Henery posts a heads up for historicity

Lorain County Photographer’s Blog » Blog Archive » Saving Downtown: Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits-- I got this from our friend, Henery Hawk, over in Lorain. We're changing our schedules around to go down to Columbus this coming Tuesday. I'll be attending the all-day session, and Gloria will be focusing on the 106 review session in the afternoon. Here's from Henery's blogsite, with links at the end:

Saving Downtown: Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
May 12, 2008 – 5:51 pm

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 / 9 a.m.-4:00 p.m.Catering by Design Conference Center, Columbus, Ohio

The federal 20 percent Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit for income-producing properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places is a major incentive for preserving and redeveloping historic buildings in Ohio. Owners, developers, architects, consultants, real estate professionals, tax attorneys, and accountants will all benefit from this full-day workshop presented by experienced Ohio Historic Preservation Office staff who advise applicants and make recommendations on Ohio projects.

Participants will receive a workbook and tax credit application materials. The morning session covers specifics of applying for and qualifying for Certification of Significance and Certification of Rehabilitation and includes a discussion of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. A summary of the status of the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit ends the morning. The afternoon session covers how the Standards for Rehabilitation apply in a variety of common situations, including additions to historic buildings, retention of interior spaces and features, and what to do about windows. Among the questions to be answered are: Where should the addition go and how big can it be? Which spaces are significant and which can safely be altered? Up-to-the-minute guidance from the National Park Service on Interpreting and Applying the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, issued early in 2008, provides a basis for the presentations.

The afternoon ends with “You are the reviewer” roundtable discussions of individual projects, illustrating how the Standards for Rehabilitation apply to real Ohio rehabilitation proposals.

Who Should Attend? Agency Managers and Staff * Applicants for Federal Assistance, Licenses, or Permits * Archaeologists * Architects * Consultants * Contractors * Developers * Public Officials* Engineers * Historians

Click here to learn more about the Ohio Historic Preservation Office 2008 Workshops.
Click here to register online.

define: CORSAIR

define: CORSAIR - Google Search -- You have to hand it to old John Pierpont Morgan--when he named his yacht Corsair III, he at least let them know--in a roundabout, tongue-in-cheek way--that he was coming. It may have been the sporting thing to do. The same rich vein of good humor runs through the world of finance today, as the yacht's namesake sails back into this country, from a lengthy European tour.

Disney plans Ratatouille's next iteration, Ratvioli, to be filmed in Cleveland

YouTube - Ratatouille trailer 2

The latest Disney opus, Ratatouille, about a young rat-chef living within the walls of a famous Paris bistro, is rumored to have a successor film already in the can: Ratvioli!

This next production is also about a rat-chef, Ratatouille's maternal great-great-great grandfather, and he is a Cleveland rat from Murray Hill who tells Ettore Boiardi the secret to killer rat-violi meat filling, back during the Depression, and saves the East Side from vegetarianism.

Rumor also has it that Cleveland writer John Ettorre, although mum at this point, has an obscure family connection and is working with words to craft the original screenplay, perhaps even before filming begins in a deserted warehouse off Cleveland's Train Avenue next spring.

Denison timeline

Talking about our heritage with d.a. levy and the upcoming show at Art House reminds me there's a good amount of activity swirling around 3117-3119 Denison lately.

Last Friday, August 10th, Steven Litt, the PD art & architecture critic, helped Art House executive director Sheryl Hoffman announce her move to SPACES Gallery. We're grateful to Sheryl for all she's done locally to promote the arts and the neighborhood, and for being a good neighbor over on Mack since she arrived here in the late '90s.

Then, this coming Monday, there's the section 106 review about the proposed treatment of the historic Wirth House, from which Art House originally derived its name and its mission. This second meeting of the consulting parties for the section 106 review will be held at the Cleveland Public Library's Brooklyn Branch at 3706 Pearl Road at 6 PM. The date this coming Monday is August 20th.

Then, on August 21st, Art House hosts a gala d. a. levy reprise, featuring the recently reprinted "UKANHAVYRFUCKINCITIBAK", which I was talking about in my prior post--So much happening--So little time.

leveraging a levyfest

Our friend George Nemeth over at Brewed Fresh Daily gave us the heads up on what's going on 10 blocks down the street a week from today. I've lived here since 1983 and promoted the area since 1979, and I never really knew that d.a. was a Denisonian. Here's some of what George sent us:

ukanhavyrfuckincitibak

Bottom Dog Press and Mac's Backs will co-host a reading at Art House to
celebrate the release of two new books related to d.a. levy., the poet who grew
up down the street on Denison in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood. This
event features works from d.a. levy and the mimeograph revolution and the
tribute to levy ukanhavyrfuckincitibak as read by both books' editors
-- including former Clevelander Russell Salamon.

Check it out Tue 8/21 at 7PM.
3119 Denison Ave.,
Old Brooklyn.
http://www.arthouseinc.org/.


d.a. levy grew up in your
neighborhood?!
man. i'd organize an annual levyfest or something...

Kerouac's tracks 50 years later

The beat goes on - The Boston Globe--The Boston GLOBE has a retrospective here on Jack Kerouac, who was from Lowell. Reading him, and later Ken Kesey, gave a lot of us the ideas that led to the road to San Francisco and the cultural upheaval of the '60s. And now, here is the romance of the beats cropping up again, getting aired out, helping us fall in love with America again, the real America, where "FREE" is something more than what you see on an ironic/iconic big stamp outside a neoclassical shrine to government.

Here are a few quotes from the article I wanted to spotlight, but take some time to read the whole thing. It's a trip:

"Sal, we've got to go and never stop 'til we get there."
"Where are we going to go?"
"I don't know, but we can't stop 'til we get there."

We battled traffic through Oakland and went over the bridge into San Francisco's Chinatown , where we rolled down the windows and took in the smells and sounds that drifted in the long shadows of the late afternoon.
We had arrived at the promised land of the beat generation.
This was where in the 1950s the seeds of a hip, new culture planted by Kerouac and the poets Allen Ginsberg , Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Gregory Corso formed the buds of the beat generation that would flower into the counterculture of the 1960s.

hidden amenities: Mayfield Country Club

GolfStyles Ohio Edition -- Private Matters: Mayfield Country Club, An American Classic.

I came across this today when somebody sent me a free magazine subscription, and I thought the story of the course's beginnings was interesting:

Mayfield is one of those great places that’s nearly hidden in the middle of a thriving metropolis. “Most people don’t even know it’s here,” Wood says.

It began with Mayfield’s founder, Samuel Mather. Along with 300 charter members, he acquired a 235-acre plot of forest and farmland along the then-unpaved Mayfield Road in the early 1900s. In 1909, under the leadership of Benjamin E. Bourne, Malcolm B. Johnson and W.H. “Bertie” Way (who was the former Euclid Club head pro and a man who designed several other courses in the area), the building of the golf course began. “Bertie Way was the first golf professional and the architect,” says Wood. “Mayfield was a spin-off of the Euclid Club that was in downtown Cleveland. It had been designed by Bert Way (the first nine) and a second nine belonged to John D. Rockefeller. He wouldn’t let the members play the second nine holes on Sunday because he was religious. So they went to the end of the trolley line and bought a piece of property and hired Way to design and be its first pro.”

On July 15, 1911, Mayfield Country Club opened its doors. Prominent members of the time included Cyrus Eaton, Harvey S. Firestone and Dr. George Crile, co-founder of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. In the next two years, Way’s contemporary, Donald Ross, came to Mayfield to install the bunkering, which largely remains to this day.

Way was head pro at Mayfield for 51 years, during which time the club hosted the 1915 and 1919 Western Opens, the 1920 Women’s National Championship, the 1927 Ohio Women’s Championship and the 1929 Women’s Western Championship. The 1990 Women’s Ohio State Amateur Championship was also held at Mayfield. Legendary professionals such as Chick Evans, Walter Hagen and Byron Nelson all played there.

In 1935, a swimming pool was added, something new for country clubs at the time. With the growing popularity of curling, the club added first an outdoor sheet, and later, a state-of-the-art indoor facility. Platform tennis was added in the 1960s. In 1987, a cross-country skiing program was inaugurated.

Two fires have destroyed Mayfield clubhouses, and the last one was rebuilt in 1948. In 2001, the club added a new dining room and put an addition onto the clubhouse for casual dining and a fitness center. There are locker rooms for men, women, junior boys and junior girls.

But the central lure for Mayfield is the golf course. “It’s an old-style golf course where the nines don’t come back,” Wood says.

Ohio City Named One of America's Top 10 Cottage Communities

I just got this email from some of our friends over in Ohio City. We had been there recently, May 19th, as guests of our other friends, Tom and Kathleen, to go to the Saturday evening house preview tour of the Weekend in Ohio City:

Hot on the heels of its feature story in the March 2007 issue of Cottage Living magazine, Ohio City was named by that publication as one of the top 10 "cottage communities" in the country. The full list of the the 10 best neighborhoods in the nation is profiled in the July/August issue, which hits newsstands on June 26.

Quoting from the magazine's press release: "A victim of suburbia’s post-World War II allure and Cleveland’s industrial decline, Ohio City suffered during the 1960s and '70s, but the residents led a comeback that left Ohio City thriving. By working to maintain affordable housing, they have managed to revitalize without forcing out long-term and lower-income residents.

'Ohio City is very friendly,' says Bernie Thiel, a long-term resident. 'It’s a
real talking over-the-fence community.'" '

Ohio City finished second on the list, just behind Forest Hills Gardens in Queens, NY.

The list includes neighborhoods that Cottage Living editors would like to call home, with charming cottages, a sense of community, and an eye on the future. Both old and new, the neighborhoods use creative ideas to solve common problems. "[T]hese neighborhoods are inspiring role models," writes Cottage Living Editor-in-Chief Eleanor Griffin.

Cottage Living canvassed the country for the 10 best cottage communities. The criteria were broken down into four categories: Homes (30%): Inspiring architecture, unifying design elements, and walkable streets; People (30%): Residents who spark a resurgence or designers and developers who envision change and bring it to life; Bright Ideas (30%): Innovative, positive change on a regional or national level; and Cottage Twist (10%): Something that brings a smile.

So come out this weekend, explore the neighborhood, and see what the excitement is all about. Be sure to visit Open Air in Market Square across from the West Side Market on Saturday, and mark your calendar for the Ohio City Garden Tour on July 22. And as always, check back to www.ohiocity.com regularly for news and upcoming events.

Playbill: Magic, Mystery and Millionaires

Magic, Mystery and Millionaires- cleveland.com -- and they stuck our playbill up there, too.

this morning, I have warm thoughts about the PD

Actors bring dead to life in cemetery- cleveland.com -- our neighborhood troupe is in the PD today, featuring tomorrow's tour. We're extremely grateful for the coverage. Mike O' Malley and Josh Gunter did some splendid work here, and we hope they had as much fun in the process as we did. Thanks!

"little ambassadors"

Meet the Bloggers » David Gray, Publisher, Gray & Company --David Gray, on May 16th, described his local publishing house's 75+ titles as "little ambassadors" for Cleveland+ and the NEO region. That got me to thinking about the CVB and how they should be promoting locals who are themselves doing significant regional promoting. They at The Bureau, and "The Partnership," do not yet link to David Gray, who has a business model predicated on publishing local flavor and lore. Gray's is a business model that could succeed anywhere, and perhaps we will see more like it in other areas with stories to tell and intrinsically valuable features to promote, areas like Cleveland and its environs+.

What's odd is that nobody paid specifically to promote the area has figured out there could be leverage, or synergy, in promoting Gray.

Gray's books, the little ambassadors, fall into two categories: guide books, and gift books. I would have loved to get most of them when I was living away from home, in college, in the service, as a "Yankee boy" in the booming Atlanta of the late'70s. They are appreciative books, and will be appreciated by any recipients who are fond of--or just interested in--our area.

David is one of the businesspeople who's helping wake us up around here to the fact we must take care of each other, that we can all move forward if nobody is left behind.

He also brings us to a awareness that books are media, just as are the newspapers, radio, TV, and MTB. Listen. It's instructive. And be sure to browse the site. Mike O' Malley at the PD tells us that Michael Heaton, another "ambassador," but under the guise of "minister of culture," has a book coming out about now through Gray's.

Timothy Leary, '42: Flashbacks from Mount Saint James

College of the Holy Cross Holy Cross Magazine -- This Timothy Leary retrospective piece just appeared in our alumni magazine; I guess I had more of a heritage than I knew when I matriculated at HC in 1964. Had I known what a tough act I had to follow, I would have tried harder, or at least been more irrationally exuberant. Hoya!

Gordon Findlay's funeral service tomorrow

Tomorrow at 0930, we're going over to a funeral home at East 65th and Quincy for services for an old friend, Gordon R. Findlay, born in Detroit December 31st, 1923, attended M.I.T. during the Second World War, class of 1944, worked on top-secret projects for the US government that kept his thesis classified and Gordon without an advanced degree. He was a friend of Gloria's since the 1970s, and he had been helping us with our computers since the early days, when the monitor displays were black with amber or green letters and a good IBM A/T cost over $10,000, with software, of course. MultiMate was all the rage. Gordon was brilliant.

The reason I'm writing about Gordon is that there's no death notice for him, nor will there be; we understand this was a decision left up to his final caregivers, whom none of us here in Cleveland know. There's a service for him at that funeral home at 65th and Quincy, but he died down in Kent and lived most of his time in Cleveland here on the West side. He is a father and has a family, but nobody knows how to contact them. We understand that at one time, in another life, he had been a prosperous businessowner, one of the early tech pioneers.

Given the way things are arranged now, it's going to be hard for anyone to note his passing.

Hence, the entry here.

desperately seeking wisdom

OpinionJournal - Featured Article: While we're talking about Mike Dovilla, here's a fairly balanced piece he sent me a few weeks back, from Joe Lieberman in the Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal on February 26th. Read the whole thing. It speaks to the political environment and the war environment under which Mike and everybody else we've required to serve over there must endure, and we must not jeopardize their safety or compromise the mission at this point based on knee-jerk reactions of the lightweights in the rear; most of them are not leaders, they're merely politicians; many of them don't serve our interests first. One of the worst feelings we all had during the RVN era was having our fate being decided by the politicians--thinking first of their safety, some of them, and then of ours--and by the irate public who weren't there, some of whom had opted not to serve. Here's Joe, who's beginning to show wisdom.

"I understand the frustration, anger and exhaustion so many Americans feel about Iraq, the desire to throw up our hands and simply say, 'Enough.' And I am painfully aware of the enormous toll of this war in human life, and of the infuriating mistakes that have been made in the war's conduct.

But we must not make another terrible mistake now. Many of the worst errors in Iraq arose precisely because the Bush administration best-cased what would happen after Saddam was overthrown. Now many opponents of the war are making the very same best-case mistake--assuming we can pull back in the midst of a critical battle with impunity, even arguing that our retreat will reduce the terrorism and sectarian violence in Iraq."

"Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay attention to the world."

Susan Sontag: Pay attention to the world Review Guardian Unlimited Books -- here's a good preview of a book on Susan coming out in April. I'm not suggesting these are practices to which bloggers should subscribe, but this certainly does throw some light on how some of us find fun and fulfillment in working with words. Note the "unconventional proposition" from Doctor (not Doc) Johnson : "The chief glory of every people arises from its authors." Blog on.

Eric Brewer, first elected official with second MTB interview

Meet the Bloggers » The Mayor of East Cleveland Eric Brewer--On February 16th, 2007, Eric Brewer, Mayor of East Cleveland, took a second shot at using the MTB platform to promote the community dialogue. George tells us he's the first elected government official to do this. His first session had been March 16, 2006. It's worth listening to both back-to-back. Things are definitely on the upswing in East Cleveland; they're taking their city back and achieving efficiencies in the process. On this podcast, you'll hear Norm Roulet, Sudhir Raghupethy, and Mike Gesing, in addition to the regulars. Brewer and his administration have many other well-wishers and fans, and I've made up my mind to be one of them. Personally, I'm going to do whatever I can to assist their succeeding--they're on the right track (there's a busline, too) and have the assets to work with. Go to the city's website for more, and see what John D. Rockefeller, the world's first billionaire, saw about East Cleveland.

Eric may be making history here, in what is a last-to-first sprint to the reclaiming of a grand city, and it would be great if we also had the transcripts of both podcasts in searchable-text form. George gives instructions here on how that can happen.

nifty poster, reminiscent of Bill Graham's 1960s San Francisco productions

Here's a really neat poster I found in a sidebar over at Cleveland.com leading to the Rock Hall and their Black History Month calendar

how James Brown kept Boston from burning

Features : Radar Online--by David Gates, an event I'd forgotten about, following the assassination of Martin Luther King, in which James Brown saves Boston. These were some intense times. Check out the link ( James Brown, Boston Garden, April 5, 1968) in the Gates story to the recent Boston Globe article , as well.

Schlesinger shows us the way: Folly's Antidote

Arthur, in his New Year's Day piece in the New York TIMES, may be showing us the way we need to proceed from here on in, as citizens who promote and maintain the civic dialogues for the benefit of all of us.

The great strength of history in a free society is its capacity for self-correction. This is the endless excitement of historical writing — the search to reconstruct what went before, a quest illuminated by those ever-changing prisms that continually place old questions in a new light.

History is a doomed enterprise that we happily pursue because of the thrill of the hunt, because exploring the past is such fun, because of the intellectual challenges involved, because a nation needs to know its own history. Or so we historians insist. Because in the end, a nation’s history must be both the guide and the domain not so much of its historians as its citizens.