Brewed Fresh Daily

Tom on the Waterloo Arts Fest:

Collinwood is  a neighborhood in Cleveland with a rich history and a bad reputation.

I was born there, raised there and well, my family moved just before I had to go to high school.

The area was getting bad in the late 80’s. I remember seeing drunks, pimps and a murder victim being pulled from a building when I was 14 years old. The Hells Angels used to frequent the motorcycle shop on the corner of 149th and Lakeshore. I used to have to walk past it to  get to and from my school, St. Jeromes

When my parents moved my brother and  I to the Westside of Cleveland, I swore that I would never go back to Collinwood. There’s no fun there.

Forward to 2009.

After reading the local paper and reading blogs, I was seeing that my old neighborhood was going through a change. A couple of years back, my mom moved back to Collinwood to live near the Euclid Beach area where she grew up. (She used to rent from the Humphrey family.) One day I decided to drive around the Waterloo area of Collinwood.  I was looking for the old black bomb marks left over from a failed mob hit in the 70’s and I was looking for the barber shop my father used to take me to. The barber and the bomb marks were gone.

But I noticed something amazing. There area had color. It was bright…

via Collinwood Arts Festival | The Daily Bragger.

Taking this with a grain of salt since I don’t know if Greater Pittsburgh’s Braddock has an ArtsBraddock or a Beachland Ballroom type venue like I do in my neighborhood:

If you own a home in Ohio, you’re almost four times more likely to undergo foreclosure than if you live in Pennsylvania.

That is the finding of a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, based on an analysis of foreclosure rates in Cuyahoga County verses Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County.

The report examined foreclosure rates in Greater Pittsburgh’s Braddock and Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood, two areas with similar demographics as well as socioeconomic statistics…

via Rust Wire » Blog Archive » Why it’s Better to be a Homeowner in Pennsylvania than Ohio.

As if you need another reason to be at the WAF:

After much deliberation and much Stroh’s, I’m proud to announce the formation of the greatest dj team since the Buzzard Morning Zoo: Drive Time Radio with Kid Flamingo and the 185th St. Shuffle. We (Myself and Jeff Sierputowski) will be making our debut at Blue Arrow Records on Saturday, June 27th from 3:30 to 5:30 as part of the Waterloo Arts Fest. We’ll be spinning what I like to refer to as “All Things Rock” — a mix of classic rock, garage, punk, psych, indie from the ’60s through modern times…

via I Rock Cleveland: Introducing Drive Time Radio with Kid Flamingo and The 185th St. Shuffle.

Love this post from Tom:

Danny Greene was a folk hero to the neighborhood. He used to donate to my old school St. Jeromes. While in the Collinwood area, Danny rented an apartment at Waterloo road. There, as Ned Whelan wrote in a Cleveland Magazine story called “How Danny Greene’s Murder Exploded the Godfather Myth”: “Imagining himself as a feudal baron, he supported a number of destitute Collinwood families, paid tuition to Catholic schools for various children and, like the gangsters of the Twenties, actually had fifty, twenty pound turkeys delivered to needy households on Thanksgiving.” He would often pick up tabs for friends, neighbors, and acquaintances at a restaurant, and made it a point to leave generous tips.

After moving to Waterloo road, Greene made sure that the neighborhood undesirables were kept in line. He evicted a bookmaker who operated out of a small Waterloo business and kept a local bar in order by personal visits, if things got too chaotic or disorderly. When a rowdy group of Hells Angels moved into Collinwood, Greene visited their headquarters with a stick of dynamite. He threatened to light it and throw it into their club house until they came out to receive a warning to keep things quiet when in Collinwood.

On may 12 1975, On May 12, an explosion rocked Collinwood. Greene’s building was destroyed, but Greene somehow had only minor injuries. As the second floor fell, he was shielded from the debris by a refrigerator which had lodged against a wall. A second, and more powerful, bomb had failed to explode. This second explosion would surely have killed Greene. Greene credited his miraculous escape to the intercession of St. Jude, whose medal he always wore around his neck…

via Danny Greene Collinwood Movie | The Daily Bragger.

Got plans Fri night? Care to join us on the ‘loo?

Enjoy food, drink, music, art, and more in one festive evening on Waterloo Road, in Cleveland’s hoppin’ new arts district. With great nosh and live music in multiple locations, gallery exhibits and happenings throughout the street, and great prize drawings for freebies from some of the city’s coolest restaurants and shops, there’s something for everyone and tons of value for just $30 per person or $50 per couple. Come early from work, and spend your cocktail hour with us, or make this the first stop in a night out in our great entertainment district – but be sure to be there at 8:00pm for the unveiling of the very first artwork created for the innovative Waterloo Walls community mural project.

All proceeds benefit both the Waterloo Arts Fest, Cleveland’s fastest-growing, grassroots, arts-centric community festival, and Waterloo Walls, an initiative spearheaded by Marlee Brown of Shoparooni.

via Great Night on Waterloo to Benefit Waterloo Arts Fest and Waterloo Walls Mural Project : Arts Collinwood.

American Youth exhibition and book launch June 5 at Low Life Gallery : Arts Collinwood.