“He Loves to Fight for all the Little Guys” (Plain Press, September 2020) After 30 years as a MetroHealth doctor, and a number of years before that serving as a community organizer, Doug Van Auken is set to retire. Doug Van Auken’s mission in life was perhaps best captured in that headline from a 1984 … Continue reading
Women’s Suffrage Walk offers insight into American struggle for universal voting rights (Plain Press, September 2020) The Women’s Suffrage Walk, a self-guided tour by Our Neighborhood Votes, held on Professor Avenue in Tremont on Saturday August 20th, offered a history of efforts toward universal suffrage from the organizing of the first Women’s Rights Convention in … Continue reading
Landmarks Commission weighs in on Lincoln Parks Flats project by Bruce Checefsky (Plain Press, August 2020) Director of Cleveland City Planning Commission Freddy Collier has come under criticism for his handling of a Landmarks Commission decision that took place in North Collinwood earlier this year. Cleveland historian and writer Carol Poh resigned from the … Continue reading
(Plain Press, August 2020) At its July 9th meeting, the Cleveland Landmarks Commission unanimously approved the design for a Tamir Rice Memorial on the grounds of Cudell Recreation Center, 1910 West Boulevard. Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old student at Marion Seltzer School at the time when he was shot and killed by a Cleveland … Continue reading
(Plain Press, August 2020) The vacant Pilsener Brewing Bottling-Works building on Clark Avenue is now a Cleveland landmark after Cleveland City Council recently approved the legislation at the June 1st meeting. The giant brick structure was built in 1913-1914 as part of a sprawling beer-brewing campus that produced the popular P.O.C beer – which … Continue reading
A wide variety of venues found a home on Denison Avenue over the years by Matthew Johns (Plain Press, March 2020) A wealthy businessman’s house, a massive roller rink and Transylvanian cultural center may seem like an odd combination, but they all found their place along a small strip of a road on Cleveland’s west … Continue reading
PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Friday, January 17, 2020; mural on east side of trd Leather, 6321 Detroit Avenue: This mural, painted in late October of 2019 by artist Shane Pierce of Abstract Dissent, adds scenic beauty to the drive down Detroit Avenue. Chuck Perez, owner of trd Leather, says a photo of his mother was … Continue reading
PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Sunday, November 17, 2019; St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, 1930 W. 54th Street: The main altar at St. Stephen’s church. The altars and statues at St. Stephens were carved from oak and most were imported from Munich, Germany. The parish, which was founded in April of 1869, celebrates its … Continue reading
PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Friday, September 20, 2019; St. Malachi Church, 2459 Washington Avenue: This sculpture, a Pietá – the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, — was exhibited at the Chicago World Fair in 1893. Carved out of one block of wood, the sculpture was saved and restored after a fire … Continue reading
