and construction of the shopping destination touted as Shaker Heights’ new downtown will be quick to assert that the planning began 18 years before the first brick was even laid. Now, in a unique collaboration between the City of Shaker Heights, the Shaker Heights City School District, and Shaker Heights Public Library, officials are once again developing a strategic long-term plan for community facilities.
 

For many Clevelanders, memories of bygone E. 185th St. conjure up visions of its epic annual street festival, movies at the La Salle, and bike rides down to the lake. Debra Drobnick is no exception. Born and raised in Euclid, Drobnick has fond recollections of growing up just one street away, so it's rather poetic that she's now a vital part of the street's renaissance as one of the forces behind uber-popular Irie Jamaican Kitchen.

As Sean L. Ward sees it, there will come a day where East Cleveland is mentioned in the same breath with Tremont and Waterloo as thriving, vibrant neighborhoods. And though he knows revitalization won’t happen overnight, he believes that the burgeoning East Cleveland Growth Association can help usher in much-needed change—and that the city is perfectly positioned for it.
 

The Cleveland Clinic's positive impact is felt far and wide, but how does it affect its immediate neighbors? Its new CEO is committed to finding out. Read on to learn what's in store, and get the scoop on a big FreshWater announcement!

Could Believeland become Blockland? A motivated group of movers and shakers is melding manifestation and action to make it so.

Lauren Calig was inspired when she attended the "Facing History Together" Common Ground conversation in June, geared at restoring trust and civility in public discourse. But it didn't stop there—Calig, Laurel School's director of multicultural curriculum, decided to institute a series of ongoing lunchtime Common Ground conversations for middle and upper school students at Laurel. 

Plain Dealer arts and entertainment reporter Laura DeMarco was so pleased with the reactions to her book Lost Cleveland­—a chronological look at beloved city landmarks and institutions that no longer exist—that she decided to write a second book on Cleveland’s living landmarks.

Got a great idea for improving Northeast Ohio? It's not too late to apply for the fifth installment of Accelerate: Citizens Make Change, a civic pitch competition slated for February 27, 2019 at the Global Center for Health Innovation.

As FreshWater wraps up its inaugural On the Ground reporting series in Old Brooklyn, we're also excited to debut our first-ever video—produced in tandem with Cleveland.com. Videographer John Pana did a fantastic job weaving together three different vignettes to paint a vibrant picture of Old Brooklyn's appeal, featuring a local family, the owners of 2020 W. Schaaf Gallery (Danielle and Michael Gutierrez), and Alysha Ellis of Freshly Rooted.